To:                              Future Oxfordshire Partnership (formerly the Oxfordshire Growth Board)

Title of Report:        Partnerships network

Date:                          25 January 2022

Report of:                 Andrew Down, Future Oxfordshire Partnership Director

Status:                       Open

Executive Summary and Purpose: This report provides a brief update on partnership activities linked to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership, with an illustration of how they are related. How this report contributes to the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision Outcomes: The various partnerships enable a wide range of bodies to come together to work towards delivering our strategic outcomes, aligning to the Vision’s Guiding Principles to maximise the benefits of strong collaboration within and beyond Oxfordshire. Recommendations: That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership notes this update. Appendices: Appendix 1 – diagram illustrating partnership links

 

Introduction

1.     Partnership activity in Oxfordshire has grown stronger and become more extensive in recent years, and it is not always easy to visualise how the different activities are related. 

 

2.     This report has been drafted to illustrate the network of partnership activities most closely linked to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership (FOP), either formally or informally.  It is not intended to incorporate every aspect of partnership working in the county.

 

3.     The diagram at Appendix 1 shows the main links to the FOP.  It is a snapshot in time and can be expected to evolve further. 

 

Local Nature Partnership (LNP)

4.     Much progress has been made towards the establishment of a Local Nature Partnership for Oxfordshire.  This has been a careful process in which many stakeholders have been consulted and considerable consensus has been achieved.  A written report was provided to the FOP meeting of 19 July 2021 and can be found here:

 

https://democratic.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/documents/s50976/11.%20LNP%20Update%20report.pdf

 

5.     The LNP is still in its early formative stages.  Updated information can be found on the Wild Oxfordshire website here:

 

https://www.wildoxfordshire.org.uk/biodiversity/oxfordshire-nature-partnership/

 

6.     The Chair of the FOP’s Environment Advisory Group is a member of the newly established Board for the LNP.

 

7.     Subject to each council’s budget setting processes, it is intended that the FOP officer team will provide programme and secretariat support for the LNP in the form of a dedicated resource.

 

Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP)

8.     Development of Oxfordshire’s Local Industrial Strategy, itself a commitment made in the Housing and Growth Deal, led to some joint work on the principles of an inclusive economy as they might be applied in Oxfordshire.  A series of four seminars was run jointly by Oxford City Council, the Oxford Strategic Partnership, and the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership between October 2019 and January 2020.

 

9.     This led to the formal establishment of the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Commission (as it was initially known), all described in a report to the then Growth Board on 24 November 2020:

 

http://democratic.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=543&MId=2781

 

10.  Officers were tasked at that meeting with agreeing next steps and how they should be resourced.  Since then a steering group and four working groups have been established covering the following areas:

 

·         Educational attainment

·         Social value and procurement

·         Inclusive employers

·         Place based interventions.

 

11.  A brief summary can be found here:

 

https://www.councils.coop/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Oxford-Inclusive-Economy-Partnership.pdf

 

12.  As the work programme is being developed, work on the OIEP is now broadening and extends across the whole of Oxfordshire.  A strength is the wide range of participants from many sectors including a variety of local businesses.

 

13.  As activity expands there is greater need for dedicated resources, and subject to budget setting the intention is for a role to be created within the FOP team with a specific remit to drive and support the OIEP work programme.  Progress reports will be provided regularly to FOP.

 

Oxfordshire Strategic Transport Forum (OSTF)

14.  The Chair of the OSTF is co-opted as a member of the FOP’s advisory group for infrastructure and is thereby able to bring strategic transport matters forward for discussion at those meetings.

 

15.  Topics for joint working have included active travel, rail and bus services, transport infrastructure and the emerging Local Transport and Connectivity Plan.

 

Conclusion

16.  Partnership working in the county goes from strength to strength as councils and many other stakeholders collaborate to work towards the outcomes identified in the Strategic Vision for Oxfordshire.  This brief paper has highlighted some particular examples, and the relationships are illustrated in the diagram at Appendix 1.

 

 

Report Author: Andrew Down Future Oxfordshire Partnership Director Contact information: andrew.down@southandvale.gov.uk