Meeting documents
Cabinet
Tuesday, 16 May 2006
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To Members of the Cabinet Notice of a Meeting of the CabinetTuesday 16 May 2006 at 2.00 pm County Hall, Oxford
Contact officer: Kath Coldwell (Tel: 01865 815902; E-mail)
Membership
Decisions taken at the meeting will become effective at the end of the working day on 24 May 2006 unless called in by that date for review by the appropriate Scrutiny Committee. Copies of this Notice, Agenda and supporting papers are circulated to all Members of the County Council.
AGENDAAddenda
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 2 May 2006 (CA3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom. Cabinet Member:
Community Safety Report by Head of Community Safety & Youth Offending Service (CA5). Each Youth Justice Service is required by statute to produce an annual Youth Justice Plan for approval by the constituent agencies that are responsible for the service. This has then to be submitted to the Youth Justice Board. Core funding from the Board is dependent on the submission of a report that meets its extensive guidance. Approval of the Plan by full Council is required. The draft Plan for 2006/07 has been circulated to all members and is available for public inspection. It is written to a template provided by the Youth Justice Board and reviews performance as well as looking to the future. Prevention has been an increasing element of the Youth Offending Service’s work and this will be strengthened in 2006/07 and subsequently by additional grant support from the Youth Justice Board to support early intervention and the government’s Respect agenda. Much of this new funding will be allocated to expand significantly the YOS’s parenting work. A draft of the report has been circulated to the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee for consideration at its meeting on 8 May. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED, subject to consideration of any comments from the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee, to RECOMMEND the Council to approve the Youth Justice Plan for submission to the Youth Justice Board. Cabinet Member:
Leader of the Council Report by Assistant Chief Executive (CA6). The updated Cherwell Community Plan has been developed by the Cherwell Community Planning Partnership; the first version of the plan was published in 2002. The updated plan is due to be formally launched at the Cherwell Community Planning Partnership meeting on 16 June 2006. The Plan embraces the vision of sustainable community strategies and works to balance and integrate social, economic and environmental goals; to establish priorities which are sustainable and connected to the anticipated changes in the local area; and to address the area’s long term issues. It is recommended that the Cabinet should support the updated Plan and should confirm that the County Council will support delivery of those action points which are relevant to the County Council’s role and services riders. The report proposes further riders relating to the scope for greater integration of countywide and district community strategies and (in relation to the Plan’s comments on NHS services) the intention of the County Council to take a countywide view of the need for health facilities. A copy of the Final Draft has been circulated to members of the Cabinet and a copy has been placed on public deposit. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to endorse the Cherwell Community Plan 2016, subject to the riders set out in the report. Cabinet Member:
Social Care & Policy Co-ordination Report by Director for Social & Community Services (CA7) (download as .doc file). This report seeks Cabinet approval to the County Council signing the Strategic Partnering Agreement for the LIFT in Oxfordshire. LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) is a government initiative to stimulate investment in local primary and social health care facilities and to improve the co-ordination of related services. By providing new buildings LIFT will facilitate the development of new models of service provision and will place primary care and related services in the heart of local communities. The process involves the selection by the public sector partners for the local LIFT area of a private sector partner to establish a local LIFT Company (LIFTCo) that will deliver the new facilities. The LIFTCo is a long-term (20 –25 years) partnership. A Strategic Partnering Board is responsible for the development of the Strategic Service Delivery Plan and LIFTCo are responsible for developing and delivering the programme. At present the SSDP sets a vision for the future of health and social care services in Oxford and the County Council was involved in its development last year. However, the LIFT arrangement was set up to cover "Oxford and the surrounding area". With the reorganisation of the 5 PCT’s currently covering Oxfordshire to a single Trust, opportunities for partnership are likely to increase. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
Cabinet Member:
Schools Improvement The report outlines the position in respect of secondary school places in Oxfordshire and proposes strategies to cope with future demographic change, in the context of future central government funding to support the modernisation and development of the school estate. The local authority is required to ensure that there are enough school places and at the same time manage surplus places across the county. The report outlines the changing policy context in which it is necessary to operate and the requirement to produce a strategic plan. The report examines the various areas of the County in turn, identifying pressures and potential options, and proposes consultation with a view to production of a strategic plan for secondary school provision in the County. There is a need to manage significant growth in some areas, such as Bicester and Didcot, but also the fall in numbers elsewhere although falling rolls, now being felt in the primary sector, will generally take some time to feed through to secondary schools. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
Cabinet Member:
Schools Improvement The Director for Children, Young People & Families reports as follows: Attached (CA9) is a detailed project appraisal in respect of improvements at Didcot Girls School. The project will address the need to provide permanent accommodation to replace 10 classrooms currently housed in prefabricated 'temporary' buildings. The new building will provide accommodation for the school’s English faculty. On completion of the project the temporary buildings will be demolished and removed from the site. The cost of the project is being met from the County Council’s Capital Programme. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve detailed project appraisal ED642.
Cabinet
Member: Leader of the Council The Government is committed to producing a Local Government White Paper in June this year, which will feed into the Lyons Inquiry into the future role and funding of local government, with proposals from both of these being implemented in next year’s comprehensive spending review. While much of the debate so far has rested on the possibility of local government reorganisation, this is only one of the issues proposed to be included. Officials have indicated that five other areas will be covered in the White Paper: a new performance management system between central and local government; better economic growth for cities; improving local leadership; local government as the convenor of local public services; and community and neighbourhood empowerment. It is clear that considerable thinking has already taken place about the likely criteria and timetable if restructuring does proceed. It is anticipated that the White Paper will be published early in June and that if the Secretary of State concludes that restructuring should take place then councils will be invited to come forward with proposals for their areas by the end of September/early October. However, Oxford City Council have declared their plan to seek unitary council status, alongside three other similar historic cities (Exeter, Norwich and Ipswich). The City Council’s preliminary case is likely to stimulate widespread local debate and I am concerned that this could have a destabilising effect on staff within the County Council. It is a matter for regret that the City Council have acted in this pre-emptive way, but since they have done so I believe it is necessary for the County Council – both in the interests of staff and of public understanding - to be seen to be preparing for all eventualities in response to this situation, and not simply wait until the White Paper and whatever choices that may offer to local government. It is for this reason that I have brought this item forward to this meeting for consideration; due notice has been given to the Chairman of the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee. I therefore RECOMMEND to the Cabinet that the Chief Executive be instructed to work up options that consider the benefits of both enhanced two-tier working with district councils and a unitary council for the whole of the county.
Cabinet Member:
All The Cabinet Procedure Rules provide that the business of each meeting at the Cabinet is to include "updating of the Forward Plan and proposals for business to be conducted at the following meeting". Items from the Forward Plan for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet appear in the Schedule at CA11. This includes any updated information relating to the business for those meetings that has already been identified for inclusion in the next Forward Plan update. The Schedule is for noting, but Cabinet Members may also wish to take this opportunity to identify any further changes they would wish to be incorporated in the next Forward Plan update. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings. May 2006 |
