The Scrutiny Officer has submitted a report which details comments from the Scrutiny’s Finance Panel following an item on European Funding

Scrutiny Finance Panel’s Recommendations to the City Executive Board

1. We recommend that the City Council actively looks to bid for LEP managed funding in priority issue areas (see recommendation 2).

2. We recommend that the City Council identifies a small number of priority issue areas for future EU bids.  We suggest that these priorities should be drawn from the following short-list:

- Housing (see recommendation 3)

- Low Carbon Economy

- Sustainable transport

- Recycling

- Air pollution

3. We recommend that the City Council keeps a watching brief on details of the EU Strategic Investment Plan, including whether this covers housing, with a view to identifying viable projects in Oxford.

4. We recommend that the City Council explores whether there is an appetite amongst regional partner organisations for the establishment of a South East England European Office, similar to the East of England European Partnership Office.

5. We recommend that the City Council encourages Oxfordshire LEP to develop expertise and provide advice to local organisations on obtaining European funding.

6. We recommend that a member or officer champion is appointed to raise the profile of EU funding.  Given that maximising non-government funding streams is increasingly important to the City Council, this role could be explicitly set out in the responsibilities of an Executive Board Member.

7. We recommend that the City Council discusses the option of joint EU funding bids with Oxford’s Twin Towns and identifies other cities across the EU to partner with on future bids.  This could involve working with historic cities in Southern Europe on sustainable transport solutions, for example.

8. We recommend that the City Council identifies local businesses that it could potentially collaborate with on future EU funding bids.

9. We recommend that the City Council promotes the Low Carbon Hub model through MEPs or other suitable channels, and encourages its replication across the EU.

The Scrutiny Officer submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which detailed comments from the Scrutiny’s Finance Panel following an item on maximising the benefits of European Union (EU) funding.

In discussion the City Executive Board made the following observations:

Recommendations 1 and 5: that the Council was already working closely with the LEP.

Recommendation 4: that in the current economic climate it was unlikely that any regional partner organisations would be prepared to establish a South East England European Office.

Recommendations 6 and 8: that the Council has appointed an officer champion and as a member of the Oxfordshire Economic Planning Strategy Group has partners from the local business community for potential EU funding bids.

Recommendation 7: that all members should be encouraged to promote the possibility of joint EU bids with Oxford’s twin towns.

Recommendation 9: that the Council was committed to promoting the Low Carbon Hub model as demonstrated by its membership of the Covenant of Mayors and the Climate Alliance. 

The City Executive Board resolved to NOTE the Scrutiny Committee report and to provide a formal written response to the recommendations.

For the Panel to review a draft of its European Funding report following the item on 5 February.

Subject to the Panel’s approval and any amendments, the report can go to CEB for consideration on 14 May.

For the Finance Panel to consider how the City Council can maximise EU funding opportunities. MEPs representing the South East region have been invited to contribute to this discussion.  Executive Directors and City Council officers from a number of relevant services have also been invited.

The suggested structure for this item is:

-       Introduction by the Chair

-       Introduction from each MEP focusing on opportunities they see as relevant to Oxford

-       Officer update on the City Council’s current and historical EU funding successes/failures

-       General discussion 

-       Summing up / next steps