The Committee is asked to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2025 as a true and accurate record.

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, 26 November 2025.

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, 26 November 2025.

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.

Cabinet, at its meeting on 10 December 2025, will consider a report to approve the Authority Monitoring Report and Infrastructure Funding Statement for publication.

Cllr Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Culture, David Butler, Director of Planning and Regulation, and Rachel Williams, Planning Policy and Place Manager have been invited to present the report and take part in discussions.

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

Cabinet, at its Special meeting on 4 December 2025, will take a decision whether to endorse the submission by Oxfordshire County Council, on behalf of Oxfordshire councils, of an Expression of Interest to Government for the inclusion of the Thames Valley area in the next wave of its Devolution Programme.

Cllr Susan Brown, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Partnership Working, Caroline Green, Chief Executive, and Mish Tullar, Transition Director, have been invited to present the report and take part in discussions.

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

At its Special meeting on 10 November 2025 and ordinary meeting on 19 November 2025, Cabinet considered the following reports from Scrutiny and made responses to the recommendations:

·       Local Government Reorganisation

·       Hackney Carriage Emissions Standards Report

The Committee is asked to:

1.     Note Cabinet’s responses to its recommendations.

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

• Housing and Homelessness Working Group (13 November 2025)
• Climate and Environment Working Group (17 November 2025)
• Finance and Performance Working Group (26 November 2025)

The Committee is asked to:

1. Endorse the recommendations from Working Groups.

Appendices to this report contain exempt information pursuant to Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. To discuss this item, it will be necessary for the Committee to pass a resolution to exclude the press and public from the meeting in accordance with the provisions of Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, specifying the grounds on which their presence could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in specific paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act 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.

(The Access to Information Procedure Rules – Section 15 of the Council’s Constitution – sets out the conditions under which the public can be excluded from meetings of the Council)

Scrutiny Committee

·       13 January 2026

·       3 February 2026

·       10 March 2026

·       7 April 2026

All meetings start at 6:00 pm.