Introduction

Tai Cymru was established under the Housing Act 1988 to take over the functions of the Housing Corporation in Wales.

The main aim of Tai Cymru is to increase the supply of well managed, good quality housing for those unable to meet their needs through purchase or rental at open market prices.

Its principal activities in support of this objective are:

• planning, funding and supervising the social housing programme being delivered by Welsh registered social landlords

• ensuring through Performance Audit that registered social landlords consistently attain the high standards of probity, financial management and service delivery which are expected of them.

Tai Cymru is controlled by a Board of members appointed by the Secretary of State for Wales.

The Board comprises a Chairman and between 6 & 8 other members including the Chief Executive. Tai Cymru is divided into 3 divisions. Operations Division managing the housing association development programme, Performance Audit Division monitoring the work of associations and Finance and Administration Division.

Achievements in 1996/97

Following the National Audit Office examination of the main activities of Tai Cymru, the NAO concluded that: "Tai Cymru have generally performed well since their inception in April 1989. They have met or exceeded most of the medium or short-term development programme targets set for them by the Welsh Office; adopted a comprehensive approach to monitoring associations; exercised tight control of associations' development programmes; and taken initiatives aimed at achieving better value for money in procurement".

During 1996/97 the key targets set in Tai Cymru's Operational Plan were all met and in some cases significantly exceeded; as shown in the table below.

Social Housing Grant a fundamental change occured in the way funds are allocated to Registered Social Landlords. The allocation of funding in 1997/98 will for the first time, be based on information contained in the housing strategies and operational plans of each of the 32 local authorities.

Strategic Housing Agreements by 31 March 1997 eight such agreements, against a target of six, had been signed. These agreements build a closer working relationship with local authorities with an added focus to the problems and issues facing individual communities.

Rent Benchmarking - the introduction of a new sytem of grant allocation has encouraged all associations to emulate the achievement of the most competitive. Under this system associations only receive a development grant if they set their rents at or below the predetermined benchmark. The average assured tenancy rent in 1997/98 will be 13% lower in real terms than in 1993/94.

Regulation Tai Cymru has a statutory responsibility to regulate Welsh Registerd Housing Associations, who currently manage well over 50,000 properties in Wales. TaiCymru's role as independent regulator provides safeguards for tenants and establishes the confidence of private lenders. In 1996/97 a total of 66 audit visits were undertaken against a target of 60.

Plans for 1997/98

With an Annual Development Programme of £60m housing associations will deliver a programme of 2000 homes in 1997­98. Of these around 550 will be earmarked for low cost home ownership.

During 1997­98, 250 homes, with an estimated cost of £10m will be dedicated to re-generation working in partnership with local authorities to tackle run down areas in both rural and urban areas.

Tai Cymru continues to apply the principles of the Citizen's Charter, both for itself and in respect of housing associations. Key events have been the publication of comparative performance indicators of housing associations' activity as an important way of enabling the public to judge their efficiency and the establishment of a formal complaints service performing a similar function to the Housing Associations Tenants Ombudsman's Service in England. Following the decision to extend eligibility for Chartermark to housing associations, Tai Cymru will seek to encourage Welsh registered associations to apply for the award.

Tai Cymru has played its full part in the Competing for Quality initiative. One third of existing posts have been market tested and outsourcing of administrative support and services is regularly employed.

Tai Cymru has been in the lead in enabling the leverage of private finance into publicly funded projects. The first "mixed funding" scheme was developed in Wales and since 1989 private finance totalling £450m will have been provided to date.

Key Performance Targets
	1994/95		1995/96		1996/97		1997/98
Key Measure	Set	Achieved	Set	Achieved	Set	Achieved	Set
Completions	4180	4197	3600	3802	3500	3717	2900
Starts	3900	3614	3500	3688	2900	3200	2000
Private Finance (£m)	68	68	67	76	69	75	45
Unit Cost (£) (rented)	47,000	46,769	48,180	48,169	49,355	48,818	50,590