Future Oxfordshire Partnership response to recommendations of the Partnership Scrutiny Panel made on

13 June 2023

 

The Future Oxfordshire Partnership is requested to provide a response to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel for decision at its meeting on 6 June 2023.

 

Recommendation

Comment

 

Item 7: Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership (OIEP) Update

 

Recommendation 1:

 

The Panel was pleased to see the good progress made in the development of the OIEP. In continuing to support the work of the OIEP, the Panel would request that the OIEP be asked through the Future Oxfordshire Partnership to consider the following summary feedback of points raised by Panel members:

 

  • Whilst supporting the expansion of initiatives such as Arch Readers in improving education attainment, problems in recruiting and retaining school staff, (for example Teaching Assistants) be recognised
  • The importance of the promotion and support of co-operative enterprises as part of the OIEP’s social value and procurement workstream
  • Importance of adult education and the challenges around adult numeracy and literacy, (for example amongst ex-offenders) in address inequality
  • The importance of developing skills of young people in the emerging green sector such as retrofit and insulation as well as capturing skills and knowledge in traditional areas for the future
  • The importance of access to low cost and local travel solutions for disadvantaged groups including young people.
  • Higher rates of youth unemployment
  • The importance of understanding and taking account of the needs of Oxfordshire’s diverse urban and rural communities
  • The role of placemaking and the value to be added by the support of local community start-ups in instilling a sense of community pride
  • That factors relating to gender be recognised in the context of inequality, for example numbers of women and girls studying STEM subjects, menopause, and lower rates of educational attainment amongst some male cohorts.

 

 

Item 9: Delivering the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision for Long Term Sustainable Development

 

Recommendation 2:

 

The Scrutiny Panel welcomed the update on work being undertaken to map and identify possible areas for joint working to deliver the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision and noted the progress made.

 

The Panel requests that the Future Oxfordshire Partnership agree to add to the factors taken into consideration in filtering and selecting the list of future opportunities for joint working ‘acting in a manner which seeks to ensure that the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ as referenced in a motion agreed by Oxfordshire County Council 28 March 2023

 

 

 

Item 10: Key Partnership Activity in the Energy Space

 

Recommendation 3:

 

The Panel supported the recommendations as set out in report. In addition, it requests:

 

a)    That through the Green Finance workstream of the Net Zero Route Map and Action Plan, consideration be given to funding opportunities which support a decarbonised energy system; the Scrutiny Panel wishes for the workstream to consider Bristol City Council’s success in securing £1bn of investment to support its net zero ambitions as a potential example and model of this.

 

b)    That opportunities for the application of heat transfer technologies to energy management be investigated, for example use of heat generated from data centres.

 

c)    That barriers and opportunities to community led projects and a demand side perspective be considered as part of activity in the energy space. For example, the Panel was concerned that the costs and complexity of the planning system could be acting as a barrier to community led solar energy applications.

 

d)    Clarify how a land use framework or strategic land use principles could be developed and considered to support local area energy planning, and more generally, where it could sit as part of delivering the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision for Long Term Sustainable Development. In the Panel’s view this was a matter of urgency.

 

The Panel also reiterated its view that provision of rooftop solar on new and existing properties should be prioritised over provision on previously undeveloped land.