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To Members of the Executive

Notice of a Meeting of the Executive

Wednesday 6 February 2002 at 10.00 am

County Hall, Oxford

Contact officer: Graham Warrington (Tel: 01865 815321, E-mail)

Membership

The agenda follows. Decisions taken at the meeting will become effective at the end of the working day on 14 February 2002 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

Apologies for Absence

Declarations of Interest



Minutes

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2002 (EX3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.

Petitions and Public Address

Adult Protection Procedures

Executive Member: Community Care & Health

Forward Plan Ref: 185/2001

Contact Officer: Alan Sinclair (Tel: 01865 815753)

Report by Director of Social Services (EX5).

The report summarises the main features of the Department of Health’s ‘No Secrets’: Guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse. It also describes Oxfordshire’s new codes of practice and a new framework including the setting up of an Adult Protection Committee comprising lead officers of the agencies involved.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

(i) endorse the introduction of the new Codes of Practice as described in the report;

(ii) agree to the setting up of an Adult Protection Committee and the post of Multi-Agency Adult Protection Support Worker.

Children and Families – Charging Scheme

1. note the outcome of the consultation with parents and organisations representing parents and young people;
2. agree to implement the Financial Assessment and Charging Scheme as detailed in Annex 1 to the report.

New Pay and Career Structure for Learning Support Assistants and Early Years Support Workers

Executive Member: Deputy Leader of the Council, Schools, Children & Young People

Forward Plan Ref: 88/2001

Contact Officer: Rick Harmes (Tel: 01865 810626)

Report by Acting Chief Education Officer (EX7).

In June 2001, the County Council approved details of a new pay and career structure for Learning Support Assistants and Early Years Support Workers as the basis for consultation with schools and other interested parties. The proposals are designed to establish a more effective career structure for Nursery Nurses and Learning Support Assistants with some incentives built in for training and progression, and help to address the issue of low pay for these groups and other ancillary staff in schools

The consultation with schools and other interested partners took place in Autumn 2001. The comments received in response to the consultations are summarised in the report. The proposals have received strong support.

In the light of the responses to the recent consultations, the Executive is RECOMMENDED to confirm the proposals to restructure the remuneration of learning support assistants and other low-paid ancillary staff and early years support workers in schools and other LEA settings as described in the report.

King Alfred’s Community and Sports College, Wantage

Executive Member: Schools

Forward Plan Ref: 11/2001

Contact Officer: Robert Capstick (Tel: 01865 815155)

Joint Report by the Chief Education Officer, County Treasurer, and Director of Environmental Services (EX8).

The former Education Committee received a report last year on the organisation of King Alfreds Sports and Community College, Wantage, the report having been effectively sponsored by the strong belief held by the head and governors over the operational inefficiencies of the school. The Governing Body were promulgating the idea of a new single site school as the best way forward. Before taking any decisions, Committee asked that research should take place on not only the single school plan, but also on alternatives, in particular the feasibility of having 2 area schools, in Grove and in Wantage.

The paper (EX8) lists 4 possible options, together with outline costings based on both optimistic and pessimistic assumptions on capital receipts and construction costs. The single site new school is one of these options. Two of the options include a Grove School. The report stresses the tentative status of research findings to date: more detailed work would be required on perhaps shortlisted options. Further, the report notes the need for local opinion to be canvassed, and for further advice to be taken on as yet non-controlled variables (e.g. the chances of certain planning permissions being forthcoming, and the view of the trustees of the centre site of the present school). It is also noted that the options would not provide a neat fit with available funding streams: PFi may need to be considered.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to consider which options to research further, and to determine the timing of the research in the light of the report to the Executive on PFI in relation to the capital programme.

Proposed exchange of Frideswide VA and Lawn Upton VC School Sites

Executive Member: Schools

Forward Plan Ref: 29/2002

Contact Officer: K. Borien (Tel: 01865 815636)

Report by Acting Chief Education Officer and Director of Environmental Services (EX9).

Under the Oxford Schools Reorganisation, Frideswide CE (Aided) Middle School will close and become part of Cherwell School with effect from September 2003. The existing Lawn Upton CE (Controlled) Middle School, Littlemore will also close and a new school (Littlemore CE (Aided) Primary School) will open on part of the existing site. The remainder will be sold for housing development provided the necessary planning permission has been obtained.

Most of the Frideswide site is currently owned by the Diocesan Trustees (Oxford) Ltd and the County Council has to acquire this from them in order to extend Cherwell School. (The Council owns the remaining part of the Frideswide site). The Diocesan Trustees (Oxford) Ltd are responsible for acquiring a site for the new Aided Primary School at Littlemore. The existing school site is owned by the County Council.

The proposal is for Oxfordshire County Council and the Diocesan Trustees (Oxford) Ltd to exchange freehold ownership of these two sites.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to approve the exchange of part of the current Lawn Upton CE school site at Littlemore currently owned by the County Council (as shown hatched black on Plan 1 appended to the report) for the part of the Frideswide School site (as shown hatched black on Plan 2) currently owned by the Diocesan Trustees (Oxford) Ltd.

Pupil Behaviour Support Plan

Executive Member: Schools

Forward Plan Ref: 52/2001

Contact Officer: Tony Scott (Tel: 01865 815177)

Report by Chief Education Officer (EX10).

Local Education Authorities are required by Section 527A of the 1996 Education Act to publish a Behaviour Support Plan. Oxfordshire’s plan is the result of an ongoing review of Behaviour Support and Attendance issues which began immediately after the publication of the first Behaviour Support Plan in December 1998. The Plan takes into account recommendations made by District Audit in the Spring of 2001, and the recently completed Best Value Review of Behaviour Attendance and Exclusions. It has been subject to a widespread process of review and consultation on component parts.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to receive the Behaviour Support Plan, and to approve the actions proposed within it and summarised in the report, subject to the necessary funding being available.

Funding of Attached Nursery Schools

Executive Member: Children & Young People, Schools

Forward Plan Ref: 57/2001

Contact Officer: Rick Harmes (Tel: 01865 810626)

Report by Acting Chief Education Officer (EX11).

Following last year’s Best Value Review of Early Years and Childcare provision, the Chief Education Officer reviewed the funding arrangements for the six attached Nursery Schools in the County. The report gives details of the schools concerned and explains how they differ from other types of nursery provision in the County.

In addition, the report sets out the reasons for reviewing the funding of these particular schools and outlines the main issues that have been discussed over the past few months with the headteachers and governing bodies of the schools concerned. Officers are convinced that there is scope for efficiency gains and for some efficiency savings in the funding of these schools. These efficiency benefits can be achieved without detriment to the quality of the educational provision made for young children or to the effective operation of the schools overall.

The report contains a set of proposals that are intended to bring the new funding arrangements into effect.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to agree the proposals set out in the report aimed at changing the funding arrangements for the County’s six attached nursery schools in 2002/03 and 2003/04 and to note that the proposals will yield estimated savings of £50,000 in 2002/03 and beyond.

Amalgamation of Longfields Nursery and Primary Schools

Executive Member: Schools

Forward Plan Ref: 150/2001

Contact Officer: Rick Harmes (Tel: 01865 810626)

The Acting Chief Education Officer reports as follows:

On 11 December, the Executive authorised public consultations on possible proposals to cease to maintain Longfields Nursery School and to extend the age range of Longfields Primary School from 5-11 to 3-11 years.

A public consultation meeting to discuss these proposals was held at Longfields school on 16 January. The consultation proposals .(download as .rtf file) and a note of the discussions that took place at the meeting are available in the Members’ Resource CentreThe teachers, governors and parents who were present expressed unanimous support for the proposals.

Members of the school community have also been invited to write to the Acting Chief Education Officer by 28 January giving their views on the proposals. So far no written responses have been received. All responses that are received by the deadline will be reported to the Executive on 6 February.

In the light of the response to the informal public consultations, the Executive is RECOMMENDED

1. to authorise the publication of statutory notices under Sections 29(1) and 28(1) of the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998 to:

1. cease to maintain Longfields Nursery School, Bicester
2. extend the age range of Longfields Primary School, Bicester from 5-11 to 3-11 years

with effect from September 2002;

2. in the event of no objections being received, to implement the above proposals as set out in the statutory notices.

School Development Project Appraisals

Executive Member: Schools

Forward Plan Ref: 163/2001

Contact Officer: Keith Borien (Tel: 01865 815636)

The Acting Chief Education Officer seeks approval of the following Project Appraisals (EX13).

ED519/2 – Cherwell Upper School/Frideswide Middle School

ED576/1 – St Andrew’s CE First School

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to approve the Project Appraisals.

Carterton and Witney to Oxford – Public Transport Links

1. endorse the findings of the consultants’ report that the reinstatement of a heavy rail link along the disused rail line between Brize Norton and Yarnton would not be viable but that options involving either a GTE (Guided Bus) or Light Rail system are worthy of more detailed study;
2. welcome the consultants’ offer of a joint presentation of the study findings to interested County and District Members at the District Council offices in Witney and ask officers to make the arrangements;
3. ask officers, in light of the Government’s response to the bid for the proposed A40 bus lane, to undertake a broad review of the short and longer term options for improving transport links between West Oxfordshire and Oxford, including the possible incorporation of the guided bus or light rail proposals identified by the consultants and to report back with preliminary recommendations within four months; and
4. continue with preparation of the A40 bus lane scheme to provide the opportunity of a resubmission to the DTLR in July 2002 for the current or modified scheme, dependent on the outcome of the further review.

Regional Government

1. Lord Falconer’s assertion that his vision of regional government would result in the abolition of a tier of local government in England;
2. the Government’s Planning Green Paper proposals to eliminate the County Structure Plan process from strategic planning.

1. there is neither appetite with the possible exception of a few areas outside the South East nor a demonstrated need for another period of Local Government Review in England, given the hugely destructive nature of the last Review and the evidence of good partnership working both in Oxfordshire and more generally;
2. Structure Plans have served this County well and that replacement with a process based on unaccountable quangocrats in Guildford would be a retrograde step;
3. there is strong public affection for the county as a historical, geographical, administrative and political unit and that the Government would be ill-advised to promote their abolition.

Review of Bus Services

The Council on 15 January 2002 adopted the following motion by Councillor Julian Cooper:

"The Council, while fully recognising the efforts made by the Environmental Services Department of this Authority in relation to rural bus services, asks the Executive to commission the Environment Scrutiny Committee as part of a wider review of bus services to undertake an investigation into the provision of Postal Buses. The Council considers the working together of public bodies such as the Post Office, the County Council and the District Councils to improve the rural transport infrastructure would be a desirable objective."

Bus services (including rural services, schools, franchising etc) is the top priority review topic identified by the Environment Scrutiny Committee. Moreover the Executive’s Budget Strategy states the intention that "There will be a wholesale review of the present system of bus subsidy to identify whether more cost effective methods can lead to increased passenger uptake."

This item has not been included in the Forward Plan; however, it is not considered that the decision being sought amounts to a key decision, and it is therefore open to the Executive to consider the report and determine the recommendations.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to consider what action it wishes to take in the light of the decision by Council.

Forward Plan and Future Business

January 2002

SUPPLEMENTARY AGENDA

Call In - New Roman Catholic Secondary School, Oxford

Executive Member: Schools

Forward Plan Ref: 91/2001

Contact Officer: Sue Tanner, Tel: (01865) 815472

This item reports comments made by the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee at their 30 January 2002 meeting on the decision taken by the Executive on 8 January on the proposal of the governing body of the new school to place Catholic children, irrespective of address, at the top of their entry criteria. The Executive had decided (Councillors Crabbe and Tudor Hughes voting against) "to take no further action at the present time but that if consulted again the County Council should reaffirm its previous position."

On 18 January 2002 the Proper Officer received a request by 5 members of the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee in accordance with the Council’s Scrutiny Procedure Rules in the Constitution in the following terms:

"The reason for our request is to ask the Executive to explain and justify why:

(a) They decided to take no action on the request from the former Education Committee (9 October 2001) which asked ‘..the Executive, in consultation with the relevant Scrutiny Committee, to consider asking the Roman Catholic Archdiocese and the new governing body, that, in the interests of ‘fairness’ they agree that in the admissions policy for the new RC School the distance the family live from the school took precedence over the religious beliefs of the family’.

(b) They decided not to consult the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee before coming to their decision to take no action."

At the Scrutiny Committee meeting it was reported that the Leader of the Council had acknowledged that the Education Committee’s request as to consultation with the Scrutiny Committee had been overlooked. He had invited the Committee to offer advice to the Executive so that it could reconsider this matter as soon as possible.

Councillor Crabbe, as the Executive Member for Schools, reported the reasons for the Executive’s decision to the Scrutiny Committee. He recalled that the Council would have preferred a joint denominational school in Oxford City, but had been unable to persuade the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of its merits. The intention of the Archdiocese, in promoting the new school, was to be in a position to offer Catholic education to Catholic families, where demand existed, and where it was reasonable so to do. The governing body would therefore be minded to place Catholic children, irrespective of address, at the top of their entry criteria. If distance to the school was to be the most important admissions criterion then the school would be likely to admit 80% or more non-Catholics. The Executive had accepted that the Local Education Authority had no jurisdiction to legally enforce the admissions of pupils other than Roman Catholics to the school.

 

The Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee agreed to urge the Executive to maintain a dialogue with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese on this issue. Whilst the school is in a local community, its denominational ethos does not necessarily serve that community and there have been suggestions from the Government that admission arrangements to aided schools could be altered in the future, so that they should admit up to 25% non-denominational pupils. The Committee urged the Executive to maintain the Council’s agreed position on this issue so far as possible.

Members of the Committee also acknowledged that the Executive could not, legally, have a direct impact on the proposed school’s admission arrangements, but it could indicate to the Archdiocese that the Governing Body should explore ways of replicating the ethos of the former joint school, St Augustine’s, that it could take account of suggestions from government about altering the ratio of pupil admissions to aided schools, and that it be urged to serve the local community rather than becoming a potential faith enclave. The Committee felt that decision of the Executive was understandable given the firmness of denominational preference encouraged and enforced by the Archdiocese, but that this was not sufficient reason to cease ongoing dialogue with them. Furthermore, there was no other upper school in the local community surrounding Cardinal Newman School, which pupils could walk to.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to consider what action it wishes to take in the light of the comments of the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee.

 

Decisions of the County Council, 5 February 2002:

1. Revenue and Capital Budgets and Financial Strategy for 2002/03 – 2004/05

Executive Member: Leader of the Council

Forward Plan Ref: 79/2001

Contact Officer: Jenny Hydari Tel: (01865 815401)

2. Oxfordshire Plan 2002/03

Executive Member: Leader of the Council

Forward Plan Ref: 80/2001

Contact Officer: Sean Gibson Tel: (01865 815482

3. Community Safety Strategies 2002/05

January 2002

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