The Association was formed following the first large-scale voluntary transfer of housing stock in Wales.  Although clear progress had been made, at the time of the inspection in November 2005 services and arrangements for securing continuous improvement were still evolving.  For these reasons, the report concludes that it is too early to form any lasting judgements, either on the quality of services provided by the Association or on its arrangements for securing continuous improvement.

The report assesses the Association on a number of aspects relating to service delivery – its relationship with residents; equal opportunities; providing, managing and maintaining housing; and providing housing for people with support needs.  The Association has acknowledged that it needs to adopt a comprehensive strategy for dealing with maintenance; develop its relationship with residents, and improve letting arrangements.  To assist, the report makes a number of recommendations on areas for further development.  

The report also says that the Association has a good Business Plan in place, which aligns corporate objectives with financial resources.  However, there is scope to develop performance management arrangements to enable evaluation of the service standards being delivered.  Although the Association has a performance management framework, a lack of data at the time of the inspection constrained the evaluation of performance in some key service areas.

Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman said today:

“Valleys to Coast has made good progress in establishing a foundation for change since it was established in 2003. The Association now needs to focus on making further progress in a number of key areas. These include service quality and performance management if the re-inspection planned for 2007 is to paint a clearer picture of how the Association is performing and serving residents against the expectations set out in the Assembly Government’s Regulatory Code for Housing Associations in Wales.”

Notes to Editors:

• The inspection of Valleys to Coast Housing Association was undertaken in November 2005. A re-inspection of the service is planned for 2007.
• Valleys to Coast Housing Association is a non-profit organisation, established following the first large scale transfer of stock from Bridgend County Borough Council in September 2003.
• The Welsh Assembly Government has appointed the Wales Audit Office to carry out the inspection of housing associations in Wales.  Inspection is carried out under the Local Government Act 1998, as amended by the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004.
• The specific questions about each aspect the inspection covers are set out in the latest version of the Assembly Government’s Regulatory Code for Housing Associations in Wales. This can be found by clicking on the following link:
  http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/housingandcommunity/housing/publications/
  regulatorycodehas;jsessionid=9B45EEEB797A798A2F70307FCF99609A.www1?lang=en
• The Wales Audit Office is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £19 billion of annual public expenditure.
• The Wales Audit Office was created in April 2005 through the Public Audit (Wales) Act, 2004, which expanded the functions of the Auditor General for Wales and enabled the transfer of staffs from the Audit Commission in Wales and National Audit Office in Wales to his employment.

For further information, please contact Lisa Smyth (Communications Assistant) on 029 2026 2673 or email lisa.smyth@wao.gov.uk

ENDS