Agenda item

To consider a report to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership setting out an overview of the approach to the transition of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, (OxLEP) which the Partnership is asked to note.

The Panel considered a report to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership which provided overview of the transition of the functions of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, (OxLEP) to Oxfordshire County Council as an upper tier local authority. Bill Cotton, Corporate Director for Environment and Place and Chloe Taylor, Head of Economy, Oxfordshire County Council introduced the report and they along with Nigel Tipple, Chief Executive of OxLEP addressed member questions.

It was highlighted that:

·           HM Government had introduced changes to the funding of local enterprise partnerships and mandated the transfer of statutory responsibilities around strategic economic planning to upper tier authorities.

·           Joint work had been undertaken with OxLEP to arrange for control of the independent OxLEP company to transfer to the County Council on 1 April 2024 via the governance model of a Local Authority Trading Company, but to retain the current Board, business plan and staff structure.

·           A three phased approach to the transfer was planned with an initial six-month period being set aside for the review of the business plan and discussions with members of Future Oxfordshire Partnership, business community and others. Depending on the outcomes of the review and discussions, potential changes to the business plan, funding, governance arrangements and staffing arrangements would be developed. This was intended to maintain the good work and reputation that OxLEP had.

·           The OxLEP Board was to be recommended on 12 March 2024 to approve changes to OxLEP’s Articles of Association to enact the changes set out within the report. It was expected that the transfer of membership of the OxLEP company would be completed by 1 April 2024.

In discussion, members of the Panel queried what engagement had already taken place with district councils about the transition and what was planned for as part of the six-month review period set out in Phase Two of the report, particularly about economic development functions that sat with district councils. This was within the context of the importance of the views of the district councils being heard in the consideration of strategic economic planning and the view that they had not been listened to as well as they might have been in recent consultations, for example the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan and how Oxfordshire’s rural character had been considered.

The Panel was informed that the detail of discussions was still to be determined, but the County Council was very aware of and accepted the need to work with the district councils. It was planned to work through the Executive Officer Group of the Future Oxfordshire which comprised senior officers from across all the councils and other stakeholders and OxLEP’s own economic development officer group. In addition, it was intended to come back with a more formal programme around how councillors in the councils would be engaged.

Officers were asked for more detail on the review of resources referred to in Phase 3 of the report linked to the completion of a new medium-terms business plan and links and interactions with wider economic development resource within the Oxfordshire system. The meeting was informed that in considering the wider economic development resource and capacity available within the Oxfordshire system it was necessary to reflect upon the range of organisations in the space, including the County Council, OxLEP, district councils, but also the universities, business park and science assets and other significant organisations. It was suggested that it was necessary to determine the nature of economic development wanted and to then maximise the resources available to contribute towards this.

The Chair referred to previous Panel discussions where in the Panel’s view there needed to be greater engagement with and consideration of the points made by environmental groups and groups outside of the traditional model in the development of strategic economic planning. The was because economic development could not happen in isolation from social and environmental aspects. Farming was also a key Oxfordshire industry that needed to be fully recognised and included in future.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the update to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership be noted.

2.     That the Panel’s feedback to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership regarding the OxLEP transition was that it is important that stakeholders from the environmental groups are included as part of the Phase 2 engagement and consultation to ensure that the opinions of these groups on the social and environmental aspects of economic growth are taken into consideration. Engagement with the farming sector as an important Oxfordshire industry was also important.