Apologies were received from Cllr Van Coulter (substitute Cllr Dee Sinclair), Cllr James Fry (substitute Cllr Susanna Pressel) and Cllr Jim Campbell.

Apologies from Cllr Lygo (Board Member for Parks, Sports and Events) for having to leave before the Youth Ambition Strategy could be discussed.

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

There were no declarations of interest

Contact Officer: Pat Jones (Principal Scrutiny Officer), Tel 01865 252191, phjones@oxford.gov.uk

The Principal Scrutiny Officer presented a report which outlined the list of suggestions made for the Committee’s work programme for 2013/14. She outlined the operating principles of the Committee’s panels and the priority system for choosing issues to investigate. She reminded the Committee that tonight they are asked to choose the issues they want to put on their work programme and will scope the work required at a later date.

The Committee made the following comments on the topics suggested:

Contact Officer: Pat Jones (Principal Scrutiny Officer), Tel 01865 252191, phjones@oxford.gov.uk

The Committee resolved to consider the Forward Plan and decided to scrutinise the following reports:

1.      Grants Programme Commissioning Report

2.      Riverside Land- Acquisition

3.      Customer Contact Strategy

4.      Oxfutures fund – establishment approval

5.      Financial Performance and risk – quarter 1 progress

And refer the following reports to the Housing Standing Panel:

1.      Long Term Affordable Housing for Homelessness prevention

2.      Allocations review and changes to the allocation scheme

Contact Officer: Ian Brooke Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities

Email: ibrooke@oxford.gov.uk Tele: 01865 252705

The Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities and Councillor Rowley (Board Member for leisure services) presented a report on the performance of the Council’s leisure management contract with Fusion Lifestyle 2012/13.

• There has been an increase in the usage of all leisure centres in Oxford over the last 4 years
• Usage has increase in all four target groups with the largest increase being the users from areas of deprivation group.
• Participation amongst people with disabilities has improved by 16,000 visits in the last year an increase from a very low base.
• There is an imbalance of usage across City, with significant under participation in deprived area of the city.
• The cost of the contract has not changed significantly but the subsidiary is increased each year to take into account inflation.

The quarterly Leisure Partnership Board focus has been on expanding the GP health referrals programme and increasing activeness in Year 5 and 6 pupils.

The contract results you should expect to see are:

• Switching subsidy rate across centres - as income generated from well attended centres is transferred to the less used centres
• Full price attendees subsidising the slice card users

The Committee thanked the officers for the report and congratulated them on the improvements made.  They made the following:

Push to get people involved in leisure to benefit their health through the GP referral programme, should we be aiming for every GP in the city to be involved in the programme?

Is there scope to extend promotions such as the Taster sessions aimed at young people and the Get healthy, Get into sport programme?

The Committee resolved to note the content of the 2012/13 performance update for the Council’s Leisure Management Contract with Fusion Lifestyle.

That the Fusion leisure services performance report for 2013/14 focus on the outreach work only between Fusion and the target groups, and outlines when there are variations in contract cost.

Contact Officer: Ian Brooke, Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities

Email: ibrooke@oxford.gov.uk Tele: 01865 252705

The Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities presented a report on the Youth Ambition Strategy which was consulted on in May 2013. The strategy aims to provide positive activities for young people that will teach them skills that will prepare them for entering the workforce.

The strategy has been developed on the needs of young people after consultation with youth. It is expected that frequent youth consultation with occur to make sure the strategy remains current.

The strategy relies on partnerships will other agencies ie Sport England to be formed to run and fund activities for young people.

The Committee questioned how officers planned to measure the value of performance, as the strategy was missing any base figures to measure from.  

They outlined the importance for youth to have a safe place to go to spend time with other young people and the success of the Blackbird Leys Friday youth evenings at the community centre, which had

The Committee resolved to send a report to CEB with the following recommendations:

1.         To provide now a set of concrete outcome measures focused on the direct effects on the ambitions and pathways of the young people involved in this work.

2.         To monitor and revisit regularly the type of activity provided to ensure that it is flexible, contemporary and engaging the right numbers, in the right place, at the right time. 

3.         To express the need for the provision of safe spaces for young people to express themselves as an overarching priority for all the schemes, actions and outcomes within this Strategy.

Contact Officer: Roger Pitman, Environmental Development Officer

Email: rpitman@oxford.gov.uk Tele: 01865 252380 

The Environmental Development Officers and Councillor Tanner (Board Member for Cleaner, Greener Oxford) presented a report on the draft Low Emissions Strategy and Air Quality action plan which are being presented to CEB next week.  The strategy/action plan aims to reduce carbon and air quality emissions through the following initiatives:

• Reduce emissions by discourage delivery vans/ lorries in the city centre
• 5% reduction in CO2 target for the Council’s vehicle fleet.
• Work with partner agencies ie County Council as Transport Authority to form programmes that will reduce carbon/ emissions.

The strategy is ground-breaking by linking air quality emissions with CO2. The draft strategy is looks at the whole picture - it is a framework not an exact programme. Its aim is to provide possibilities so we know what the priorities are, where there are gaps and which agencies can deliver what programmes.

Cllr Simmons commented that the strategy was very aspiration but there had been no consultation with the Carbon Management Board and that some of the figures (for carbon reduction) didn’t add up.

Cllr Tanner responded that due to the timeframe it had not been possible for the Carbon Resource Board to comment on the strategy before it goes to CEB, however he plans for the Carbon Management Board to see it at its next meeting in September. He doesn’t want the strategy to delay going to CEB – so that the Carbon Management Board can see it first.

The Committee resolved to send a report to CEB with the recommendation:

To support the setting of the Low Emissions Strategy and ambitions but for the City Executive Board to require early reference of the document to the Carbon Management Board so that gaps on data, resources and financing can be discussed and a robust action plan produced. 

Minutes of the meeting held on 4^th June attached.

The Committee resolved to APPROVE the minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2013 as a true and accurate record.

Meetings are scheduled as follows:-

5^th September 2013 – please note change of date

1^st October 2013

5^th November 2013

3^rd December 2013

14^th January 2014

4^th February 2014

4^th March 2014

1^st April 2014

All meetings start at 6pm.

The Committee noted the next meeting was scheduled for 5 September 2013