To: Future Oxfordshire Partnership
Title of Report: Delivering the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision
Date: 29 November 2022
Report of: Beth Wilks, Future Oxfordshire Partnership Manager
Status: Open
Introduction
1. For the past four years, a significant part of the FOP’s focus has been on providing oversight to the Housing and Growth Deal, which secured significant investment from Central Government in 2018 to advance housing delivery and boost economic productivity within Oxfordshire. With key elements of the Housing and Growth Deal coming to a close, it is opportune for the FOP to proactively develop its work programme to support delivery of the outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision, to ensure the County continues to benefit from joined-up collaborative working.
2. The Oxfordshire Strategic Vision, which was formally endorsed by the FOP in March 2021, and subsequently approved by each of the Oxfordshire Councils, sets out the FOP’s long term ambition for what the county will be like in 2050, recognising that positive sustainable change takes time. The Vision is a non-statutory document, instead providing an overarching framework which can be used to inform a range of different plans, strategies, programmes, and projects, to drive improvements in environmental, social, and economic well-being; it further complements plans and strategies already in place, and approved by the FOP and partner organisations.
3. The nine outcomes (Figure 1) within the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision are ambitious, and delivering them will require long-term collective commitment and investment by the partners that make up the FOP, but also crucially, by a wider set of strategic stakeholders and partners who make future decisions about investment and placemaking across Oxfordshire; there is an important role for residents and business leaders to play in delivering the Vision. A range of plans, strategies, and programmes are required to operationalise delivery which is aligned to the outcomes of the Strategic Vision.
Figure 1: Nine outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision
4. As an initial exercise in identifying opportunities for joint working which support delivery of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision, we sought to understand how the priorities within the current corporate plans of the six local authorities and OxLEP aligned to the nine outcomes of the Vision, as delivery of partnership visions and plans is sometimes considered secondary to the delivery of corporate versions, with them perceived as resulting in additional work, in an environment where the demands on staffing resource is ever increasing. Whilst on initial observation, the corporate plans described several different high level priorities (Appendix A), which do not all directly align with the outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision, a more detailed analysis of the content within the seven corporate plans revealed that each plan does in fact align to all nine outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision (Table 1); strength of alignment does vary according to plan and Vision outcome. Such a conclusion means that collaborative work across the local authorities and OxLEP to deliver the Strategic Vision, would in turn support delivery of individual corporate plans. This exercise can be further developed to include the corporate plans/strategies of other key strategic partners as deemed appropriate. Please note, West Oxfordshire’s Corporate Plan is currently being refreshed.
5. Subsequent to this, activity/areas of focus from the seven corporate plans has been mapped against each of the nine outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision; table 2 provides a snapshot example of this mapping. This offers the opportunity to consider potential areas for collaborative working under the FOP arrangements, which help to deliver both the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision and individual Corporate Plans, benefiting from shared knowledge and resource, and creating a consistent approach across the county, where appropriate to do so.
6. We have begun to identify several potential pieces of work where there is perceived value in collaborative delivery through the FOP, such as a refresh of the Oxfordshire Energy Strategy in line with the development of a local area energy plan. Sessions have been scheduled with Local Authority Chief Executives, representatives of the FOP Executive Officer Group, and with officers supporting the FOP advisory groups, to aid in mapping of opportunities aligned to the Vision.
We ask that the FOP note progress made to identify opportunities for joint working aligned to the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision, which also supports delivery of individual organisation corporate plans.
7. We are proposing a series of engagement sessions with the following groups, to support in further identifying potential areas of collaboration which support delivery of the outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision. At the point of hosting these sessions, several suggestions for delivery aligned to the Vision will have been mapped, to support and guide thinking. The exact format of these sessions is yet to be defined, but will be designed to maximise output.
- Members of the FOP
- FOP Scrutiny Panel
- FOP Advisory Groups
We ask that the FOP endorse the proposed engagement sessions, to support in identifying opportunities for joint working aligned to the outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision, and encourage engagement in the process.
8. It is anticipated that the described stakeholder engagement will generate a wealth of ideas relating to projects, programmes, and strategies, which could help to deliver the outcomes of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision. However, a robust filtering process will be required to support in identifying which of the suggestions to take forward into the design and delivery phase, with consideration to be given to factors including, resources available, anticipated impact, and added value of delivering the work through the FOP arrangements. The exact filtering methodology is yet to be developed; however, it is important to note officers supporting the FOP are currently trialling a ‘FOP Filter’ tool (appendix B), which endeavours to ensure items currently included on the forward work programmes for the FOP and supporting advisory groups are appropriate, and are able to demonstrate a clear purpose for consideration within the FOP arrangements. Development of this tool may be appropriate for the filtering of new projects, programmes, and strategies suggested via the proposed stakeholder engagement.
9. As highlighted in point 3, we recognise that the ambitious nature of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision requires sustained commitment by not only the organisations that make up the FOP, but by a wider set of strategic stakeholders and partners. It is therefore critical that we socialise the Vision more widely, and engage more proactively with both existing partners and other stakeholders, with regards to opportunities for joint working which deliver the outcomes of the Vision; identification of opportunities for collaboration needs to be an ongoing and live process. A communications officer has recently joined the core partnerships team supporting the FOP, and is currently developing a communications plan, factoring in the need to improve awareness and engagement with the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision.
We ask that the Future Oxfordshire Partnership support wider socialisation of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision with partners and a broader group of stakeholders, to raise awareness of the Vision, and encourage buy in and support for its delivery.
10. Work is also underway to map the different strategies and plans operating within the space of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision, to establish if the appropriate guiding documents are in place to support delivery, and to identify opportunities for further integration of the Vision within relevant strategies and plans, at both a local and regional level. Further to this, we have begun to map how other partnerships, for example, the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP), and the Local Nature Partnership, contribute/plan to contribute to the Strategic Vision for Oxfordshire, to ensure we maximise outputs through these relationships, and prevent duplication. A critical next step as part of this will be in understanding the relationship between the FOP and its Strategic Vision for Oxfordshire, and the newly forming place-based partnership, brought in under the statutory Integrated Care System (ICS) arrangements.
11. Alongside identifying new opportunities for collaborative working across Oxfordshire, a key focus for future work will be the development of performance measures and/or a qualitative narrative to enable the FOP to monitor the direction of travel against the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision. This will be considered in 2023.
Financial Implications
1. There are no immediate financial implications associated with the content of this report. Potential collaborative projects/programmes/activity identified through stakeholder engagement will be considered in a secondary paper in 2023, at which point financial implications will be outlined.
Legal Implications
2. There are no immediate legal implications associated with the content of this report. Potential collaborative projects/programmes/activity identified through stakeholder engagement will be considered in a secondary paper in 2023, at which point legal implications will be considered and outlined where identified.
Other Implications
3. There are no other immediate implications associated with the content of this report. Potential collaborative projects/programmes/activity identified through stakeholder engagement will be considered in a secondary paper in 2023, at which point implications relating to equalities, and the environment etc. will be outlined.
Conclusion
This report has provided the FOP with an update on progress to proactively identify new opportunities for joint working which help to deliver the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision, whilst supporting delivery of corporate plans. Several recommendations are presented to the FOP for consideration. A secondary report will be presented to the FOP in 2023, and will detail a selection of projects/activity identified through stakeholder engagement, which support delivery of the Vision. This will provide the FOP with the opportunity to consider and endorse the projects/activity which it deems appropriate to proceed with.
Background Papers
1. There are no background papers associated with this report.
