The Performance & Corporate Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the Oxfordshire Strategic Plan 2025-2028, the Business Management Monitoring Report (BMMR) with a focus on Children's Services, Education and Families, and parking permits. The committee agreed to make recommendations to the cabinet regarding the strategic plan and the BMMR. They also agreed to the committee's work programme for forthcoming meetings.

Oxfordshire Strategic Plan 2025-2028

The committee reviewed the draft Oxfordshire Strategic Plan 2025-2028 and public engagement feedback, and agreed to make recommendations to the cabinet. The strategic plan builds on the existing 2022-2025 plan and retains the vision of a greener, fairer, and healthier Oxfordshire.

Susannah Wintersgill, Director of Public Affairs and Policy Partnerships, presented the report, which includes nine headline projects to be delivered by 2027, and a wider set of objectives. Metrics will be developed for each objective as part of the new outcomes framework from 1 April 2026, including national indicators from the Local Government Outcomes Framework.

The council commissioned REMind Research to conduct focus groups with residents in July 2025. The Oxfordshire CC Resident Research - Strategic Plan Report detailed feedback from nine focus groups with 63 participants. The feedback was used to inform the plan's development and priorities, addressing key issues like road repairs, integrated public transport, and provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The plan focuses on tangible actions with clear objectives and timescales.

The headline projects for a greener Oxfordshire include:

• Creating better spaces in town centres like Banbury, Witney, and Wantage.
• Working towards a countywide integrated rail and bus offer, including a new rail plan by November 2025 and business cases for new stations and services, including Begbroke and Wantage & Grove.
• Creating two dedicated response teams by November 2025 to assess highways enquiries and fix issues in towns and villages.

Headline projects for a fairer Oxfordshire include:

• Rolling out a network of family and community hubs across the county during 2026 and 2027.
• Supporting 900 participants on the Connect to Work programme by August 2027, and 2,000 over the five-year programme.
• Creating 30 supported work placements within the council by March 2027 for young people leaving care.

Headline projects for a healthier Oxfordshire include:

• Increasing the number of children who reach a good level of development at age five from 42% to 45% by November 2027.
• Delivering more specialist school places for children with SEND, including 120 places in Faringdon by January 2027 and 120 places in Oxford by September 2027.
• Supporting an expanded and coordinated programme of youth provision by 2026/27, including the launch of an integrated adolescence and prevention service in September 2025.

Business Management Monitoring Report (BMMR)

The committee reviewed the Business Management Monitoring Report (BMMR) with a focus on Children's Services, Education and Families, and agreed to make recommendations to the cabinet.

Councillor Sean Gaul, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Dan Levy, Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Transformation, Lorna Baxter, Executive Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer, and Lisa Lyons, Director of Children's Services, presented the report.

As a result of action taken during the year, Children's Services overspent by £0.1m against a budget of £202.1m. Expenditure on High Needs DSG was £36.5m higher than the ringfenced grant funding in 2024/25 and increased the cumulative deficit to £92.3m. Based on the forecast shared with Cabinet in July, this will increase to over £130m in 2025/26.

Actual expenditure on pupil places was £26.0m in 2024/25 and is forecast at £59.2m in 2025/26. The Pupil Place Plan includes 3 main programmes: Basic Need, Growth Portfolio and Schools Annual Programmes.

The council has allocated over £1.8m between 2023/24 and 2026/27 as loan financing available to maintained schools to install retrofit measures (LED lighting, solar photovoltaics and battery storage).

Within the council's Property Strategy Corporate Estate Development included the Children's Homes Programme for which Children's Services successfully secured DfE match funding to purchase and refurbish four new children's homes (12 additional beds) at a total cost of £10.450m.

The committee reviewed the scorecard of the council's performance in relation to annual measures and specific measures directly relating to Children's Services (either directly or indirectly through services provided by Public Health) in Annex 2.

The committee also reviewed the Strategic Risk Register.

Parking Permits

Councillor Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Transport Management, and Paul Fermer, Director of Environment and Highways, provided an oral update on parking permits. The committee raised questions and agreed to make recommendations to the cabinet.

Committee Forward Work Plan

The committee agreed to its work programme for forthcoming meetings, having heard any changes from previous iterations, and taking account of the Cabinet Forward Plan and of the Budget Management Monitoring Report. The PCS Work Programme 12.09.25 was agreed.