Meeting documents
Cabinet
Wednesday, 2 November 2005
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To Members of the Cabinet Notice of a Meeting of the CabinetWednesday 2 November 2005 at 2.00 pmCounty Hall, Oxford
Contact officer: (Tel: 01865 815384; E-mail) Membership
Decisions taken at the meeting will become effective at the end of the working day on 10 November 2005 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
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 18 October 2005 (CA3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom. Cabinet Member:
Children & Young People Report by the Director for Learning & Culture (CA5) (download as .doc file). Published on 18 July, ‘Youth Matters’ sets out the government’s vision for the organisation and delivery of services for young people. The Green Paper builds on the reforms implemented as part of the Children Act 2004 and Every Child Matters. The Green Paper itself is on the DfES web site (http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/youth/) and is in the Members’ Resource Centre. This report proposes a response to the Green Paper. It takes into account comments by the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee, which considered the Green Paper on 27 September. The greater coherence proposed by Youth Matters and the enhanced leadership role and accountability of local authorities is welcomed. Key tasks for the Council will be to establish effective commissioning arrangements for young people’s services and achieve an integrated Youth Support Service capable of addressing both the universal needs of all young people in communities and educational institutions, and the more complex needs of those young people who need targeted support. The County Council is quite well prepared for the challenges of implementing the proposals in the Green Paper. It has a very good Youth Service and effective arrangements in place for supporting young people in relation to the five key outcomes in Every Child Matters framework. This is expected to be confirmed shortly by the Audit Commission in connection with the Council’s Annual Performance Assessment for 2005. Resource planning for the new responsibilities set out in the Green Paper will need close attention over the coming two or three years. The final deadline for responses to reach the Department for Education & Skills is 4 November. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve the response to the Youth Green Paper set out at Annex 2 to the report, for submission to the Department for Education & Skills. Cabinet Member:
Schools Improvement The Director for Learning & Culture reports as follows: The attached Project Appraisal ED628 (CA6) relates to the provision of a new dedicated assembly hall and the provision of dedicated shower and changing facilities to the existing sports hall. The project takes the opportunity to combine both projects under a single building contract with the benefits of simultaneous construction and co-ordination under a single site management. The need for an assembly hall has been identified as a high priority in the Asset Management Plan and is one of a small number of secondary schools that does not have a dedicated assembly hall. The scheme provides an assembly hall, reception area, toilets and associated accommodation. The provision of dedicated shower and changing facilities to the existing sports hall is an opportunity project funded in part by a grant awarded under the Big Lottery New Opportunities Fund PE and Sport Initiative. The scheme provides shower and changing facilities for single or mixed team sports and includes a viewing corridor and associated accommodation. The total estimated cost of the scheme is £1,753,000. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve Project Appraisal ED628. Cabinet Member:
Sustainable Development Report by Head of Sustainable Development (CA7). The Government Office for the South East has published Proposed Changes to the Waste and Minerals sections of Regional Planning Guidance for the South East (RPG9). These changes very largely follow the recommendations of the Panel that held a Public Examination in October 2004 into the Proposed Waste and Minerals Alterations to RPG9 published by the South East England Regional Assembly in March 2004. Overall, the Proposed Changes provide an improved set of regional waste and minerals policies that should help the development of more detailed policies and proposals at county level. They reflect many of the concerns raised by the County Council, and they should generally be welcomed. The County Council objected strongly to the aggregates apportionment figures for Oxfordshire in the March 2004 Proposed Alterations and an earlier consultation draft on the grounds that the apportionment was based on a flawed methodology and placed an unfair and unacceptable burden on Oxfordshire. The sand and gravel apportionment for Oxfordshire has now been increased to 1.82 million tonnes per annum in the Proposed Changes, although this is still a reduction from the level set in 1994. This new apportionment is essentially based on the same flawed methodology, and a strong objection should again be made. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
Cabinet Member:
Transport Report by Head of Transport (CA8). At its meeting on 1 March 2005, the Executive considered a report on various transport information issues, including a proposed local transport guide project for the Witney and West Oxfordshire area. Officers were asked to report back quickly on the market research which was to accompany this project, and this report summarises those findings. Members are asked to consider three possible options (assuming the Council continues to fund some form of transport information). These are to fund a full production of area guides for delivery to all households; to fund a limited number of area guides for collection; or to continue to produce the cheaper but less popular County Guide. The responses received to the Witney and West Oxfordshire guide, and to a similar guide subsequently produced for Banbury, were positive. Most respondents stated that they would prefer local area guides to the County guide. For the majority, printed timetables are still by far the most popular source of information, with over half of people using paper information - either in timetable form or at the bus stop - as their primary source. The combination of improved infrastructure, widespread information and higher quality vehicles did result in an increase of 1.3% in passenger numbers between Witney and Oxford. If members are minded to fund the provision of Area Guides, this would either require additional money or the identification of an equivalent saving from an existing budget. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
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 CA9. 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. One other pending issue is a decision by the Council on 13 September, on a motion by Councillor Alan Armitage, "to urge the Cabinet to ensure that recipients of services supplied by the Council are not required to produce a National Identity Card as a condition of receiving any of these services, except where laws may be introduced to force the use of National Identity Cards in specific circumstances." This has not been brought into the Forward Plan as the Identity Cards Bill is still under consideration by Parliament, and it is suggested that the issue should be dealt with in the context of the legislation in the form in which it is ultimately enacted. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to: (a) note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings; (b) confirm that the Cabinet will return to the matter of the production of Identity Cards in relation to Council services when the liabilities under any legislation which may be enacted are clear. October 2005
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