The Scrutiny Committee will meet on 3 September 2024, the Finance and Performance Panel will meet on 4 September 2024, and the Climate and Environment Panel will meet on 10 September 2024.  The following reports are expected, together with any other recommendations from those meetings:

·        Council Strategy 2024-28 Key Performance Indicators

·        Treasury Management Annual Report 2023-24

·        Integrated Performance Report Quarter 1 2024-25.

The Scrutiny Committee had met on 3 September 2024 and the Finance and Performance Panel had met on 4 September 2024.  The Climate and Environment Panel had met on 10 September 2024 and the recommendations from that meeting would be submitted to a future Cabinet meeting.

The Scrutiny Committee had made recommendations relating to the following items:

·        Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership Charter/Pledges – Annual Update

·        Anti-Social Behaviour

The Finance and Performance Panel had made recommendations relating to the following items:

·        Treasury Management Annual Report 2023-24

·        Integrated Performance Report Quarter 1 2024-25.

Scrutiny had also considered, but had not made recommendations in relation to, the Annual Safeguarding Report 2023/24 and the Council Strategy 2024-28 Key Performance Indicators.  It had also agreed the scope for the Budget Review Group.

All of the recommendations, together with Cabinet Members’ responses, were included in the separately published supplement to the agenda.

One recommendation had been made in relation to Anti-Social Behaviour.  This had related to ensuring that as part of budget-setting the Council conducts a review of future capacity challenges and resource implications of the complex anti-social behaviour cases which the Community Safety Service manages or is involved in with partners.  The recommendation had been agreed.

Two recommendations had been made in relation to the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP) Charter/Pledges Annual Update.  These had related to (i) reviewing the complete list of OIEP pledges and committing to additional pledges where it would advance practices or meet requirements of pledges not currently committed to, in order to ensure that the Council’s pledge commitments were aligned to existing and advancing organisational practices; and (ii) the inclusion of quantitative data, including the use of disaggregated data, in future OIEP Charter/Pledges updates in order to evidence progress.  The Leader – Inclusive Economy and Partnerships responded that the aims of these recommendations were accepted; however, there was a need to ensure that the additional information could be easily provided within existing resources.

One recommendation had been made in relation to the Treasury Management Annual Report.  This had related to producing a benchmarking report which compared the Council’s Treasury Management function with that of other local authorities over time, to be shared with the Finance and Performance Panel.  The recommendation had been accepted, and a briefing note would be prepared for the next Finance Panel meeting.

One recommendation had been made in relation to the Integrated Performance Report for Q1.  This had related to producing an analysis of the Council’s inability to claim housing benefit subsidy in respect of Oxford residents living in supported accommodation provided by non-registered provider organisations and the options available to address the related adverse variance within the Council finances.  The Deputy Leader (Statutory) – Finance and Asset Management responded that this was already recognised by the Council as an issue, and the objective of better understanding the financial impact, as raised at Scrutiny, was shared. The recommendation had therefore been accepted and a briefing paper would be prepared for the next Panel meeting in December 2024.  However, the Cabinet Member cautioned that mitigation was not something which could be achieved by the Council alone.