OXFORDSHIRE County Council must do more for ethnic minority communities, according to a new performance review.

The report, by the Improvement and Development Agency for local government, highlighted a need to drive forward the prioritisation of the needs of Black, Asian and ethnic minority residents.

Opposition councillors have called the findings a 'wake up call' for the ruling Conservative administration.

Labour group leader Barbara Gatehouse said more needed to be done in the areas of education and care for older people.

She said: "The number of pupils from Black, Asian and ethnic minority groups getting five GCSEs at A to C is substantially lower than for white counterparts. There could be all sorts of reasons, but that ought to be looked at very seriously and something should be done.

"Care for older people needs to take into account the cultural needs of ethnic minority groups.

"I think they are not given the extra thought and care that they should have."

Mrs Gatehouse said ethnic minority groups were also under represented among county council staff.

The IDeA report, commissioned by the council, stated: "A consistent message emerging from the peer review was the need for the council to provide more evidence of its prioritisation of the needs of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities."

It also stated a need for strong political and corporate management to drive forward that prioritisation.

Inspectors, including councillors and officers from other authorities, visited County Hall in June to look at all aspects of performance and concluded the council was performing strongly in many areas.

Overall, it stated the council had a strong record of achievement and had made significant progress in performance.

But council leader Keith Mitchell said the report's recommendations would be acted upon.

He said: "The value of being reviewed by our peers at other councils is that we get information on where we can improve. We heard their message about ethnic minorities loud and clear. We already do a lot and we need to give that work more prominence and promote it better. Plans are being put in place.

"But there is a lot saying we are strongly performing and we welcome that."