Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Huppert on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department takes to ensure that accommodation provided by the COMPASS contracts meets the Decent Homes Standards.

Karen Bradley

It is a statutory requirement that social housing meets the Decent Homes
Standard as defined in the Housing Act 2004.

All COMPASS contracts incorporate the requirements of the Decent Home Standards
for social housing as part of the contractual performance management
arrangements and are robustly monitored through three key performance
indicators which relate specifically to property standards.

Providers are required to inspect all properties on a monthly basis or at the
point when a service user first occupies the property. In addition, the Home
Office has a team of 17 contract compliance officers who also closely monitor
property standards as part of their contract compliance and assurance role.

Any failure of the critical service levels may result in financial penalties.