Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Becky Haggar (Councillor Peter Smallwood was present as her substitute).

There were no declarations of interest in any matters coming before this meeting. 

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2025 be agreed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That all items of business be considered in public. 

The Chair welcomed those present to the meeting and noted that Councillor June Nelson had been replaced in the Committee by Councillor Labina Basit.  He welcomed Councillor Basit and thanked Councillor Nelson for her long-standing service to the Committee. 

The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (THH)

Mr Jason Seez, Chief Infrastructure and Redevelopment Officer at THH, advised that he would be providing Members with an update on the Hillingdon Hospital redevelopment project as well as a general update.  Insofar as the redevelopment was concerned, it was noted that the Government had undertaken a review of the New Hospitals Programme (NHP) and made an announcement in January regarding the priorities – Hillingdon had been the only London hospital that had been included in wave one.  It was noted that THH’s enabling and decamp work had slowed down during the review. 

In April, the requirements had been confirmed and an agreement with NHP had now been signed with a requirement for the design to be in line with the Hospital 2.0 specifications.  Although planning approval had previously been granted, the application was being refreshed to ensure compliance with Hospital 2.0 and stakeholders would be consulted as part of this process.  It was anticipated that the contractor selection / onboarding process would be undertaken in 2026 – NHP would be selecting larger building companies to undertake this work.  The Outline Business Case would be completed in 2026 and the Full Business Case (FBC) in 2028 with the new hospital build starting in 2028 and expected to be open by the end of 2032. 

Knowing how long it took for things to happen, it was queried how the building work could start in 2028 when the FBC would submitted that same year.  Mr Seez advised that it was a lengthy process to get things through the NHP, so THH had codesigned everything with NHP as the project had progressed.  This meant that, when the FBC was submitted, NHP would already be cognisant of its contents and there should be no serious questions. 

Concern was expressed that 2028 was very close to the next general election and that a change in government might impact the redevelopment project.  Mr Seez recognised that the long term project management was at the mercy of political cycles and, as such, it would be important to start the construction before the next general election.

Members praised Mr Seez and his team for their hard work in getting Hillingdon Hospital into wave one but queried whether, as it had already taken many years to get to this stage, this new build was definitely going to happen.  Mr Seez noted that it could feel like the process had gone back a stage as planning permission had already been agreed once and was now having to be resubmitted.  He believed that the project would be making progress again by the summer of 2026 - the financial commitment from the Government had been received and, once the builder had been identified, the design would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Ms Sandra Taylor, the Council’s Corporate Director of Adult Social Care (ASC) and Health, noted that the Committee had previously asked for the ASC budget to be benchmarked against other local authorities.  She advised that the use of resources report had been completed and included data from the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) which was out of date.  An updated version of the report would be published the following week and would be reviewed for the Committee.  It showed Hillingdon as providing very good value for money and low cost in comparison to other London boroughs, therefore demonstrating the Council’s good use of limited resources. 

Since the Committee’s meeting in September 2025, officers had undertaken a lot of work in relation to demand growth and inflation.  There had been pressure on the placements budget so officers had spent 8-12 months going through this.  However, Ms Taylor was confident that the older people’s placements had started to stabilise and Hillingdon Hospital had managed to work through the elective backlog which had had a positive impact on older people’s services. 

The increase in neuro diverse demand on health services had been reflected in social care.  As a result of the inspection process, there had been some improvements to the number of direct payments being made which provided good value for money as well as giving residents the autonomy to make their own choices.  Mr Martyn Storey, the Council’s Head of Finance – Adult Social Care, advised that the volume of home care had reduced as the number of direct payments had increased.

Mr Matt Davies, the Council’s Director of Strategic and Operational Finance, advised that the Month 6 position showed a £5.1m overspend which the ASC team had been trying to mitigate by making savings to offset the overspend.  The renegotiation of the social care contracts had been flagged as a red risk with a value of £1.7m as a result of increases in NI charges and the rising older people population. 

There had been challenges with regard to the Section 117 funding split with the North West London Integrated Care Board (NWL ICB) with Hillingdon receiving 37% of the funding (whereas other London boroughs received a fairer percentage ranging from 40% to 50%).  Ms Taylor advised that the ICB determined how much the local authority would receive and Hillingdon had received the lowest percentage in NWL since 2019.  As such, discussions were underway with the ICB to try to redress the balance. 

Mr Davies noted that, if a service was looking to achieve a savings target, it could reduce costs or create additional income.  Members were advised that the £5.1m overspend equated to around 2% of the budget.  There were a number of outer London boroughs that had reported an overspend in the second quarter of this year including: Ealing (£2m), Brent (£1.2m), Kingston (£1m) and Havering (£6.57m).  There were a lot of pressures being faced by local government as a result of local and national issues. 

Whilst Members appreciated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

Consideration was given to the Cabinet Forward Plan.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

Consideration was given to the Committee’s Work Programme.  It was noted that the CAMHS update would be discussed at the meeting on 20 January 2026.  The Democratic, Civic and Ceremonial Manager would circulate the recommendations from the Committee’s previous CAMHS review to Members. 

It was agreed that the HHCP place based transformation update be moved from 20 January 2026 to 17 February 2026. 

RESOLVED: That:

1.    the Democratic, Civic and Ceremonial Manager circulate the recommendations from the Committee’s CAMHS review to the Members;

2.    the HHCP place based transformation update be moved from 20 January 2026 to 17 February 2026; and

3.    the Work Programme, as amended, be noted.