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To Members of the Cabinet

Notice of a Meeting of the Cabinet

Tuesday 17 October 2006 at 2.00 pm County Hall, Oxford

Derek Bishop
Head of Democratic Services

October 2006

Contact officer: Matt Bayliss, Tel: 01865 815384, E-mail

Membership

Decisions taken at the meeting will become effective at the end of the working day on 25 October 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

AGENDA

Addenda

Apologies for Absence



Declarations of Interest – see guidance note

Minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2006 (CA3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.

Petitions and Public Address

(See Addenda)



Financial Monitoring

(See also Addenda)

Cabinet Member: Finance
Forward Plan Ref: 2006/073
Contact: Stephanie Skivington, Strategic Finance Manager/Mike Petty, Strategic Financial Planning Manager (01865 815426/815622)

Report by Head of Finance & Procurement (CA5).

(CA5 - download as .doc file)
(CA5 - Annexes 1 - 5 - download as .xls file)
(CA5 - Annex 6 - download as .xls file)
(CA5 - Capital Programme Tables - download as .xls file)


The financial monitoring report covers the period ended 31 August 2006 for both revenue and capital.    

The consolidated revenue forecast for the year-end shows a balance of £12.747m. This is made up of £15.685m general balances and a forecast directorate overspend of £2.938m (net of City Schools and after allowing for the proposed additional contribution to the Older People's Pooled Budget).

Pressures remain within Children, Young People and Families within the placement budget in Early Years and Family Support. Within Social and Community Services the most significant area of pressure relates to the underachievement of income targets across the Directorate. The forecast underspend for Environment & Economy excludes the potential cost of treating roads that were damaged during the July heat-wave.

The updated Capital Programme booklet is circulated with the Agenda.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

1. approve the supplementary estimate of £0.500m to Environment & Economy - Transport to support the costs of the roads most urgently requiring treatment due to the affects of July’s heat-wave as set out in paragraph 59 of the report, to be repaid if grant or Local Transport Plan funding is provided by the Government;
2. approve the updated Capital Programme;
3. RECOMMEND Council approve the permanent virement of £0.450m from Waste Landfill to Hazardous waste as set out in paragraph 61 of the report.

Ormerod School - Report of Informal Consultation

(See also Addenda)

Cabinet Member: Schools Improvement
Forward Plan Ref: 2006/155
Contact: Simon Adams, Assistant Head of Service, Children, Young People & Families (01865 810602)

Report by Director for Children Young People & Families (CA6).

A consultation has taken place on the future role of the Ormerod School for children with physical disabilities (PD). Numbers of pupils on roll is falling as the school and Physical Disability Support Service have been successfully supporting children with PD in mainstream schools. Governors, parents, unions and all Oxfordshire schools were consulted on two options for the future role of the school. 93% of responses favoured the option to maintain existing education provision for all Ormerod School pupils currently on The Marlborough School site but not as a separate school, planning for the closure of Ormerod School on 31^st August 2007 and replacing it with an SEN Base using existing facilities. The SEN Base would also provide specialiist support for a small number of pupils with communication and interaction needs (which includes children on the autistic spectrum).

There was a small but significant negative response from the parents of 10 chidlren who attend the Ormerod nursery on the Headington site. As a result further work on more detailed proposals took place. There was unanimous support for continued access to specialist early years provision using existing staff and facilities but through the SEN Support Services. It is envisaged that provision will continue to be made on the Headington site and work will be carried out during 2006/07 to explore opportunites for creating group provision elsewhere in the county to provide better local services.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

1. approve the issuing of Public Notices setting out the proposals outlined in option 2 of the consultation and subject to no objections being received authorise the Director for Children, Young People & Families to implement the proposals; and
2. agree to the transfer of the existing budget from Ormerod to SENSS from September 2007.

Review of Property Assets – Office Reorganisations

(See also Addenda)


Cabinet Member: Finance
Forward Plan Ref: 2006/058
Contact: Neil Monaghan, Head of Property (01865 815712)

Report by Head of Property (CA7).

On 20 December 2005 the Cabinet agreed to postpone work on the Review of Property Assets to allow an assessment of the impact for the Shared Service Centre and the Re-alignment of Directorates. This has now been undertaken and this report gives the current position on the strategy.

The strategy for the north and southern parts of the county is largely the same as previously approved by Cabinet and proposes the consolidation of existing offices. The proposals for the Oxford area have been changed due to the need to provide accommodation for the Shared Services Centre.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

1. endorse the updated office re-organisations strategy for the period 2006-2009 as set out in the report; and
2. approve the principle that the space vacated by Shared Services Centre staff is used to help facilitate the office re-organisations in (a) above and that the capital receipts from disposals and revenue savings arising from the office reorganisations are used to contribute to the financing of the Review of Assets.

Revised Policies on Redundancy Compensation and Retirement

(See also Addenda)


Cabinet Members: Change Management and Schools Improvement
Forward Plan Ref: 2006/159
Contact: Sue Corrigan, County Human Resources Manager (01865 810280)

Report by Head of Human Resources and Director for Children, Young People & Families (CA8).

In October 2006 new legislation came into effect which makes it illegal to discriminate in employment on the basis of age. In addition new regulations are about to be published which affect the Council's powers to award compensation to employees upon termination of employment.

Although the Council's current equality policies generally forbid disrimination on the basis of age the new law stipulates certain points to which the Council must adhere. The new Regulations will also have implications which must be considered. These influences lead to necessary revisions in the Council's policies on retirement and redundancy in order to comply with the changes to the law and the new Regulations.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED, subject to the publication of the Local Government (Early Termination of Employment) (Discretionary Compensation) Regulations 2006), to

1. adopt the Statutory Formula for calculating the number of weeks’ pay awarded as redundancy compensation for those employees who are not eligible for an immediate payment of pension, based on actual pay rather than the statutory maximum, as at present, and to decide what, if any, multiplier to apply to this across all ages.
2. withdraw the payment of added years compensation to employees who receive an early payment of pension under the Local Government Pension Scheme and the Teachers Pension Fund Regulations and to bring the payment of redundancy compensation in line with that made to redundant employees who are not eligible for an early pension.
3. ask officers, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Change Management and the Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement, to undertake a review of the Retirement Policy and the Teachers’ Premature Retirement Scheme (including the consultation of relevant trade unions) and to report back to the Cabinet in January 2007.
4. ask officers to review the Redundancy Procedure in line with these changes and to consult trade unions before bringing a revised Procedure back to the Cabinet for approval.

Direct Payments Scrutiny Review

Cabinet Member: Social Care & Policy Co-orindation
Forward Plan Ref: 2006/156
Contact: Jonathan Howcroft, Scrutiny Review Officer, (01865 816384)

Report by Social & Community Services Scrutiny Committee (CA9)

(CA9 - report - (download as .doc file))
(CA9 - summary (download as .doc file))

The Social & Community Services Scrutiny Committee has undertaken a review of Oxfordshire County Council's Direct Payments strategy. This was considered timely because of the importance given to Direct Payments in the recent Green and White Papers from the Department of Health, the importance placed on Performance Assessment Framework indicator C51 (Direct Payments) by the Director for Social & Community Services, and the Committee’s desire to look at the impact of increasing the number of clients receiving a Direct Payment both on service users and the County Council.

The Review concluded that the Direct Payments system in Oxfordshire is operating well. There are however a number of areas for improvement. The most significant of these encompasses many of the other issues; that is, the challenge of embedding Direct Payments within the culture of the Directorate. The Review suggests that through increased levels of training and greater engagement of directorate officers, Direct Payments will become a mainstream operation. This would lead to many other benefits, most significantly, the level of independence, wellbeing and choice for service users. Encouragingly, much is already being done in the Directorate that reinforces the message of the Review. Of greatest importance is the recruitment of a specialist Direct Payments Development Worker to take responsibility for driving service improvement.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to consider the Scrutiny Review Report and communicate to the Social & Community Services Scrutiny Committee its response to the Review's Recommendations.

Steventon - Proposed Reservoir

(See also Addenda)


Cabinet Member: Sustainable Development, Transport
Forward Plan Ref: 2006/128
Contact: Fiona Mullins, Strategic Policy & Economic Development (01865 810434)

Report by Head of Sustainable Development (CA10) (download as .doc file).

This report recommends the County Council's response to the first stage of consultation by Thames Water on a package of measures to supply water, including a very large reservoir near Steventon in the Vale of White Horse District. A key issue for the County Council at this stage is for the need for new water resources to be proven. The need for water could be reduced by fixing leaks and water efficiency measures. If the need is proven, there are many different options for new water resources.

The need for a reservoir, and the size of reservoir if the need is proven, will be the subject of the Environment Agency’s independent assessment of Thames Water’s analysis of the need for water. The County Council is concerned that the Environment Agency must have access to Thames Water’s analysis including assumptions and modelling and take the time that is needed to carry out a rigorous and robust assessment.

In preparation for the possibility that the Secretary of State will (after a public inquiry) decide that a reservoir is needed and that it should be situated near Steventon, the County Council will carry out a range of measures as outlined in the report. The County Council has invested in reducing its own water consumption over the last 15 years and is continuing to address water use in County Council property through the Future First project.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a) agree paragraphs 9 to 15 as the County Council’s response to Thames Water’s consultation, subject to authorising the Leader of the Council to make any changes that may be appropriate following consideration by the County Council at its meeting on 7 November 2006; and

(b) to confirm its support for the actions outlined in paragraphs 16 to 19 above.

Minerals and Waste Development Framework: Statement of Community Involvement

Cabinet Member: Sustainable Development
Forward Plan Ref: 2006/072
Contact: Peter Day, Minerals and Waste Policy Team Leader (01865 815544)

Report by Head of Sustainable Development (CA11).

The Oxfordshire Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) is a public statement of how and when the Council will involve the community in the preparation and review of the Minerals and Waste Development Framework local development documents and consult people on planning applications that are determined by the County Council. The SCI Submission Document was approved by full Council on 10 January and was submitted to the Secretary of State and published for consultation on 22 February 2006. 117 representations were received from 36 organisations and individuals. The Secretary of State appointed an Inspector to carry out an Independent Examination of the SCI. This has been undertaken, including a hearing held on 5 July, and the Inspector's Report was received on 17 July.

The Inspector concludes that subject to some small amendments the SCI is sound. These amendments comprise changes proposed by the Council in response to representations and 6 additional amendments specifically recommended by the Inspector. A schedule of amendments to the Submitted SCI as recommended in the Inspector’s Report and a revised version of the SCI showing the amendments recommended by the Inspector and factual corrections and updating have been prepared. The amendments are all of a minor nature and do not affect the main substance of the SCI. The Inspector’s Report is binding on the Council and the Council must now adopt the SCI as recommended by the Inspector.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to RECOMMEND the Council to:

1. formally adopt the Oxfordshire Statement of Community Involvement with the amendments recommended in the Inspector’s Report, July 2006, as shown in Annex 3; and
2. authorise the Head of Sustainable Development, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, to make any further factual corrections or updating required and finalise the adopted Statement of Community Involvement for publication.

Forward Plan and Future Business

(See also Addenda)