DELIVERY PLAN 2015/16
Delivery Plan 2015/16
1. Introduction
This Delivery Plan for 2015/16 sets our priorities for the coming year through which we aim
to secure the wider strategic outcomes set out in our 2012-17 Business Plan. The vision set
out in that five year plan is that by 2017:


Our residents will have one of the best housing management services in London
Our residents will see the benefits of a massive investment programme in our
housing stock to meet the Lambeth Housing Standard
Our residents will express higher levels of satisfaction with their housing services
We will be valued and trusted by residents
We will be seen as a good place to work by its staff.


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In addition to delivering that vision, this year’s annual delivery plan looks at how we seek to
maintain continuity of service as the ALMO is reintegrated into the Council during the second
quarter of 2015/16. The future shape of the post-integration housing service is not yet fully
clear. However, this plan places the emphasis on maintaining the momentum that we have
built up over the last five years and focusses also on working with Council colleagues to
ensure that the re-integration process is well managed and minimises disruption to services.
Mindful of that need to maintain consistent momentum in delivering that vision through reintegration, our particular priorities for 2015/16 remain closely aligned with our priorities for
2014/15. These priorities are to:


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deliver the Lambeth Housing Standard (LHS) capital investment programme
improve resident satisfaction, in particular for leaseholders where we know we
need to make the most progress
expand and enhance our approach to resident engagement, with a continuation
and expansion of the use of co-production based approaches in designing,
delivering, and reviewing services
improve communication – making information about the business more visible and
accessible for residents, and making more use of web-based technologies so that
residents have more flexible and convenient means of accessing services.
Progress in delivering these priorities and in delivering other services will be monitored
through our monthly, quarterly, and annual KPIs which are set out in Annex A. The plan also
takes account of the Council’s wider objectives set out in the 2013-16 community plan, and
annex B shows how the actions set out in this plan support the 13 outcomes in the Council’s
community plan. Lambeth Living adds value to the community Plan objectives in a number of
ways, for example, all our major works and repairs contracts have Community Social
Responsibility clauses where contractors are expected train and employ a percentage of
local staff and develop an apprenticeship scheme for local young people.
In addition to this business-wide delivery plan, the Annual Service Delivery Plans produced
by each head of service set out the specific operational detail that shows how priorities will
be delivered and managed at an operational level.
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1.1 Highlights and key themes for the 2015/16 delivery plan
For the 2015/16 plan, the key areas of change are:

the upcoming reintegration of Lambeth Living into London Borough of Lambeth,
which will take place during quarter 2 of 2015/16, and which means that an emphasis
on maintaining service continuity and stability need to be key themes for the plan

the continued delivery of a planned maintenance programme

the delivery of over £100m of potential investment in our homes

a targeted approach to raising satisfaction at estate level. This will build on the
progress made in 2014/15, in which we’ve placed more emphasis on rigorously
gathering each month information on resident satisfaction with estates services, and
using that business intelligence to identify and correct service failures. This approach
has helped us to secure an improvement in satisfaction levels from 63 per cent at the
beginning of 2013/14 to 66 per cent at the end of 2014/15

a revised delivery model for the Lambeth Housing Standard (LHS) including
delivering the actions from the Leaseholder Task and Finish Group. Again, this will
build on progress made in 2014/15. During the quarters 3 and 4 of 2014/15 we
completed an extensive survey of leaseholder satisfaction with the LHS programme.
This entailed surveying residents on all stages of the works including the consultation
process, the works themselves, and the billing process. The business intelligence we
captured through that work is now informing changes and improvements to service
design and delivery to enhance the resident experience and drive up leaseholder
satisfaction throughout 2015/16. One specific early example of these improvements
is the changes that have been made to the whole end-to-end process for Major
Works which has recently been agreed and through which closer working between
the Homeownership Services team and Capital Works team will deliver a much better
managed experience for leaseholders

a different approach to complaints to promote early resolution and reduce complaints
from over 1000 in 2013/14 to under 550 this year and with further reductions planned
for future years

development and delivery of the capital programme for the next three years to
agreed time, cost and quality indicators

robust management of capital projects demonstrating value for money (VFM)

delivery of Leaseholder Action Plan (LAP) in conjunction with leaseholders and the
independent expert.
A number of underlying themes run through the plan:

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championing the use of external benchmarking to move Lambeth Living towards ‘one
of the best housing management services in London’. This is reflected in the draft
Performance Targets for 2015/16 at appendix 1. Lambeth Living performance has
deteriorated from 9th from 21 housing organisations in 2013 to 14th from 26 housing
organisations in 2014
focus on high quality customer services we provide to leaseholders and how we bill
them. The latest Survey of Tenants and Residents (STAR) Survey results showed
that levels of leaseholder satisfaction had decreased from 36 per cent in 2013 to 24
per cent in 2014
continuing to maximise the benefits of the significant investment we have made in
new IT systems over the last few years
3

continue to improve the overall customer experience and widening the opportunities
for customers to get involved such as the reprocuring of the LPC South area contract
and assisting in the preparation of the reprocurement of all LPC contracts.
2. Property and Housing Services
2.1.
The Repairs Service
1. Deliver a planned and cyclical programme from headroom in the repairs budget.
2. Reduce the volume of aged disrepair cases and average case completion times with
a view to decreasing cases to as few as possible below a target of 150 live cases by
year end. We will achieve this by actively reducing cases and improving case
management to reduce the cost of disrepair.
3. Extending a revised Solutions Team approach including further development of the
service that offers customers an immediate site visit by a surveyor when a service
failure is reported to ensure all inspections have a specific focus.
4. Reduce the average end-to-end completion time for responsive repairs to 13 days in
quarter one to 11.5 days in quarter 4 of 2015/16. This will be achieved by actively
working with Area Office colleagues to maximise opportunities to co-ordinate repairs.
5. Through the actions described above and other initiatives, to drive improvements in
the in the delivery of the repairs service, including:


95 per cent of appointments made and kept
90 per cent tenant satisfaction with repairs service, and 90 per cent
satisfaction with the quality of the repair
 90 per cent of repairs right first time
 Proportion of repairs overdue maintained below one per cent of all repairs
(The full suite of KPIs through which we will measure performance of the repairs
service is set out at annex A).
6. Support the Council in the re-procurement of LPC south area contract and the
development of the strategic approach to all LPC procurement, in accordance with
the re-procurement project’s PID and project plan.
Ref No:
8
Indicator
Percentage of all repairs completed on-time
Average time to complete a responsive repair
8a
9
10
11
12
Repairs for which appointment was made and kept
Percentage of tenants satisfied with repairs
Percentage of repairs right first time
Percentage of repairs overdue
Agreed target
for 2015/16
KPI withdrawn
Q1 13.0 days
Q2 12.5 days
Q3 12.0 days
Q4 11.5 days
95.0%
90.0%
90%
1.0%
4
12a
13a
13b
Percentage of repairs overdue which are more than
6 weeks overdue
Average cost of repair jobs
Percentage of tenants satisfied with the quality of
their repair
0.0%
info only
90%
2.2 The Capital Investment Programme
7. Ensure the LHS programme is delivered, and develop strategies to bridge any
identified investment gaps in conjunction with the Council.
8. Review the staffing structure to:
 ensure the appropriate staff structure and staff are in place to deliver the
programme
 ensure that the staff’s skill levels are appropriate for their roles
 foster the appropriate culture of project ownership and customer service.
9. Review existing management information systems to confirm suitability with
emphasis on making best use of Northgate and Keystone systems to improve the
planning and monitoring of works and to facilitate more timely and accurate reporting.
10. Deliver the following outputs (to be agreed), which will be measured through our
performance indicators:
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

Ref No:
improve 4,616 homes to the Decent Homes standard
improve 2,100 homes to the Lambeth Housing Standard (LHS) which will be
based on the agreed approach identified in action 7 above
improve the percentage of residents satisfied with the quality of major works
to 90%
predict contract sums compared to delivery costs with 90% accuracy
complete internal modernisations within 15 days
Continue to work towards achieving the average SAP rating of 55 to 58
(Rating D) as a minimum on all Lambeth Living homes.
Deliver the Leaseholder Action Plan (LAP) in conjunction with residents and
the independent expert.
Indicator
15
Number of Homes Made Decent In-year
16
Number of homes improved to meet the LHS
17
Residents satisfaction with the quality of the works
18
19
38
Cost predictability
Time for internal modernisation
Average SAP Rating [Annual]
7
Annual Capital Spend
Agreed
target for
2015/16
4,616*
2,100*
90%
90%
15 Days
Equivalent to
55-58 or D
rating
100.0%
*still to be agreed
5
2.3 Technical Services
11. Audit all properties within the borough not currently on the gas plan, ensuring the
target of 100 per cent gas certification compliance is met and maintained throughout
the year.
12. Complete the water tank verification exercise to all shared structures across the
borough to identify any unidentified water tanks not currently incorporated within the
planned maintenance programme This is dependent on the outcome of a funding
review.
13. Ensure that any newly identified tanks are made compliant and included in future
years planned programmes.
14. Ensure that all Landlords electrical services are compliant with Institute of Electrical
Engineers (IEE) regulations.
15. Undertake and complete the 2015/16 programme of testing to maintain the rolling
programme of Periodic Inspection Report (PIR) inspections to communal systems.
Ref
No:
14
Indicator
Gas Servicing non-compliance (CP12)
Agreed
target for
2015/16
0%
2.4 Home Ownership Services
16. Provide a high quality customer-focused service and ensure that complaints are
reduced and satisfaction with the team is increased. As set out in section 1, we
recognise the need to drive up leaseholder satisfaction as one of our key priorities for
2015/16. Driving this improvement will be dependent on actions from many teams
across the whole business, but the Homeownership Services team will take the lead
in setting the direction and strategy. This will entail closer consultation and coproduction with leaseholders, using the Major Works Committee as a key channel of
engagement alongside other consultation, and delivering the actions set out in the
Leaseholder Action Plan (LAP).
17. Maximise income collection from both day to day and major works service charges
so that we stabilise the business, render it financially viable and provide it with the
capacity, space and scope to improve customer services. To collect some £5 million
in section 20 service charges, and to collect 95 per cent of the day-to-day service
charges in the year, and 100.5 per cent including charges recovered that relate to
previous years.
18. Improve communication with leaseholders and develop customer profiling.
19. Demonstrate value for money by reviewing high costs services and making them
more efficient.
6
3
Leasehold service charges % collected
Proposed
target for
2015/16
100.50%
3b
Leasehold service charges % collected
95.0%
6
Recovery of (S20) major works contributions from
Leaseholders
Ref No:
Indicator
£5m
2.5 Estates & Tenancy Services
20. Investigate new ways to publicise and deliver estate services to residents, for
example, working with the Lambeth Living Information Technology Team to
implement a mobile application for the reporting of environmental and housing
issues.
21. Improved publication of how and when blocks will be serviced to improve the
management of residents’ expectations.
22. To improve the overall management of estates, by encouraging residents to take an
active role in decision making about the management of their estates, for example,
by establishing block champions.
23. Increase the physical presence of estates housing officer (EHO) staff using local
resident engagement models that include monthly estate surgeries at designated
community facilities, “coffee morning” and “Meet your EHO/Cleaner” events.
24. Develop and extend the “Hurst Street model” through which residents are engaged
through a voucher scheme to conduct inspections on the standard of estates
cleaning and to report concerns to their EHO as a more cost effective and rigorous
means of quality assurance.
25. Undertake specific “estate cleaning” presentations for residents at tenant and
resident association (TRA) meetings to improve the quality of estate cleaning so that
resident satisfaction is maintained at or above 90 per cent throughout the year.
26. Maintain resident satisfaction with grounds maintenance at or above 90 per cent
throughout the year.
27. Publicise the details of all planned improvements works in advance of work
commencing on site. To ensure that details of all planned works are published as
soon as practicable once they are agreed so that residents can have early sight of
works for current and future years.
Ref No:
Indicator
26
27
CORE
Quality of estate cleaning
28
Quality of grounds maintenance
41
Quality of estate services
Agreed
target for
2015/16
95%
90%
90%
70%
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2.6 Enforcement
28. Increase satisfaction with the tenancy enforcement service by 10 per cent.
29. Increase satisfaction for antisocial behaviour management to 62 per cent, with 96 per
cent of all closed ASB cases resolved.
Ref No:
24
25
Indicator
Agreed
target for
2015/16
ASB measure: Number of closed resolved cases as a
% of closed cases
96%
ASB measure: % of respondents very or fairly satisfied
with the way their ASB complaint was dealt with
62%
2.7 Empty Homes
30. Work with the Planning and Performance Team to improve processes, maximising
value for money and efficiency in particular, for voids and disrepair performance,
ensuring we meet the end of year targets for empty homes of 21 days for short cycle
voids and 25 days for long cycle voids.
31. Maintain the total number of empty properties at or below 157, and maintain the re-let
times for short and long cycle voids at or below 21 and 25 days respectively.
Ref No:
Indicator
20
Total number of empty properties
21
Average number of days to re-let SCV
22
SCV average cost
23
Number of days for LCV turnaround time, by area and
total
Agreed
target for
2015/16
157
21 days
£4,000
25 days
2.8 Customer Care
32. Achieve effective client management of call handling contract with our General
Dynamics IT (GDIT) call centre by ensuring they meet all contractual key
performance indicators (KPIs), in particular ensuring that 80% of calls are answered
within 20 seconds.
33. Maintain effective performance in the management of all complaints and enquiries,
so that:
 90 per cent of members’ enquires are answered on time
8




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no more than 20 complaints are received through the Independent
Housing Ombudsman, with no more than 50 per cent of those complaints
upheld
the number of local resolution complaints is reduced to no more than 600
for the year
escalation rates for local resolution complaints is maintained at or below
15 per cent
the proportion of review stage complaints upheld is maintained at or
below 30 per cent
the number of complaints per 1,000 properties is maintained at or below
21 for the year.
34. Carry out accurate analysis of complaints to understand pressure points and use this
analysis to drive service improvement reviews through the Performance and
Planning team. To include a review of the service failures giving rise to complaints
about the repairs service and to work with the asset managers and other key
colleagues to correct any systemic weaknesses underlying these complaints.
35. Deliver the final phases of Northgate Housing Customer Service Module (CSM)
Project.
36. Maximise the benefits of the new Northgate Housing Customer Services Module and
Task Manager workflow functionality, including better Document Management and a
system for managing Disrepair cases.
37. Embed ‘Residents First’ behaviours and values to drive up the quality of residents’
experience with the service, to help drive tenant satisfaction up to 70 per cent, when
it is next measured through the survey of tenants and residents (STAR)
Ref No:
Indicator
29
Percentage of Members’ enquiries answered on time (10
working days)
30a
30b
Independent Housing Ombudsman - Number of
complaints received
31b
Independent Housing Ombudsman - % of complaints
upheld
Total number of local resolutions stage complaints
received
Total number of early resolutions received
32
Percentage of local resolutions escalated to review stage
33
Percentage of review stage complaints upheld
34
Percentage of calls handled on time by GDIT call centre
35
Overall tenant satisfaction with service provider
[Annual]
Number of complaints per 1000 properties
31a
39
Agreed
target for
2015/16
90%
20
50%
600
For info
15%
30%
80%
70%
21
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2.9 Central Income Team
38. Deliver the Housing Benefit “Bridging the Gap” initiative, which aims to generate
£600,000 of additional rental income between April 2015 and March 2016 through
housing benefit assessments and Discretionary Housing Payment processing.
39. Increase the variety of methods used to notify tenants of their arrears through
expanding the number of channels used to do this by greater incorporation of text
messaging, email and other non-standard methods of communication.
40. Manage increasing arrears cases combined with 50/50 Casework Monitoring
Initiative to improve the overall standard of case management, increase the number
of cases that are compliant and help maximize income collection levels and drive
down arrears to the target of 4 per cent during 2015/2016.
41. Improve former tenants’ arrears recovery combined with revising the former tenants’
arrears escalation procedure to create a more streamlined and efficient process for
managing these debts that in turn improves collection / arrears reduction
performance with a view towards achieving this year’s collection target of £3.5m.
42. Maintain an effective rent collection service so that:


Ref No:
The percentage of rent and arrears collected for the year is at or above 95.1
per cent
In year rent collection for the year as a whole is at least 99 per cent.
Indicator
Agreed
target for
2015/16
95.10%
1
The percentage of rent and arrears collected (BV66a)
2
In-Year rent collected
99.00%
4
Current tenant arrears
4.00%
5
Former Tenant Arrears
£3.5m
2.10 Welfare Reform
43. Minimize the impact of welfare reform through effective intervention by reducing 200
households that are affected by Size Criteria. This will be achieved by:
 contacting all households annually to determine their needs
 monthly monitoring of size criteria cases who are in arrears, working with
them to identify solutions
 monthly monitoring of benefit cap cases.
44. Continue the roll-out of the rental exchange programme. This is an initiative
developed with Experian Business Strategies and the Big Issue that enables tenants’
rent payments to be counted towards their credit score, helping them create an
online” digital proof of identity and to build up am improved credit score through the
timely payment of rent. This initiative supports our financial inclusion agenda by
helping tenants to access affordable credit and avoid “pay day” loan companies, and
also acts as an incentive to tenants to pay their rent in full and on time.
10
45. Based on our modelling, the scheme is expected to increase the proportion of
tenants with digital proof of identity from the current low base of 35 per cent to a
much more inclusive 83 per cent. In addition, 42 per cent of Lambeth Living tenants
would see an immediate positive impact upon their credit score through the
incorporation rent payment data, with over 700 of those tenants immediately gaining
access to previously inaccessible credit and services.
2.11 Resident Engagement
46. To continue driving forward a programme of activities that reflects the resident
engagement strategy. The strategy was first adopted in 2013, and the priorities
outlined in the strategy were re-iterated and confirmed at the residents’ conference in
2014. Our priorities for 2015/16 will continue to build on that strategy.
47. Continue to effectively manage the Getting Involved (GI) grants programme worth
£150k which last year involved 26 TRAs and over 3,500 residents. To hypothecate
money received through the mobile telephone mast income paid by telecoms
providers to fund the programme going forward.
48. Consolidate ‘Edible Living’ by increasing food growing areas by 50 per cent.
49. Expand Learning works to 40 residents for Community Action in Housing course; 24
for Level 3 in Award in Education & Training; 40 for finance/bookkeeping & 20 for
managing community facilities.
50. Launch Community Pride awards (which will replace the Estate Pride awards) by
March 2015 with awards ceremony in November 2015. Throughout 2014/15 we
consolidated the achievements secured in the first year by working on 10 estates with
a variety of communal projects identified by residents as priorities. These ranged from
landscaping on Solon Estate to providing outdoor gyms on Sackville and Vauxhall
Gardens. In 2015/16 new projects will be themed around refuse and recycling, healthy
living and designing out crime subject to consultation with residents.
Ref No:
Indicator
36
ALMO tenant engagement [Annual]
37
ALMO BME tenant engagement [Annual]
Agreed
target for
2015/16
52%
52%
3. Supporting the operational teams
3.1 Finance
51. Deliver another year of value for money savings. Review of contracts including
tightening the financial controls around contact management.
52. Ensure that Lambeth Living complies with its statutory priorities in closing down the
company at re-integration.
53. Deploy our reserves to support Lambeth’s strategic priorities.
11
54. Lead the delivery of a 5 per cent reduction in the fee budget for 2015/16 by working
with heads of service by agreeing savings in staffing and non-staffing budgets. This
will include reducing the number of interim and agency staff and making posts
permanent where possible. Looking at rationalising posts where there are current
vacancies.
55. Lead the delivery of a 5 per cent reduction in the delegated budget for 2015/16.
56. Deliver all closedown tasks as agreed with Corporate Finance.
3.2 Human Resources
57. Enable and empower managers to lead and manage staff through their own
development in key areas of management skills.
58. Provide appropriate support to the business to ensure a smooth and effective reintegration of Lambeth Living back into the council on 26 June 2015.
59. Working as part of the Council to resource job roles with the right skills and
experience through effective recruitment and selection processes.
60. Ensuring induction, probation and appraisals are completed on time and in line with
organisation objectives, and provide SMART objectives aligned to the Business plan
61. Using management information and business intelligence to challenge manager
performance management.
62. Assisting in the reduction of absence, attrition and the improvement of performance
through a learning culture and positive environment.
63. To drive forward capacity and capability building through:
 the new management development programme and a second round of Residents
First training based on the Mary Gober Institute approach. To deliver a total of 24
management training days, 2 one-day and 8 half-day residents first workshops
 take forward the fourth cohort of Lambeth Living direct apprentices
 sponsoring colleagues to undertake professional qualifications via the PQS
 the general training calendar, delivering Microsoft Office training packages,
functional skills (underway with 20 participants), business IT skill and soft skills
 14 technical skills modules covering project management, contract management,
property inspections, schedule of rates and tenancy management
 talent management ( with a current cohort of 8). Development activities covering
mentoring, shadowing, leadership and management skills development and
membership of the Service Improvement Group (SIG).
3.3 Performance and Planning
64. Continue to embed the programme management office (PMO) function by working
closely with project managers across the business to provide monitoring, advice and
guidance to deliver successful and timely project outcomes.
65. To make best use of business intelligence to shape Lambeth Living’s strategic
direction and priorities:
 expand LHS survey to include tenants and years 2 and 3
12


secure agreement from HouseMark to re-introduce withdrawn KPIs
champion the use of the Best in London index as a means to drive service
improvement.
66. Develop the team’s performance improvement function by agreeing a programme of
business reviews and developing the scrutiny and governance tools necessary to
ensure that the recommendations from these reviews are implemented.
67. Lead the business’s operational and strategic planning and monitoring functions. To
support all heads of service in developing cogent and well-focussed service delivery
plans, and to lead the work in monitoring and reporting on progress in delivering
those plans. To included leading the quarterly, six monthly and annual reviews for the
Board and Client team.
3.4 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
68. Implement functionality for managing the Capital Programme in our new Keystone
system which will make possible enhanced contract management, a better and more
structured approach to planned maintenance, and better management of asbestos
and fire safety across our housing stock.
69. Improve our repairs and appointments systems.
70. Improve our rent and service charge collection facilities, particularly in relation to
welfare reform, and major works recharges.
71. Provide excellent training to ensure colleagues understand all the recent
improvements to our IT systems and use them effectively to improve efficiency and
customer service. We plan to develop our eLearning Library and provide around
1,300 classroom places during 2015/16, training colleagues to manage all areas of
our work using our Northgate Housing and Keystone systems, including around 300
training days for Repairs and Disrepair, 300 for Tenancies & Voids, 100 each for
Introduction to Northgate, CSM, Arrears, Document Management, Reports, and the
Capital Programme, and 50 for Service Charges. We will also provide approximately
100 Training Surgery days at satellite offices. (We recognise that these numbers may
change in response to new priorities after reintegration).
72. Develop our Residents’ Portal, SMS messaging, and other new cost-saving and
convenient channels for communicating with residents. To continue the approach
begun in 2014/15 of working closely with our Council counterparts (especially
Customer Service Transformation Manager) to manage the re-integration of the
Lambeth Living website and the ‘My LL’ residents’ portal into the Council’s web
environments.
73. Maintain and improve our management information reporting system, and ensure
data on our systems is accurate and complete.
74. Investigate ways to improve IT facilities for new parts of the Housing Service
following reintegration with the Council.
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3.5 Communications
75. To manage consultation and transition arrangements throughout the process of reintegration to minimise service disruption.
76. Post integration we will develop process to engage with the Council on the
continuation, integration or deletion of the current suite of Lambeth Living
publications.
77. We will communicate improvements in the delivery of key services to residents
through:
 Living Local magazine (4 issues)
 Lambeth Talk magazine (11 issues)
 Weekender newspaper (12 issues)
 Web-based channels including the website Twitter account.
78. We will ‘show and tell’ residents about the benefits of the investment in the Lambeth
Housing Standard (LHS) through:
 News items disseminated through the channels listed above
 The Lambeth Country Show
 Ward-level website updates to councillors, with at least 4 issues for each of 21
wards
 A ‘What to Expect’ booklet for external works
 Publicity for the Community Investment Core Group (CICG) about the benefits for
the borough arising from the apprenticeships and other social investment
components of the capital programme.
79. We will build a feeling of pride, break down silo working and promote the core value
of working together and build engagement through:
 Living Voice magazine, 11 issues
 Facilitating at least 6 meetings and reports for the Committee for Communication
 Organising and running the annual conference
 Re-launching Living Space and new file sharing functionality on a suitable new
web browser.
14
Annex A: 2015/16 Performance measures
<see separate document>
15
Annex B: links between the 2015/16 Lambeth Living Delivery plan and the 2013-16
Council Community Plan.
<See separate document>
16