Announcements by:

(1)          The Lord Mayor

(2)          The Sheriff

(3)          The Leader of the Council

(4)          The Chief Executive, Chief Finance Officer, Monitoring Officer

The Lord Mayor announced:

-       This would be the mace bearer’s last attendance as he would be retiring before the next full council meeting, and the Lord Mayor thanked him for his service.

-       He had opened a very successful St Giles Fair.

-       He had attended the Oxford in Bloom awards ceremony

-       a successful visit and concert by the Perm Balalaika quartet 'Karavai'

The Sheriff announced he had spent time helping with flood relief in Southern Punjab in Pakistan, and thanked those who had donated to this.

The Leader of the Council informed Council:

-       About the multi-agency and multi-authority work to support Syrian refugees dispersed to Oxford and surrounding areas under the Home Office programme. It was understood that small numbers would be sent to the area each year. The nature and make-up of the households to be accommodated, and funding for this, was unclear: both in the short term when funds should be available, and in the longer term.

-       A proposal for devolution to authorities in the county was sent in to central government by the close of the consultation deadline. The initial response is that these may be taken forward with detailed proposals by the year end. There are outstanding questions on governance structures. It would be useful for the scrutiny committee to review this.

The Head of Law and Governance announced on behalf of the Chief Executive that at the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Service Awards in September 2015 Oxford City Council was named Council of the Year; won the Best Housing, Regeneration or New Build Initiative Award for our innovative Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing scheme; received a bronze award in the Gold Standard Challenge for its commitment to preventing homelessness from the National Practitioner Support Service; and was nominated in a further eight categories.