Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Stala Antoniades and Jacolyn Daly.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as an accurate record and note any outstanding actions. An action sheet following the minutes provides updates on actions from previous meetings.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2025 were agreed as an accurate record.

This report provides Policy and Oversight Board with an overview of the Council’s corporate and service transformation programmes which form part of the Council’s strategy to ensure the continued strong medium term financial governance of H&F.

Councillor Lisa Homan (Chair) gave a brief introduction to the item which provided an overview of the Council’s corporate and service transformation programmes which form part of the Council’s strategy to ensure the continued strong medium term financial governance of the Council.

Councillor Rowan Ree (Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform) gave an introduction to the item and set out the context for the transformation programmes. He noted that Local Government had experienced a 54% cut in real terms funding since 2010 while also seeing increasing demand pressures and constraints. However, he noted that Hammersmith & Fulham Council had successfully navigated those challenges and found savings while protecting frontline services. He explained that the transformation programmes in the report were strategic programmes to save larger amounts over the medium to long term. He noted that the Finance Peer Challenge Review earlier in the year had recommended the Council formalise its transformation programmes and report on them regularly, and this was the first of those reports. Councillor Ree said it was important to manage public money as carefully as possible and it was right to look at key areas such as staffing, the Council’s property portfolio, the use of data and technology, to ensure services were provided as efficiently as possible.

James Newman (Assistant Director of Finance) added that in addition to the five cross-cutting programmes discussed in the report, the Council was also continually looking at driving savings in all other areas.

Corporate Property Transformation Programme

Jo Woodward (Director of Planning and Property) presented the corporate property transformation programme. She noted that the Council had a relatively small corporate property portfolio at present, as much of the marketable stock had been sold off in previous years as part of cost cutting measures. However, 748 non-domestic assets remained in the portfolio, with 45% of them in the general fund. These included parks, business units, leisure facilities, and sub-stations. They were currently managed in a hybrid way – mostly devolved to the responsible service, but with central functions for compliance and facilities management. The Council was exploring a corporate landlord model – bringing functions into a single corporate strategic centre. Officers anticipated that would bring efficiencies and mean they were more aligned to the Council’s priorities.

Jo Woodward noted that the occupation levels in the portfolio were high at over 90%. The majority were subject to market rents, though some had restrictive covenants on them. She said the biggest issue driving the timeline for this project was the nearing competition of the Civic Campus. As services moved into the Civic Campus officers could look again at the operational estate and their requirements.

Digitalisation Transformation Programme

Jo McCormick (Director of Procurement, Commercial, and Digital) presented the digitalisation transformation programme. She highlighted that digitalisation was about improving work and service delivery across the Council – including taking advantage of automation and artificial intelligence. The workstreams included smart and connected city development, data driven service delivery, and service digitalisation. The Council’s Business Intelligence team was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

This item covers H&F Council being recognised as a Disability Confident Leader – the highest level of accreditation within the UK Government’s Disability Confident scheme.

Mary Lamont (Assistant Director, People & Talent) introduced the item that covered Hammersmith & Fulham Council being recognised as a Disability Confident Leader – the highest level of accreditation within the UK Government’s Disability Confident scheme.She noted that Hammersmith & Fulham was one of only five boroughs in London to achieve the accreditation.

The Chair asked how the accreditation was measured. Mary Lamont explained that it had been externally assessed through Disability Confident. The Council submitted information and supporting evidence with support from the Disability Equity Network.

Councillor Natalia Perez congratulated the Council for achieving the accreditation. She then asked if there was a system of regular monitoring in place to ensure the standard remained high. Mary Lamont said there would be further assessments. She also recognised there was always more to do in this area. She said the Council had a lot to be proud of, but officers were very keen to work with the Disability Equality Network and residents’ groups to keep improving.

Councillor Rory Vaughan commented that it was good to see the Council’s strategic commitment in this area being recognised. He highlighted the Disabled People’s Commission and the co-production work that stemmed from it which had now been embedded in Council services.

Councillor Nicole Trehy also gave her congratulations to all those involved and welcomed the benefits of this work for all residents.

The Chair also welcomed the report. She said it demonstrated how people can shape how services look and work for residents. And she hoped the Policy and Accountability Committees and the Board could also help shape services through transformation work. She then asked how long the accreditation lasted. Mary Lamont said it was assessed and re-evaluated every three years.

The Chair thanked officers for the report.

RESOLVED

1. That the Policy and Oversight Board noted and commented on the report.

This report provides an update on the meetings of the Council’s six Policy and Accountability Committees in June and July 2025 and the draft work programmes for September and November 2025.

The Chair introduced the report which provided an update on the meetings of the Council’s six Policy and Accountability Committees (PACs) in June and July 2025 and the draft work programmes for September and November 2025.

The Chair highlighted the Co-production reviews that had been to meetings of Children and Education PAC and Health and Adult Social Care PAC recently. She noted a Council-wide overview of Co-production activity was scheduled for the next meeting.

The Chair noted the Board’s suggestion of taking Council strategies to the relevant PACs for consideration. She felt it would be a useful exercise to look at whether the Council was delivering on what had been set out in the strategies. She asked officers to provide a list of strategies and whether they had been to PAC recently.

ACTION: David Abbott

RESOLVED

1. That the Policy and Oversight Board noted and commented on the report.

For the Board to discuss and note its draft work programme.

The Board’s draft work programme was presented for discussion and noting.

RESOLVED

1. The Board noted the draft work programme.

To note the dates of future meetings:

·       24 November 2025

·       4 February 2026

·       29 April 2026

The dates of future meetings were noted:

• 24 November 2025
• 4 February 2026
• 29 April 2026