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 Tilley:
“Will
the Cabinet member please confirm that any rural primary school in Oxfordshire
that meets the definition of such a school in the 2006 Education and
Inspection Act on becoming an academy of any description would no longer have the protection provided by the Act regarding the
procedure to be adopted should closure be contemplated? As an academy the
school can be closed by no more than a phone call from the trustees to the
Education Funding Agency. This means many rural primary schools in Oxfordshire
have already lost this safeguard.”
Councillor Tilley replied:
“The current statutory guidance which includes a “…presumption
against the closure of rural schools.” requires that consideration is given
to a number of factors before proceeding. Such consideration is only required
to be given in the case of “maintained” schools and ,
by implication not in the case of academies.
However,
any significant proposals for amalgamation or merger with another academy can
only be determined through what is known as the full business case route to the
Education Funding Agency and will involve consultation with the local
authority. Officers would expect a proposal to close an academy to follow
a similar route and are aware of at least one other proposal nationally that
has done so. However, there is no specific reference to rural primary
schools anywhere in this or other academy regulation documentation that
officers are aware of.”
Supplementary: Councillor Howson queried whether if a Multi Academy
Trust moved to a hub model the home to school transport costs would fall onto
the County Council. It was agreed that officers clarify the position which
would depend on the regulations and let Councillor Howson have a response.
Councillor Tanner had given notice of the following
question to Councillor Nimmo Smith:
‘The white lines and signs on the roads on my division are becoming more
and more faded and increasingly difficult to discern. This is creating a
dangerous situation for motorised traffic, cyclists and pedestrians, not least
at the wide junction of Iffley Turn, Iffley Road and Henley Avenue where there are no traffic
islands. Could the Cabinet member tell me when those white lines and signs will
be repainted?’
Councillor Nimmo Smith replied:
“I am sure all Members are aware that there has been a deterioration in the maintenance of signs and lines in
many parts of the County in recent years as we have had to prioritise where
limited resources are directed. Officers do try to focus funds on locations
where the lack of lining can particularly impact on safety or traffic flow, and
on that basis the junction mentioned would not have a high priority. However I
can inform Cllr Tanner that the junction is on the list being complied for
re-marking in 2017.”
Supplementary: Councillor Tanner
asked whether Councillor Nimmo Smith would agree that
given the issues faced not just in Councillor Tanner’s Division but across the
County that either the balance of spending was wrong, more money was needed
from central government or needed to be raised locally. Councillor Nimmo Smith replied that there was always a balance to be
found in how money was apportioned and currently they did the best they could
with the funding available.
Supporting documents:
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