Is Oxfordshire doing enough to be excellent next time?

2.50.47pm GMT Fri 2nd Nov 2007

Liberal Democrat Councillors are calling on the County Council to show more real commitment to social inclusion at next week's Council meeting. Liberal Democrats have been expressing concerns for some time that the Council's Conservative Administration appeared to be paying only lip service to encouraging diversity and ensuring equality but this was reinforced by the Peer Review last December. The review team reported that the County Council did not demonstrate its prioritisation of social inclusion sufficiently and needed to improve its performance.

Cllr Altaf-Khan, who has now brought this matter to the attention of the whole Council by his motion, said: "The Council's own recruitment is less than adequate at present - of its 22,000 employees only 3.5% are from ethnic minorities. The figure should be nearer 5% if we want to truly reflect the diversity of the Oxfordshire population.

"However, we are not concerned just about targets for internal recruitment, but to ensure that services to Oxfordshire residents are delivered on a fair basis and this needs real commitment. I have raised some issues about the County Council not actively supporting certain community events and the action plan we are calling for should provide genuine ways in which the Council can work more closely with people and communities."

Liberal Democrats are concerned that the Council's Excellent status could be called into question if significant and speedy improvements are not made.

Note:

The IDeA Peer Review is a team of councillors and officers from other authorities who are invited in by councils to assess their performance in a less formal way than the Audit Commission Inspectors.

Related Link:

The report from the Peer Review team is on the County's website.