ITEM CC8COUNTY COUNCIL – 20 JUNE 2006REPORT OF THE CABINETCabinet Member: Leader of the Council
(Cabinet, 6 June 2006) The Annual Report is intended to provide an overview of the previous year highlighting the Council's achievements and successes. It is one of the strategic plans requiring the approval of Council. The Report complements the forward-looking Corporate Plan 2006-10, which was approved by Council on 4 April 2006. The Report is also designed to fulfil the requirement to produce a Best Value Performance Plan, which government guidance requires to be published by the end of June. It is intended to issue the Annual Report alongside the annual Statement of Accounts, which will be presented to the Audit Committee for approval on 28 June. A working draft of the Annual Report was circulated to the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee on 1 June. The Committee made a number of comments which the Cabinet has agreed to incorporate. An updated draft is circulated with the Council agenda. This is complete except for the summary accounts page, which will be added in the light of the formal Statement of Accounts when approved by the Audit Committee. The Council is RECOMMENDED, subject to any final presentational and editorial changes agreed by the Leader of the Council, to approve the Annual Report.
(Cabinet, 16 May 2006) The Cabinet has endorsed the Cherwell Community Plan 2016, which has been developed by the Cherwell Community Planning Partnership, made up of representatives of Cherwell’s public, private and voluntary sector organisations. The Plan embraces the vision of sustainable community strategies and works and seeks 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. The Cabinet has endorsed the aims defined in the Plan and will support delivery of those action points which are relevant to the County Council’s role and services. For the future, the Cabinet would wish to see a greater integration of countywide and district community strategies during the life of the Plan and will pursue this through discussion with the District Council.
(Cabinet, 6 June 2006) The Cabinet has agreed that individual Cabinet Members should be enabled in future to discharge executive functions in their own right, coupled with a substantial reduction in the number of meetings of the full Cabinet. Up to now, formal decision-making by individual Members acting independently has been limited to specific items, with express prior authority from the full Cabinet. What is now intended is a standing arrangement whereby each Cabinet Member may take decisions within his/her portfolio without prior authority: such a delegated decision system will enable a more efficient and effective use of Cabinet Members’ and officers’ time, ensuring that decisions are taken at an appropriate level, while preserving features that will guarantee transparency of and accessibility to the decision-making process. The frequency of Cabinet meetings will be reduced to one per month (the second in each month shown in the Council diary.) The agreed approach is to give a general competence for each Cabinet Member within his/her given portfolio, subject to appropriate safeguards. In particular, reference to the full Cabinet would be required for major policy and cross-portfolio issues; financial, establishment and performance monitoring reports; and scrutiny recommendations arising from call-in and scrutiny reviews. It is also intended that the decisions by individual Cabinet Members will be taken at pre-arranged sessions held in public and that all the procedures for councillors and members of the public to make representations to the Cabinet in person shall apply also to individual Members’ decision sessions. The scheme will take effect from 1 September 2006, and the Transport Implementation Committee – which will be made redundant by the new arrangements – will be wound up with effect from the same date. The Cabinet will review the working of the arrangements when they have been in operation for a year, subject to any detailed adjustments that may appear desirable in the interim. (Cabinet, 2 May & 6 June 2006) The Cabinet has agreed a small number of revised appointments to certain of those outside bodies which have been identified by the Cabinet as "strategic", namely, to the Local Government Association and the Association of Councils of the Thames Valley Region. On 5 May 2006 a request to call in the decision for scrutiny consideration was received, on the grounds that such appointments ought to be made on a politically proportionate basis, contrary to the Cabinet’s view that representation of the Council on Strategic Outside Bodies should reflect the current political control of the Council. The call in was considered by the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee on 1 June. The Committee accepted the Cabinet’s view and agreed that there were no material concerns which they should raise with the Cabinet about the decision, which therefore became effective from the date of the Scrutiny Committee meeting. Cabinet Member: Finance (Cabinet, 6 June 2006) On 14 February 2006 the Council agreed a revenue budget for 2006/07, plus a Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) and a Capital Programme for 2006/07 and the succeeding years. A number of factors make it necessary to amend the agreed budget for some Services and Directorates for 2006/07. None of the changes affect the budget requirement, but they do represent a different allocation between Directorates and Services or a change in the gross expenditure and income from that agreed in February. With the exception of Shared Services the changes do not alter the level of service provision. These changes also have an impact on the proposed Directorate budgets for future years, and therefore alter the allocations within the MTFP. Accompanying this report are an amended MTFP 2006/07–2010/11 (Annex 1) (download as .xls file), a schedule of the required changes (Annex 2) (download as xls file) and an amended detailed Revenue Budget 2006/07 (Annex 3) (download as xls file). The Council is RECOMMENDED to approve the changes to the agreed budget for 2006/07, the amended detailed budget for 2006/07, and the amended Medium Term Financial Plan 2006/07 – 2010/11. (Cabinet 18 April 2006) The Cabinet considered additions to the 2006/07 Capital Programme so as to utilise available resources shown in the Programme as approved by the Council on 14 February 2006. The additions were proposed following consideration by the Capital Steering Group of the outstanding capital needs, as identified in the Asset Management Plan and Capital Strategy. These additions represent a significant opportunity to improve services to several areas and include Phase II of the Time to Change project, refurbishment of Maltfield House Children’s Home, development of libraries at both Watlington and Bicester and some highways depot improvements. The proposals are set out more fully in Annex 4 and leave an unallocated balance of approximately £1m. The Cabinet endorsed these additions to the Capital Programme and recommend them to Council for approval. The Cabinet also received an initial report back on the implications of continuing to maximise its borrowing allocations in the light of the removal of government funding for Oxfordshire’s supported borrowing under the changed revenue support grant arrangements. The Cabinet agreed to consider this issue further in September 2006, with a view to possible variation of the Council’s policy in this regard, as part of the budget planning process for 2007/08. The Council is RECOMMENDED to approve the additions to the Capital Programme specified in Annex 4. Cabinet Member: Change Management (Cabinet, 6 June 2006) The Cabinet has received the quarterly report for our performance to date for 2005/06. Five of the Council’s 13 priorities from 2004/05 were reported as having achieved target at the end of the fourth quarter. There are 4 priorities that have partially achieved targets, 3 priorities that have shown significant levels of performance but which have not or are unlikely to achieve target and 1 priority that has not achieved target. There are 104 indicators for which we are required to report for 2005/06, which have targets associated with them. The overall position breaks down as follows:
As indicated previously the "target achieved" rate represents good performance compared with local authorities nationally. Cabinet Member: Transport
(Cabinet 2 May 2006) The Cabinet has approved proposals for two elements of the Henley Integrated Transport Strategy, namely a Parking Strategy and a Longer Term Strategy. Halcrow, the Council’s transport planning consultants, had carried out the studies for these two Strategies. The Parking Strategy comprises packages of measures designed to be implemented in a phased approach. Essentially the Strategy reassesses the balance of "carrots" and "sticks", with more incentives to encourage the use of the long-stay car parks and disincentives, such as higher costs for parking, to deter inappropriate use of those spaces best used for very short-stay parking on-street. The Longer Term Strategy comprises a set of guiding principles/appraisal criteria for future schemes to ensure that they will mitigate the adverse impacts of traffic on the town, will not undermine the competitiveness of the local economy, are deliverable within a reasonable time scale, represent good value for money and are sustainable in the long-term. Cabinet Member: Sustainable Development (Cabinet, 6 June 2006) The draft South East Plan was submitted by the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) to the Government in March 2006. Formal consultation on the plan is from 31 March to 23 June. An examination in public (EiP) is scheduled to commence in November this year. The draft Plan proposes an annual average growth in housing of 28,900 dwellings per annum, region-wide. The annual level of new house building for Oxfordshire is 2,360 dwellings. Of this, the draft Plan proposes that provision should be made for 1,700 dwellings per annum in Central Oxfordshire and 660 dwellings per annum in the rest of Oxfordshire. The sub-regional strategy for Central Oxfordshire incorporated in the Plan is based on the County Council’s advice to SEERA, agreed by Cabinet on 6 December 2005 following discussion at the November Council. The Cabinet has made a number of detailed comments on the Plan’s policies but has agreed that the County Council’s key messages to the Panel undertaking the EiP should be to endorse the strategy that has been developed for the Central Oxfordshire sub-region, and to stress the need for adequate levels of investment and mechanisms to ensure the timely delivery of infrastructure. This is in part addressed by policy but also requires concerted Government attention. Without this the aim of building sustainable communities will not be realised. (Cabinet 18 April 2006) An annual progress report and Action Plan 2006/07 for the Future First Project, approved by the Executive in April 2005, has been submitted to the Cabinet. This is the first such annual report and included a preliminary review of progress for 2005/2006 and the action plan priorities for 2006/07. These are aimed at meeting the sustainability objectives of the Future First Project: reducing the Council’s environmental footprint through improving resource efficiency (eg energy and water), reducing pollution, waste minimisation and recycling, including working with schools to improve their environmental performance. The Cabinet recognised the importance of increased efficiency and financial savings that could be obtained via general environmental good practice and approved the proposals contained in the Future First Action Plan 2006/2007. Cabinet Member: Schools Improvement (Cabinet, 6 June 2006) Following discussions about possible options for meeting secondary education needs in the Banbury area, the Cabinet in December last year agreed to act upon the conclusion that of all the options identified only one – the creation of an Academy on the Drayton School campus – would be viable. The Cabinet has now considered the outcome of consultation on the closure of Drayton School linked to the opening of the Academy. The consultation has taken place at the same time as that for the proposed Academy by its sponsors. The overall response rate was fairly low (51 in total on the specific issue of Drayton School) but showed a majority (64%) in favour of the proposals; of those parents of children at Drayton who responded, 18 were in favour and only 1 against. In the light of the responses, the Cabinet has agreed the proposal to close Drayton School, conditional upon the creation of the Academy, subject to the statutory processes (which will involve reference to the School Organisation Committee in the event of formal objections.)
(Cabinet, 16 May 2006) Clarification of possible options in relation to the 16-19 age range is still being sought through discussions with the Learning & Skills Council. Officers have been asked to report back in due course on the outcome of the consultations and further analysis and development work, with a view to the production of a strategic plan for modernisation and development of secondary education provision in Oxfordshire. Cabinet Member: Community Safety (Cabinet, 16 May 2006) 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. The Plan is one of the strategic plans which requires full Council approval. The Community Safety Scrutiny Committee considered the draft Plan and agreed to urge the Cabinet to pursue discussions with the Learning & Skills Council in relation to providing adequate training to assist young offenders aged 16 and 17 into employment. It also undertook to monitor progress on achieving the education, training and employment performance indicator. The final draft plan is circulated with the Council agenda. The Council is RECOMMENDED to approve the Youth Justice Plan for submission to the Youth Justice Board.
(Cabinet, 6 June 2006) The Cabinet has considered a second government consultation on governance arrangements for the Regional Fire Control Project. The Cabinet agreed a number of detailed comments, but on the central question – as to what would be the most effective controlling entity for the Regional Control Centre – has reiterated its earlier response in support of the South East Fire and Rescue Service Regional Management Board position recommending the formation of a Local Authority Company for the purpose. This however is subject to demonstration of the ability to discharge the Authority's best value obligations and the satisfactory resolution of all other outstanding issues, including company structure, business planning and business case, finance, taxation, VAT and other relevant issues. (Cabinet, 6 June 2006) The Cabinet has approved a Food Law Enforcement Service Plan 2006/07, prepared in line with Food Standards Agency requirements. It proposes that activities in 2006/07 should be based on six themes: tackling food poverty; encouraging a healthier diet; improving food standards and choice for consumers at catering establishments; addressing the concerns of our communities; helping to sustain local businesses and safeguarding food standards. The Plan will be published as part of a wider plan in respect of all aspects of the local authority Trading Standards Service. This demonstrates how the wide range of food law enforcement activities undertaken by the County Council’s Trading Standards Service can contribute to the overall corporate objectives of Oxfordshire County Council.
KEITH
R MITCHELL
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