The Committee is asked to elect a Chair for the Council Year 2014/2015.

The Chair must be a Scrutiny Councillor from one of the Opposition Political Groups.

The Scrutiny Committee appointed Councillor Simmons as the Chair for the Council Year 2014/15.

The committee is asked to elect a Vice-Chair for the Council Year 2013/2014.

The Vice-Chair must be a Scrutiny Councillor and can be from any political Group.

The Scrutiny Committee appointed Councillor Hayes as the Vice Chair for the Council Year 2014/15.

Apologies for absence were received from Board Members Cllrs Turner and Simm and Peter McQuitty, Head of Policy, Culture and Communications.

There were no declarations of interest made.

Contact Officer: Pat Jones, Committee and Member Services Manager

Tel: 01865 252191

Email: phjones@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) concerning the suggested carry forward items from the 2013/14 programme. The Committee Services Manager presented the report to the Committee.

The following comments were made.

New panel topics will be discussed and determined at the September meeting.  All non-executive councillors are asked to send in their topic ideas to the Committee Services Manager.

The Committee resolved to Approve the Committee Operating Principles listed in the report.

Contact Officer: Pat Jones, Committee and Member Services Manager Officer, Tel: 01865 252191

Email: phjones@oxford.gov.uk

The latest version of the Forward Plan is attached to allow the Scrutiny Committee to decide if it wishes to pre-scrutinise any of the items. 

The Committee resolved to call from the Forward Plan the following items to pre-scrutinise:

·         Business in the Community- Working in Partnership

·         Oxfordshire Growth Board

·         Towards Mental Wellbeing and Community Resilience in Oxford

Item to go to the Finance Standing Panel

·         Treasury Management Annual Plan

Item to go to the Housing Standing Panel:

·         Leaseholder Payment Options for Major Work

Councillors Fry and Lloyd-Shogbesan to discuss the Leisure and Wellbeing Strategy with officers outside the Committee.

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

Tel 01865 252705, ibrook@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Leisure, Parks and Communities submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which provided a performance update of the city’s leisure management contract with Fusion Lifestyle 2013/14.

 Councillor Rowley, Board Member for Leisure Contracts and Community Partnership Grants; and the Leisure & Performance Manager presented the report to the Committee. They highlighted that:

·         the financial subsidy that the Council pays per user to fusion with be zero by 2016/17. 

·         Participation levels are levelling off – this may be due to the Blackbird Leys leisure centre yet to fully open and the gradual shift from people in Cowley using other facilities causing participation rates to  even out.

·         Continue to monitor quality and customer satisfaction through the use of a quality framework. 96% of users surveyed satisfied but how many feel we deliver an excellent service?

·         The Council has a positive relationship with Fusion.

Jane Alexander spoke on the report. She was concerned about the transparency of the report and requested that the confidential appendix be made public because if Council ran the leisure centres directly than the financial figures would be publically available. She felt the report did not give enough information on participation rates or customer satisfaction for the committee to fully understand the performance of Fusion.

The Committee raised the following points:

·         Is it true that Council offers a commercial loan to Fusion with below market rate terms? Officers were not aware of a commercial loan being given to Fusion. Fusion might have received an energy efficient grant to invest in the buildings (which are council owned). Officers to report back to the Committee in September with the exact details.

·         Poor performance was addressed through regular client meetings between Council officers and Fusion.

·         Queried the need for the confidential appendix as it was agree at the June meeting in 2013 that the running costs of the facilities would be shown including all capital investment and loan cost in the next report.

·         The images used in the Active Woman campaign were considered to be too stereotypical and gender biased.  The officer stated that this was a national campaign run by Sports England and so the influence the Committee could have was probably limited. 

·         Are workers being paid the Oxford Living Wage? – Yes

·         Is the energy efficiency of the BBL pool going to be better than the Temple Cowley one? The pool has been designed to maximise solar heating and the expectation is that it will be one of the most energy efficient pools in the county.

·         Will BME women be offered the same classes at BBL’s as they currently get at Temple Cowley. Yes – the timetable will be the same.

The Committee resolved

1.    To see the issues raised and the actions/penalties taken by Fusion over the last year for poor performance.   

2.    That officers take the issue of stereotypical and gender biased campaign images in the Active Woman campaign to Sports England and report the outcome back to the Committee.  

3.    To see any information  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Contact Officers: Nigel Kennedy, Head of Finance

Tel 01865 252708, nkennedy@oxford.gov.uk

Jane Lubbock, Head of Business Improvement and Technology

Tele: 01865 252218, jlubbock@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Finance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which detailed the Council’s finances, risk and performance as at the end of Quarter 4, 31^st March 2014.

The Council’s finances are in good shape and there had been an £5.371M underspend in the General fund, 77% of corporate performance targets have been either delivered as planned or exceeded and the capital programme of £22M, made up of 93% of the latest budget.

David Williams spoke on the Council’s proposal to purchase the Gladiator Club’s building. He requested the committee’s support for the proposal and queried whether the proposed pledge of £250,000 would be enough to secure the property.

The Committee made the following comments:

·         Housing and homelessness are both corporate targets – are we getting on top of these problems? - 1.2M has been carried forward for these. Is this enough, given the recent County Council cuts?

·         We need to maintain a healthy balance in the HRA fund to allow for future house building.

·         There was a £20M slippage in the capital programme last year, how can we make sure that this doesn’t happen again?  We have adopted a more rigorous process which requires project plans to be cleared before they start to make sure they are completed on time.

The Committee resolved to

1.    Welcome the Council’s proposed purchase of the Gladiator Club’s property and recommend that CEB do what they could within the ‘best value’ principle to secure the property.

2.    Welcome the recent housing acquisition

3.    Recommend to CEB that they reconsider the amount of money in the homelessness contingency in light of the recent County Council cuts.

Contact Officers: Peter McQuitty, Head of Policy, Culture and Communications

Tel 01865 252780, pmcquitty@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Policy, Culture and Communication submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which detailed the draft Community Engagement Policy Statement 2014 – 17.

The Consultation Officer presented the report. She outlined that the Policy Statement encompassed all consultation plans across the Council.

Cllr Lloyd Shogbesan asked that engagement with faith communities be included in the Policy Statement.

Cllr Sanders asked why the consultation of the Policy Statement was so poor with 13,000 questionnaires produced and only 48 received.  People only consult if they feel that what they say will make a difference. The likelihood or participation increases if people are going to be affected by the proposal.

The Committee resolved to make the following recommendations to CEB:

1.            To provide a clear statement in the principles on the ambition for engagement focusing on depth as well as breadth. 

2.            To provide information on the engagement ambitions set for all consultations during the last year, what was achieved and how this fits with the principles set within the Policy Statement. 

3.            To suggest to the Scrutiny Committee an up and coming engagement/empowerment exercise that can act as a pilot study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the principles within this report.

4.            To provide a table that shows how all comments received during the consultation on this Policy Statement have been handled. 

Minutes from 6 May 2014

Recommendation: That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 May 2014 be APPROVED as a true and accurate record.

The Committee resolved to confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 6 May 2013.

The following dates have been agreed:-

2 September 2014

7 October 2014

11 November 2014

9 December 2014

20 January 2015

3 February 2015

3 March 2015

24 March 2015

The Committee noted that the next meeting would be held on2 September 2014.