Agenda item

Questions from County Councillors

Any county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two working days before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the Cabinet’s delegated powers.

 

The number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of this item will receive a written response.

 

Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time.

Minutes:

Councillor Howson had given notice of the following question to Councillor Constance:

“Why was the Proposed Amendments to Parking Restrictions in Frenchay Road, Oxford that first appeared in the forward Plan in September 2016, withdrawn in March 2018 leaving residents to wait until after 2021 for any consultation on a possible CPZ (Controlled Parking Zone) before they can expect any relief from commuter and other parking in their street and also making access for emergency vehicles very difficult.”

 

Councillor Hudspeth (in the absence of Councillor Constance) replied:

 

“Following consultation it was clear that further work was needed on the Frenchay Road area parking restrictions and the item was removed from the forward plan to allow the scheme to be reviewed.  The fact that you were not updated about this is an oversight for which officers and I apologise.

 

As you know the city and county councils are working together to agree a programme of Controlled Parking Zones in the city over the next few years.  It will not be possible to implement every zone with the funding available so some prioritisation is necessary.  Local members are being asked for their input into this process and this will be taken into account before the programme is finalised. 

 

Completely new parking schemes included in the final programme are expected to be implemented during 2020/21.  However, schemes for which design work and consultation have been previously completed could be implemented sooner than this. 

 

Schemes not included in the final programme are not ruled out if additional funding can be found to pay for them.  Again, if they are schemes where previous design work and consultation has already been completed then they could potentially be implemented well before 2021.”

 

Councillor Webber had given notice of the following question to Councillor Hudspeth:

 

“How much money in total has been collected from maintained schools in 2017-18 from the Apprenticeship Levy and how much of this money has been spent on apprenticeships?”

 

Councillor Hudspeth replied:

 

“SAP shows a total of £451,200.57 charged against schools for the Apprenticeship Levy during 2017-18 financial year. Once I have the details of the amount spent I will let Cllr Webber have these.”

 

Councillor Webber had given notice of the following question to Councillor Hudspeth:

 

“What steps have been taken to discuss use of a Level 7 Senior Leader Master's Degree Apprenticeship with the Chartered Institute of Management or any other similar body?”

 

Councillor Hudspeth replied:

 

“This is an interesting idea that I will raise with the Local Enterprise Partnership who work with businesses and young people across Oxfordshire to help meet our county's 'skills agenda' including through apprenticeships.”

 

Councillor Emily Smith had given notice of the following question to Councillor Hibbert Biles:

 

What are the current reserves recorded for each maintained primary school in Oxfordshire?

Councillor Hibbert-Biles replied:

The Finance team are in the process of closing the annual accounts for Schools.

 

All figures provided here are PROVISIONAL.

 

Confirmed School Reserves will be circulated to schools after April 23rd and to Schools Forum at the 21st June meeting.

 

Summary Table

 

 

School Reserves is made up of individual school balances from the 170 schools. The overall change on these is a reduction of £3.2m, which is represented by approximately £0.8m being transferred to academy converters, £0.7m net reduction on the new schools' Growth Fund and £1.7m net movement on schools individual revenue balances.

 

Councillor Pressel had given notice of the following question to Councillor Constance:

 

“Walton Street is a busy road in my division, almost an arterial road. It is in a very poor state in its northern and southern sections. It contains many deep potholes and stretches which are failing.

 

Please can you make sure it is resurfaced as soon as possible?” 

 

Councillor Hudspeth (in the absence of Councillor Constance) replied:

 

“There are no plans to undertake comprehensive resurfacing works in the near future but preparatory work to design the right solution will take place in the coming year.  In the meantime essential maintenance by our City Council colleagues will continue to be undertaken to ensure the highway remains safe for the public to use.

 

The same assessment process is used across all of Oxfordshire’s roads to ensure that funds are prioritised.”

 

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