Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Sajjad Hussain Malik, Susanna Pressel and Bill Service.

Councillor Peter Jones declared a personal interest at Agenda Item 5 on the grounds that he works for the Bodleian Library.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2009 (SSC3)and any matters arising on them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2009 were approved and

signed subject to recording that Councillor Sajjad Hussain Malik had not

been present.

SCRUTINY MATTERS

To consider matters where the Committee can provide a challenge to the work of the Authority and its partners

No requests had been received.

10:10

Contact Officer: Richard Munro, Head of Community Services, (01865) 323579

The Head of Community Services will give a presentation to this Committee on (a) this service area and how it fits into the bigger picture (b) the challenges and priorities facing this area for the period 2009/10 and in the longer term.

The Committee is invited to receive the presentation and to conduct a question and answer session.

The Committee received a presentation on Community Services from Mr

Richard Munro, Head of Community Services, on (a) this service area and

how it fits into the bigger picture and (b) the challenges and priorities facing

this area for the period 2009/10 and in the longer term, in terms of strategic underlying issues. A copy of the presentation is attached to the signed minutes and further information given during the presentation is detailed below:

·                    Community Services comprises 7 1/2 % of the overall budget for Social & Community Services;

·                    Social & Community Service’s mission statement is that it “will support and promote strong communities so that people live their lives as successfully and independently as possible”. It will also “provide effective and efficient support to the most vulnerable”. This vision reflects the prevention agenda, given the increasing numbers of older people;

·                    Community Services’ focus is universal support for communities and covers:

·        The Library Service (statutory) – books are still at its heart, although the service has changed in light of new communication technologies;

·        Heritage and Arts – this includes the Museums Service (eg. Cogges Manor Farm Museum until April 2010 and the Museums Resource Centre at Standlake) and the Archive Service. The Council has a statutory duty to look after records, although the service also provides other facilities, such as Oxfordshire Studies (local history) including the Victoria County History Project. The arts side of the service is fairly small but high profile and there are strong partnerships in Heritage and Arts;

·        Adult Learning – this is now completely externally funded. Its main source of income is from the Learning & Skills Council, which is about to be abolished. Adult Learning covers a number of areas, including learning for leisure and learning for skills. This committee’s remit is oversight of the adult learning service in provider mode, not skills commissioning, which sits under Councillor Robertson’s portfolio and the Growth and Infrastructure Scrutiny Committee;

·        The Registration Service – which has the statutory responsibility to register births, deaths and marriages and also carries out other activities, for example, citizenship ceremonies;

·        Cultural & Community Development – much activity in this area is now at arms length through ‘Oxford Inspires’. Karen Warren oversees the Community Development Team which comprises eight staff and works within the community, including with the Chinese, Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities. Projects with these communities help them to become more self determining.

·        Community Services links to many of the County Council’s objectives, especially in terms of ‘healthy and thriving communities’, but also in relation to a ‘world class economy’ (in terms of contributing to economic development and tourism), and ‘reducing inequalities and breaking the cycle of deprivation’.

·        Its contribution to economic development includes the Adult Learning Service (skills development), the Registration Service (many people choose Oxfordshire as the place to marry, which has a knock on effect for tourism) and heritage services.

·        Community Services contributes to building safer and stronger communities through enabling participation, community development and community cohesion, access to information (eg local and family  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/09

10:40

Contact Officer: Martin Crapper, Service Delivery Manager, (01865) 852171 

The attached report (SSC6) proposes a number of projects to be included within the Fire Authority’s Integrated Risk Management Action Plan (IRMP) for the fiscal year 2010-11. The proposals summarise those areas where the Service’s Senior Management Team believe that service improvements might be achieved.The report also includes an overview of progress on projects for the fiscal year 2008/9 (Refer Annex 1).

Following this meeting, the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities will be asked to:

·        (subject to any amendments which the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities may consider appropriate) approve the proposed projects to be included in the Draft IRMP Action Plan 2010-11 for ‘risk analysis’ and consultation as outlined in the report;

·        ask the Director for Community Safety and Chief Fire Officer to report the outcome of consultation, with any recommendations for amendment, to the Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities in February 2010, with a view to formal adoption of the Action Plan for implementation from April 2010.

The Committee is invited to review project implementation for the previous financial year, ask any questions relating to future service improvements and offer any advice/comment to the Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities.

The report before the Committee proposed a number of projects to be

included within the Fire Authority’s Integrated Risk Management Action Plan

(IRMP) for the fiscal year 2010/11. The proposals summarised those areas

where the Service’s Senior Management Team believe that service

improvements might be achieved. The report also included an overview of

progress on projects for the fiscal year 2008/9 (Annex 1).

The Committee was invited to review project implementation for the previous

year, ask any questions relating to future service improvements and offer any

advice/comment on the proposed projects to the Cabinet Member for Safer

and Stronger Communities.

Mr Dave Etheridge (Deputy Chief Fire Officer and Head of Service Delivery), together with Mr Martin Crapper (Service Delivery Manager) and Mr Mick Clarke (Station Manager IRMP, Kidlington) attended before the Committee for this item.

Mr Etheridge summarised the background to the IRMP and stated that the proposals, once approved by the Cabinet Member, would be subject to ‘risk analysis’ and public consultation. A final decision would be made in March 2010, with a view to formal adoption of the Action Plan for implementation from April 2010.

The following information was reported to the meeting:

In relation to proposal (a) Day Crewing Review at Abingdon and Didcot Fire Stations, the proposed revised duty system would amend the current shift pattern to predominantly Monday to Friday day time hours.  It was proposed that two shifts of seven would change to one shift of twelve.  This would free up four establishment positions on a permanent basis across the two stations. These four positions (which would become Watch Managers) would be utilised on retained stations where availability is a problem due to a shortage of retained fire fighters. This redeployment would maximise the Service’s use of resources and improve resilience across the county by reducing the levels of time where retained fire engines are not available (17500 hours of retained fire engine non-availability from April 08 to March 09). Additionally, from the remaining operational personnel left at Abingdon and Didcot, potentially on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday a minimum of six fire fighters would also be deployed to other stations. This would provide even greater resilience and fire engine availability on OFRS’s retained stations and ensure that community fire safety education could also take place in some of the smaller towns and villages where there was currently very little activity. The outcome of this project would mean that there would still be the same amount of fire engines, and fire fighters riding those engines, at both Abingdon and Didcot as there are now. There would be no loss of jobs as the reduction in two positions at each station could be managed via retirements and vacancies. Mr Etheridge added that no individual would be forced to go to another fire station or to move out of their provided day crewing house.

Given the full agenda at this meeting, the Committee AGREED that a presentation should be given to its November meeting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/09

11:05

Contact Officer: Nigel Wilson, Service Delivery Performance Manager, (01865) 855214

The attached report(SSC7) provides details of Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service’s performance statistics for fire appliance response times to emergency incidents during 2008/09. The report provides details of that performance and the actions being undertaken to mitigate risk.

At the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities delegated decisions on 30 November the Cabinet Member will be asked to note the contents of the report; and request the Chief Fire Officer to report back to the Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities on performance against the response standards for 2009/10.

The Committee is invited to offer any advice/comment to the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities and to request the Chief Fire Officer to report back to Scrutiny on performance against the response standards for 2009/10.

BUSINESS PLANNING

To consider future work items for the Committee

The reportbefore the Committee provided details of Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service’s (OFRS) performance statistics for fire appliance response times to emergency incidents during 2008/09 (April 2008 – March 2009). The report provided details of that performance and the actions being undertaken to mitigate risk.

The report showed that OFRS response times for 2008/09 had been slightly slower in comparison with the previous year (79.11% 08/9, 80.53% 07/8). The report set out the factors that had affected performance, which were the weather, traffic management and the motorway and to a lesser extent the A34.

The Service wished to improve on its response times and was doing everything possible to achieve this. Every ‘failure’ against the Standards is analysed by the relevant Station Manager who then reports this to their Fire Risk Manager and where possible, appropriate action is taken. The Senior Leadership Team receives a quarterly performance review against the response standards and where there are discrepancies, further detail is sought of the action taken or justification for delays in attendance.

The Committee noted that the Audit Commission did not wish OFRS to make its response times any less challenging.

Mr Etheridge stated that in relation to proposal (a) of the IRMP, just having one extra wholetime fire fighter or Watch Manager on a retained fire station would help the service to respond more quickly.

In response to a Member’s concern, the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities stated that she was mindful of those stations with low percentages of responses meeting the response standards, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

In response to a Member’s question, Mr Etheridge stated that it was difficult to compare OFRS response times with those of other Brigades, as since 2005 OFRS has had local response standards for attending emergency incidents in the county, based on the historical location and status of the county’s current fire stations. The previous government model had been 20 minutes for rural areas, whereas Oxfordshire’s targets were more stringent (80% of all emergency response times will be responded to within 11 minutes and 95% of all emergency incidents will be responded to within 14 minutes). Different Brigades had taken different approaches to their response targets. In Oxfordshire the service had set a county wide target rather than a different target for each part of the county dependent on local factors.

The Committee then thanked Mr Etheridge and Mr Wilson for their informative reportand agreed with the view of the Audit Commission that Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service response times should be both challenging and achievable.

11:30

Contact: Imran Alvi, Assistant Corporate Performance and Review Manager (01865) 810822

The proposed scrutiny work programme consists of ideas generated by members, officers and the public. Each idea has been assessed against the criteria outlined in the proposal form. This includes an analysis of how the proposed review relates to the council’s strategic priorities, its current performance in this area and whether it is an area where scrutiny can contribute to upstream policy development. The proposed reviews were discussed with the relevant directors or heads of service and their comments are included on the proposal form for members to consider.

Members are asked to consider the proposals relevant to their committee (SSC8 – to follow)and to decide which work they wish to undertake and with what priority.

The Committee is asked to identify its priorities for its work programme,

including its first choice activity.

13:00 – 13:20 approx        Working lunch

INFORMATION SHARE

Mr Imran Alvi (Assistant Corporate Performance and Review Manager) attended for this item in order to answer the Committee’s questions.

Following a lengthy debate, the Committee AGREED that the following items should comprise its future work programme:

a)     Select Committees:

·        Community Pride – (the scope of this piece of work would have to be narrowed down as the subject encompasses a very broad remit);

·          Crime & Disorder Scrutiny – the following areas were suggested:the effectiveness of the Oxfordshire Safer Communities Partnership (is it improving community safety across Oxfordshire?) – are the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) working consistently? – key players to be invited to a select committee – then look at key topics later.

(It was emphasised that relationship building with partners would be needed as a first step in order to facilitate a critical friend approach).

b)       Fear of Crime –(smallest piece of work in terms of time and resources). The Policy Unit would be conducting face to face research with the community through ‘Oxfordshire Voice’ on their perception of crime in December.

1.      An officer from the Policy Unit would be invited to present the outcomes of this research to the Committee; 

2.      The Committee would look at how the police’s crime statistics are produced and what they mean.

It was AGREED that Dr Alvi would liaise with Councillor Stratford regarding attendees and scope for the select committees and Ms Coldwell in terms of scheduling the above three items to future meetings.

c)     Question and answer sessions (as time allows):

-          Debt – new scoping template to be produced to refine its focus;

-          Road safety – consider at a future meeting. Possibly in a year’s time;

-          Transformation of libraries – February 2010;

-          Plans for Banbury Library/Mill Arts Centre Development – May 2010;

-          Cogges Museum: Review of progress towards trust status – February 2010;

-          Provision of Adult Learning (in light of the abolition of the LSC) – May 2010.To take into account the work of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee and the Growth and Infrastructure Scrutiny Committee;

-          Grant Co-ordination – would need to focus on those grants which fall within this Committee’s remit (eg. small arts grants and community grants) and if this funding is being used effectively to build community pride. Could look at whether co-ordination between grant awarders can be improved (eg. between county and district);

-          Final IRMP report – May 2010;

-          TVPA 3 year strategic plan 0811 – July 2010.

d)  Fire Service Command and Control Room – the FiReControl and FireLink Projects – progress update to be given at each meeting.

The Timeline of scrutiny activities (Annex 1) would be updated at each meeting as scrutiny activities are arranged.

All members of the Committee were reminded of the budget scrutiny preparatory sessions which had been arranged to assist them with budget scrutiny:

a)     Committee specific session -  19 November (4.30 – 6 pm, meeting room 2)

b)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27/09

13:20

Contact Officer: Colin Thomas, Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Head of Service Support, (01865) 855206

Mr Colin Thomas (Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Head of Service Support) will give a presentation to the Committee on current and future benefits and the risk management process and will answer any questions which the Committee wishes to ask.

Mr Colin Thomas (Assistant Chief Fire Officer and Head of Service Support)

gave a presentation to the Committee on current and future benefits and the

risk management process, a copy of which is attached to the signed Minutes. 

The Committee also had before it a written progress update on both projects.

Following a brief question and answer session the Committee thanked Mr Thomas for his informative presentation and paper and for his sterling work on both projects.

Mr Thomas responded by thanking his Senior Management Team for enabling him to participate at an appropriate level, stated that he was supported by an excellent team, and thanked Members for their support, with particular reference to the Cabinet Member for Safer & Stronger Communities and Councillor Rodney Rose.

13:40

The Committee is asked to note any items of interest.

The current version of the Forward Plan runs from October 2009 to January 2010.

The Committee noted the items listed on the current version of the Forward

Plan (October 2009 – January 2010).

13:45

Report back on advice given by this Committee to the Cabinet, full Council, other scrutiny committees, relevant strategic partnership bodies and other organisations where appropriate.

There is nothing to report at present.

13:45      Approx Close of Meeting

Visit to the existing Control Room for members of this Committee.

The Committee noted that no items had been identified for tracking at this meeting.