Any recommendations of the Companies’ Scrutiny Panel which meets on 16 July will be published as a supplement.

Councillor Fry, Chair of the Companies Scrutiny Panel, was present to speak to the minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2019 and which had been circulated to the Shareholder. The Chair commented on the challenge of providing effective scrutiny in the short timescale between agenda publication and meeting date. Although there were no formal recommendations from the Panel they did wish to make reference to some issues.

The Chair began by commenting on the Oxford Direct Services Companies.  The Panel suggested it would be helpful to know if the chosen KPIs were based on local or national standards. The Panel welcomed the company aspiration that 10% of the workforce (c. 70 staff) should be apprentices but suggested that the target be revised to show delivery phased over time. The Panel was mindful of the challenges and opportunities facing the Trading Companies’ operations in the competitive waste and recycling market.

In relation to the Housing Companies the Panel welcomed the initiative to develop an “affordable rent to buy” model for those people unable to access traditional social housing or low cost home ownership. The Panel was also conscious that there were potentially some difficult trade-offs for the Council and the Housing Companies in relation to the commitment to deliver affordable housing and the additional costs associated with net-zero carbon housing.

The Managing Directors for the two companies confirmed that, where required, they would respond directly to the Panel on the points raised at the meeting on 16 July 2019.

The Shareholder thanked the Panel for its comments.