The meeting of the Health and Adults Care Scrutiny Panel on 16 January 2025 was scheduled to include presentations about data use in social care commissioning and best practice in commissioning, as well as a discussion on the next steps for the panel. The meeting was also scheduled to involve consideration of the minutes of the previous meeting of the panel, which took place on 11 November 2024.

The minutes from the previous meeting indicate that the panel received a presentation about the strategic direction of commissioning in the council. This presentation was delivered by Cllr Lily Bath, the Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, along with Martin Waddington and Steven Forbes, whose roles are not specified in the minutes. Following this presentation, James Hearn and Martin Waddington gave a presentation with an overview of social care commissioning at the London Borough of Hounslow.

Minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2024

The minutes of the previous meeting show that the Strategic Direction of Commissioning in the Council was scheduled to be discussed.

The minutes record that Councillor Lily Bath introduced the topic and her role. The document describes Councillor Bath, Martin Waddington, and Steven Forbes as guests, but does not describe their roles.

The minutes say that Steven Forbes also suggested that the Panel should consider whether the current commissioning approach is actually as sound as it is believed to be.

The minutes state that James Hearn and Martin Waddington then gave a presentation about commissioning and contracting work at the council. They note that the presentation covered:

• An overview of the social care commissioning process
• An outline of the commissioning cycle
• The different forms and values of contracts with providers across Hounslow.

The minutes then say that the panel asked a number of questions about the presentation including:

• How decisions are made about the services that residents receive
• Whether individuals with assets over £23,000 can receive help from the council
• The definitions of 'spot contracts' and 'block contracts'
• How many providers the council has
• How the cost of care is calculated
• What happens when a service user can no longer be supported in social care
• How inflation is dealt with

The minutes record that Mr Waddington and Mr Forbes reiterated that staffing resource is key in the entire process and that we as a council need to pay the right amount and for services to be of a high quality. The minutes also note that the speakers said that all providers used by the council are London Living Wage employers, that this is checked, and that they must also be CQC registered.

Presentation on data and how it is used in Commissioning by Mark Bloomfield

The meeting was scheduled to include a presentation by Mark Bloomfield on data and how it is used in commissioning. No further detail was provided about the contents of this presentation.

Presentation on best practice of commissioning by Vid Calovski

The meeting was also scheduled to include a presentation by Vid Calovski, an officer of the council. This presentation was intended to provide an overview of best practice of commissioning at other local authorities.

Discussion on next steps

The final substantive item on the agenda was a discussion of the next steps for the panel. No further detail was provided about what this discussion would cover.