The Scrutiny Committee will meet on 03 February 2026 to consider the following items. Report and recommendations, including those from its working groups, will be published as a late supplement.

• Debt Recovery Procedure
• Noticeboards Update
• AI Strategy
•  Budget Review Group Report

The Scrutiny Committee met on 03 February 2026 to consider the following items.

• Debt Recovery Procedure

• Noticeboards Update
• AI Strategy
•  Budget Review Group Report

Jonathan Malton, Committee and Member Services Manager, presented Scrutiny’s discussions and recommendations regarding the Debt Recovery Procedure.

• Recommendation 1: That a summary report on council debt recovery activities at all stages is provided to Scrutiny and Cabinet at a future meeting to ensure there is awareness in this area of the council’s work.
• Recommendation 2: That Cabinet considers incorporating clear, plain language summary within letters issued to individuals in addition to links to further information online, given the prevalence of digital exclusion and unfamiliarity with local government terminology. This would reduce reliance on residents needing to follow online links to understand the purpose and implications of the letters.
• Recommendation 3: That the timescales of meetings with advice centres is revisited to ensure they correspond to their capacity and availability, noting that critical role of advice centres as both a key contact point for residents and a source of specialist advice and support.

Councillor Turner responded to Scrutiny’s recommendations. He said that Cabinet accepted the first and third recommendation and would accept the second recommendation in part.

The Committee and Member Services Manager presented Scrutiny’s discussions and recommendations regarding the AI Strategy. He noted that no recommendations were raised from the Scrutiny Committee’s consideration of this issue, but that the Committee was supportive of the adoption of a strategy.

The Committee and Member Services Manager presented Scrutiny’s discussions and recommendations regarding the Noticeboards Update.

• Recommendation: Subject to the agreement that Council will commit to actively managing and operating the noticeboards as recommended in the budget review process, that clear guidelines are developed for the use of noticeboards, including how new items and updates are managed, and the responsibilities of key holders.

Councillor Chapman responded to Scrutiny’s recommendations and discussions. He said that they’d had a good discussion on this issue at Scrutiny Committee. He noted that Cabinet had accepted the recommendation in part and that it would be dependent on the Council’s budget discussions over the next few weeks. Cabinet discussed the importance of notice boards for communities and how locality working could address this matter.

The Committee and Member Services Manager presented Scrutiny’s discussions and recommendations regarding the Budget Review Group Report.

• Recommendation 1: To freeze the garden waste concessionary rate in this year and instead raise the standard rate by 5.2% (an additional 0.2% on the consultation budget) in order to cover the income that would have been generated by the proposed concessionary rate rise.
• Recommendation 2: That cancellation form for garden waste collection and other paid Council services include reason-based tickboxes for discontinuing the service, to enable the Council to understand better whether a decline in usage is driven by costs, service performance, or other factors.
• Recommendation 3: To assess the cost of offering compost bins at a discounted rate to support residents in composting on their own site, particularly for those who find an offsite garden waste collection service unaffordable.
• Recommendation 4: That HMO licence fees incorporate a pre-payment (or a levy) to cover bulky waste disposal to help offset costs incurred by the Council to remediate flytipping, and that a mechanism be introduced where HMO licensing services notify ODS of forthcoming end-of-tenancy periods. This allows timely collection of bulky waste and reduce instances of fly-tipping of mattresses and other broken furniture.
• Recommendation 5: That the Council works jointly with the County Council (as the highways authority), neighbouring districts, and ODS to coordinate the gritting of well-used pedestrian and cycle routes when icy conditions are forecast, including the ring-road cycleway and southern bypass, and manage the associated costs through cross-authority cooperation.
• Recommendation 6: That the Museum of Oxford offer paying customers options to make entry more attractive. In particular, by offering joint MOX/Café tickets that provide a hot drink as well as entry to the Museum to have the added benefit of increasing the number of customers at the café; in addition, that paying customers receive a 10% discount on purchases in the MOX shop with a wider range of products to make gift purchasing in the shop cheaper than in souvenir shops.
• Recommendation 7: That the closure of the Oxpens and/or Worcester Street car parks is pushed back for one year to preserve revenue, unless development is imminent.
• Recommendation 8: That Council introduce a permitted long-stay parking option at Park & Rides, such as one or two weeks, designed to encourage parking outside the city centre such as for tourists staying for several days in city centre hotels, with pricing set above standard short-stay charges; and for this rate to be adjustable if there proves to be more demand to manage the spaces taken by long-term users, preventing displacement of spaces needed for regular Park & Ride users.
• Recommendation 9: That Council counteracts the loss of officer capacity for twinning by supporting voluntary groups maintaining vital twinning links by creating a £20,000 annual budget, managed by the Civic Office, to be used to support these links.
• Recommendation 10: To proceed with Option 3 (Continue with noticeboards, with City Council actively managing and operating the boards) as the preferred approach for the management and maintenance of community noticeboards costed at £75,000 one-off capital investment for the resurvey, installation, replacement or repair of noticeboards, and an annual budget of £35k for ongoing management and maintenance. In implementing this, existing arrangements led by parish councils or neighbourhood association should not be discouraged nor discontinued. Should Option 3 not be achievable due to budgetary constraints, it is recommended that no further action is taken (Option 1).

Councillor Turner presented Cabinet’s response to the recommendations from Scrutiny. He said that Cabinet agreed the second, third, fifth, and ninth recommendations. He said that Cabinet agreed in part the first, seventh, and tenth recommendations. Councillor Turner noted that Cabinet did not agree the fourth, sixth, and eighth recommendations. He said that the recommendations would be picked up in full in the Council budget discussion to come. He thanked the officers for their work in the review of the budget.