To:                              Future Oxfordshire Partnership

Title of Report:        Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership Update

Date:                          13 June 2022

Report of:                 Clayton Lavallin, Principal Regeneration and Economic    

                                Development Officer, Oxford City Council/OIEP

Status:                       Open

Executive Summary and Purpose: This report is an update on the progress of the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP), for May 2022. The OIEP welcomes the formal recognition of its activity as a strand of the wider Future Oxfordshire Partnership. How this report contributes to the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision Outcomes: The work of the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership contributes towards the outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision in the following key areas: 2050 Outcomes: • Our residents will be healthier and happier, and overall wellbeing will have improved • Our local economy will be globally competitive, sustainable, diverse and inclusive • Our county will be a more equal, fair and inclusive place for everyone • Our diverse and vibrant communities will thrive with a strong sense of identity Recommendations: 1. That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership notes and comments on the update report 2. That members of Future Oxfordshire Partnership promote engagement of local businesses and partners with Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP), including considering signing up to the Inclusive Economy Charter Appendix: OIEP draft charter

 

1.    a) Introduction:

 

The OIEP launched in March 2021, building on the learning of the seminars series, and the recommendation and actions of the resulting Final Report. The creation of the partnership was endorsed by the Future Oxfordshire Partnership in May 2021

 

The Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP) brings together over a hundred organisations - employers, business, education, community groups and local government.

 

Its Mission: ‘The Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership is working together to create a more equal and sustainable region that creates opportunities and benefits for all people within the county.  We are working to tackle some of our region’s biggest problems to create a fairer environment where everyone can contribute and share in our success’

 

‘The OIEP is working together in partnership to tackle inequality in terms of income, housing affordability and life expectancy. We are working to create opportunities for all people in Oxfordshire, making use of everyone’s potential, so that we can all benefit from Oxfordshire’s success.  Our aim is to create an environment and communities that can adapt to change, a region that is resilient in the face of shocks in the economy and a workforce that responds to different needs and different kinds of work in the future’.

 

The aim of the OIEP is to bring partners across Oxfordshire together to work towards a more inclusive local economy, developing opportunities and skills to directly benefit local residents and employers.

 

The partnership is co-chaired by Baroness Jan Royall (Somerville College) and Jeremy Long (OxLEP) with input from countywide partners from the private, public (including district, city and county authorities) education and Voluntary and Community Sectors. The City Council has been supporting the partnership, providing secretariat and programme support.

 

To date, the partnership has agreed Terms of Reference and established a number of Working Groups as well as a steering group of over 100 volunteer members, including representatives of:

 

 

Governance

The governance of the OIEP is set out below, with the Future Oxfordshire Partnership providing oversight to the work of the OIEP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The OIEP is:

1. Social Value and Procurement

2. Inclusive Employers

3. Educational attainment and

4. Place-based interventions.

 

1 b) May Progress Update:

The following update is a report of progress to date as of May 2022.

 

Working Group Activity:

•         Educational Attainment Working group established, along with 3 sub-groups, focusing on Voluntary workforce, parental advocacy and mentoring.

•         Social Value and Procurement Working group established, linked to our community wealth building* approach and the project ‘Owned by Oxford’ (For more information about this project please see: https://ownedbyoxford.org.uk/)

*Community wealth building is a people-centred approach to local economic development. It reorganises local economies to be fairer. It stops wealth flowing out of our communities, towns and cities.

•         Place based intervention Working group established, with 5 work strands emerging including place selection criteria, resident engagement, community mapping, community needs analysis and systems behaviours.

•         Inclusive Employers Working group established, with 2 subgroups looking at Inclusive Employers and barriers to employment for employees

 

Steering Group Activity:

·         The Steering Group has met quarterly since March 2021 and had its most recent meeting in March 22.

·         The Steering Group launched an Inter Working Group forum in November 21, which met again in Feb 22 to ensure Working Group activity aligns across the wider OIEP.

·         The Steering Group has also provided direction to the development of the Inclusive Economy Charter, communications and engagement plan and the Inclusive Economy in Action Event on 4th May.

·         The OIEP are in the process of appointing an OIEP Manager to provide administrative and communications support, to enable the launch the OIEP Charter in 2022 and the further development of the partnership engagement and membership.

 

Charter/Communications Strategy:

·         The OIEP will be launching a digital platform and an ‘Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Charter’ and pledge scheme so that businesses and residents can pledge commitment and resource to the work.

·         The OIEP with support from Advanced Oxford have drafted a Charter to be launched in 2022. The Charter is part of a wider Communications strategy for the OIEP. The draft Charter is attached for the Future Oxfordshire Partnership’s comment and feedback.

·         The Purpose of the Charter is to:

o   To mobilise support for an Oxfordshire inclusive economy and raise awareness and profile

o   To publicly state commitment with individuals, businesses and organisations signing of an online pledge

o   To set and raise standards around inclusive economy

o   To encourage residents and businesses to work together to help protect Oxfordshire’s economy with an aim to prevent money leaving the county.

·         The Priorities of the Charter are to promote action via pledges in the following key areas:

o   Increasing local spend and enhancing local businesses through procurement

o   Growing community control and ownership of the economy including businesses, land, and other assets of community value.

o   Place-based programmes/investment to targeted areas (e.g. high deprivation)

o   More targeted investment in better educational attainment, skills-based training, and access to jobs in the new economy

o   Linking social/community outcomes and benefits as part of infrastructure investments

o   Enhancing access to affordable commercial property and workspace

o   Addressing housing affordability in communities

o   Encourage more socially and environmentally responsible businesses

                                                                                                                    

Inclusive Economy in Action Event, 4th May 2022:

·         The OIEP in partnership with Aspire Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire Social Enterprise Partnership, and OxLEP and with sponsorship from Bouygues held an event at the Ashmolean Museum on 4th May 22.

·         The event raised profile and awareness of the OIEP while engaging larger employers in the work of the Partnership.

·         A workshop was held as part of the event to gather employer feedback on the draft Charter, with the following key learning to inform the co-production of the Charter/Pledge scheme:

o   Need for an annual event and awards to celebrate and share good practice case studies from pledges and partners who’ve signed up

o   Need to provide support to employers/orgs to implement pledges and actions

o   Need to monitor and hold those signing up to account and review progress/outcomes i.e. annually or bi-annually

o   Need to promote widely, inclusively and across the county

o   Need to promote and make visible partner that have signed up and ways to contact them in each area

o   Need to capitalise on the power of human stories and case studies to demonstrate the benefits of participating and pledging

o   Need to engage employers on the benefit to them and their workforce of participation i.e. recruitment, retention and diversity of workforce

 

Community Engagement:

•         The OIEP hosted an Internship for 2 Economics students at Brookes University between November-December, compiling 3x reports in January 22 on community engagement to inform the OIEP’s equality, diversity and inclusion work.

 

2.    Financial Implications

 For 2022/23 and 2023/24, a Programme Manager and communications support is provided  through contribution from a shared Partnership budget.  Recruitment to both posts is under way.

 

3.    Legal Implications

N/A

 

4.    Other Implications

N/A

 

5.    Conclusion

The OIEP has in its first year has successfully established its structure, membership and governance as a partnership, launched its core working groups, formed an inter-working group forum to align its activity and developed its communications strategy and draft Charter. Following the event to raise profile for the partnership and the support and funding of the Future Oxfordshire Partnership the next phase of the development of the OIEP is to sign off its Working group initiatives in preparation for delivery and launch the charter in 2022.

 

6.    Background Papers

None.

 

Report Author: Clayton Lavallin, Principal Regeneration & Economic Development Officer, Oxford City Council– on behalf of OIEP Contact information: clavallin@oxford.gov.uk