Use of smart technology to improve maintenance in Council managed social housing

The request was successful.

Dear Bradford City Council,

I am a post graduate student currently undertaking research in to whether the use of internet enabled 'smart' technology can be utilised to improve the efficiency of maintenance in the social housing sector.

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would therefore be grateful if you could respond to the following questions:

1. Does your authority retain ownership and management of its social housing stock? If not, please could you provide contact details for the Housing Association(s), ALMO's etc., to whom your stock was transferred?

The following questions need only be answered if you continue to own and manage your social housing stock.

2. How many socially rented properties do you currently own?

3. Does the Council currently use any form of internet enabled smart technology to assist in the maintenance of its properties e.g. smoke alarms linked to a portal so maintenance personnel can identify when the alarm has been disconnected/failed? If so, please could you provide details of the types of devices utilised? Would you be willing to discuss your experience in more detail?

4. If the Council is not currently utilising any such technology, has the issue ever been considered? If so, please could you provide details as to why it was not pursued?

I thank you for your consideration of the above queries and I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours faithfully,

Phil Hiscott

Freedom of Information, Bradford City Council

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Mark Dewar, Bradford City Council

Dear Phil

 

Thank you for your enquiry which was received 19 January 2020.   This
matter is now receiving our attention and we aim to have a response out to
you by 17 February 2020, within the period of 20 working days allowed for
disclosure.

 

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of the information.  We will also provide an explanation if any
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deciding whether or not to release the information.

 

Should you have any queries regarding your request, please feel free to
email us at [1][Bradford City Council request email] quoting the reference no: Jan-84

 

Bradford Council is registered with the Information Commissioners Office
(ICO) under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018. The Council
takes its responsibilities under the Act very seriously.  To find out more
on how we handle your information, please click on the following link:
[2]https://www.bradford.gov.uk/privacy-notice

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mark
Dewar                                                                          
 

Service Coordination Officer

Economy & Development

 

8th Floor,

Margaret McMillan Tower,

Bradford, BD1 1NN

 

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Department of Place

 

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References

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mailto:[Bradford City Council request email]
2. https://www.bradford.gov.uk/privacy-notice
3. http://www.bradford.gov.uk/foi

Mark Dewar, Bradford City Council

Dear Phil

 

I refer to the freedom of information request submitted to Bradford
Council on 19 January 2020.  Your request, and the Council’s response, are
both detailed below.

 

REQUEST

 

1.  Does your authority retain ownership and management of its social
housing stock? If not, please could you provide contact details for the
Housing Association(s), ALMO's etc., to whom your stock was transferred?

 

The following questions need only be answered if you continue to own and
manage your social housing stock.

 

2.  How many socially rented properties do you currently own?

 

3.  Does the Council currently use any form of internet enabled smart
technology to assist in the maintenance of its properties e.g. smoke
alarms linked to a portal so maintenance personnel can identify when the
alarm has been disconnected/failed? If so, please could you provide
details of the types of devices utilised? Would you be willing to discuss
your experience in more detail?

 

4.  If the Council is not currently utilising any such technology, has the
issue ever been considered? If so, please could you provide details as to
why it was not pursued?

 

COUNCIL’S RESPONSE

 

1. The Council’s housing stock was transferred to an independent Housing
Trust, Bradford Community Housing Trust (now Incommunities) in 2003 by way
of Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT). Their registered offices are at:
 The Quays, Victoria Street, Shipley, West Yorkshire BD17 7BN. Company
registration number is 4221767.

 

2. City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CBMDC) began their own
development programme in 2010 and currently have 373 social housing units
properties for rent which are in our ownership.

 

3. No, we do not currently use smart technology in our homes. We do
provide a smart meter to tenants in our new build homes, so they can
monitor their own energy consumption.

 

4. The technical specification for our existing delivery programme was
approved a number of years ago and the use of smart technology was not
included at that time. For any future delivery programmes, we would
undertake a review of the technical specification and consider all
relevant factors including developments in technology which might benefit
our residents and communities.  

 

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, if you are not
satisfied with the reply to your request you can ask for a review. A
request for a review must be submitted within 40 working days by emailing
us at [1][Bradford City Council request email] or by writing to Corporate  Information
Governance Team, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, City
Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford, BD1 1HY.

 

If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review you
have the right of appeal to the Information Commissioner who can be
contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113            URL: [2]www.ico.org.uk.

 

Bradford Council is registered with the Information Commissioners Office
(ICO) under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018. The Council
takes its responsibilities under the Act very seriously.  To find out more
on how we handle your information, please click on the following link:
[3]https://www.bradford.gov.uk/privacy-notice

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mark
Dewar                                                                          
 

Service Coordination Officer

Economy & Development

 

8th Floor,

Margaret McMillan Tower,

Bradford, BD1 1NN

 

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Department of Place

 

This e-mail, and any attachments, may contain Protected or Restricted
information and is intended solely for the individual to whom it is
addressed. It may contain sensitive or protectively marked material and
should be handled accordingly. If this e-mail has been misdirected, please
notify the author immediately. If you are not the intended recipient you
must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on any of the
information contained in it or attached, and all copies must be deleted
immediately. Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any
software viruses, any attachments to this e-mail may nevertheless contain
viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should
therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
documents. Bradford Council will not accept any liability for damage
caused by computer viruses emanating from any attachment or other document
supplied with this e-mail. E-Mails may be subject to recording and / or
monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.

If you would like to make a Freedom of Information request, please visit
our website [4]http://www.bradford.gov.uk/foi before you submit a request
as you may find the information and data that you want in the data that we
already publish in our Publication Scheme. The Scheme has a significant
amount of information which is available to you, without the need for a
specific request, and describes how we work and how to obtain information
published by our various departments.

 only print emails if required + + + + +

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Bradford City Council request email]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. https://www.bradford.gov.uk/privacy-notice
4. http://www.bradford.gov.uk/foi