Paper 1 Approved OSP minutes for meeting held on 12/03/15

Oxford Strategic Partnership Steering Group

Approved minutes of the meeting held on 12th March 2015, 10am The Oxford Academy, Littlemore, Oxford

Attendees: Phil Clare, University of Oxford David Edwards, Oxford City Council Anne Gwinnett, Oxford Brookes University (Chair) Bev Hindle, Oxfordshire County Council Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Oxfordshire County Council Sebastian Johnson, Oxford City Council Val Johnson, Oxford City Council (for items 1-4) Roy Leach, Oxfordshire County Council Kathrin Luddecke, Oxford City Council Niall McWilliams, Oxford Academy Margaret Ounsley, University of Oxford Sadie Paige, Oxford City Council Matt Peachey, Oxford City Council Cllr Bob Price, Oxford City Council Tim Sadler, Oxford City Council Michael Sibly, University of Oxford Katie Screaton, Oxford Academy Amber Sparrowhawk, Oxfordshire County Council Graham Speke, Oxford Academy Cllr John Tanner, Oxford City Council Peter Thompson, Oxford Civic Society Terry Watts, City of Oxford College (for Ian Francis) Jackie Wilderspin, Oxfordshire County Council (Vice Chair) Catriona Woolhouse, University of Oxford

Apologies: Christian Bunt, Thames Valley Police Debbie Dance, Oxford Preservation Trust Shamus Donald, Town Team Cllr Jean Fooks, Oxford City Council Ian Francis, City of Oxford College Giles Ingram, Experience Oxfordshire Joanne Jones, Oxford Brookes University Robert Kirtland, Critchleys and ProOxford Frank Nigriello, Unipart Group Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Maggie Scott, Oxfordshire County Council Kathy Shaw, Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA) Peter Sloman, Oxford City Council

1. Welcome, apologies and announcements

Anne Gwinnett opened the meeting with introductions and apologies. Matthew Andrews, Academic Registrar and Director of Academic and Student Affairs, will be representing Oxford Brookes University in future, as Joanne Jones is leaving. Giles Ingram was thanked for his contribution to the Partnership, as he is leaving Experience Oxfordshire.

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Terry Watts, Interim Principal, was welcomed standing in for Ian Francis; he was asked to pass on the group’s best wishes to Ian.

Niall McWilliams, Principal, welcomed attendees to The Oxford Academy. He acknowledged good work being done by partners to make Littlemore, Rose Hill and the Leys better places to be. However, this often was not joined up and from the school’s perspective much is getting worse – he mentioned the need for free student meals and food banks, students going into care, increasing levels of domestic abuse. The impact of recent losses in funding had been felt at the school itself with 30 staff gone over the last academic year. He thought the following would make a real difference:

 Get and keep the best teachers teaching – these are high pressure jobs so need additional resources to attract the right people  Ensure key worker housing is available in these areas  Fund more nurseries to give children a better start in life.

2. Minutes of the last meeting held on 22nd January 2015

The minutes were agreed as a correct record (Paper 1).

3. Matters arising / short updates a. OSP Open Event 2015

Anne Gwinnett gave a brief verbal update; a full report will be presented for discussion at the May meeting. Highlights included:

 162 registered from 112 organisations, with 113 attending on the day  With apologies 203 people had been in touch, so have raised awareness  60 responses to online delegate survey received to date, on target for average feedback of 4 or above (on a scale of 5)  A good range of free text responses have been received, including learning points for future events and suggestions for wider OSP work.

John Tanner noted that Luke Marion from the Oxford Bus Company has joined the Low Carbon Oxford challenge group; there is room for others.

Bob Price suggested developing a leaflet (using information from the OSP Annual Report) that could be used to communicate the OSP achievements and programmes. Jackie Wilderspin felt that while the OSP has got better at informing the voluntary and community sector, it could still do more to involve them. b. Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) - update

Councillor Bob Price provided an update on LEP activities since the last OSP meeting (see also Paper 2 from the LEP), including:

 Allocations agreed by the Oxfordshire Skills Board of capital and revenue received through the Local Growth Fund 1 and 2, including for the City of Oxford College’s new Blackbird Leys Campus and Care Suite in the city centre  Allocations of Local Growth Fund 2 funding for the Northern Gateway and Oxpens infrastructure works now officially announced

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 The LEP is to be incorporated as a company. c. Oxford Futures Event

Peter Thompson outlined proposals for this event (Paper 3), noting that:

 It aims to promote awareness that continuing as is could spell disaster for Oxford  Growth on the scale being discussed now presents challenges but also opportunities to make Oxford a much better place if we get it right  It is about helping people understand the reasons behind the proposed growth and get them on board for implementing solutions, within the context of the wider region.

The meeting endorsed the direction for the event as set out in the paper; members will be kept updated as proposals develop further. The Oxford Civic Society will contribute £1,000 to the costs of the event, to be matched by the Partnership. It was agreed that the audience (expected about 100) should include surrounding districts and also those not already involved in these discussions. Action: PT, SJ

4. Educational Attainment: Updates

This item was taken first. Roy Leach, School Organisation and Planning Manager, Oxfordshire County Council, gave a brief update (Papers 4, 4a, 4b), including:

 The County Council has no powers of intervention in relation to academies; it can offer support and challenge and liaises with the Regional Schools Commissioner  Virtually all secondaries in and around Oxford are now academies; more primaries remain under the control of the Council as Local Education Authority  Performance in primaries has improved slightly, but it is a mixed picture across the city with some above the county average but also 5 out of the 10 worst performers  Secondary performance was good or outstanding but the average has gone down due to one school  The perennial issue is sustainability of improvements, noting reduced Council resources and academies not being a panacea  The many initiatives to support improvement would benefit from better co-ordination  Rebecca Matthews, Interim Deputy Director for Education and Early Intervention, is developing a new model (a school improvement partnership) which could also include partners around the table, academy sponsors and others.

Tim Sadler, Executive Director Community Services, Oxford City Council, briefly spoke to Paper 5, noting:

 The OSP had set out the ambition for improving educational attainment as part of its Stronger Communities priority; the City Council with others had set up programmes with target schools  Clearly something has caused improvement that exceeds that of other schools but it is a complex picture, so hard to analyse exactly what has made difference  Need to check the wider determinants underpinning educational attainment in the city - issues faced include teacher retention, in particular with the KRM programme which requires dedication and continuity from teaching staff; where schools have been able to follow this programme, results have been outstanding  Sustainability and how we link up are key.

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In discussion, it was raised that mental health is an issue affecting schools in the south east of the city, with a perceived lack of educational health support. Jackie Wilderspin noted that the County Council’s Thriving Families programme is to be extended to a target of 3,000 families over the next five years, including those with mental health issues.

Suggestions that could form part of a co-ordinated programme of action included:

 School governance and governors have an important part to play, in particular with academies, and need to be engaged to help challenge (also involving sponsors)  The County Council has drafted a working protocol for how it relates to academies, which may be taken up / adapted by other partners; Action: RL to share.  Staff from different schools could be encouraged to share their experiences and solutions on common issues, e.g. through ‘boards’ for a few key challenges  Anne Gwinnett floated the idea of exploring working with TeachFirst who recruit graduates to move into teaching straight from university; about half stay in the profession  The City Council’s shared equity housing scheme has been targeted at senior teaching staff coming to Oxford; it should be readjusted to support retention  The extension of this scheme to cover all teachers is being explored  Medium-term, developments such as the one planned for the Leys may help address lack of facilities such as a local nursery and housing for school staff  A key worker housing subsidy programme may offer funding opportunities.

It was agreed that a small sub-group will get together before next OSP meeting, to start developing proposals. Action: AG to convene 2 hour meeting to include DE, TW, BP, RM/RL, VJ, JW, Deborah McGregor, and report back to May OSP meeting.

5. Oxford Transport Strategy: Update

Bev Hindle, Deputy Director Strategy and Infrastructure Planning, Oxfordshire County Council, presented an update on the development of the County’s Local Transport Plan 4 (LPT4). This is a statutory document, with a number of different elements, such as route- based strategies, place-based ones like the Oxford Transport Strategy and the Science Transit Strategy; see www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/connectingoxfordshire for details.

In his presentation, Bev focused on the proposals for Oxford Transport Strategy in particular. Key points included:

 It is a comprehensive plan for all of Oxford, and beyond the city  We have seen a massive shift of employment and traffic from the centre to other areas, such as the Eastern Arc, Northern Gateway  Since 2011 estimates of future growth have increased significantly  Modal shift is required but a challenge where many have already made that change and there is a limit to the capacity of different modes  Work is taking place with Network Rail and providers; noted Cowley branch line is key to improve accessibility to this part of the city  Bus rapid transit could offer a good way forward and more flexible routing than trams in the short term, with good operators in the city  The Park & Ride system has been very successful but is now getting stretched

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 Connections through and across the city are a challenge and potential future bottleneck; with historic city centre need to explore other options, e.g. transit tunnels and intercepting many of those through-trips in the first place  Need to build on the city’s good cycling culture, reach those not already cycling  Land use decisions and planning where housing, employment and other facilities / services are placed are critical  As government funding is declining a wide range of funding sources will have to contribute, including some of relevance to OSP partners such as a possible Business Improvement District (BID) and various new user charges.

Discussion brought up the following additional points:

 Technology will be an important element, to be facilitated by the County Council with other partners such as the universities and investors – linked to the Smart Cities initiative  Oxford could be a good place to test technologies, e.g. driverless cars which are being developed here  While key destinations can be connected, the relatively low density of the city poses a challenge for in-between these start and end points  Local connectivity is key, as improved radial connections further afield can make it as easy to leave the city as to come in  With little additional space available due to Oxford’s historic and valuable environment, decisions will have to be made on how to prioritise existing space  Councillor Hudspeth pointed out that Park &Ride facilities e.g. at Water Eaton or Long Hanborough offer the benefit of very quick train rides into Oxford.

The strategy is due to be approved by the County Council and its Cabinet in the summer. But these will be live documents as the challenges continue to evolve over time; Bev and his team are happy to receive comments beyond the consultation deadline of 2 April. Action: OSP partners are encouraged to provide free-form comments as part of LTP 4 consultation.

6. Forward Plan and future agenda items

Anne Gwinnett suggested a few changes to the draft OSP forward plan circulated with the agenda (see also www.oxfordpartnership.org.uk/meetings.asp), which the meeting agreed:

 May: Stronger Communities Update (with a positive focus on improvements), Open Event de-brief and bringing back educational attainment proposals  July: Economic Growth Strategy Update (incl. Smart Cities), Oxford Business Survey  September: Safer Communities Update (incl. post-CSE review)  November: Post-election impact on partners  January: Low Carbon Update.

7. Any other business

The chair noted that this is the last Steering Group meeting to be supported by Kathrin Luddecke. The Partnership thanked her for her work, in particular in organising this year’s Open Event. Sadie Paige will be returning to the role.

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The latest Chart of the Month by the City Council’s Social Research Officer had been circulated with the agenda; see www.oxford.gov.uk/oxfordstats.

The Oxford Academy staff were thanked for their hospitality.

Meeting closed 12 pm.

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