DD2230 Receipt of funding for Homes for NHS Staff, London Pilot

Research, surveys and evidence from NHS Trusts has indicated that difficulty in accessing housing that is affordable is an increasing problem for recruitment and retention of NHS staff. Analysis by the Department of Health and Social Care (DH&SC) has highlighted that the need for affordable accommodation for NHS staff is likely to be concentrated in London and the South East, for example mortgage payments on an average house in London or Oxford would represent 90% of a newly qualified Band 5’s salary. The Royal College of Nursing has found that 40% of nurses were considering leaving London in the next five years due to pressure of housing costs, of these 75% would be more likely to stay in London if their housing needs were met.

The Mayor’s Manifesto included a commitment that Homes for Londoners would drive up homebuilding by “Building new homes on land owned by the Mayor, including Transport for London land, and bidding to develop other public-sector land - with a proportion of homes on the capital’s NHS sites aimed at health service workers”. Since then the GLA has been working with Department of Health and NHS partners to explore opportunities to deliver homes for health service workers on NHS sites. The draft Housing Strategy supports approaches that set aside a proportion of homes on land owned by Government departments and agencies for key workers, such as health and educational professional in addition to these sites providing genuinely affordable homes.

One of the recommendations from the review of NHS Property and Estates by Sir Robert Naylor (“Naylor Review”) was that land vacated by the NHS should be prioritised for the development of homes for NHS staff, where there is a need. The Government has accepted this recommendation, agreeing that in some areas it would be beneficial for the NHS to use surplus land to provide housing for staff. The Government’s response to the Naylor Review noted that in October 2017 it had announced that NHS workers will be given first refusal on affordable homes built on land sold by the NHS.

The issue of affordability of market housing for NHS staff is particularly acute in London and the South East and therefore One Public Estate (OPE) (which is jointly funded by Cabinet Office and Local Government Association) has proposed a London pilot to focus on development of a delivery toolkit as a resource for NHS landowners and program management of delivery of affordable housing for NHS staff on pilot sites (the “London Pilot”). The London Pilot would be embedded within the work of the London Estates Board (LEB) and London Estates Delivery Unit (LEDU), which lead on NHS estate and property matters within and for the London health system.

OPE has proposed grant funding from the Cabinet Office, under Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, to provide the GLA with a grant of £150,000 revenue funding for the London Pilot. It is proposed the funding is paid to the GLA given its strategic role for housing and health in London and best placed to manage the expenditure.

From the £150,000 funding from Cabinet Office, approximately £100,000 would be used by the GLA for recruitment a project lead and £50,000 for the development of the delivery toolkit. The project lead, working as part of LEDU, would be responsible for production of the delivery toolkit, management of the London Pilot project and engagement with NHS, London boroughs and registered providers. The project lead may be procured on a consultancy basis.

The London Pilot will be governed by a Memorandum of Understanding between the GLA and the Local Government Association and Government Property Unit (as joint sponsors of OPE), which will cover appointment of the project lead, agreement of project brief and appointments for delivery of the toolkit, establishment of a project board (comprised of GLA, OPE, Department of Health and Social Care, Cabinet Office and LEB), establishment of a steering group to oversee the London Pilot projects and reporting procedures.

Recruitment/procuring of a project lead to manage the overall rollout of the London Pilot, oversee development of a Homes for NHS Staff Delivery Toolkit, including assessing and confirming demand for and type of affordable accommodation for NHS staff and developing a planning strategy with GLA and relevant London Boroughs, supporting exemplar projects to accelerate delivery and reporting progress to the Project Board and engaging with registered providers and private sector developers to test approaches and grow the supply market.

The objectives of the London Pilot are:

• Production of a Homes for NHS Staff Delivery Toolkit; a step by step guide for NHS landowners from initial scoping to delivery of housing, addressing the key questions at each stage and ensuring all key issues are considered.
• Managing exemplar projects (which will be funded directly by OPE).
• Market development – working with registered providers and other potential development partners to soft market test development options and promote deliverable concepts to NHS landowners.

Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the GLA must have ‘due regard’ of the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and
• advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The London Pilot will manage the exemplar projects, which will deliver affordable housing for NHS Staff. It will also provide a Delivery Toolkit, which will enable London NHS landowners deliver affordable housing on their sites for general needs, as well as NHS staff. It is considered that the London Pilot is likely to benefit many of those with protected equality characteristics, as many of these groups are disproportionately represented among those in need of affordable housing. This is in part because they are more likely to experience homelessness or overcrowding, or to have low incomes that make it difficult for them to afford market housing. In addition, some people with protected equality characteristics may be less likely to be able to afford the homes which will support households into home ownership.

The London Pilot will be devised with the Public Sector Equality Duty firmly in mind, in particular when assessing the demand for and type of affordable housing that is needed and how this is accessed.

The London Pilot links to the draft Housing Strategy, which supports approaches that set aside a proportion of homes on land owned by Government departments and agencies for key workers, such as health and educational professional (noting that this should be in addition to these sites providing genuinely affordable homes).

Risks include:

• Producing the Delivery Toolkit to time and budget - managed using good project management
• Lack of stakeholder engagement and buy-in – mitigated by building on the stakeholder relationships established by the LEB, OPE and GLA
• Lack of progress on exemplar schemes – mitigated by good project management
• Planning policy conflicts at a local and London level – mitigated through development of the toolkit and constructive dialogue with relevant parties.

This decision requests approval for the receipt and expenditure of a revenue grant of £150,000 from Cabinet Office to deliver Homes for NHS Staff London pilot, including preparation of a delivery toolkit as well as delivery of a pilot programme.

The grant is envisaged to be received in 2017/18 financial year, however, the corresponding expenditure (up-to £100,000 would be used by the GLA for a project lead and the remaining amount for the development of a delivery toolkit) will be expended in 2018/19.

Appropriate financial adjustments will be made at the end of the financial year to carry forward the funds to the next financial year (2018/19) to enable the completion of this work.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

(a) the decisions requested of the director concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and

(b) in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

- pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
- consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
- consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, the director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Officers must ensure that they are content that the GLA can comply with any conditions to which the Cabinet Office funding is subject and in any event no reliance should be placed upon such funding until there is a legally binding commitment from Cabinet Office to provide the same.

The services required to deliver the London Pilot must be procured by Transport for London Procurement who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code.

Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of any services.

To the extent that the funding received is to be used to award funding to third parties, officers must ensure that any funding is distributed fairly, transparently, in accordance with the GLA’s equalities and in manner which affords value for money in accordance with the Contracts and Funding Code.

Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between and executed by the GLA and recipient before any commitment to fund is made.

In the event that the project lead is procured on a consultancy basis, officers must ensure that the services are procured and appropriate contract for services documentation is put in place with support from TfL Procurement in accordance with paragraphs 6.4 and 6.5 above. Alternatively, if the project lead is recruited as a member of staff, officers must ensure such recruitment is in line with GLA’s HR protocols including obtaining permission from the Head of Paid Services as appropriate.