Agenda item

For action: To consider a report summarises recent discussions about the future purpose and scope of partnership working, and presents an interim position for endorsement.

The Partnership considered a report that summarised recent discussions about the future purpose of partnership working in Oxfordshire and which presented an interim position. The Partnership was recommended to endorse the proposed powers, purposes, priorities and steps set out in the report, and to request that officers develop the plans in more detail along with revised terms of reference.

Andrew Down, Future Oxfordshire Partnership Director introduced the report and highlighted that the paper was an attempt to reflect the direction of conversations around the future of the Partnership to date and it was not at this stage trying to set out a definitive set of proposals for the way forward. It was intended that Partnership members should have a discussion around the elements of the paper that should be taken forward to enable officers to develop the next level of detail.

The reasons why a reset was necessary had been expressed before, but included expected announcements around devolution which Oxfordshire needed to be able to engage with and the winding down of the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal which meant that the governance arrangements put in place to support that would no longer be needed or continue to be appropriate.

Robin Rogers, Director of Economy and Place, Oxfordshire County Council added that one of the purposes of the paper and work more generally, was to seek to position Oxfordshire as a county in the best possible position to be able to react to and engage with HM Government’s emerging agenda.

In discussion, various members of the Partnership commented that the paper was a good starting point and an opportunity to set out a new democratic vision for Oxfordshire. There was a need to change without delay, notwithstanding that many uncertainties around the Government’s policy direction remained.

Taking the development of the amended terms of reference forward there was a need, considering the concerns of the Scrutiny Panel and others, to recognise the need for clarity as soon as possible around what the proportionate level of overview and scrutiny of the new joint committee should be. This should be closely linked to the role and the nature of whatever powers might be delegated to the joint committee.

It was also accepted that there was a need to move forward with a more strategic, streamlined approach and for the revised committee to offer strong strategic leadership for the county by the Leaders setting the joint committee’s agenda and forward programme. As part of the terms of reference there was therefore a need to develop a mechanism for this.

A range of views was expressed with regards to the decision-making process of the new joint committee. Some Leaders expressed some concerns regarding a process of majority voting whereas others, whilst commenting that census should always be sought amongst them, felt that no one authority should be able to exercise an absolute veto if the decision was supported by the majority.

As Chair, Councillor Leffman commented that her observation of the comments of the Scrutiny Panel and public speakers was that there was concern around the decision-making process of the new joint committee and therefore there was a need for clarity in the terms of reference around whether decision making power would be granted to it. The purpose of the joint committee should be to add value to what councils were doing individually at a strategic level by acting collectively where it made sense to do so. Initiatives such as local area energy planning and around the pathway to Net Zero were important and should continue and partnerships such as the Local Nature Partnership and Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership also needed ongoing support.

Councillor Leffman also paid tribute to the valuable and insightful contributions made to the Partnership and its work by the non-voting representatives of various partner organisations.

In response to a question, Andrew Down commented that it would not be possible to immediately move formally to a reconstituted joint committee at the next meeting, because changes to the terms of reference had to be agreed first by the individual local councils through their own democratic decision-making arrangements. However, officers could commit to bring proposed terms of reference to the January 2025 meeting for Leaders to consider agreeing to recommend the terms of reference to their councils for adoption.

RESOLVED:

1.     That the proposed powers, purposes, priorities and steps as set out in the report be endorsed.

2.     That officers be requested to develop the plans in more detail along with revised terms of reference for consideration at the 28 January meeting.