Contact Officer: Pat Jones (Principal Scrutiny Officer), Tel 01865 252191, phjones@oxford.gov.uk

The Head of Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) concerning scrutiny outcomes for the Council year 2013 to 2014. Pat Jones (Democratic and Member Services Manager) introduced the report to the Committee.

Scrutiny Outcomes

Pat Jones explained that this had been the first year of the new scrutiny structure and it had worked well, with some 60% of non-executive Councillors being involved with scrutiny work. The work programme had been very active and she thanked Councillors for all their input into it and their hard work on it. The Housing and Finance Standing Panels had worked hard, with Cllrs Sanders, Smith and Simmons taking leading roles. The Finance Panel’s work on Ethical Investment had been noted in Municipal Journal and she would send a copy of that article to committee members.

It was pleasing that a very high proportion of recommendations to CEB had been accepted. Pat Jones felt that the operational arrangements had worked very well. Councillor Lloyd-Shogbesan observed that the Committee had not done particularly well with involving local residents and inviting them to sit on the Committee on a non-voting basis, and it was agreed that this should be looked at by the new Committee when it was convened.

Pat Jones expressed concern that there had been a high level of substitution on the Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Fooks felt that this was partly because there was now only one scrutiny committee meeting monthly, and as a result those involved had a particularly heavy load put upon them. Councillor Fooks added that she felt that the constant repetition of the work programme in full on every agenda, as well as the Forward Plan, was unnecessary; and that Councillors did not need a copy of both every month. The Committee suggested that this should be considered by the new Scrutiny Committee when it was convened post-election

Having considered the work programme for 2013/14, the Committee agreed that the following issues should be rolled forwards for inclusion on the next work programme:-

·         Thames Water investment to improve flooding issues in the City;

·         Discretionary Housing Payments;

·         Performance Monitoring;

·         Council Tax exemption for students;

·         Fusion Leisure Contract;

·         Housing Standing Panel to continue;

·         Finance Standing Panel to continue;

·         Council investment in educational attainment;

·         Enfranchisement and empowerment – this should not be forgotten.

The Committee would continue to call forward items from the Forward Plan.  It did not want to pursue further the following items:-

·         Scale of new buildings – evaluation of an agreed pilot scheme based on the practice in Swiss Cantons;

·         Use of Social Media by the Council.

The suggested review topic to track the experience of a family on benefits, in order to explore the effects of benefit changes was not accepted by the Committee. Paul Wilding (Benefit Operations Manager) suggested that some research had been commissioned from the Research Unit for Financial Inclusion, and he would endeavour to forward this to members of the Committee for information.

The Committee noted that Pat Jones would no longer be actively involved with the Committee as a scrutiny officer. Pat Jones confirmed that a new scrutiny officer would be appointed in due course – interviews would be held on 15^th May – but she would continue to manage the work programme and would always be deeply interested in scrutiny work.

The Committee also noted that Lois Stock (Democratic and Electoral Services Officer) was leaving the Council at the end of May; and members thanked her for her hard work over the years and wished her well for the future.

Forward Plan

The Committee resolved to call from the Forward Plan the following items for consideration by Scrutiny:-

·         Community Engagement Plan 2014-2017;

·         Discretionary Housing Payments Policy Review;

·         Housing Strategy Action Plan (to the Housing Panel);

·         End of Year reporting on Finance and Performance (to the Finance Panel).