Apologies were received from Councillors Lygo, Sinclair and Smith.

Board Members are asked to declare disclosable pecuniary interests they may have in any of the following agenda items.  Guidance is contained at the end of these agenda pages.

No declarations of interest were received

When the chair agrees, questions from the public for up to 15 minutes – these must be about the items for decision at the meeting (excluding the minutes) and must have been given to the Head of Law and Governance by 9.30am on a day so that there are at least two clear working days before the meeting (email executiveboard@oxford.gov.uk or telephone the person named as staff contact).  No supplementary questions or questioning will be permitted.  Questions by the public will be taken as read and, when the Chair agrees, be responded to at the meeting.

Questions were submitted from Mr Gibson in relation to agenda item 5 – Fusion Lifestyle Annual Service Plan 2013/14.

His written questions with answers were distributed at the start of the meeting. These are attached to the minutes as appendix one.

Scrutiny committee reports may be submitted to this meeting.

None submitted.

The report presents Fusion Lifestyle’s 2013/2014 annual service plan for the management of the Council’s leisure facilities.

Following recommendation from the Leisure Partnership Board, City Executive Board is recommended to endorse Fusion Lifestyle’s Annual Service Plan for the management of the Council’s leisure facilities for 2013/14

The Head of Leisure and Parks submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) concerning Fusion Lifestyle’s Annual Service Plan for 2013/14.  Councillor Van Coulter, Board Member for Leisure Services presented the report to the Board and provided some background and context.

He asked the Board to note that:-

(1)   The contract with Fusion will deliver savings of £7 million (over base budget) over ten years;

(2)   To date it has delivered £3.5 million in investment and has increased participation in sports and physical activities;

(3)   There were 1.1. m recorded visits to leisure facilities in the past year, with the subsidy per visitor dropping to 57p for the year to date.

Councillor Coulter congratulated both Fusion and the leisure staff for their hard work. He noted that there was a need to drive up participation, especially from the more deprived areas of the City. He commended the report to City Executive Board.

Ian Brooke added that the Council and Fusion were keen to rise to the challenges, and that whilst many sports nationally were having difficulties with participation levels, Oxford had seen a 40% increase since 2009.  In answer to a question, Lucy Cherry reported that there had been an 85 tonne carbon saving in the past year, and that savings in water usage were expected.

Resolved to endorse Fusion Lifestyle’s Annual Service Plan for the management of the Council’s leisure facilities for 2013/14.

The attached report presents the draft Youth Ambition strategy for public consultation.

City Executive Board is recommended to approve the draft Youth Ambition strategy for public consultation.

The Head of Leisure and Parks submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) concerning the Council’s Youth Ambition Strategy. Ian Brooke presented the report to the Board and provided some background and context. He empahsised the following points:-

(1)   Oxford has an above average number of young people living in the City – almost 60,000 aged between birth to 24 years;

(2)   The diverse nature of Oxford is expected to continue, with almost half the births in the City being to mothers from outside the UK;

(3)   Almost 6,000 children in Oxford live in poverty and over 2,500 households with dependant children have no adult in work;

(4)   There are 250 people in Oxford defined as “NEET” (not in employment, education or training);

(5)   It can be seen that there are some significant challenges for young people living in Oxford.

Councillor Curran, Board Member for Young People, Education and Community Development added that young people in Oxford were especially affected by unemployment and cuts to services. Oxford was right to be concerned. To make its work successful, the City Council needed to work with other agencies.

Ian Brooke confirmed that the consultation would start at the end of April, run throughout May, and report the results to a meeting of CEB in the summer – probably early July.

Resolved to:-

(1)   Thank Ian Brooke and his team for their work on this issue;

(2)   Approve the Youth Ambition Strategy for consultation.

This item is included on the agenda to give members the opportunity to raise issues on the Forward Plan or update the Board about future agenda items.

Nothing was raised under this item.

If the Board wishes to exclude the press and the public from the meeting during consideration of any of the items on the exempt from publication part of the agenda, it will be necessary for the Board to pass a resolution in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 21(1)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2000 on the grounds that their presence could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in specific paragraphs of Schedule I2A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Board may maintain the exemption if and so long as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

None.