Agenda and minutes

• Councillor Ethapemi
• Councillor Aden
• Councillor Mistry
• Councillor Tazi Smith
• Councillor Collymore
• Councillor Mahmood
• Mr Alloysius Frederick
• Ms Rachelle Goldberg

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

Personal interests were declared as follows:

• Councillor Ketan Sheth – Lead Governor of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations received.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2025 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

There were no matters arising.

Following the update on Sickle Cell Care provided by London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH) to the Committee in September 2025, a briefing note has been provided which details further updates to Sickle Cell Care in North West London and the associated transfer of the Medical Day Care Centre at Central Middlesex Hospital to Ealing Hospital.

Lisa Henschen (Director of Transformation, LNWT) thanked the Committee for the opportunity to discuss the changes proposed to the Medical Day Care Unit and Sickle Cell Care at Central Middlesex Hospital, with the Trust looking to transfer the Day Unit from Central Middlesex Hospital to Ealing Hospital. She advised that London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWT) had been working closely with the Central Middlesex Hospital Medical Day Care Clinical Team over the last few months, who currently provided a combined service for Sickle Cell patients and a range of nurse-led day treatments and procedures for patients under a medical consultant, such as intravenous drips, iron infusions and injections which took around 2-3 hours and were considered semi-urgent. This had been reviewed closely in the context of the expansion of Sickle Cell Services that LNWT was looking to undertake. The Trust had successfully secured additional NHSE funding to expand the day care facility for Sickle Cell patients to better meet the needs of the local population and compliment the new inpatient pathway. She advised of two advantages to merit the transfer of the Medical Day Care Unit to Ealing Hospital, including the expansion of Sickle Cell Care in the way the Trust envisioned, and the alignment of Medical Day Care with the emergency pathway. The Trust recognised that Day Care Services were very important to the urgent care pathway, with many patients visiting an Emergency Department requiring Medical Day Services. Moving the Medical Day Care Unit to Ealing Hospital would align it with the hospital’s Same Day Emergency Care Services and relieve pressure on the hospital’s emergency department, freeing up acute space for critically ill patients and reducing waiting times. The same would not be possible at Central Middlesex Hospital because it had no emergency department or Same Day Emergency Care Service. She advised that the report provided further information on the volume of patients and specialties available, and added that the transfer was not a cost-driven exercise but a financially neutral service improvement initiative. There were plans for two workshops and an online survey to garner public feedback, as the Trust was aware of the travel implications for those currently using the Medical Day Care Unit at Central Middlesex Hospital. The Trust would also be looking to see whether this facility was needed at Northwick Park Hospital, learning from the transfer to Ealing Hospital.

Dr Arnab Datta (Care Group Clinical Director, LNWT) highlighted that LNWT had been focused on recognising the need to ensure equity and equality for Sickle Cell patients. Through a series of collaborations with the Sickle Cell community, and alongside Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust as the other major Sickle Cell care provider, the Trust had recognised that expanding Sickle Cell care as a Day Care Service at Central Middlesex Hospital would contribute to better quality management of pain in a daycare setting without the need to use an emergency department, enabling early and proactive management of symptoms and improving the quality of life of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To update the Committee on the progress made so far as a consequence of the self-referral made in April 2025 to the Regulator of Social Housing and Brent Council’s grading of C3.

Councillor Fleur Donnelly-Jackson (as Cabinet Member for Housing) introduced the report and thanked the Committee for scrutinising the housing function. She advised members that the report set out Brent Council’s response to the Regulator for Social Housing’s findings, which had graded the Council at C3, showing that serious failings in Housing Management had been identified and significant improvements were required. She advised that, since the grading, substantial progress had been made and there were regular monthly meetings with the Regulator and senior housing staff. The Regulator was satisfied with the progress the Council was making, which was being done across the piece on different areas of housing in parallel to ensure all actions required were put in place. She added that, as Cabinet Lead for Housing, this was not something she had anticipated she would face when stepping into the role but she was determined to see through the improvement actions and ensure the Council was doing everything to progress as a housing department and was on the journey to a C1 grade to be an effective and excellent Housing Management Service.

Tom Cattermole (Corporate Director Housing and Residents Services, Brent Council) provided additional information on the self-referral to the Regulator for Social Housing. He advised that, in April 2025, officers had identified irregularities with the True Compliance system, establishing that up to 12,500 fire risk assessment actions had been wrongly updated to indicate that works had been completed but the supporting evidence was missing. The system was also unable to reconcile performance data on asbestos management, water safety and detectors for smoke and carbon monoxide. Due to the seriousness of the findings, the Council had accordingly referred itself to the Regulator for Social Housing and began improvement works immediately. An independent health and safety specialist had been appointed to assist the Council in assessing compliance arrangements against the ‘Big 8’ areas of compliance, who had confirmed that there were significant systemic issues, particularly in data management issues, governance and policy implementation. The specialists recommended developing a comprehensive compliance framework, resolving data integrity issues, closing overdue fire risk assessment actions, establishing central registers for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, providing staff training on compliance processes, and implementing dashboards for real-time KPI monitoring. In progressing the recommendations, the Council had completed all high-risk fire risk assessment actions in high rise blocks, was rebuilding the compliance data system which was due for completion by April 2026, had recruited to the Compliance Team which was now at full capacity, and had regular meetings with the Regulator to discuss progress. The Council was also consulting and engaging with residents through a multi-channel engagement strategy including newsletters, web updates, direct communication and mini engagement days.

The Chair then invited Dawn Martin (Independent Chair of the Housing Management Advisory Board) to provide her opinion on the progress the Council was making in light of the grading. She informed members that she had worked in housing for over 20 years and was experienced in all aspects of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive an update from the Independent Chair of the Housing Improvement Board on the work of the Board.

Councillor Fleur Donnelly-Jackson (as Cabinet Member for Housing) introduced the report, providing an overview of the work of the Housing Management Advisory Board which was set up to embed tenant voice into the work of housing. She introduced the Independent Chair of the Housing Management Advisory Board, Dawn Martin, who would be responding to the Committee’s questions.

In presenting the report, Dawn Martin highlighted the following key points:

• The Board had been set up in April 2025 as a critical friend to hold Housing Management accountable.
• She had worked in housing for 23 years and therefore brought a breadth of experience and expertise to the Board as Independent Chair.
• Alongside the Independent Chair, there were three independent members of the Board, three tenants, three staff members from outside of the housing service, the Cabinet Member for Housing, and Councillor Robert Johnson.
• The Board met bimonthly and had met 4 times. The first meeting had been a welcome session and set the Terms of Reference for the Board. She had been clear that she wanted the Board to be visible and for tenants to know it existed.
• One of the meetings had been an estate walkabout where she advised the Committee she had been disappointed with what she saw. She described fly tipping, fire safety issues and disrepair amongst some of the concerns, highlighting that residents living on the estates should be living in a certain standard which she felt was not being met.
• The findings from the estate walkabout had been brought to the following meeting where Board members took the opportunity to ask questions of Housing Management colleagues about the issues and why certain actions had not been done. In response to the scrutiny, she advised that Housing Management had been very honest, open and transparent, and Tom Cattermole (Corporate Director of Residents and Housing Services, Brent Council) had visited the estates to see the issues for himself. Upon raising the issues on the estate walkabout, housing officers had taken swift action and made calls to the relevant contractors, and one of the tenant members of the Board who happened to live on the estate had informed the Board that the actions had now been carried out.
• The most recent meeting had looked at performance, with the report to the Regulator presented to each Board meeting to see progress, as well as all other housing management data such as rent collection and tenant satisfaction.
• She advised that, from her perspective, tenants did not have confidence in Housing Management currently and that trust and confidence needed to be rebuilt.
• She recognised that the current Housing Management Senior Leadership Team had inherited the issues identified and were trying to address them and there were positive conversations taking place with all stakeholders involved with everyone sharing the same aims and goals for the service. She added that the issues were not something that could be addressed overnight but would take time to embed, and there was a need to be realistic in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The report updates Members on the Committee’s Work Programme for 2025-26.

The Committee noted the Work Programme.

The report provides the recommendations tracker for 2025-26.

The Committee noted the recommendations tracker.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Deputy Director – Democratic and Corporate Governance or their representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.