About the County Council
The Oxfordshire County
Council is made up of 74 councillors who are democratically elected every four
years. The Council provides a range of services to Oxfordshire’s 630,000
residents. These include:
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· libraries
and museums |
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· trading
standards |
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· waste
management |
Each year the Council
manages £0.8 billion of public money in providing these services. Most decisions are taken by a Cabinet
of 10 Councillors, which makes decisions about service priorities and spending.
Some decisions will now be delegated to individual members of the Cabinet.
About Scrutiny
Scrutiny is about:
· Providing a challenge
to the Cabinet
· Examining how well
the Cabinet and the Authority are performing
· Influencing the
Cabinet on decisions that affect local people
· Helping the Cabinet
to develop Council policies
· Representing the
community in Council decision making
· Promoting joined up
working across the authority’s work
Scrutiny is
NOT about:
· Making day to day
service decisions
· Investigating
individual complaints.
Five Scrutiny committees
‘scrutinise’ or review and challenge decisions made by the Cabinet or the
appropriate Cabinet Member and help it develop Council policies. There are
Scrutiny Committees for:
· Corporate Governance
· Children’s Services
· Environment &
Economy
· Community Safety
· Social &
Community Services
There is also a Joint
Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee which brings together councillors from the
County and the five district councils in Oxfordshire to scrutinise health
issues.
What does this Committee do?
The Committee meets up to 6 times a
year or more. It develops a work programme, which lists the issues it plans to
investigate. These investigations can include whole committee investigations
undertaken during the meeting, or reviews by a panel of members doing research
and talking to lots of people outside of the meeting. Once an investigation is
completed the Committee provides its advice to the Cabinet, the full Council or
other scrutiny committees. Meetings are open to the public and all reports are
available to the public unless exempt or confidential, when the items would be
considered in closed session.
AGENDA
1. Apologies
for Absence and Temporary Appointments
2. Declarations
of Interest – see guidance note
3. Minutes
To approve the minutes
of the meeting held on 8 July 2008 (CH3) and to note for
information any matters arising on them.
4. Speaking
to or Petitioning the Committee
5. JAR
Report and Action Plan
10:10
Background Information: |
The most recent Annual
Performance Assessment for Oxfordshire judged the Council’s Children’s Services
as good, and its capacity to improve as good.
This report assessed the
contribution of local services in ensuring that children and young people:
• at
risk, or requiring safeguarding were effectively cared for
• who
were looked after achieved the best possible outcomes
• with
learning difficulties and/or disabilities achieved the best possible
outcomes.
The following investigations
were also carried out:
• the
impact of the partners’ 14–19 strategy on improving outcomes for young people
• the contribution of local
services to improving sexual and reproductive health outcomes for children
and young people. |
Why has it been included? |
The Committee is asked to comment on the JAR outcome
report and action plans and indicate whether there are any actions that the
scrutiny Committee would wish to contribute to through their Work Programme. |
How is the Committee going to deal with it? |
Members are invited to
a Pre-Meeting to go through the actions plans are prepare questions for the
Meeting.
By means of a question
and answer session. |
Who is going to take part in this
piece of work? |
All Members of the
Committee.
Mr Mike Simm, Head of
Commissioning, Strategy and Locality Development will attend to introduce the
report and to answer any questions that Members may wish to ask. |
Work to be done prior to the meeting: |
Members’ attention is
drawn to the attached report at CH5.
(CH5 - download as .pdf file)
(CH5 - APA and JAR Action Plan - download as .pdf file)
(CH5 - Health Scrutiny Presentation - download as .ppt file)
A separate briefing
paper and associated action plans will be sent to all members of the
Committee under separate cover. Members are asked to bring these additional
papers to the Pre-Meeting on 23 September. |
6. Planning,
Preparation and Assessment Time in Primary and Nursery Schools - Evaluation
11:10
Background Information: |
The Cabinet made decisions in respect of the recommendations from
this Scrutiny Review on 17 July 2007. It is now your chance to hold the
Cabinet to account for what it has done since last year.
The Review set out to undertake a wide-ranging and systematic
examination of the impact on headteachers, teachers, other relevant staff and
pupils in Oxfordshire primary and nursery schools of the introduction of
guaranteed professional time for Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA)
and make recommendations. |
Why has it been included? |
The Committee is asked to question
the Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement in relation to progress regarding
implementing the Review recommendations. |
How is the Committee going to deal with it? |
By means of a question and answer
session. |
When are they going to do it? |
During this meeting. |
Who is going to take part in this piece of work? |
All Members of this Committee and
the Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement.
Ms Ann Carter, Senior Advisor –
Professional Development and Mr Roger Fell, Associate Consultant have
also been invited to attend for this item. |
Work to be done prior to the meeting: |
A reminder of the main objectives
of the Review and progress to date is attached at CH6, together with
the executive summary of the Review.
(CH6 - download as .pdf file)
(CH6 - Scrutiny Tracking Control Sheet – Planning, Preparation and Assessment Time in Primary and Nursery Schools: Implementation and Impact - download as.doc file)
(CH6 - Executive Summary and Recommendations – Planning and Preparation Time in Primary and Nursery Schools - download as .pdf file)
(CH6 - Letter from Jim Knight MP re Scrutiny Review of Planning, Preparation and Assessment - download as .doc file)
(CH6 - Notes of MPs Meeting held on 22 June 2007 - download as .doc file)
A full copy of the
Review (60 pages)
can be found at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk or from Deborah Miller (01865) 815384 deborah.miller@oxfordshire.gov.uk
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7. Extended
Services
11:40
Background Information: |
Extended services in and around schools are at the heart of achieving
the 5 ‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes. The DCSF’s expectation is that all
schools will enable access to the full core offer of extended services by
Sept 2010 for their children; young people, and their families. In
Oxfordshire this is being developed by schools working together in their
partnerships, alongside statutory, private, voluntary and independent service
providers and partners at county, district and local community level. The core
offer can strengthen families’ capacity to support their children’s learning
and achievement, and help schools grow as hubs of their community.
The full core offer covers:
· Access
to high quality childcare, 8am-6pm, 5 days pw, 48 weeks per year, in accordance
with local community need
· Access
for children and young people to a varied menu of activites, including study
support
· Access
to parenting support
· Schools
providing a route to swift and easy access to support services to help
overcome problems
· Where
schools have facilities that could provide for community access, these are
made available for wider community use
The emphasis is on localised decisions, on sustainability and on
better integrated and responsive services. Funding for this work has been
identified by the DCSF for the period 2008-2011, one strand of which is in
the ABG, so not ring-fenced. A formula to distribute this to the 26 school
partnerships includes weighting for deprivation and for rurality, drawing on
the county’s Children’s Centres experience. The presentation will provide an
update on progress so far in meeting this extended services agenda for
Oxfordshire, and identify some of the opportunities and challenges this is
presenting. |
Why has it been included? |
To enable Members of
the Committee to question the Director for Children, Young People and
Families on this important area of new work and to ascertain scrutiny input in
the future. |
How is the Committee going to deal with it? |
Ms Judy Dyson, Senior
Advisor, Parternership Development & Extended Learning and Mr David
Scott-Batey, Raising Acheivement , have kindley agreed to attend this meeting
to give a short presentation to the Committee and to answer any questions the
Committee may wish to ask. |
Work to be done prior to the meeting: |
Members’ attention is
drawn to the attached report at CH7 (download as .doc file)
(CH7 - Table – Funding 2008-11 - download as .xls file)
(CH7 - Funding Explanation - download as .doc file) |
8. Establishment
Review
12:10
Background Information: |
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On 24 July the
Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee agreed to:
· invite
Scrutiny Committees to consider the Establishment Review report to Cabinet on
15 July 2008 in the context of their programme areas and to comment to the
Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee in order to enable this Committee to
discuss the overall position with the Head of HR and OD on 25 September 2008;
and suggested additional information* for inclusion in future Establishment
Review reports to Cabinet (*They suggested that it would be helpful if annex
1 & 2 had two additional columns:
o to
show percentage of vacancies relative to the establishment;
o to
show percentage of agency staff relative to the establishment.
They also suggested
that it would be helpful if data was presented to illustrate changes to
establishment, and vacancies, on a rolling quarterly basis, to enable
Councillors to track changes over a longer timeframe.
* to be finalised by
the relevant officers in consultation with the Chairman. |
Why has it been included? |
To enable members of
this Committee to offer comment to the Corporate Governance Scrutiny
Committee. |
How is the Committee going to deal with it? |
The Committee will
have the opportunity to question Mr Steven Munn (Head of HR & OD)
Members of the
Committee may wish to highlight any unusual variations (eg vacancies, use of
agency workers). |
Work to be done prior to the meeting: |
Members’ attention is
drawn to the attached report at CH8. |
9. Scrutiny
Work Programme
12:25
The current
work programme is attached for information at CH9 (download as .doc file).
The
Educational Attainment Review Group is due to meet on 16 September 2008. If as
a result of this meeting the timetable is changed a new work programme will be
tabled at the meeting.
10. Forward
Plan
12:30
The
Committee is asked to suggest items from the current Forward Plan on which it
may wish to have an opportunity to offer advice to the Cabinet before any
decision is taken.
(Please
bring along to the meeting the latest copy of the Forward Plan which, at the
time of writing covers October 2008 to January 2009).
(Members
are asked to contact the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and/or the Committee Officer
at least 3 days before the meeting should they wish to raise an item on the
Forward Plan for possible consideration).
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