Wales Audit Office - Housing inspections

The Wales Audit Office, the body that undertakes inspections for housing associations issued today a guide (What we look for Inspection Guide) which outlines what inspectors will be looking for when reviewing housing association performance.

The consultation paper covers specific areas within housing and deals with aspects of service that inspectors look for before arriving at a judgement on 'How Good' the service is. There are three levels of judgement which now include: Scope for considerable improvement, Good and Excellent.

The Wales Audit Office has been using Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOE) to help answer questions about the quality of housing services for some time now. The WTF supports the view that a revision was required with something that more closely describes what inspectors and tenants look for, and expect to find, in specific areas of housing service.

“What we look for”, links more directly with the key expectations set out in the Welsh Assembly Government Regulatory Code for Housing Associations in Wales and builds upon the experience gained by WAO inspection teams, said Steve Barry of the WAO.

You can read this document by following this link WAO

The Wales Audit Office are seeking views of stakeholders and are interested in answers to the following questions:

Does “What we look for” sufficiently cover the aspects of service important to your organisation?
Does “What we look for” sufficiently cover the issues of importance to tenants and other service users?

Your response should be received by the Wales Audit Office by 30 November 2007 to info@wao.gov.uk. or contact the Welsh Tenants Federation so that we can collate responses on tenants behalf. steve@welshtenantsfed.org.uk