Recommendations agreed subject to amendment:
Delivery of the agreed Medium
Term Financial Plan savings
In order to
deliver the savings required in the MTFP, the Cabinet RESOLVED to:
(a) Consider the
consultation feedback regarding subsidised bus services;
(b) Proceed with
reducing bus subsidies by £2.3 million and:
1. Having
considered the consultation feedback regarding subsidised bus services to
prioritise off peak services
2. To update
the methodology used for ranking services in the following ways:
i.
Include additional criteria which ensure that
rurally isolated and deprived areas are also prioritised.
ii.
Agree to continue to pay for (i.e. protect in the methodology)
subsidised bus routes which are used to take entitled students from home to
school, where on the whole it is cheaper for us to do so, instead of paying for
separate dedicated school transport. (This will vary routes available on a year
by year basis as school cohorts change).
iii.
Ensure a consistent methodology by treating all
providers in the same way, whether they are external providers, OCC fleet or
community transport providers.
N.B. If cabinet approves this
request, then approximately two-thirds of the subsidies due to be withdrawn
would cease in April 2016, and the remaining third would cease in June 2016.
The £2.3m savings under option 2 would be realised in financial year 16/17,
assuming notice was served in November / December 2015.
The exact details cannot be
finalised at this stage due to variables including whether contract renewal
renegotiations are required, which could alter costs.
(c) Cease
funding the Dial a Ride service as of April 2016.
Delivery of further savings subject to Council
approval
Cabinet RESOLVED:
(d)
to note the delivery of further savings to deliver
the full £3.7m savings by the
withdrawal of all bus subsidies, subject to full council’s approval in
February 2016 to further reduce the Supported Transport budget and to note that
the full £3.7m savings, would be realised once all contract termination
processes have been completed.
N.B. If Council approves this request, then
the subsidies would cease at the
following time:
Ø 50% of subsidies (59/118 services) require 17
weeks' notice and could terminate on 20th June 2016, assuming notice
was served on 22nd February 2016.
Ø 31% of subsidies (37/118 services) require 16
weeks' notice but also require 16 weeks to modify the "Authorised Change
Date". This means they would take 32 weeks to terminate. They could
therefore terminate on 3rd October 2016, assuming notice to change
the "Authorised Change Date" was served on 22nd February
2016, and notice to terminate the contract was served 16 weeks later on 13th
June 2016.
Ø 9% of subsidies (11/118 services) require 16
weeks' notice and could terminate on 13th June 2016, assuming notice
was served on 22nd February 2016. These are services operated by
Oxfordshire County Council.
Ø 9% of subsidies (11/118 services) will
expire naturally on or before the 31st March 2016.
Annex E to the report shows which routes fall into each category.
Allocation
of one-off, pump-prime funding
Cabinet RESOLVED not to allocate
the £500K reserve but instead noted that once the council’s future funding
position is clearer Cabinet would establish a broader pump priming fund (along
the lines of the Big Society Fund) that could include community transport along
with other similar initiatives.
Exploring a new approach to Transport
The Cabinet RESOLVED to:
(e) approve the
suggested implementation approach, including the request to explore the option
of undertaking a larger scale commissioning exercise which includes a range of
supported transport services, in addition to subsidised bus services.
N.B.
Depending on the Cabinet’s decision on whether to withdraw all bus subsidies
and subject to Council’s decision on the Supported Transport budget this
commissioning exercise will either include the remainder of the subsidy budget,
or exclude it if cabinet decides to withdraw all funding