Disturbing News for Residents and Taxpayers of Chiswick and Hounslow
Chiswick Homefields councillor Gerald McGregor reports back
Cllr Gerald McGregor
August 25, 2024
About the Care Quality Commission (CQC): Purpose and role
CQC is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England.
It works to make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.
They regularly monitor, inspect and regulate services and publish what they find and they have the capacity and authority to take action if they find poor care
Their recent report on care and adult services in the London Borough of Hounslow covered a lot of ground.
Demographics and Economic issues
Hounslow Council is a London borough authority which covers 23 square miles, stretching from Heathrow Airport in the west to Chiswick in the east. Hounslow is made up of 22 wards and combines both urban and rural. It has a population of 290,488.
The council footprint has an index of multiple deprivation score of 6, meaning it was slightly more than midway between the most and least deprived. This overall score consists of some very high-income areas and some very high deprivation areas. In 2019, 12.9% of the population of Hounslow were income deprived.
The population is made up of 50.3% women, and 49.7% men. It has a greater proportion of children and young people at 23.01% (66,828) and people of working age 64.97% (188,724) as compared to the England averages of 20.82% and 60.57% respectively.
The population is growing, but most of the population growth is expected to be in adults over 65 predicted to increase from 12.2% to 14.3% by 2031. Hounslow is ethnically very diverse. 52% are from ethnic minority backgrounds including 37.2% of Asian heritage.
Hounslow is in a care partnership inside the Northwest London Integrated Care System together with 7 other London boroughs. The local authority has a strong Borough Based Partnership board with other key stakeholders in Hounslow.
Financial facts
The financial facts for Hounslow from the full year ending 31 March 2023 are:
- The local authority estimated that in 2022/23, its total budget would be £442,931,000. Its actual spend for that year was £505,313,000, which was £62,382,000 more than estimated, a deficit of more than 14% on council spending. This is a huge overspend!
- The local authority estimated that it would spend £72,568,000 of its total budget on adult social care in 2022/23. Its actual spend for that year was £80,827,000, which was £8,259,000 or an 11% increase more than originally legislated for estimate.
- In 2022/2023, This meant that 16% of the total actual expenditure of the council was spent on adult social care.
- The local authority has raised the full adult social care council tax precept for 2023/24, with a value of 2%. The CQC noted that the amount raised through ASC precept varied from local authority to local authority.
- Approximately three and a half thousand people were accessing long-term ASC support, and approximately seventeen hundred people were accessing short-term ASC support in 2022/23.
- Local authorities such as Hounslow spend money on a range of adult social care services, including supporting individuals. No two care packages are the same and vary significantly in their intensity, duration, and taxpayer expenditure cost.
So given this record what is happening in 2024? This data is reproduced at the request of the Department of Health and Social Care.
It is food for thought when considering the ever-rising bill for council tax supporting Mr ULEZ (Mayor of London) and local inefficient processes and poor budget controls. We should be getting answers from the scrutiny panel about what is currently happening but don’t hold your breath for good news.
Housing and Housing Repairs
More evidence is being discovered about the failure to adequately repair and maintain council run housing property.
Pity the poor leaseholders, now paying ground rent and substantial (if not to say exorbitant) service charges; where the estates where their property is situated are subject to sometimes whimsical and arbitrary repairs in the blocks of flats and individual homes, that leave their property damaged and needing additional repair and reconditioning.
A classic problem repeated over and over in the tales of woe that we get are poor remediation involving heating and plumbing systems. Another issue is electrical systems, often accompanied by external door control and fire hazard when work is left part complete.
Councillors Jack Emsley, John Todd and I are working hard on some really knotty problems in Homefields ward, but some of the Chiswick public housing is approaching a hundred years old and there are limits about what can be done in a house designed for coal fires and not energy efficiency
Core Housing Management System
This was mentioned in my last report back. I am now following up on the series of Information Technology (IT) platforms which are meant to assist in the administration of good practice. It should be giving officers immediate access to general information about housing and the progress of works and should give an opportunity to improve service. We need to see if benchmarks of efficient performance can be validated and the tools now available can be put to real use.
As I said in July: “The whole Hounslow Conservative Councillors’ Group want to help all our residents live in habitable homes; to have peaceful enjoyment not continuous worrying about their living conditions, unkept appointments and promises from officers of a speedy return to complete the work, which is anything but when maintenance is delayed.
Cllr Gerald McGregor
gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk
07866 784821
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2024/25
Chiswick Area Forum is expected to be on Tuesday 24 September at 7.30pm
The Hogarth Hall, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, Turnham Green W4 4JN
The Next Borough Council Meeting is on Tuesday 17 September 2 at 7.30pm
Council Chamber. 6th Floor, Hounslow House,
7 Bath Road TW3 3EB
The Next Scrutiny Panel is expected to be on Thursday 19 September at 7.00pm Room 610. 6 th Floor, Hounslow House 7 Bath Road TW3 3EB
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR SURGERIES
Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the eight Conservative councillors take this surgery in turn).
Gunnersbury: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Gunnersbury Triangle Club, Triangle Way, off The Ridgeway, W3 8LU (at least one of the Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors takes this surgery).
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS and CONTACTS
Chiswick Gunnersbury (was Turnham Green) ward
Cllr Joanna Biddolph joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 703446
Cllr Ranjit Gill ranjit.gill@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702956
Cllr Ron Mushiso ron.mushiso@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702887
Chiswick Homefields ward
Cllr Jack Emsley jack.emsley@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 396017
Cllr Gerald McGregor gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784821
Cllr John Todd john.todd@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784651
Chiswick Riverside ward
Cllr Gabriella Giles gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 07966 270823
Cllr Peter Thompson peter.thompson@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 395810
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