Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Catherine Phythian, Committee Services Officer 

Items
No. Item

13.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Altaf Khan (substitute Councillor Fooks).

14.

Declarations of interest

Minutes:

Councillor Hollick declared a pecuniary interest in agenda item 5: Grant Monitoring Information 2014/15 as he was an employee of South Oxford Adventure Playground a beneficiary of the grant programme under discussion.

15.

Updates since the last meeting

For scrutiny members to update the Committee on any developments since the last meeting.

 

The next Finance Standing Panel is scheduled for  2 July 2015

The next Housing Standing Panel is scheduled for  7 September 2015

 

Minutes:

No issues were raised.

 

The Committee NOTED the dates of the next meetings for the Standing Panels.

16.

Fusion Lifestyle Performance Report 2014/15 pdf icon PDF 3 MB

Contact Officer: Ian Brooke Tel 01865 252705,  ibrooke@oxford.gov.uk

 

 

Background Information

 

The Scrutiny Committee has agreed to receive an annual report on Fusion Lifestyle’s contract performance.

 

Why is it on the agenda?

 

For the Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise Fusion Lifestyle’s annual performance report for 2014/15.

 

Who has been invited to comment?

 

Councillor Rowley, Ian Brooke and Wayne Hawkins (Divisional Business Manager for Fusion) will attend to present the report and answer the Committee’s questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes:

The Head of Community Services presented the report and highlighted a number of key points:

·         The contract generated £1.36M annual saving

·         £14.4M capital investment in the 5 centres

·         the number of users had increased to 1.3 million and was projected to continue increasing to 2 million in 2020

·         134% increase in participation from the target groups

·         A reduction in CO2 levels per user had been achieved against the backdrop of increased participation

 

He said that the report contained a significant volume of data which had taken a lot of officer time to collate and asked the Committee to consider whether in the future a dashboard report could be used to update on the contract.

 

In response to comments from the Committee he explained that

·         the subsidy for the Hinksey open air pool would always be relatively high simply because of the base costs of heating an outdoor pool combined with a weather limited operating season

·         the assumptions supporting the projections for a continued increase in participation were robust and in any event the risk of reduced participation levels would be borne by Fusion Lifestyle

·         the external appearance and standard of maintenance for the 5 centres was an important element in encouraging participation and asked members using the facilities to alert him or his staff if there were instances of poor standards or prolonged equipment outages

 

The Scrutiny Committee were pleased to note the excellent increase in participation resulting from the investment that the Council had made in the facilities and in the contract with Fusion Lifestyle.

 

The Scrutiny Committee resolved to AGREE that future versions of the annual Fusion Lifestyle Performance Report submitted to the Committee should adopt a dashboard approach.

17.

Grant Monitoring Information for 2014/15 pdf icon PDF 67 KB

Contact Officer: Julia Tomkins, Communities & Neighbourhoods,

Tel:  01865 252685; e-mail:  jtomkins@oxford.gov.uk

 

Background Information

The Scrutiny Committee has asked for this item to be included on the agenda for pre decision scrutiny.

 

Why is it on the agenda?

The City Executive Board will be asked to note the report on Grant Monitoring Information for 2014/15. This is an opportunity for the Scrutiny Committee to provide comments to the City Executive Board.

 

Who has been invited to comment?

Councillor Rowley and the Grants & External Funding Officer   will attend to answer the Committee’s questions.

 

 

 

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cllr Hollick withdrew from the meeting for this item.

 

The Grants and External Funding Officer presented the report.

 

The Committee questioned why there was an under-spend on the small grants programme and the Social Inclusion Fund amounting to £21,040, and what happens to this money.  The Committee heard that this is absorbed into a corporate pot and noted that there had been unmet demand in other parts of the Council’s Community and Voluntary Organisations (CVO’s) grant programme.

 

The Committee also commented on particular line items listed in the appendices and questioned whether attendees were confident that some of these were delivering best outcomes for the money - for example, the cost of around £5,000 per homeless person assisted. Could more be helped by a different mix of service provision? On the other hand, the Committee noted that some grant spending delivered exceptionally good value - for example, money spent on benefits advice delivered approximate 8x the value in additional benefits. The Committee heard that the project descriptions should be viewed in their full context of providing wider community benefits and officers offered to provide more information on particular projects if required.

 

The Committee resolved to submit the following recommendation to the City Executive Board:

 

That the under-spend of £21,040 is rolled forwards and spent on grants to community and voluntary organisations in 2015/16.

18.

Statement of Community Involvement in Planning 2015 pdf icon PDF 100 KB

Background Information

The Scrutiny Committee has asked for this item to be included on the agenda for pre decision scrutiny. The Committee reviewed an earlier draft of this report at its meeting on 10 November 2014 and recommended to CEB that:

“The Statement of Community Engagement clearly sets out how members of the public can access paper version of planning documents”.

 

Why is it on the agenda?

The City Executive Board on 9 July 2015 will be asked to adopt the Statement of Community Involvement in Planning 2015.   This is an opportunity for the Scrutiny Committee to provide comments to the City Executive Board.

 

Who has been invited to comment?

Councillor Hollingsworth and xxx will attend to answer the Committee’s questions.

 

 

Contact Officer: Lyndsey Beveridge, Planning and Regulatory,

Tel:  01865 252482;  e-mail:  lbeveridge@oxford.gov.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members of Planning and Regulatory Services presented the report, explaining that it was both best practice and a legal requirement that the Council had a formal Statement of Community Involvement in Planning.  They explained that this document had been subject to public consultation and consideration by all councillors.  An Action Plan has been added to capture suggested changes and improvements which cannot be immediately addressed, often because of the need for IT system improvements.

 

The Scrutiny Committee supported the adoption of the Statement of Community Involvement in Planning (2015) and commended officers on the document’s tone and the way it was written.  The Committee noted the statutory nature of the document and the need to refrain from designing a planning toolkit whilst considering it.

 

The Scrutiny Committee made the following observations:

·         it was important to avoid becoming over reliant on the internet and social media to publish and communicate planning matters

·         the Planning Review Committee and Area Forums were not mentioned in the Statement

·         the use of visualisation tools was a welcome development and suggested that this should be made more explicit in the document, with a link to the help-sheet added

·         resident groups should be able to register an area of interest and receive auto-notifications.  The Committee heard that the Council’s IT systems did not currently enable this but that it was not technically difficult to do.  Officers were looking to achieve wider involvement through methods such as the Council’s app, and are exploring whether local groups could play a role in making planning documents available in paper form

·         whether in addition to site notices, printed letters should be sent to neighbours to inform them of planning applications.  The Committee noted that the cost of issuing notification letters for the 2,000 planning applications processed each year was 45k and that this cost had not been budgeted for.  Members asked whether lower cost alternatives were available, for example, could officers post copies of site notices through nearby letterboxes when putting these notices up.

 

The Scrutiny Committee AGREED to make the following recommendations to the City Executive Board:

 

1.    We endorse the draft Statement of Community Involvement in Planning subject to minor amendments to include a reference to the Planning Review Committee, Area Forums and external guidance on the use of visualisation tools.

 

2.    We recommend that the City Council continues to explore new and improved ways of informing residents and community organisations of local planning issues, using both on-line and off-line communication methods.  In particular, enhancements to ICT systems should be prioritised so that individuals and groups that have signed up can receive automatic notifications when specific planning applications are progressed or amended.

 

3.    We recommend that the City Council explores whether there is a lower cost means of informing local residents of planning applications as an alternative to “neighbouring property notification letters”.  We suggest that proposals are brought forward in the next budget round.

19.

Report of the Inequality Panel pdf icon PDF 267 KB

  

Contact Officer: Andrew Brown, Scrutiny Officer

Tel 01865 252230, abrown2@oxford.gov.uk

 

Background Information

 

The Scrutiny Committee in 2014/15 commissioned the Inequality Panel to undertake a time-limited review that would draw together a number of related topics that City Councillors wanted to explore.  The Committee agreed on 10 November 2014 that the main aims of the review would be to:

 

  1. Understand the scale, reasons and impact of inequality in Oxford.
  2. Identify specific areas where the City Council can make the most difference in combatting inequality.
  3. Make deliverable, evidence-based recommendations that are co-produced with local citizens or stakeholders where possible.

 

Why is it on the agenda?

 

For the Scrutiny Committee to review and comment on the report of the Inequality Panel before it goes to CEB on 9 July 2015.

 

Who has been invited to comment?

 

Councillor Coulter, the Chair of the Inequality Panel, and Andrew Brown, Scrutiny Officer will present the report and answer questions.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Van Coulter presented the report of the Inequality Panel: “Combatting Inequality – Is Oxford City Council doing all it can to make Oxford a fairer, more equal place?”

 

On behalf of the Standing Panel he thanked all of the organisations and individuals who had contributed to the inquiry, in particular the Scrutiny Officer.

 

He explained that the report was still subject to some final drafting changes to ensure that the recommendations, if accepted, would allow the Council to work within the law.  The Committee noted that the report would be submitted to the July meeting of the City Executive Board but given that the recommendations have significant resource implications a formal response would be made in September.

 

The Committee agreed that the reference to a Green Belt Review in Recommendation 5a) should be changed to a county wide land review.

 

The Committee agreed that Recommendation 15 should include the need to make full use of Discretionary Housing Payments funding.

 

Councillor Coulter agreed to speak to the City Executive Board to offer the assistance of the Inequality Standing Panel in reviewing the resource implications and prioritisation of the recommendations.

 

The Committee resolved to APPROVE that Inequality Panel report on Combatting Inequality should be submitted to the City Executive Board meeting on 9 July 2015, subject to some minor drafting changes and with the following statement of support:

 

“That the Scrutiny Committee recognise that the recommendations in the report have significant cost implications for the Council and that there will need to be some prioritisation on the part of the CEB which members of the Panel would be willing to help with”.

20.

Work Programme and Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 54 KB

 Contact Officer: Andrew Brown, Scrutiny Officer

 Tel 01865 252230, abrown2@oxford.gov.uk

 

Background Information

The Scrutiny Committee operates within a work programme which has been set for the 2015/16 council year. This programme will be reviewed at every meeting so that it can be adjusted to reflect the wishes of the Committee and take account of any changes to the latest Forward Plan (which outlines decisions to be taken by the City Executive Board or Council).

 

Why is it on the agenda?

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to set the priorities for its work programme for the 2015/16 council year.

 

In particular the Committee is asked to consider:

     Which suggested future scrutiny items / reviews should be a priority.

     Whether any salient issues or topics are missing from the work programme.

 

The Committee may wish to appoint lead members for priority reviews and ask for these to be scoped before the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

 

The Committee is asked to select which Forward Plan items they wish to pre-scrutinise based on the following criteria:

     Is the issue controversial / of significant public interest?

     Is it an area of high expenditure?

     Is it an essential service / corporate priority?

     Can Scrutiny influence and add value?

 

A maximum of three items for pre-scrutiny will normally apply.

 

Who has been invited to comment?

Andrew Brown, Scrutiny Officer will present the work programme, answer questions and support the Committee in its decision making.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report which detailed the topics for thee 2015/16 work programme.  The Committee noted the items carried forward from the 2014/15 work programme.  The Housing Panel would meet separately to consider their work programme for the year and report back to the Committee with their priorities in September.

 

The Committee considered the 36 issues which had been suggested as potential scrutiny topics and discussed their suitability in terms of the level of public interest; whether the item related to a corporate priority or essential service; the level of expenditure; and the extent to which the Scrutiny Committee would be able to influence or add value.

 

The Committee noted that the Scrutiny Officer would work on scoping and developing thwill submit an updated work programme report

 

The Committee agreed that:

 

1.    the following should be confirmed on the work programme:

 

Recycling Panel

Councillor Fry would adopt a “watching brief” on the implementation of the scrutiny recommendations.

Economic Development Panel

Will continue & consider looking at LEPs – scoping in early 2016

Cycling Panel

Will end after report submitted

single meeting review topics

Tree cover, biodiversity and the work of the Forest of Oxford / project to get even more trees planted in the city

Whether the Council would benefit from having a personnel committee

Public Spaces Protection Order

scrutiny panel review topic

Guest House regulation – scoping document in September. 4 person review group:  Cllr Van Coulter (Chair), Cllr Simmons + 2 others 

 

2.    the following should be added to the work programme as provisional topics for a scrutiny panel review (in no particular order), subject to further discussion at the September meeting of the Committee and further consideration of an updated work programme report from the Scrutiny Officer: 

 

scrutiny panel review topic

1.      Tackling loneliness among the elderly

 

2.      Youth Ambition

 

3.      Planning enforcement & regulation

 

4.      Educational Attainment

 

5.      Equality and Diversity

 

 

21.

Appointment of Chair for the Housing Panel

The Housing Panel met on 4 June 2015 and was unable to elect a Chair.  On advice from the Monitoring Officer, the decision to appoint a Chair has been referred to the Scrutiny Committee. 

 

The following councillors have been nominated and may wish to briefly explain why they would like to chair the Housing Panel:

·         Cllr Sam Hollick

·         Cllr Linda Smith

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Committee elected Councillor Smith to be the Chair of the Housing Standing Panel for the Council Year 2015/16.

22.

Report back on recommendations pdf icon PDF 48 KB

Contact Officer: Andrew Brown, Scrutiny Officer,

Tel 01865 252230, abrown2@oxford.gov.uk

 

Background Information

 

The Committee makes a number of recommendations to officers and decision makers, who are obliged to respond in writing.

 

Why is it on the agenda?

 

This item allows Committee to see the results of recommendations since the last meeting and the cumulative results of all scrutiny recommendations.

 

Since the last meeting the following items have resulted in recommendations to the City Executive Board:

 

·         Report of the Local Economy Scrutiny Committee

·         Covered Market Leasing Strategy

·         Housing Asset Management Strategy (Housing Panel)

·         Review of the HMO Licencing Scheme (Housing Panel)

 

The city centre PSPO report has been deferred to a future CEB meeting.

 

Who has been invited to comment?

 

Andrew Brown, Scrutiny Officer will present the report.

 

 

 

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report back on recommendations. The Chair said that he had asked the City Executive Board to provide clear and unambiguous responses to scrutiny recommendations to aid monitoring.

 

The Committee NOTED the report.

 

23.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Minutes from 2 June 2015

 

Recommendation: That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 June 2015 be APPROVED as a true and accurate record.

 

Minutes:

The Committee resolved to APPROVE the minutes of the meeting held on 2 June 2015 as a true and accurate record.

24.

Dates of future meetings

Meetings are scheduled as followed:

 

6 October 2014

10 November 2014

8 December 2014

19 January 2015

3 February 2015

 

All meetings being at 6.15 pm.

Minutes:

The Committee NOTED that the next meeting was scheduled for 7 September 2015 and that further meetings were scheduled on the following dates:

 

6 October 2015

2 November 2015

8 December 2015

12 January 2016

2 February 2016

7 March 2016

5 April 2016

 

All meetings start at 6.15pm.

 

 

The Committee recorded their congratulations to Sarah Claridge, Committee Services Officer, on the birth of her daughter.