The Head of Law and Governance has submitted a report for the City Executive Board to consider the outcomes of a review of the Council's arrangements for flag flying and to agree a new protocol for flag flying and bell ringing together with lists of annual flag flying and bell ringing commitments.

Recommendations:That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Adopt the Oxford City Council Protocol for Flag Flying and Bell Ringing attached as Appendix 1;

2.    Agree the List of Annual Flag Flying Commitments attached as Appendix 2;

3.    Agree the List of Annual Bell Ringing Commitments attached as Appendix 3; and

4.    Delegate responsibility to the Head of Law and Governance for the operation of the protocol, including the arrangements for considering one off requests, and for holding and maintaining the List of Annual Flag Flying Commitments and the List of Annual Bell Ringing Commitments.

The Head of Law and Governance had submitted a report for the City Executive Board to consider the outcomes of a review of the Council's arrangements for flag flying and to agree a new protocol for flag flying and bell ringing together with lists of annual flag flying and bell ringing commitments.

The Chair introduced the report and proposed the addition to Appendix 2 of the Living Wage Flag, to be flown for a week at the beginning of April when the rate of the latest Oxford Living Wage takes effect.

In further discussion it was agreed that  flags should also be flown to mark the following:

a)    International Day of Persons with Disabilities  - 03 December

b)    Earth Day - 22 April (given recent Council resolution re Environmental Emergency), noting that if Earth Day fell on a weekend it would not be possible to fly the flag due to the timing of other commitments and a lack of available trained staff.

c)    For 2019 only the European Flag on Brexit Day (29 March).

All of which subject to the usual constraints about the ability to fly flags in certain circumstances as set out in the report

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Adopt the Oxford City Council Protocol for Flag Flying and Bell Ringing attached as Appendix 1 with the addition of those flags listed above.

2.    Agree the List of Annual Flag Flying Commitments attached as Appendix 2; with the inclusion of flag flying commitments for the Living Wage (first week of April), Earth Day (22 April) and International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December).

3.    Agree the List of Annual Bell Ringing Commitments attached as Appendix 3; and

4.    Delegate responsibility to the Head of Law and Governance for the operation of the protocol, including the arrangements for considering one off requests, and for holding and maintaining the List of Annual Flag Flying Commitments and the List of Annual Bell Ringing Commitments.