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Scrutiny Committee / Scrutiny Panel
Definition: Independent group of people who are elected or appointed to examine a local authorities decisions to make sure that they are right and fair. Some local authorities include Tenants on the Scrutiny Committee/Panel.

Section 16 Funding / Section 16 Agency
Definition: Under Section 16 of the Housing and Planning Act 1986 grants were available from the CLG to pay for a properly constituted tenants association, working with an authorised Section 16 agency, to pursue certain projects or receive training. This might involve looking at setting up a Tenant Management Organisation, carrying out an Options Study or receiving training from the National Tenant Training Programme. Section 16 Grants are only available to local authority tenants' groups. Section 16 grants are also known as Tenant Empowerment Grants.

Secure Tenancy
Definition: The vast majority of local authority tenants, and housing association tenants whose tenancies began before 15 January 1989, are secure tenants and have a range of additional rights covered in the Housing Act 1985.

Security of Tenure
Definition: A tenant's right to remain in their home indefinitely provided that they keep to the conditions of their tenancy agreement.

Senior Management Team
Definition: The group of senior managers and leaders in any division in the company, whose role it is to make recommendations and implement decisions made relating to their own service

Service Charge
Definition: The money tenants and leaseholders pay for services such as wardens, common rooms and cleaning, lighting and maintenance of common parts and garden maintenance schemes

Service Delivery
Definition: The way a service, such as repairs, is provided to the people who receive it.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Definition: A semi-formal arrangement covering the services that one department within an organisation will provide to another, or one organisation will provide to another.

Shared Ownership
Definition: Scheme which allows tenants to part buy / part rent a property. Tenants can increase their mortgage payments (and decrease rent) until they own the whole property.

Social Exclusion
Definition: A term used by the government to describe the situation of the millions of people living in the country's worst neighbourhoods who suffer from poor housing, poverty, high crime rates, unemployment etc.

Social Exclusion Unit (SEU)
Definition: "Set up in 1997. . . the SEU [works] with colleagues in departments right across Government to find solutions to some of the most intractable social problems and act as a catalyst for change at the heart of Government." (SEU website)

Social Housing
Definition: "Housing of an adequate standard which is cheaper than that which is generally available in the local housing market. This can comprise a combination of subsidised rented housing, subsidised low cost home ownership including shared ownership, and in some market situations cheap housing for sale". (CLG definition).

Social Housing Grant
Definition: The money that the Government gives housing associations or co-operatives to help them to buy, build, repair or improve homes for rent or sale.

Social Landlord
Definition: Provider of Social Housing such as a Local Authority or Registered Social Landlord (Housing Association)

Special General Meeting
Definition: 'Emergency' meeting of a group that occurs outside of usual group meeting times. A Special General Meeting might be called if new officers of the committee need to be elected, or if an urgent matter needs to be discussed. The group's constitution should state how a Special General Meeting is called e.g. " A Special General Meeting open to all members will be held if 12 or more members submit in writing a request for such a meeting to the Secretary. The Secretary shall arrange for the meeting to take place within 14 days."

SRB Single Regeneration Budget
Definition: A special government fund to improve estates. Started in April 1994, the SRB brought together over 20 existing funding programmes (e.g. Estate Action, City Challenge, HATs etc.) under one umbrella. Now subsumed into the Regional Development Agencies.

Standing Order (for Tenants' Groups)
Definition: Standing Orders are a set of `rules and regulations` which usually cover how meetings are run, how decision are made, terms of reference for committees/sub-committees and other procedural matters. Standing Orders should be used alongside a group`s constitution.

Stock (Housing Stock)
Definition: Property owned by a particular landlord is often referred to as their 'housing stock'.

Sub Committees
Definition: Small specialised committees who make recommendations and report to a full committee.

Succession / Right of Succession
Definition: The right to automatically transfer the tenancy of a property on the death of a tenant. For example, if a husband and wife lived together in the property and the husband was the tenant, upon his death the wife would automatically take over the tenancy.

Supporting People
Definition: A Government programme that came into place in April 2003. 'Supporting People' changes the way that supported housing is managed and financed in the social housing sector.

External Link : http://www.spkweb.org.uk/