Agenda and draft minutes

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

EXEMPT ITEM

It is RECOMMENDED that the public be excluded during consideration of the annex to report CMDSSC7 since it is likely that if they were present during its consideration there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and specified below in relation to that item:

3. Information relating to the financial and business affairs of any particular person including the authority withholding that information

and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, on the grounds that such disclosure might prejudice the commercial position of Lion Apparel Ltd.

Note: The report itself does not contain exempt information and is therefore available to the public.

The exempt information is contained in the restricted annex to the report that has been circulated only to those members and officers entitled to receive it.

THE ANNEX HAS NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC AND SHOULD BE REGARDED AS STRICTLY PRIVATE TO THOSE MEMBERS AND OFFICERS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE IT.

Forward Plan Ref: 2010/046

Contact: Jane Dixon, Head of Adult Learning Tel: (01865) 458794

Report by Head of Community Services (CMDSSC4).

4.20 pm or on the rising of the Safer and Stronger Communities Scrutiny Committee if later.

The Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities is RECOMMENDED to approve the changes proposed in the report.

I note that the service needs to reduce its spend but is actually intending on increasing the amount of learning provided. I also note that the Service is no longer withdrawing from Berinsfield and have asked the Head of Adult Learning to let me know should any of the expected savings (in a full financial year) from the proposals not be achieved.

Agreed.

Forward Plan Ref: 2010/049

Contact: Richard Webb, Deputy Head of Trading Standards, Tel: (01865) 815791

Report by Director of Community Safety & Shared Services & Chief Fire Officer (CMDSSC5).

The Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities is RECOMMENDED to approve the Trading Standards Service following the Local Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) guidance on the Regulator’s Compliance Code when determining action required to meet the requirements of this Code.

I note that the Trading Standards Service is already broadly compliant with the requirements of the LACORS Code and that the Service is already compliant in terms of high risk issues regardless of which code is followed.

Agreed.

Forward Plan Ref: 2010/050

Contact: Richard Webb, Deputy Head of Trading Standards, Tel: (01865) 815791

Report by Director for Community Safety & Shared Services & Chief Fire Officer (CMDSSC6).

The Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities is RECOMMENDED to authorise the Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety to enter into an agreement with Buckinghamshire County Council to provide licensing and inspection services for petroleum spirit and explosives subject to satisfactory terms being negotiated with Buckinghamshire County Council.

I note the following:

• that the hourly rate to be charged separately by Oxfordshire County Council for undertaking investigations on behalf of Buckinghamshire Trading Standards in respect of enforcement responsibilities (eg investigations of identified breaches) will be built into the contract as a clause;

• that the Acting Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety will discuss potential legal liability with the Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal & Democratic Services and ensure that Oxfordshire County Council will not be exposed to risk should Buckinghamshire County Council not follow advice or recommendations arising from the services provided.

Agreed recommendation as amended in bold italics

The Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities is RECOMMENDED to authorise the Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety to enter into an agreement with Buckinghamshire County Council to provide licensing and inspection services for petroleum spirit and explosives subject to satisfactory terms being negotiated with Buckinghamshire County Council, taking account of the need to mitigate the financial risks associated with this project to deliver services to an external body ie Buckinghamshire County Council.

Forward Plan Ref: 2010/069

Contact: Colin Thomas, Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Tel: (01865) 855206

Report by Acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer (CMDSSC7).

The  Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities is RECOMMENDED to approve an exemption from the tendering requirements of Oxfordshire County Council’s Contract Procedure Rules and to:

(a)         approve an extension to the existing contract with Lion Apparel Ltd for a period of 6 months, with an option to withdraw sooner if that is feasible;

(b)        delegate authority to the Director for Community Safety and Shared Services and Chief Fire Officer to extend the contract for a further 3 months should the new contract not be operational in sufficient time to allow for a seamless transition.

Due to the delay in the collaborative tendering process and previous inability to use the Yorkshire Procurement Organisation call off contract, the ability to guarantee continuing provision of PPE is in question.  This places an unacceptable level of risk on the operational effectiveness of the service should there be any delay in either the letting of the contract or the implementation of it. For this reason I have chosen to approve an extension to the existing contract with Lion Apparel Ltd. There is also a considerable amount of work that needs to be done prior to implementation of the new contract, for example fitting the new Fire Kit and training officers into how to wear and correctly maintain it.

(a)         approve an extension to the existing contract with Lion Apparel Ltd for a period of 6 months, with an option to withdraw sooner if that is feasible;

(b)        delegate authority to the Chief Fire Officer to extend the contract for a further 3 months or less should the new contract not be operational in sufficient time to allow for a seamless transition.