As the Government has indicated that it is unlikely to proceed with either of the proposals on the table for unitary authorities it is important that the existing councils – and indeed other public sector organisations – look again at how we can work together not only to save money but, probably more importantly, to deliver better public services.
It is very good news therefore that all of Oxfordshire’s councils today agreed to explore just that. At today’s Growth Board meeting I proposed a wide ranging motion (see the full text below) that would incorporate the work of the Clinical Commissioning Group as well as councils and the Local Enterprise Partnership. We need to break away from the silo mentality that often dominates the public sector and look at innovative ways of delivering better services regardless of which body is technically responsible.
One of the option to be considered is to establish a Combined Authority. This model is increasingly popular up and down the country and it has previously been supported by Oxfordshire County Council and is welcomed by Oxfordshire’s district councils – it was even part of the model for district unitaries. In this context however a Combined Authority (CA) isn’t a step towards unitary councils but it could be one way of getting better decision making and more joined up services.
There are a myriad of ways in which a Combined Authority could work and this is one of the points that would need to be evaluated, but it could mean that one joint body, with it’s own transparent scrutiny arrangements, could make decisions on a wide range of policy areas from health and social care, to transport and housing.
Obviously a Combined Authority is only one of the ways forward, but I believe it could be a step-change in the way Oxfordshire is run and whilst I still believe that local unitary councils would deliver better public services in the long run, with such reorganisation unlikely in the short term this could be a great option for the people of Oxfordshire.
This is the motion that I proposed a this afternoon’s Growth Board meeting which was agreed by all of the district councils and the County Council:
Following the publication of the PwC and Grant Thornton reports on local government in Oxfordshire it is clear that there are several areas where joint working may help us realise significant savings and improvements of public services. A working group should be established including Chief Executives and Leaders of local authorities, CCG and LEP to explore how these transformational changes can be progressed in areas including, but not exclusively: infrastructure, skills, economic development, strategic spatial planning, health and social care. The working group will investigate, but will not be restricted to reviewing the future function of the Oxfordshire Growth Board and to consider the feasibility of establishing a combined authority for Oxfordshire.
It was also agreed that the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group should be invited to join the Growth Board with immediate effect – rather than waiting for the outcome of this more detailed work.