Agenda item

10.15

The Director for Community Safety & Shared Services, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer and the Acting Head of Community Safety and Trading Standards will give verbal updates on key issues

Updates were given by The Director for Social & Community Services, the Deputy Chief Fire Officer, and the Acting Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety.

The Director for Social & Community Services gave an update on:

Library provision

Proposals to amend provision of libraries in Oxfordshire were announced in November 2010.  A large amount of correspondence has been received which has been collated by staff in Chief Executive’s Office with specific queries being responded to by the Director or members of staff in the Chief Executive’s Office.

Councillor Judith Heathcoat and the Director have been holding public meetings about those libraries which may be closed.  The Director stressed that council will work with community groups who wish to take on the responsibility of maintaining a library at risk of closure.  In light of this, he believed that he and local councillors have been able to work closely together on issue.

Council also working closely with Museums & Libraries Association (MLA) as one of the pilot authorities in the MLA’s ‘Future Libraries programme’.

Director reported that he has met with LSSi, John Lang (Hounslow Borough Council) and Tim Coates, former executive at Waterstones who has worked with Hillingdon Borough Council on its Library Service re-design, but this was more a consultancy offer than a bid to run local libraries.

Broad issues being raised to date can be considered as follows: (i) value of libraries, (ii) impact of proposals on vulnerable groups, (iii) ‘pain’ should be shared across all libraries, and (iv) belief that community libraries initiative will not work.

1. The Director stressed that the library service is valued, and current proposals would have the least impact.  (He noted that the 23 remaining libraries account for 82% of provision).

2. This has already been identified as an issue, said the Director, with many existing building not being suitable for people with disabilities.

3. Prior to current proposals being announced, a 30% reduction in opening hours which would have been a significant reduction for the Central Library (the fourth busiest in the UK) and would not reflect people’s expectations vis-à-vis a ‘big’ central library with good opening hours.

The Director noted that we have experience of the effect of reducing opening hours in Oxfordshire’s library as in 1998-1999 a 15% reduction was put in place to make savings, and book issues fell by 20%.  He stressed that the current proposal should have no major reduction in book issues.

4. The Director did not agree that volunteers would not be found to help run local libraries, and referred to the public meeting at Benson which showed great support for the initiative.  However, practical issues were being raised which would need to be addressed.

Formal consultation was expected to begin at the end of February 2011, and last three months.  This would mean that a final decision of the current proposals was likely to happen in July 2011.  A document outlining the broad approach along with specific information about libraries would be published at the beginning of the formal consultation.

Cllr Judith Heathcoat added to the Director’s report that alternative providers such as LSSi were being considered cautiously, but that council is opened to other options or models.  She stated that a review of the council’s property was being undertaken with the view to see if there are any opportunities to co-locate services.

The Chairman noted that communication of the overall process should have been clearer.

Members comments and discussion fell under the following headings: (i) guidance on proposals, (ii) impact assessment, (iii) options for running libraries, and (iv) training for volunteers.

1. Communities were awaiting guidance on the proposals and how they may be involved.  This was expected by end of February and would be linked to the Big Society exercise.
2. Some members voiced concern that any impact assessment was to happen late in the process.  The director said that, at the moment, we were only in the position to give an overall assessment.  A detailed assessment would follow based on the development or not of a community library.
3. Private sector as well as community-run solutions were welcomed.  Concerns were noted about the experience of alternative provision elsewhere in the UK.  For example, it was asserted that there have been problems with certain companies running a library service, and in keeping libraries open with voluntary support.

Cllr Pressel suggested a ‘partnership model’ between the county council and communities with the council providing 50% funding, and premises being shared with other services.

4. It was considered that training for volunteers was crucial if community-based libraries were to be sustainable, and able to offer a quality service.  Details of how much funding may be available for training purposes was not known at this point.

Organisational change

SCS and CYPF to have a joint position (Head of Quality & Compliance) and will not be proceeding with the creation of Deputy Director, Communities at this time.

The County Librarian, Caroline Taylor, would be moving to Nottingham Trent University where she would be running the library.  Caroline was thanked for her work at Oxfordshire County Council.

The Deputy Fire Officer gave an update on:

Fire Futures

Fire Futures is a strategic review of the Fire and Rescue Service with the objective of shaping the future structure and direction of the Fire and Rescue Service in England.  The Fire Minister, Bob Neill MP, defined the content of the review earlier in 2010.  Four workstreams were identified:

• Role of the fire and rescue service – Delivery models
• Efficency, Effectiveness and Productivity
• Localism and Accountability
• National Interests

These workstreams were chaired by a range of people, including 3 elected members.

Reports, marking the output of the first stage of the review were published in December 2010, and present a series of options for the short, medium, and long term.  The Minister will be reflecting on the reports over the coming months before responding.  The authority will then consider this subject further.

Business Strategy Development and organisational structure

The former Community Safety Directorate continues to work on the delivery plans that underpin the 2011/12 business strategy, and are factoring items such as Fire Futures and more locally the evolving plans for the Communities and Quality and Compliance Joint Services.  The intended transfer of the Road Safety Education team to the Fire and Rescue Service is being further refined with a proposal being available in March 2011.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer introduced the new Assistant Chief Officer, Nathan Travis.

The Acting Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety gave an update on:

The Consumer Landscape Review which concerns the transfer the consumer protection functions of the Office of Fair Trading to local authority Trading Standards Services.  It is expected that a consultation document will be published in March 2011 with transfers beginning in 2012.

Funding for Community Safety Partnerships – the Area Based Grant which included funds for Safer Communities has ceased and the Local Government Settlement confirmed that a new unringfenced Community Safety Fund was in place.