Transparency data

RSH Board minutes - 21 July 2026 (accessible version)

Updated 12 October 2026

Applies to England

Public minutes of the of the Board meeting

on Tuesday 21 July 2026
PG49, 2 Marsham Street and MS Teams

Members present

• Bernadette Conroy (BC) - Chair
• Jonathan Walters (JW) - Chief Executive
• Kalpesh Brahmbhatt (KB)
• Dave Cassidy (DC) - Via MS Teams
• Chan Kataria (CKa)
• Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs (SK-S)
• Robert Light (RL) - Via MS Teams
• John Liver (JL)
• Geoff Smyth (GS)

Officers in attendance

• Angela Holden (AMH) - Director of Regulatory Engagement (LARPs)
• Kate Dodsworth (KD) - Deputy Chief Executive
• Karen Doran (KED) - Director of Regulatory Engagement (PRPs)
• Rob Holroyd (RH) - Senior Assistant Director, Investigation & Enforcement
• John O’Mahony (JOM) - Assistant Director Corporate Services
• Nikesh Shah (NS) - Interim Director Finance & Corporate Services
• Emma Tarran (ERT) - Senior Assistant Director, Head of Legal & Company Secretary
• Jim Bennett (JB) - Assistant Director for Policy, Strategy & Impact - item 9

Minutes

Christine Kitchen

1. Welcome and apologies

01/07/26 BC welcomed everyone to the meeting, and members introduced themselves to NS, who in turn gave members an overview of his experience prior to joining RSH as the Interim Director F&CS. There were apologies from Deborah Gregory, member and officers Harold Brown (HB) and Will Perry (WP).

2. Declarations of Interest

02/07/26 SK-S advised that she has been offered and has accepted a role at the Information Commissioners Office. BC and SK-S have discussed this, and SK-S has shared details with ERT of her full portfolio of interests.  CK will update the Register of Interests. 

In relation to agenda item 10, a conflict of interest was recognised for SK-S, RL and GS.  They will all be recused from the decisions proposed in the paper but would not be required to leave the meeting.

3 & 4. Minutes of meetings 02 and 16 June 2026

03/07/26 The minutes from the 2 June meeting were AGREED.

The suggested amendments to wording on the confidential and public minutes from 16 June 2026, will be incorporated and the final set of public minutes will be published on the RSH website.

5. Matters arising

04/07/26 Members noted the Matters Arising. Actions 07/06/26, 16/06/26 and 18/06/26 have been actioned and will be removed from Matters Arising. In addition to the remaining actions the following will be added as a consequence of discussions at the ARAC meeting the previous day:

• Digital Strategy presented to the November Board meeting - JW/NS/AHall
• Possible digital and data update Board workshop – date to be confirmed

6. Forward planner

05/07/26 Members considered and noted the forward planner. The next discussion on the Corporate Plan will be added to the planner - JW/JB/JOM

7. Chair’s update

06/07/26 BC updated the Board on the following:

• Appointment of new Prime Minister and Housing SoS:  confirmation that Angela Rayner has been appointed SoS for Housing, Communities and Local Government.  It is too early to know what their plans will be for housing.  We will continue to remain focussed on our current regulatory responsibilities and priorities.
• Select Committee: the discussion on the RSH had been brief but there were comments made in relation to the pace and reach of our regulation.  The Minister Matthew Pennycook will respond to the Committee in the first instance and JW will respond to the Committee about the concerns raised about how we operate.  Stakeholder Engagement: the webinars with the Chairs of PRPs had gone very well with good attendance numbers at each one.  Discussions were on similar themes at each – the discussion document, our role in regulation of RPs, the use of data, experience of inspections and responsive engagement and recruitment of NEDs.
• Housing Ombudsman:  a permanent replacement has not yet been confirmed.  Andrea Keenoy has been confirmed as interim.
• Deborah Gregory:  DG was sorry to have to miss what would have been her last meeting as a Board member and the Chair recorded the thanks of the Board and Management for her incredible contributions to the work of the RSH, both as a NED, and Chair of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee.  BC particularly wanted to note her personal thanks to DG for the support provided to her as Deputy Chair.

Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) Chair update

07/07/26 JL updated the Board on the ARAC meeting that took place on 20 July 2026:

• DDaT: update on progress with the digital project.  The team has been strengthened.  The digital strategy will be presented to the Board in November.
• Internal Audit (GIAA)reports: ARAC received the final reports on two audits.  HR Operations which received a moderate assurance with four recommendations.  The findings on HR and L&D will be linked into the corporate centre project.  Regulatory Assurance audit also received a moderate assurance rating with ten recommendations. The audit raised questions on pace and QA processes and there are also links to improvements to be made via the corporate centre project.
• Audit plan and Annual Audit Opinion:  audit plan is on track.  The overall conclusion is a Moderate assurance rating which was influenced by the advisory audit, which management felt was fair and recognised the rationale behind the rating.
• GIAA Performance report:  all audits completed on time.  Relationship with the finance team and ARAC continue to be positive and their recommendation that we improve our response times to audit actions was accepted by management.
• RSH Annual Report and Accounts:  first draft and comments from ARAC and management to be fed in by 24 July.  The treatment of pensions in the audit process remains something to be aware of, but there are no matters of concern.  Final ARA for sign-off in October.
• Strategic Risk Register:  the SRR has been updated.  One risk (Risk3) is back at appetite.  Digital is still at red, but as stated above, there is progress being made but not in all areas.
• Legal Risk Appetite:  this has been finalised following comments from members and will be adopted.
• Risk processes:  the operational risk registers will feed into the SRR and ARAC will get a template of the revised register in October and the final/full report to the meeting in January 2027.  The SRR will also be linked to the Corporate Plan work.
• Workshop was on regulating LAs:  extremely useful session.  We are working in a changing landscape, and it is important that we continue to highlight our concerns.  With a change in PM and SoS, we will need to watch and see if there are any changes that might impact our regulation.

08/07/26 BC thanked JL for a comprehensive report.  SK-S picked up on the need for improved digital capabilities but also felt we need to focus on leadership digital literacy.

9. Chief Executive’s update

09/07/26 Jim Bennett joined the meeting. JW took the Board through the CE update:

• Discussion document: this has been well received in the sector.  Early feedback from PRPs is showing questions on board autonomy, the balance of risk between new supply and existing homes and the proposals around stress testing and requirements for large providers.  Although LAs are not directly impacted by the proposals they are interested in any read across to our work with them.  We continue to work on generating interest in working with other regulators.
• Political changes:  too early to comment.
• Select Committee:  JB confirmed that the letter from the Minister has gone to the Select Committee and we are working on our response to the Committee.  JW confirmed the Board will be sent a copy of the letter when it is sent.
• Social Housing (Renewal) Bill report stage:  JB updated members on the amendments tabled on disposals, allocations, size of HAs, HA Boards. A review of shared ownership will follow in 12 months - JW
• FFR data: This data has just been received and is being analysed.
• I&E update:  RH updated members confidentially.
• Corporate Centre and Framework28 projects:  We are putting in place a new governance structure for F28 and taking an agile approach to project governance.   Stress points have been identified, and we will monitor staff welfare, however, the changes will result in a stronger organisational structure and better governance.  N&RC will be involved in all stages of these two projects and Board will also receive regular updates.  BC queried resource pressure points and JW advised that there is currently a freeze on recruitment, but we have a headcount capacity to bring in resource if and where a need is identified.

The remaining slides were NOTED.

10. Nominations & Remuneration Committee and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee membership

10/07/26 ERT presented the paper with proposals for changes to the membership of these two committees.  The members directly affected did not take part in the discussions or decisions.

13/06/26 Nominations and Remuneration Committee:  The Board considered and APPROVED the following proposals to: 

Noting that Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs was already a member of NRC, further APPOINT her as the Chair of NRC, with effect from the end date of Deborah Gregory’s appointment, until the earliest of:

• the end date of SKS’s Extended Board Appointment,
• the date on which SKS ceases to be a member of the Board,
• the date on which the Board decides to terminate her membership of the NRC.

APPOINT Robert Light as a member of NRC, with effect from the end date of Deborah Gregory’s appointment, until the earliest of:

• the end date of RL’s Board Appointment,
• the date on which RL ceases to be a member of the Board,
• the date on which the Board decides to terminate this appointment to the committee.

The Board DELEGATED authority to the Chair of the Board to sign a letter of appointment to reflect the agreed appointments set out above.

14/07/26 Audit and Risk Assurance Committee:  The Board considered and APPROVED the following proposal to: 

APPOINT Geoff Smyth as a member of ARAC, with effect from and including 21 July 2026, until the earliest of:

• the end date of GS’s Board Appointment,
• the date on which GS ceases to be a member of the Board,
• the date on which the Board decides to terminate this appointment to the committee.

The Board DELEGATED authority to the Chair of the Board to sign a letter of appointment to reflect the agreed appointments set out above.

11. Any Other Business

15/07/26 There were no other matters for discussion.

Date of next meeting: Tuesday 22 September 2026

Workshops

Workshop session took place on:

• Introductory discussion on 2027-29 Corporate Plan
• NFP & FPRP representatives