Councillor Ottino and Councillor Miles noted their membership of the General Purposes Licensing Committee and their involvement in previous discussions relating to the report being considered at this meeting.  

Councillor Ottino, Councillor Jarvis, and Councillor Powell noted that they had previously received correspondence from COLTA.  

None.

The Committee is asked to approve the minutes of the ordinary meeting held on 14 October 2025 and special meeting held on 5 November 2025 as true and accurate records.

Minutes of the Special meeting on 5 November 2025 will be published as a late supplement.

The Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the meetings held on 14 October 2025 and 5 November 2025 as a true and accurate records.  

Public addresses relating to matters of business for this agenda. Up to five minutes is available for each public address.

The request to speak accompanied by the full text of the address must be received by the Director of Law, Governance and Strategy by 5.00 pm on Wednesday, 5 November 2025.

None.

Councillor addresses relating to matters of business for this agenda. Up to five minutes is available for each address.

The request should be received by the Director of Law, Governance and Strategy by 5.00 pm on Wednesday, 5 November 2025.

Councillor Muddiman was not present at this stage to make her address. 

Cabinet, at its meeting on 19 November 2025, will consider a report to consider a delay to the final phase of emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles licensed by this Authority.

Councillor Anna Railton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for a Zero Carbon Oxford, Richard Adams, Community Safety Service Manager, Anna Dumitru, General Licensing Team Manager, and Joshua Curnow, Supervising Senior Licensing Officer have been invited to attended and respond to questions.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations.

Cabinet, at its meeting on 19 November 2025, will consider a report to consider a delay to the final phase of emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles (HCV) licensed by this Authority. 

Councillor Anna Railton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for a Zero Carbon Oxford, Richard Adams, Community Safety Service Manager, Joshua Curnow, Supervising Senior Licensing Officer, Emma Jackman, Director of Law, Governance and Strategy (Monitoring Officer), and Tina Mould, Environmental Sustainability Lead, were present to respond to questions.  

The Monitoring Officer presented the report and summarised updates to the decision-making process following the recent decision at the General Purposes Licensing Committee. Following advice from Counsel, the Committee were informed that due to nuances of case law and the need to ensure a decision on this as swiftly as possible for the benefit of the Hackney Carriage drivers, the report would now be taken to Cabinet for decision. Following this, an explicit resolution is expected to be made by Council on 24 November stating that it holds all future decisions on taxi licensing policy, addressing the points in the advice from Counsel that led them to conclude it was a decision currently resting with Cabinet.  

Councillor Altaf-Khan requested further clarification around the decision-making chain linked to the report and asked where the responsibility for the matter lies. 

Councillor Mundy and Councillor Corais joined the meeting. 

The Monitoring Officer clarified that the legislation requiring the next steps to be taken is not new, and any confusion does not relate to whether the constitution was adhered to or not. The matter instead rests on the nuances of specific examples of relevant case law which were not widely known about.  

Councillor Altaf-Khan queried whether this would be the new route for decisions from the General Purposes Licensing Committee in the future.  

Councillor Miles queried how the responsibilities of the General Purposes Licensing Committee may be impacted by these changes and asked whether these would apply to all licensing functions, or only taxi licensing. Councillor Miles expressed concern regarding the process of the decision taken at the last meeting of the General Purposes Licensing Committee. 

The Monitoring Officer clarified that each area of licensing has its own legislation, and the matters discussed during this meeting would apply only to taxi licensing. The Committee were assured that there is no proposal for the General Purposes Licensing Committee to no longer make recommendations to Council; it is however required that Council ratify this in an explicit statement to ensure the Council has made a clear statement that the decision is for full Council and does not default to Cabinet. In regard Council debate, it was confirmed that discussion of taxi licensing matters is permitted and the Monitoring Officer clarified that the steps now being taken are not politically influenced.  

Councillor Muddiman joined the meeting. 

The Chair clarified that the decision, on this occasion, is being taken to Cabinet due to time constraints, and that in the future, decisions on taxi licensing policy are expected to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

The Work Plan is driven to a very large extent by the Cabinet Forward Plan. The Scrutiny Committee agrees its priorities for items coming onto the Forward Plan, which then form part of its Work Plan.

The Committee is recommended to confirm its agreement to the Work Plan, or agree any amendments as required.

The Work Plan will be published as a late supplement.

The Committee agreed to the Work Plan.  

At its meeting on 22 October 2025, Cabinet considered the following reports from Scrutiny and made responses to the recommendations:

·       Anti-Social Behaviour Policy

·       Annual Safeguarding Report

The Committee is asked to noteCabinet’s responses to its recommendations.

The Committee and Member Services Manager noted that at its meeting on 22 October 2025, Cabinet considered reports from the Scrutiny Committee in relation to the Anti-Social Behaviour Policy and the Annual Safeguarding Report.  
 

The Committee noted Cabinet’s responses to its recommendations. 

Since the Scrutiny Committee’s previous meeting, the following Working Groups have met:

• Finance and Performance Working Group (29 October 2025)
  
  

Under the delegated authority granted to the Scrutiny and Governance Advisor, the recommendations made by the Finance and Performance Working Group have been forwarded to the Shareholder and Joint Venture Group at their meeting on 6 November 2025, in consultation with the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee is asked to note the recommendations from Finance and Performance Working Group.

The Committee and Member Services Manager noted that since the Scrutiny Committee’s previous meeting, the Finance and Performance Working Group met once on 29 October 2025. Members were informed that under the delegated authority granted to the Scrutiny and Governance Advisor, the recommendations had been forwarded to the Shareholder and Joint Venture Group, in consultation with the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee. 

The Committee noted the recommendations from the Finance and Performance Working Group.  

The Community Safety Services Manager reminded the Committee that information they had previously requested was attached to the back of the report. 

The Chair thanked all officers for their attendance.  

Scrutiny Committee

·       2 December 2025

·       13 January 2026

·       3 February 2026

·       10 March 2026

·       7 April 2026

All meetings start at 6:00 pm.

The Committee noted the dates of future meetings.