Agenda item

Agenda item

Thriving Communities Strategy Update

Cabinet, at its meeting on 2 December 2024, will consider a report from the Executive Director (Communities and People) seeking approval for the Thriving Communities Strategy Update. Cllr. Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Chewe Munkonge, Cabinet Member for a Healthy Oxford, Cllr. Lubna Arshad, Cabinet Member for a Safer Oxford, Peter Matthews, Executive Director (Communities and People) and Paula Redway, Culture and Community Development Manager have been invited to present the report and answer questions. The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations.

Minutes:

Cllr Munkonge, Cabinet Member for a Healthy Oxford, and Cllr Arshad, Cabinet Member for a Safer Oxford, introduced the report highlighting that, based on wide consultation, there is a focus on working with communities to support residents to live full lives. Cllr Munkonge linked the strategy to Oxford City Council’s wider corporate plans. Across the 11 measures within the report, he explained that various partners are being worked with to ensure improvements to issues such as childhood swimming abilities. Cllr Arshad additionally explained that the strategy seeks to address inequalities in Oxford City through leisure, culture, and community initiatives and has attracted £2.8m in funding from external bodies so far, demonstrating its progress and positive impact. She connected this strategy to the goals of the Locality Plan 2025 including addressing food inequalities, youth opportunities, and diversity representation. She concluded by emphasising how collaboration around the strategy has successfully targeted investment and community engagement.

 

The Chair thanked the presenting councillors and invited the Committee to raise questions on the report.

 

Peter Matthew, Interim Executive Director (Communities and People), Paula Redway, Culture and Community Development Manager, and Hagan Lewisman, Active Communities Manager, were also present to answer questions.

 

Cllr Jarvis observed that the report utilised indicators of increase or decrease to assess the measures within the report but queried how these conclusions can be made without accompanying comparative data sets. He requested that the Committee review some comparative data to support their understanding. He then asked, in relation to relationships with the outsourced leisure providers, what is the process through these relationships exist in terms of implementation of the strategy. Finally, he observed that the report in question focuses on social impacts primarily but questioned how this is balanced with financial considerations when navigating provider contracts in a manner which protects the social value of the projects. The Active Communities Manager explained the Council has been working with Serco for one year therefore the report only demonstrates a short-term data set which will determine baseline KPIs for future use. The Committee were also informed that Serco are measured on their social impact alongside financial data and that regular meetings take place to ensure this. The Interim Executive Director (Communities and People) outlined that the possibility of tension between financial and social impacts was a key question considered throughout development of the tendering process. It was deemed that Serco could offer both financial and social values which were deliverable and, to some extent, also compatible. Regarding Cllr Jarvis concerns regarding measurement of the indicators in the report, the Interim Executive Director (Communities and People) also offered assurance that the strategy is in its early days and that future reports will contain more comparative data to support determination of relative success and failure. He also committed to investigating whether some comparative analysis could be conducted at this stage.

 

Cllr Ottino queried the breadth of the measures included within the report and noted that only some are within the City Council’s which limits capacity for accurate measuring. He then questioned whether the number of measures could be reduced and made more specific. The Chair agreed, noting this as a possible lesson to be carried into future reports. In relation to measure 1, Cllr Ottino also asked if there has been much progress given that he has observed that not all schools utilise Council pools and questioned whether it could be more informative to measure young people using the Council’s pools, rather than schools. The Interim Executive Director (Communities and People) explained that the report was structured around the preferences of the Cabinet but agrees the 11 measures do cause some confusion. He noted that future reports could adopt a more precise and outcome focused structure with a smaller group of measures.

 

Cllr Corais, in relation to health and wellbeing, queried what examples there are of measures being taken in Littlemore and whether more details on the impacts of health and promotion events in Littlemore could be shared with the Committee. The Active Communities Manager explained that although not demonstrated in the report, there are existing programmes within Littlemore focused on health and wellbeing, details of which could be provided to the Committee. He also explained that health and promotion events are not currently focused on Littlemore as the strategy concentrates more in health priority areas on matters such as food and obesity. 

 

Cllr Mundy focused on the necessity to ensure children can access leisure centres. In relation to measure 2, he expressed some confusion with the pie chart presented and questioned why West Oxford and Headington are not included. He therefore requested clarification on whether these areas receive any input and if not, why. The Chair agreed and queried why there is also little data on North Oxford which exhibits areas of deprivation. She also sought clarification on why grants are not distributed to certain areas of the city. The Culture and Community Development Manager explained that the pie charts represent the self-selected options included by grant applicants at the time of applying and monitoring. Additionally, she explained that the grantees included are the Big Ideas grantees; details of medium and small grants are not included but do exist and demonstrate a different picture.

 

The Chair welcomed additional questions from the Committee.

 

Cllr Ottino focused on measure 6, reducing physical inactivity, and questioned how residents could be aware of this goal, as he himself is not. He also sought clarity on what the measure is based on, whether this be GP referral and what has been the most successful means by which people pick up these opportunities and programmes. The Active Communities Manager detailed the communications work that exists with GPs and social prescribers which is the most successful method for ensuring referrals. He explained that self-referral is also an option based on online information and that this is supported by targeted interventions such as posters and social media. The Officer committed that more work needs to be done around communications to reach more people, admitting this must also include councillors.

 

The Chair acknowledged the success of the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU) at Rose Hill and gave her thanks for this. She queried whether the unit is being connected with third sector support to ensure 24-hour support is available to mothers and partners when the EPAU is not open. Separately, she sought clarification on the extent to which data is disaggregated by gender when analysing swimming and gender-based sports and noted that this could inform more targeted interventions. Finally, she sought clarification on the demand levels of residents with Parkinsons and Dementia and, in relation to youth ambition, whether monitoring is taking place to track drop off levels in sport. The Active Communities Manager notified the Committee that the Chief Medical Officer had visited the EPAU in 2023 and commended its standards. He informed the Committee that feedback from EPAU users had been positive in comparison to the John Radcliffe Hospital. As the EPAU is controlled by the NHS, the Council can only offer additional aftercare support when requested.   In response to Chair’s second question, it was noted that data is disaggregated by gender in relation to leisure centres and activity programmes and that these examples could be used in the future. The Active Communities Manager also stated that demand levels of the ageing population are monitored to ensure targeted action occurs. Finally, in relation to youth ambition, he assured the Committee that data is tracked according to gender and informed that there was a near 50/50 split at the last count and pointed to some examples. Cllr Munkonge echoed theActive Communities Manager’s information regarding youth ambition by referring to an image in the report which displayed a 50/50 gender split. The Interim Executive Director (Communities and People) emphasised the importance of this topic for informing how the Council initiates activities and actions to promote health. He linked this to engagement with the ICB and NHS and reiterated that integrated health is a major focus for the community and stated that further capabilities for capturing performance will be continually developed. He concluded that there is a need to develop more initiatives with communities around the physical health agenda and to join up with ICB and health agendas.

 

In relation to measure 1, Cllr Ottino asked whether there is a sense of what the locality plans may look like and whether some geographical regions in Oxford are too broad to realistically benefit from a locality plan. The Culture and Community Development Manager detailed that through Covid, ways of collaborating with a range of partners were learned and it is now the goal to continually build on these relationships to support projects across geographical areas. Ensuring local approaches are bespoke must be the key focus of these collaborative efforts but they must be accompanied by a strategic overview and connected to the wider priorities of the Council. She explained that this is not always easy to do, and it is a work in progress. Cllr Ottino accepted this response but questioned whether there could be a resource issue during these efforts to which the Culture and Community Development Manager assured that resources are already in place, but more planning will be needed to agree the geographical focus. 

 

The Committee resolved to make the following recommendation on the report to Cabinet:

 

1.  That Cabinet makes the Council commitment to creating a truly walkable Oxford clear, by specifying in Measure 6 of the Strategy that focused attention will be given to improving walkability in areas most affected by physical activity deprivation, in line with the motion passed by Full Council on 25 November 2024.

2.  That Cabinet incorporates comparative data over time in future updates of the Strategy to contextualise the scale of progress and identify gender disparities, particularly in activities like swimming, to guide and refine targeted interventions.

3.  That Cabinet draws on and incorporates lessons learned from the implementation of this strategy to inform and strengthen the preparation of its next iteration, ensuring future improvements are grounded in evidence and best practices.

4.  That Cabinet promotes the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit health hub in Rose Hill as a case study to highlight its positive outcomes and innovative practices, disseminating these successes nationally to encourage other councils to adopt similar initiatives.

5.  That Cabinet ensures strong Member engagement in the development and review of measures relating to locality plans, by involving all ward councillors in recognising and identifying pockets of deprivation within each ward, with an aim to target resources effectively and ensure that no communities in need are overlooked.

 

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Members and officers for their valued work and continued focus.

 

Cllr Munkonge, Cllr Arshad, Peter Matthew, Paula Redway and Hagan Lewisman left the meeting and did not return.

 

 

Supporting documents: