Agenda, decisions and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 17 April 2018 (CA3) and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 April 2018 were approved and signed as a correct record.

Cabinet noted a question from Councillor Howson had not been processed and a copy of the question and response would be circulated to all councillors and included in the papers for the next meeting.

The Leader of the Council had agreed the following requests to address the meeting:-

Cabinet Member: Environment

Forward Plan Ref: 2018/006

Contact: Hugh Potter, Team Leader, Area Operations Hub Tel: (01865) 810228

Report by Director for Infrastructure Delivery (CA6).

The report considers the proposed provision of residents and visitors parking permits to Wingfield House, 2A Gathorne Road, Headington, Oxford, following the rescission of the previous decision by the Cabinet Member for Environment on 8 February 2018.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED not to approve the proposed changes to the CPZ Order as set out in the report.

Cabinet considered a report relating to the proposed provision of residents and visitors parking permits to Wingfield House, 2A Gathorne Road, Headington, Oxford, following the rescission of the previous decision by the Cabinet Member for Environment on 8 February 2018.

The Chairman referred to late representations Cabinet Members had received that morning. He invited Mr Philcox to address the points made to share them with the meeting and added that if necessary he would allow Mr Philcox additional time.

Julian Philcox, Director, JP Planning Ltd, spoke against the recommendation. He highlighted his email and attachments of 4^th May 2018 including a letter dated 4^th May), a parking stress survey (5^th February 2018) and the ‘Powergen’ Court of Appeal Case. He was concerned that no regard had been given to this material. The Powergen case was vital in considering whether it was possible to re-open a case determined by a planning inspector. The parking stress survey showed a significant underutilisation of parking. Mr Philcox referred to the decision of the planning inspector stating that the decision had been open to challenge but no such challenge had been made. There had been three opportunities to look at this decision during the planning decision process including the opportunity to appeal the inspector’s decision. Mr Philcox stressed the principle established by Powergen and the duty to co-operate. Nothing had materially changed since the decision and he called on Cabinet to make the difficult decision in the face of opposition to allow the changes to the CPZ order. He stated that there was capacity and that there would be no impact on parking stress or parking safety. He urged Cabinet not to ignore the Inspector’s decision and the principle of Powergen nor to rely on what he believed was flawed consultation.

Responding to questions from Councillor Constance, Mr Philcox clarified that the information had been submitted late as he and his client had not been notified of the consultation process, had only met with the case officer last week and had felt that they had to respond to the Cabinet report. On paragraph 34 of the report which was highlighted by Councillor Constance to illustrate that it was open to the cabinet member to make a separate decision Mr Philcox refuted this as he believed that the appeal inspector’s decision left no wriggle room.

Harold Grant, as the developer, builder and landlord of Wingfield House commented that he had sent fuller comments to Cabinet Members. He agreed with all that had been said by Mr Philcox and was of the view that the matter had not been dealt with for the best of all involved. No residents should have any concerns over the provision of basic needs for parking. The Council had a duty to be fair to all residents. This matter had already been determined by the Secretary of State through the planning process. The continuation of the consultation had been an attempt to justify the recommendation not to change  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47/18

Cabinet Member: Adult Social Care

Forward Plan Ref: 2018/049

Contact: Ben Threadgold, Policy & Performance Service Manager Tel: 07867 467838

Report by Director for Adult Services (CA7).

The Adult Social Care Contributions Policy outlines how the Council ensures a fair approach to assessing the financial contributions made by people with eligible care needs towards the cost of the social care services they receive.

Social care is not necessarily a free service and the Care Act 2014 permits the Council to recover a reasonable charge from service users who have insuffiicent means to pay for services themselves.

A review of the Contributions Policy in 2017 identified several changes that would ensure a fairer and more consistent approach to assessing people’s financial contributions, simplify the process, and better align the Policy with the Care Act 2014. A public consultation on these proposals was held between January and April 2018 to gather people’s views on the potential impact of the changes. This paper proposes changes to the Contributions Policy as a result.

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)      Consider the results of public consultation on the proposed changes to the Adult Social Care Contributions Policy,

(b)      Approve the recommended policy changes, and

(c)      Approve the implementation of the policy changes from October 2018

Cabinet had before them a report seeking approval of a revised Adult Social Care Contributions Policy that outlined how the Council would ensure a fair approach to assessing the financial contributions made by people with eligible care needs towards the cost of the social care services they receive.

A review of the Contributions Policy in 2017 identified several changes that would ensure a fairer and more consistent approach to assessing people’s financial contributions, simplify the process, and better align the Policy with the Care Act 2014. A public consultation on these proposals was held between January and April 2018 to gather people’s views on the potential impact of the changes.

Councillor Afridi, Shadow Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, spoke against the proposals querying what message it sent to the Council’s residents particularly the elderly and vulnerable. Councillor Afridi referred to the proposal to charge people the full cost of home care services, based on what care providers actually charge the Council, rather than an average hourly rate which she felt would be perceived by the public as a post code lottery. Councillor Afridi stated that direct provision of services was the way forward.

Councillor Bartholomew responded commenting that it was not a postcode lottery but was about reflecting the true cost of services provided where a person lived. He added that those affected were self-funders and there was no reason for them to pay less than the going rate. It was about looking for equality for everyone. Councillor Stratford, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, added that the proposal was about being fair and more transparent in the distribution of funds. Self-funders have sufficient funds to source their own provision and choose to come to the Council. Three-quarters will have no change or pay less. All saving would be reinvested in adult social care for those who needed it most.  It was not a new principle and most Councils were already doing it that way. Benedict Leigh, added that the increase would be no more than £30 and 1,300 would be better off. Referring to the direct provision of services Councillor Stratford stated that this was being reviewed in line with the decision at full Council.

Responding to questions from Cabinet, Benedict Leigh explained that the savings being reinvested would benefit older people receiving care at home.

Councillor Stratford moved the recommendations:

RESOLVED:            to:

(a)      consider the results of public consultation on the proposed changes to the Adult Social Care Contributions Policy,

(b)      approve the recommended policy changes, and

(c)          approve the implementation of the policy changes from October 2018.

Cabinet Member: Local Communities

Forward Plan Ref: 2018/022

Contact: Amy Allen, Policy Officer Tel: 07920 084362

Report by Policy & Performance Service Manager (CA8).

The Equality Policy 2018-2022 sets out how the Council is approaching its responsibilities for ensuring that the principles of equality, diversity, fairness and inclusion are applied to our own workforce and the services we commission and deliver to residents. It demonstrates how the Council is meeting the requirements placed on public bodies under the Equality Act 2010, including setting eight objectives for the next four years.

A draft of the policy went out for public consultation between January - March 2018 and the policy has been amended following feedback.

An annual action plan has been developed, this will be monitored and reported quarterly as part of the Council's overall performance management arrangements.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve the Equality Policy and Strategy 2018 – 2022.

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval of The Equality Policy 2018-2022 that set out how the Council is approaching its responsibilities for ensuring that the principles of equality, diversity, fairness and inclusion are applied to our own workforce and the services we commission and deliver to residents. A draft of the policy went out for public consultation between January - March 2018 and the policy has been amended following feedback.

Councillor Susanna Pressel, Shadow Cabinet Member for Local Communities, generally welcomed the report which she had commented on during the consultation. Referring to page 3 of the Policy, Councillor Pressel referred to the protected characteristics which were to be considered alongside areas of disadvantage and queried how that would be addressed. The Policy needed to say more about staff training and the link to the quality of services although she was pleased to see this was being developed. She asked for additional information on why   equity audits were not to be completed until next year and on comparisons with other authorities. Councillor Pressel queried what work had been done to determine the usefulness of SCIAs and whether they could be improved upon. Referring to the Annex 2 information it highlighted the need to explain more clearly why the Council needed to collect protected characteristic data.

Councillor Gray responded to the points made explaining that areas of disadvantage were not the same as areas of deprivation. Ben Threadgold, Policy & Performance Service Manager, introduced the report and added that there were good examples of the impact of SCIAs. The Policy was a live document and there was a clear link to performance reporting. In looking at our equalities activity use was made of the LGA Self-Assessment Framework.

Councillor Gray moved the recommendations:

RESOLVED:             to approve the Equality Policy and Strategy 2018 – 2022.

Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2017/172

Contact: Sarah Currell, HR Manager – Business Systems Tel: 07867 467793

Report by Director of Human Resources (CA9).

This report gives an update on staffing numbers and related activity during the period 1 January 2018 to 31 March 2018.  It gives details of the actual staffing numbers at 31 March 2018 in terms of Full Time Equivalents.  These are shown by directorate in Appendix 1. In addition, the report provides information on the cost of posts being covered by agency staff and an Agency Trend analysis in Appendix 2. 

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the report.

Cabinet considered a report that gave an update on staffing numbers and related activity during the period 1 January 2018 to 31 March 2018.  It gave details of the actual staffing numbers at 31 March 2018 in terms of Full Time Equivalents.  In addition, the report provided information on the cost of posts being covered by agency staff. 

Councillor Price, Opposition Deputy Leader, highlighted the sharp rise in agency spend and the need to understand the underlying reasons for it to ensure that posts were not being filled by agency staff when they would be better filled by permanent staff. She welcomed the new staffing report that in future would provide greater detail particularly around agency staff.

Councillor Heathcoat, Deputy Leader of the Council,  in moving the recommendations commented that the increase in permanent staff in Quarter 3 had been caused by bringing Carillion staff in house. In response to the points raised by Councillor Price she noted that agency staff were necessary to ensure continuity of services to residents. The figures were for both Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 following the start of the new contract so appeared high. Councillor Heathcoat commented that overall there had been an annual reduction on 2016/17.

RESOLVED:                              to note the report.

Cabinet Member: All

Contact Officer: Sue Whitehead, Committee Services Manager Tel: 07393 001213

The Cabinet Procedure Rules provide that the business of each meeting at the Cabinet is to include “updating of the Forward Plan and proposals for business to be conducted at the following meeting”.   Items from the Forward Plan for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet appear in the Schedule at CA10.  This includes any updated information relating to the business for those meetings that has already been identified for inclusion in the next Forward Plan update.

The Schedule is for noting, but Cabinet Members may also wish to take this opportunity to identify any further changes they would wish to be incorporated in the next Forward Plan update.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings.

The Cabinet considered a list of items for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet together with changes and additions set out in the schedule of addenda.

Councillor Hudspeth advised that an addendum item was scheduled for this afternoon entitled ‘Consultation to close Northfields School’. A paper was being prepared on the future options for Northfields School, a school which supports boys with social, emotional and mental health needs. This was to have been taken as an emergency item today and was requested at short notice late last week. Councillor Hudspeth explained that officers had asked for a few more days to prepare the paper so it contained all relevant information, and he proposed to hold a further special meeting in the very near future to discuss this. The date would be notified to all councillors and publicised as soon as possible.

RESOLVED:            to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings.