The report also found that the Association is securing continuous improvement and demonstrates strong corporate and strategic abilities.

Examples of good practice exercised by the Association are also identified in the report, which other similar organisations can learn from. These include: using race equality assessments to ensure that services are being provided fairly, working in partnership with local authorities to address the needs of homeless people; hosting a victim and witness support scheme to provide support to those experiencing anti-social behaviour; and regular compliance testing of the Association’s day-to-day procedures.

The report includes a number of recommendations designed to promote further improvement, including:

• Developing a comprehensive action plan for the delivery and development of tenant involvement activity and evaluating and reporting  on the outcomes for that activity;
• Ensuring that early and personal contact is made with tenants in rent arrears;
• Developing a comprehensive repairs appointments service; and
• Comprehensively evaluating the impact of debt prevention advice provided by the Association’s staff and by external agencies.

Jeremy Colman, Auditor General for Wales, said today:
“Overall, Cadwyn Housing Association is providing a good service to its tenants. And, with continued development of the areas I have highlighted in my report, the Association should be able to further improve the quality of its services. I have also identified a number of examples of good practice, which should be of interest and relevance to other public housing organisations in Wales.”

Notes to Editors:

• The inspection of Cadwyn Housing Association took place in March 2007. The Association manages more than 1,000 properties mainly in the Roath, Grangetown and Llandaff North areas of Cardiff and some in Caerphilly.
• The Association was established in 1974 and was winner of the UK Housing Award for Excellence in Social Housing in Wales in 2006.
• 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 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/regulatorycode
  has;jsessionid=9B45EEEB797A798A2F70307FCF99609A.www1?lang=en
• Services are rated using five different categories: ‘excellent’, ‘good’, satisfactory’, ‘scope for considerable improvement’ or ‘fails to comply with the regulatory code.’ A full description of each of the above categories is detailed in Appendix 2 of our inspection reports.
• All Wales Audit Office housing inspection reports are accompanied by a shorter, summary report, which is distributed to the Association’s tenants. This ‘summary of findings’ has been written by a Tenant Inspection Adviser. Tenant Inspection Advisers are tenants, employed by the Wales Audit Office, to provide a service-user perspective and help inform inspection findings.
• 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.