The Cabinet will, at its meeting on 16 March 2022, consider a report on the Oxfordshire Recovery and Renewal Framework. Councillor Susan Brown, Leader and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, Economic Recovery and Partnerships and Caroline Green, Chief Executive have been invited to present the report and answer questions.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet.

Cllr Susan Brown, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, Economic Recovery and Partnerships introduced the report. She highlighted that the Framework was very high level and was developed as a result of the joint working with other Oxfordshire councils during the pandemic. The purpose of the document was to better align the strategies being brought forward across Oxfordshire so that the councils could continue to work well together.

Caroline Green, Chief Executive added that the Framework was also proposed for adoption by other partner organisations, including OxLEP and health bodies. She said that the Framework was reflective of the close working relationships built through the pandemic, which brought multiple agencies together to focus on the response. The Chief Executive added that the Council wanted to build on the traction, which the Framework would facilitate and that consideration would be given to how the partnership reports back on the Framework.

The Committee raised a number of points, including:

·         Child poverty – the Committee raised concerns about the fact that, despite best efforts, the child poverty statistics in the City had not changed for quite a long time. It was noted that some wards had seen improvements, but child poverty in other wards was very persistent. It was suggested that the document should include a focus on tackling child poverty and bringing other partners on board.

·         Health inequalities – there was recognition that the document was framed as responding in a post-COVID world, but the document appeared to suggest that health inequalities did not exist before COVID-19 and the pandemic created them all. It was suggested that the document should be revised to ensure the relevant history was referenced and that COVID had exacerbated issues rather than created them.

·         NHS governance – it was felt that the document did not demonstrate an understanding of the change taking place in the governance of the NHS after 01 July 2022 and the responsibilities of NHS bodies in tackling health inequalities.

Cllr Brown highlighted that she had sympathy with the comments made, but advised that the Framework was not a Council-owned document so there was limited opportunity to implement changes. However, she added that she was happy to try as she agreed with the comments made.

The Chief Executive added that a number of conversations had taken place related to the document and it had improved significantly from where it was. She said that it had gone to all partners, so going back to partners with lots of changes probably was not feasible. The Chief Executive pointed out that responsibility had been delegated to her and her local authority counterparts to make certain changes to the final version of the Framework and that she could probably incorporate the reference to NHS governance arrangements within the bounds of the delegated authority granted.

Cllr Brown added that the Framework described the bare minimum of what Oxford City Council was already doing, but that the Council was doing much more. She said that it was a positive step to bring partners on board and influence them to undertake work that otherwise they may not have done. It was reiterated that the monitoring mechanisms for the Framework were not yet established, but that she could report back to the Committee when those arrangements were clearer.

The Committee resolved to recommend to Cabinet that:

1.    The Council suggests to partners that the Framework be amended so as not to focus exclusively on county-wide policies and strategies but relevant district-level ones also.

2.    The Council requests that a report detailing what has happened as a result of the establishment of the Oxfordshire Recovery and Renewal Framework is written by the County Council, considered by the Health and Wellbeing Board, and also made available for Scrutiny Committee consideration.

3.    The Council writes its own update report to coincide with the report requested in the recommendation above, reviewing how participation in the Framework has facilitated the Council in its ambitions to consolidate recovery, address health inequalities and support renewal.

Cllr Brown and the Chief Executive left the meeting and did not return.