Meeting documents
Cabinet
Tuesday, 20 February 2007
To Members of the CabinetNotice of a Meeting of the CabinetTuesday 20 February 2007 at 2.00 pm County Hall, Oxford
Derek Bishop Membership
Decisions taken at the meeting will become effective at the end of the working day on 28 February 2007 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. Date of next meeting: 20 March 2007
AGENDAAddenda1. Apologies for Absence 2. Declarations of Interest – see guidance note 3. Minutes To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2007 (CA3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom. 4.
Petitions and Public Address 5. The Future of Dunmore Infant and Junior SchoolsCabinet Member: Schools ImprovementForward Plan Ref: 2007/14 Contact: Irene Kirkman, Assistant Head of Service (01865 815141) This report summarises the evaluation by officers and a joint representative group of Dunmore Infant and Junior School governors of three possible models of achieving a primary school on the Dunmore site and includes a detailed Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis posed by each model. The models are: Model A: · The creation of a new primary school by closure of the existing infant and junior schools. Model B: · The creation of a new primary school by closing the Junior School and extending the age range of the infant school from age 3-7 to age 3-11. An alternative model (A federation of the two schools) with three possible variants): Model C - Soft federation. Model D - Hard federation with a single governing body and headteacher in the infant school headteacher. Model E - Hard federation with a single governing body and the infant headteacher, plus an executive headteacher. The Cabinet is required to make a decision about which model to approve in the light of officers’ recommendations based on the group’s evaluation and further consultation with both governing bodies and parents. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to: (a) agree that Model A – the creation of a new primary school by closure of the infant and junior schools – be adopted as the means of establishing a primary school on the Dunmore site; (b) instruct officers to issue formal consultation notices for the closure of both the infant and junior schools; (c) work further with the joint representative sub group of governors from both schools to draw up an implementation plan with the objective of opening the new primary school in January 2008, if possible; and, (d) instruct officers, on behalf of governors, to prepare a bid for Fresh Start Funding for the financial years 2007-10. 6.
Stopping up: Roman
Way and Garsington Road, Oxford Cabinet Member: Transport Forward Plan Ref: 2006/122 Contact: John Boyd, Land & Highway Records Manager (01865 815082) Report by Head of Transport (CA6) (download as .doc file). BMW has requested that the County Council apply to the Magistrates Court for an order under section 116 of the Highways Act 1980 for the stopping up of Roman Way, Bridleway 75 and a thin section of footway in Garsington Road, Oxford. As a replacement BMW agreed to provide at their expense a new footway and cycle track partly on existing highway and partly on their land. The initial informal consultation exercise, undertaken by BMW at officers' request, has revealed some local objections to the proposal particularly from the amenity societies. However there was support from one organisation. Public reaction of this nature was anticipated and as a consequence it was decided at an early stage the committee resolution would take the form of a two stage process. On 20 July 2006 the Transport Implementation Committee approved consultation with the City Council, who under the law has the right to veto BMW's request but on 10 October consented to the County Council taking the application to the Magistrates. This completed the first stage of this democratic process. The second stage, in the light of the City's approval is for Cabinet to decide whether to approve an application to the Magistrates. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to authorise the County Solicitor to make an application to the Magistrates Court for the stopping-up of the highways shown on drawing number 786/G170 on the grounds that they are unnecessary subject to: (a) BMW contractually undertaking to meet all the costs associated with this process (including any costs awarded against the County Council by the Magistrates Court if the Application does not succeed), prior to the making of an application to the Magistrates Court; (b) BMW entering into an agreement at their expense under sections 38 and 278 of the Highways act 1980 for the construction of the alternative highway to be constructed and supervised all at BMW’s expense and completed to the full satisfaction of the Director for Environment and Economy, prior to the making of an application to the Magistrates Court; (c) BMW entering into an agreement at their expense that permits permissive use by pedestrians and cyclists along Roman Way and bridleway 75, shown as A and B on drawing number 786/G170, until the alternative highway in ‘b’ above is completed, prior to the making of an application to the Magistrates Court; (d) BMW entering into a Bond (to the satisfaction of the County Solicitor) as security for the works to be carried out under the section 38/278 agreement prior to the making of an application to the Magistrates Court; and (e) BMW meeting the cost associated with the revocation of the Traffic Regulation Order on Roman Way. 7. Financial Monitoring Cabinet Member: Finance Forward Plan Ref: 2006/147 Contact: Stephanie Skivington, Strategic Finance Manager/Mike Petty, Strategic Financial Planning Manager (01865 815426/815622) Report by Head of Finance & Procurement (CA7). The financial monitoring report covers the period ended 31 December 2006 for both revenue and capital. Changes to the forecast revenue outturn are reported against the position at the end of November 2006. The consolidated revenue forecast for the year-end shows a balance of £14.705m. This is made up of £15.031m general balances and an adjusted forecast directorate overspend of £0.326m (excluding the City Schools reorganisation). Within Children, Young People and Families the main area of pressure continues within the Early Years and Family Support Service with a forecast overspend of £1.390m. There has been no change in the overall variance reported, however there has been some movement in the key components as increased overspends within Agency placements and Asylum Seekers, together with a newly reported overspend within Placement Support are offset by underspends on the Foster Care and Leaving Care budgets and a reduction in overpsends on Children's Homes and Homelessness. Within Social & Community Services the key pressure is within Cultural Services as income pressures are combined with the cost of the projected write down of Audio Visual stock following a review. The remaining services within the Directorate are broadly forecast to breakeven. The pooled budget for Older People, Physical Disabilities and Equipment is forecasting a £0.890m overspend and the Learning Disbailities pooled budget is forecasting a £0.300m overspend. A request to draw down £0.977m from the Emergency Reserve is made this month to make an additional contribution to the pooled budgets. There are increased underspends reported for Environment & Economy and Community Safety, and the position for Resources has moved from an overspend to an undespend as a result of ICT project slippage. The Capital Programme monitoring is attached in Annex 6-6f to the report. The Cabinet is recommended to: (a) note the report; (b) approve the temporary virement to transfer £0.345m from the Schools Contingency budget to Primary, Secondary and Special Individual Schools Budgets (paragraph 37); (c) approve the £0.977m draw down from the Emergency Reserve requested by the Director for Social & Community as set out in (paragraph 54); (d) subject to approval of (c), approve an additional one-off contribution of £0.740m to the Older Peoples, Physical Disabilities and Equipment pooled budget and £0.250m to the Learning Disabilities pooled budget (paragraph 55); and (e) approve the changes to the Capital Programme as set out in paragraphs 98 – 103. 8. Upper Thames Major Resource Development (Steventon Reservoir) Cabinet Member: Sustainable Development Forward Plan Ref: 2007/18 Contact: Chris Cousins, Head of Sustainable Development (01865 815459) Report by Head of Sustainable Development (CA8). Thames Water Utilities Ltd have commenced Stage 2 of their public consultation exercise on their proposal for a large reservoir in Oxfordshire. The reservoir forms part of a package of proposed measures to guarantee the supply water for London, Swindon and Oxfordshire to beyond 2030. The reservoir is considered by Thames Water as an important element of the company’s Water Resources Plan which is regularly updated in consultation with the Office Of Water Services (OFWAT) and the Environment Agency. The first stage of consultation was launched in September 2006. It set out Thames Water’s view of how much more water would be needed to meet future demand in Swindon, Oxfordshire and London, and outlined a package of proposals, including demand management, water efficiency and leakage reductions to meet this. The principal measure promoted within this package was the reservoir at Steventon. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to: (a) advise Thames Water that: (1) it considers that it is premature for the company to be consulting on stage 2 while fundamental questions about the need for the reservoir remain; (2) it therefore reserves its position in relation to the questions raised at stage 2; (3) nonetheless the views expressed in paragraphs 7 to 11 of the report represent its provisional response to stage 2; and, (b) ask officers to continue to work with the Environment Agency, the Vale of White Horse District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council, in pursuing outstanding questions with Thames Water. 9.
Revised Redundancy
Procedure for School Employees Cabinet Member: Change Management and Schools Improvement Forward Plan Ref: 2007/09 Contact: Sue Corrigan, County HR Manager, (01865 810280); Rick Harmes, Head of Strategy & Performance, (01865 810626) Report by Chief Executive and Director for Children, Young People & Families (CA9). Revised policies relating to Retirement for Green Book employees and Teachers and a procedure for Redundancy Handling for Non-School employees were agreed by the Cabinet in January 2007. Following further discussions with Cabinet Portfolio Holders and relevant trade unions a Redundancy Procedure for School Employees is now put forward for Cabinet approval. This will conclude the complement of policies and procedures in this area of management. Further reviews will be required due to the continuing national discussions and proposed changes to Pension Regulations that apply in this field, and the need to introduce a policy on flexible retirement. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to: (a) agree that the existing procedure will be applied to cases where estimates of benefits have been given and the termination of employment date is on or before 31 March 2007; and (b) approve the attached Redundancy Policy for School Employees subject to comments from the Teacher’s Joint Committee on 22 February 2007. 10.
Performance Management Cabinet Member: Change Management Forward Plan Ref: 2006/040 Contact: Paul Edwards, Corporate Performance Manager (01865 815307) Report by County Council Management Team to follow. This quarterly report shows our performance against the key targets contained in the Council's Balanced Scorecard at the end of the third quarter of 2006/7. The report identifies performance against each priority target using a traffic light system to show progress within four blocks: customers, finance, process and people. Performance at the end of the third quarter is encouraging, showing green traffic lights for over 80% of indicators where information is available. The Cabinet is recommended to note the report. 11. Consultation on New a Primary School in Didcot Cabinet Member: Schools Improvement Forward Plan Ref: 2006/199c Contact: Michael Mill, Strategic Manager (Property & Assets) Strategy & Performance Service (01865 816548) Report by Director for Children, Young People & Families (CA11) (download as .doc file) A new primary school in Didcot is required due to the proposed increase in new housing to the east of Didcot and therefore the LA's subsequent duty to provide for new pupil places. The school will be largely funded by contributions by developers.The report outlines the outcomes from the consultation and responds to the issues raised and requests that statutory notices for a community school are now published to be considered by the Cabinet Member for School Improvement or by the school organisation arrangements in place at the time. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to agree the publication of statutory notices for a new community school in Didcot with the final decision to be made by the Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement or through the appropriate school organisation arrangements in place at the time. 12.
Forward Plan and Future Business
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