Agenda item

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’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.

Councillor Suzanna Pressel had given notice of the following question to the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities:

 

"Is the Cabinet satisfied that we can continue to provide adequate access to

our museums and to the artefacts that we hold in trust for the people of

Oxfordshire if, as proposed, you make a 40% cut in the budget of the

museums service and a 50% cut in its staffing, and above all can we be

assured that, if these cuts go ahead, the museums service will have sufficient

capacity to support the new Oxfordshire Local Heritage Partnership with

Oxford University Museums in order to lever in £2 million a year for 5 years,

much of which would be spent on work with schools in Oxfordshire?"

 

Councillor Mrs J. Heathcoat replied:

 

The budget proposals and service plans for the county museums service are

challenging. The service aims to retain a core of professional staff sufficient to

maintain the collections at the Museum Resources Centre (MRC), to continue

the public services at The Oxfordshire Museum and outreach to schools and

target groups (including the elderly). Total staff numbers will be reduced from

30 fte to 15 fte so there will be a significant reduction in service.

 

The reduction of staffing at The Oxfordshire Museum will require replacement

by volunteers if the current opening hours are to be maintained; discussions

are already taking place with the Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum and the

Soldiers of Oxfordshire about how to plan this and how to extend the

opportunity to volunteer to the wider community. The MLA (Museums

Libraries and Archives Council) has funded a project to advise museums on

the greater use of volunteers.

 

The museums service continues to work closely with Oxford University

Museums with plans to consult heritage organisations throughout Oxfordshire

on an Oxfordshire Heritage Strategy. The Oxfordshire Local Heritage

Partnership (OLHP) between the County Council, City Council and Oxford

University will bid for 'core' museum status; the MLA has yet to announce the

criteria and details of these 'cores', but it is anticipated that the details will be

published shortly and OLHP is preparing its plans. Core museum funding is

likely to focus on the stewardship and use of significant collections (including

the County Council's collections at the MRC) with up to £2 million per year for

each 'core' to reach new audiences, provide learning opportunities, and

improve access.

 

Supplementary: Councillor Mrs Heathcoat was asked if she considered it less likely that the Council would win the bid for £2m now that staffing had been reduced by 50%.

 

Councillor Heathcoat replied that a new partnership would add value for the County Council.

 

 

Councillor Zoe Patrick had given notice of the following question to the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities:

 

“Grove is expected to expand over the coming years with the first stage of the

planning application expected very soon. With the new development comes a

S106 agreement to build a new library on the airfield site. Does the cabinet

agree that closing the local library now will seriously jeopardise the future of

Grove’s library service forever.”

 

Councillor Mrs J. Heathcoat replied:

 

At the present time, there are proposals to cease funding 20 out of the 43

libraries currently run by Oxfordshire's Library Service. These proposals are

just that, proposals. So to say the Grove library is to close is premature. The

consultation period is due to start in February and last for 12 weeks. On

conclusion of the consultation all the findings will be analysed and of course

all aspects relating to each library taken into account.

 

In relation to the S106 element, the localities agenda will indeed have to take

account of those areas in the County which will experience significant growth.

It may well be that Section 106 funding will provide community presence

where we can co-host a range of services which need not be a single

dedicated library.

 

Supplementary: Councillor Patrick expressed concern about the possible danger of developers not committing to the Section 106 agreement in response to a perception that the County Council was not undertaking its part in the agreement.

 

Councillor Mrs J. Heathcoat responded that a Section 106 agreement  was a legal document and would be looked at alongside the proposal for the library.

 

Cllr Jenny Hannaby had given notice of the following question to the Cabinet Member for Adult Services:

 

“On 13 December a letter was sent to all users of Oxfordshire County

Council’s Internal Home Support Service informing them of the new proposals

and the reasons for the changes. The letter stated that formal consultations

will take place with users groups.

 

If the County Council does really believe in choices for all its people when will

all 1000 users of Internal Home Support Services be allowed to have their

say?”

 

Councillor Arash Fatemian replied:

 

There are currently around 570 Users of internal Home Support. A Helpline

has been established, and all Service Users have been given information on

who to contact if they wish to comment on the proposed change to the

service. Each Service User will be individually contacted and transitioned to

new arrangements as part of the roll-out of Self Directed Support. At that

stage they will have the opportunity to discuss their needs, and select from

the range of services available in their locality.

 

A programme of consultation with groups representing Service Users has

been set up in February and March. Consultation will take place with five

independent groups:

 

·        Age UK Panel

·        Oxfordshire LiNK Steering Group

·        Unlimited (User Led Organisation representing adults with physical

disabilities)

·        Oxfordshire Carers Forum

·        Service User/Carer Reference Group

 

A consultation paper has been produced which sets out the background, and

the details of how proposed changes will affect Service Users and Carers. I

have asked the Director to circulate this paper to the Opposition

Spokespersons and this paper can be made available to Members on

request.

 

Councillor Richard Stevens had given notice of the following question to the Cabinet Member for Adult Services:

 

“On 7 December 2010, Paul Burstow MP, Minister of State for Care Services, said in the context of the overall 26% cut to local authority budgets that an additional "£1 billion that will go into social care directly through the local government settlement [in October 2010] will be available for local government to support social care services. The £1 billion that will go in via the NHS will also be there to support social care, but it will particularly address issues such as reablement and preventive services.

 

Would the Cabinet Member for Adult Services confirm:

(a)       how much Oxfordshire County Council is receiving from the £1 billionput into social care through the local government settlement referred toabove (which is intended to "support social care services" in Oxfordshire)?; and

(b)       how much Oxfordshire County Council is receiving via the NHS (also intended to "support social care" in Oxfordshire)?”

 

Councillor Arash Fatemian replied:

 

(a)       Although we had assurances from the Department of Health that the money had been made available through the personal Social Services Grant, we have not been able to find the evidence of it, nor have colleagues working for other authorities. We believe that it has been used to offset the overall settlement to local government, but we are not in a position to confirm this for certain.

(b)    Oxfordshire County Council is receiving £6.1m as stated in paragraphs 34 – 37 of the report.

 

Councillor Liz Brighouse had given notice of the following question to theLeader of the Council

 

“The Council carried out a consultation exercise in relation to the budget and

an Equality Impact Assessment was also written. Can the Leader tell us in

what ways the Draft Budget changed in response to the consultation and what

has been done to mitigate the impact of the cuts on the most vulnerable in our

community: older people, children and young people living in poverty or

having a disability”

 

Reply from the Leader of the Council

 

We have been extremely forward thinking in our approach in that, for many of

the areas where efficiency savings have been proposed in the budget, we

have had early discussions with staff, service users and members of the

public alike over the last six months. Hence the proposals were developed

with input from these groups. However, it will be vitally important for the

service users and members of the public to be able to inform service change

going forward and, once the budget is set, the county council will consult on

key service changes as appropriate.

 

In terms of formal consultation, the Cabinet has also considered the

comments on the draft budget proposals from individual Scrutiny Committees

held on 20 December 2010, as well as the outcome of the Big Debate public

consultation which was undertaken in September 2010. The results of the

Oxfordshire Voice Panel have provided further views which have been taken

into account. The Council has invited comments on its overall proposed

budget and three comments were received. A summary of comments and

feedback that has helped inform the proposals is attached to the Service &

Resource Planning Report being considered at this meeting (Item 8, Annex

1). We were told that the services people were most concerned about were

those supporting the vulnerable - older people, children and those with

disabilities. The reductions to some services, such as ceasing to fund directly

a number of our libraries, is part of trying to prevent reductions in direct

services to these vulnerable groups.

 

Officers have conducted equality impact assessments for the proposed

service changes and the initial assessments are available on the county

council's website. A link to these documents has been circulated to all

councillors. The documents are intended to be an initial assessment of the

impact of the proposals on vulnerable groups and include potential mitigation

actions should the proposals be agreed by Council. Cabinet members have

been specifically briefed on the law relating to equality impact assessments.

A specific example of work flowing from the consultations and equality impact

assessments described above has been development of the Big Society Fund

and of a protocol for assessing bids to it. The Big Society Fund is intended to

help local communities to sustain valued local services that the County

Council can no longer afford to fund.

 

Supplementary: Councillor Brighouse commented that many were concerned about the cuts as the economy had not performed as expected, unemployment was rising and jobs were not being created, asking how the Leader justified this to the vulnerable people in Oxfordshire.

 

The Leader of the Council replied that outcomes would be apparent as the coalition government continued to amend the economy, but this would entail considerable pain for all. However, the County Council would do its best to ease pain for the vulnerable.

 

Councillor Val Smith had given notice of the following question to the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities

 

“We have learnt in the last month - that it is just not a question of books being

borrowed and books going out the door; a large part of the service is to do

with schools and being aware of books. The Blackbird Leys Library is used

by all the primary schools for story time sessions - by the children's centre for

reading with Mums and by Mabel Pritchard School which is a school for

severely disabled children.

 

Those children could not get to Temple Cowley library - it would mean hiring a

bus and in the case of the disabled children in wheelchairs using their County

Council transport. Many of you will have experience of taking a couple of

children on public transport - let alone a whole class.

 

I am sure you all agree with me that losing this valuable aspect of the service

must not happen and can I be assured that:

(a) These important questions have been thoroughly examined

(b) That these functions are part of the Councils statutory requirement and

must be kept.

 

Councillor Mrs J. Heathcoat replied:

Many, if not all of our libraries provide a wide variety of services and I'm

surprised that Cllr Smith was not aware of this? All aspects of the service

provision for each library has and will be considered within the proposals

relating to the ceasing of funding of 20 out of 43 of the Oxfordshire libraries.

The current proposals within the budget are just that at this moment in time,

proposals. There is to be a full consultation undertaken which is due to start

at the beginning of February and will cover a period of 12 weeks. Equality

Impact Assessments will be undertaken, too and full analyse of the material

collected during the consultation and period. All correspondence received to

date, emails and letters will also be included within the analyse of data.

We are proposing to fulfil our statutory duty to provide a comprehensive

library service by providing 24 hub libraries supported by an online service

together with a mobile library service. Communities may develop solutions in

areas where we are proposing to cease funding a particular library - or indeed

where there has never been a library.

We are in the process of preparing detailed guidance on what support might

be available for a community run library. The building - current, or a new

building would of course be one of the issues. The guidance will be available

for the start of the formal consultation.

 

Supplementary: Councillor Val Smith commented that everybody was aware that the County’s Library services is a good service. She asked if she could be assured that all Blackbird Leys schools would be consulted on the proposals.

 

Councillor Mrs J. Heathcoat replied that schools would be consulted on the proposals.

 

Councillor Roy Darke had given notice of the following question to the Leader of the Council

 

“Has the leader written to Eric Pickles asking for clarification and explanation

of why the Secretary of State chose to set up a smokescreen by referring to

Oxfordshire County Council only getting a reduction of 1.87% in local

spending power when the draft budget and service planning analysis have

been indicating for some time that loss of government grant under the

settlement announced before Christmas shows a much higher percentage

reduction in revenue support for OCC and, indeed, that this massive reduction

is front loaded with heart-rending reductions in front line services in 2011/12?”

 

Reply from the Leader of the Council

 

No. I refer Cllr Darke to my answer to Cllr Larry Sanders at the January

Council which raised a similar issue.

 

Supplementary ; Councillor Darke asked to view the letters the Leader had received which had regard to the local government settlement, adding that the Local Government Association (LGA) were very upset at the settlement, its lateness and the two year timescale.

 

The Leader replied that he had written one letter to Eric Pickles MP and it could be made available to Cllr Darke. He pointed out that the LGA was not Conservative controlled and that it operated by consensus of all major political groups.