YHN Delivery Plan 2012-13 - Your Homes Newcastle

Working with Newcastle CityCouncil (NCC)NCC set up YHN as a limitedcompany, and the Council is our oneand only shareholder. Ourmanagement agreement with NCC,which currently ends in March 2016,explains the services that we were setup to provide on behalf of the Counciland also describes the workingrelationship between us. Theagreement says that NCC and YHN:“intend to work within a spirit ofpartnership in order to continuouslyimprove the services and the way inwhich they are delivered”.This spirit of partnership underpins thework that we do and the services weprovide. Ways in which this happensare explained further in section four ofthis plan.We work closely with Newcastle CityCouncil on a daily basis at both astrategic and operational level. Wehave a key role to play in the deliveryof Newcastle City Council’s HousingDelivery Plan which covers the city'shousing priorities for next year and theobjectives over the current spendinground up to 2015. The three mainpriorities, for which we are key deliverypartners, are:A Working City - supportingemployabilityGovernanceDecent NeighbourhoodsTackling InequalitiesYHN is a company limited byguarantee and it has legal andstatutory duties under the CompaniesAct. We have a Company Secretarywho is responsible for making surethat business is conducted inaccordance with the law and forensuring that our governance reflectsthe Good Governance Standard forPublic Services. This comprises of sixcore principles of good governance,which include promoting the values ofthe whole organisation anddemonstrating good governancethrough conduct and behaviour. Ouradopted codes of conduct for staff andBoard members facilitate thepromotion, communication andembedding of proper standards ofbehaviour across the organisation.All of our governance arrangementsare set out in the GovernanceHandbook, a copy of which is issued toall Board members and is available onour website. The Board and its CommitteesThe Board has overall responsibility forthe management of the organisationand its primary responsibility is to setour overall strategy and to oversee theeffective implementation of thatstrategy.The Board meets every six weeks andhas five committees: Audit; Customerand Service Delivery; Finance andResources; Performance andRemuneration. Each committee hasTerms of Reference that set out thepurpose of the committee and mattersfor which it is responsible. The Termsof Reference are included in ourScheme of Delegations and copiescan be obtained from the CompanyAdministrator. Each of the threegroups of board members isrepresented on the committees. Wewill be carrying out a full review of ourexisting committee structures includingroles and responsibilities during 2012.7