Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2009/174

Contact:  Tracy Luck, Head of Strategy (01865 816383)/ Christa Brodie-Levinsohn (01865 815463)

Report by:  Head of Strategy

The report summarises Oxfordshire County Council’s results in the recent Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA). This is an annual assessment of local public services in England.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

a)        Celebrate Oxfordshire’s areas of good performance from the 2009 assessment;

b)        Note the areas highlighted for follow up work next year.

Cabinet considered a report summarising Oxfordshire County Council’s results in the recent Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), an annual assessment of local public services in England.

Councillor Patrick, Leader of the Opposition commented that she had not found the report useful compared to the full report and queried why the full report was not available as part of the agenda. She accepted the areas that had been highlighted for action, but noted that there was no action plan so queried what would happen in respect of those areas.

Clare Buchanan, Performance Specialist for the Audit Commission presented the Audit Commission findings, referring in particular to the assessments carried out by the Children’s Quality Commission (CQC), OFSTED and the assessment of the Fire Services. She highlighted the areas where the Council had performed well, that included political and managerial leadership and strong financial management; she noted major improvements in several areas including regeneration, public transport, community safety and recycling and composting; in terms of CQC and OFSTED the Council was performing well over all although there was a need to continue to address educational attainment. The Fire Services assessment had been very positive, building on previous strong performance. Areas for development included equalities, response times and retention of retained fire fighters.

Responding to the comments made, Cabinet expressed disappointment at the lack of green flags noting that the Council was the best in the country in terms of dealing with Youth Offending and queried what was needed to gain a green flag. The Fire Service too had an exceptional record. The Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities noted that the issue with retained fire fighters was a national problem.

The Leader indicated that the full reports were available on the web site. The areas highlighted for development were already the focus of a great deal of work and action plans were in place.

Cabinet commented on the positive nature of the report and that staff should be proud of the work they did on residents’ behalf.

RESOLVED:                        to:

a)         Celebrate Oxfordshire’s areas of good performance from the 2009 assessment; and

b)         note the areas highlighted for follow up work next year.