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To Members of the Executive

Notice of a Meeting of the Executive

Wednesday 3 April 2002 at 10.00 am

County Hall, Oxford

Chris Impey
Assistant Chief Executive

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

Membership

The Agenda follows. Decisions taken at the meetingwill become effective at the end of the working day on 11 April 2002unless 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 confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2002 (EX3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.

Petitions and Public Address



Treasury Management Strategic Plan 2002/03

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. agree the one addition to the Council’s approved lending list as set out in Annex 3;
2. increase the range for fixed interest debt to 75-100%;

Review of Education, Social Services and Cultural Services

Executive Member: Children & Young People, Learning and Culture, Leader of the Council.
Forward Plan Ref: 13/2002
Contact Officer: Stephen Capaldi, Director for Strategy (01865 815466)

Report by the Review Team (EX6).

A review of the relationships between Education, Social Services and Cultural Services and of their structures was commissioned by the Executive in November 2001.

The findings of the Review confirm the need for these key services to work more closely together in the interests of their users, and for communication with users and partners generally to be improved. However, the Education and Social Services Review Team believe that the case for radical change to directorate structures in the short term is not an overwhelming one. Such changes need careful planning and there is a danger that a substantial re-casting of the current directorate structure would divert energy from more urgent priorities, such as the need to align spending with resources within Social Services and the need to raise standards of achievement in Education.

Oxfordshire lacks a clear vision for an integrated service which encompasses (a) schools, (b) libraries and other cultural services and (c) adult and community learning as joint facilitators of lifelong learning, although some steps have been taken with, for example, youth arts development, the Cultural Entitlement initiative, and the recent joint appointment between Cultural Services and Adult and Community Learning of a Local Learning Centres Development Officer. The Review Team recommends that further work is undertaken to explore the potential synergies between these services and to identify economies of scale that might result from a more holistic approach.

The Review Team RECOMMENDS that:

1. in view of (i) the lack of conclusive evidence at this stage of the benefits of separate directorates for children’s services and adult services and (ii) the scale of change already under way in Social Services, the Social Services Directorate should retain its current boundaries for the present;
2. the internal structure of Social Services should be reviewed and the Interim Director should put forward proposals designed to:

1. improve co-ordination, both within Social Services and between Social Services and other services;
2. improve effective communication and ease of contact for service users and partners;
3. deliver more integrated services and effective joint working with other County Council services and with partners, based on joint planning and information sharing;

3. the Acting Chief Education Officer should bring forward proposals for reorganising the structure of his directorate with the same aims, and with a view to bringing together under a single Head of Service those functions which support children in need and which require close working links with Social Services;
4. the Acting Chief Education Officer and the Interim Director of Social Services should report to the Chief Executive on how they propose to improve efficiency and customer service through more effective joint working;
5. the potential for improved efficiency and effectiveness arising from bringing together (i) Libraries and other cultural services and (ii) Adult and Community Learning under a single management structure should be noted, and further work should be carried out to quantify these;
6. this further work should include exploration of the merits of combining Libraries and Adult and Community Learning either (i) within the Education Directorate or (ii) within a new directorate of Community Services;
7. further work should also be carried out to identify an imaginative new vision and direction for the Library Service and the Adult and Community Learning Service in the 21st century, building on the Best Value Action Plan for the Library Service, and recommendations should be formulated by December 2002.

Government White Paper: "Strong Local Leadership

– Quality Public Services"

Executive Member: Leader of the Council
Forward Plan Ref: 76/2002
Contact Officer: Stephen Capaldi, Director for Strategy (01865 815466)

Report by Director for Strategy (EX7).

The White Paper proposes a programme for improving council services; enhancing local democracy and strengthening community leadership. Freeing councils from unnecessary red tap and bureaucracy, Public Service Agreements and Best Value are key elements of this plan coupled with a new element: a Comprehensive Performance Assessment of each council, which will result in a classification as high-performing, striving, coasting or poor-performing.

The introduction to the White Paper suggests ‘a radical change in the relationship between central and local government’. If all government departments adopt the letter and the spirit of the White Paper there will be an improvement in the relationship. However, important opportunities have been missed. Even if the White Paper is fully implemented, the UK will remain highly centralised with many local services run from Whitehall with relatively little local discretion. There are no proposals for addressing the long-standing problem of local government’s heavy dependency on Government grant with over two-thirds of revenue spending remaining under the direct control of central government. Without a more fundamental shift of powers and functions to local democratic control it is questionable whether public interest in local government can be reinvigorated.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. welcome the aspirations set out in the White Paper and the willingness of the government to work in closer partnership with local government;
2. urge government to regard the White Paper as a first step in the right direction towards a reduction in central government control and deregulation of local government;
3. impress on government that the Comprehensive Spending Review planned for later this year provides an important opportunity to minimise ring-fenced grants and radically increase the proportion of local government funding controlled and raised locally;
4. inform government and the Audit Commission of the need for the Local Government Association to be fully involved in the development and agreement of the national framework for the Comprehensive Performance Assessment, and for this process to command the respect of local government if it is to succeed;
5. invite government to give further consideration to the support to be given to authorities classified as coasting or poor-performing, and the additional opportunities to be made available to striving and high performing authorities.

Support for Older People Best Value Review

Executive Member: Community Care & Health
Forward Plan Ref: 17/2002
Contact Officer: Lorna Brown (01865 815828)

The Best Value Committee considered the outcome of this review on 7 January 2002 (attached EX8).(download as .rtf file) The Committee endorsed the outcomes and recommend the Review and Action Plan to the Executive.

Annex 1

The Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committee considered the review on 26 February 2002 and agreed:

1. that with regard to action 2 objective, ‘to ensure there is no discrimination on the basis of age in the provision of social care’, to urge the Executive to consider what practical measures it will take to ensure that this is taken forward on a corporate basis;
2. that in the light of a number of concerns expressed by this meeting about the difficulties experienced by older people with regard to public transport provision, to request the Environment Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 13 March 2002, to allocate 1 place to a member from this Committee on the panel commissioned to review bus services.
   
   

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to note the outcomes of the Review and the comments of the Scrutiny Committee thereon and approve the identified actions for services improvement.

Joint Commissioning Learning Disability Service

1. endorse the Joint Commissioning Learning Disability Service Review report and Action Plan and thank the members of the Review Team for their work;
2. (i) RECOMMEND the Review and Action Plan as an interim statement to the Executive;

(ii) ask the Executive to give priority to the financial recommendations and the full implementation of the SWIFT information management system;

(iii) ask the officers for a further report in six months on implementation and progress towards providing the outstanding data in the Review; and

3. refer the outcomes of the Review to the Social & Health Care Scrutiny Committee for them to make any observations on the Review and Action Plan to the Executive.

Records Management

• Drafting of a common set of procedures and guidelines for records management.
• Consultation with departments on the implications of implementing such procedures and guidelines.
• Consideration of the resource implications, the priority which should be attached to them, and options for meeting them within existing resources.
• Investigation of options for the organisational siting of records management expertise within the County Council.

Arts Development: Review of County Council Involvement

The Executive is RECOMMENDED:

1. to confirm the existing policy objectives for arts development set out in paragraph 3 of the report;
2. to agree the approach to three-year rolling grant agreements set out in paragraph 18;
3. that the possibility of enlarging any of these grants or of extending core-funding to other strategic arts bodies, be considered in the light of the priorities determined by the County Council in setting its policy and budget for 2003/04 and subsequent years;
4. to agree that, while seeking an effective partnership with a successor body to Southern Arts, continuation of a subscription or its equivalent would not yet provide demonstrable value;
5. to agree the objectives in paragraph 21 as the key priorities for the use of one-off development grants;
6. to approve in principle the setting up jointly with other partners of a company limited by guarantee to achieve the objectives in respect of the Capital of Culture bid and otherwise as set out in paragraph 14 of the report, and authorise the Director of Cultural Services and the Solicitor to the Council, in consultation with the Executive Member for Learning & Culture, to take all necessary action for this purpose;
7. to appoint the Executive Member for Learning & Culture, or such alternative person as he may nominate, to represent the County Council as director of the company when created.

Tourism Development Strategy

Executive Member: Learning and Culture
Forward Plan Ref: 111/2001
Contact Officer: Richard Munro, Director (01865 810191)

Report by Director of Cultural Services (EX12).

At the request of the County Council, the Southern Tourist Board (STB) have prepared a report which proposes a vision for the future development and co-ordination of tourism in Oxfordshire. Its aims are to increase economic benefit by attracting high-spending visitors from the least obtrusive markets, to extend the range of cultural and leisure facilities available to residents, to ensure customer satisfaction through high quality, and to manage potentially negative impacts on the environment. Its achievement should based on strategic planning and the integrated development of the infrastructure.

The STB recommend that the County Council should play a role in leading and co-ordinating efforts to achieve the vision. To that end they propose the establishment of a post of Tourism Development Officer which, including an operational budget, would cost the Council some £50,000 a year.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. endorse the broad vision for tourism development in Oxfordshire described in the Southern Tourist Board report;
2. seek the views of the Local Strategic Partnership on the vision;
3. commission a one-off forum of tourism related interest groups at which to present the vision and receive views;
4. request officers, following consultation, to present proposals in July 2002 for future action, including any resource implications which will need to be considered as part of the 2003/04 budget-setting process.

Education Capital Projects

Executive Member: Schools
Forward Plan Ref: 49/2002
Contact Officer: Michael Mill, Senior Education Officer, Premises Development (01865 428161)

Report by Acting Chief Education Officer (EX13).

The Acting Chief Education Officer seeks approval of the following Project Appraisals:

ED560/1 - St Mary’s CE School, Banbury

ED585 - Grimsbury Early Excellence Centre, Banbury

ED584 - Lord Williams’s School, Thame

ED583 - Matthew Arnold School

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to approve the Project Appraisals.

Discretionary Awards

1. to determine not to take up the power in any circumstances and not make any provision for considering applications;
2. to decide to exercise the power only in respect of certain groups or categories of students; or
3. to decide to exercise the power generally and consider applications from all students – but still in accordance with its policies and eligibility.

Waste Management Best Value Review

Executive Member: Strategic Planning & Waste Management
Forward Plan Ref: 15/2002
Contact Officer: Patrick Coulter (01865 815908)

Report by Director of Environmental Services (EX15).(download as .rtf file)

The Best Value Committee considered the Review on 7 January 2002 (attached EX15). The Committee endorsed the outcomes and recommends the Review and Action Plan to the Executive.

The Environment Scrutiny Committee considered the Review on 13 February 2002. The Committee also recommended the Action Plan to the Executive together with member observation which are also circulated at EX15.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to note the outcomes of the Review and the comments of the Scrutiny Committee thereon and approve the identified actions for services improvement.

15. Oxford Central Area Traffic Management Review

Executive Member: Transport
Forward Plan Ref: 24/2001
Contact Officer: Dariusz Seroczynski (01865 815629)

Report by Director of Environmental Services (EX16).

The report considers the comments received on experimental orders that were introduced following the major change to waiting, loading and access arrangements in June 1999. Only the Keble Road closure generated objections, the other proposals either eliciting no adverse comment or positive support.

The closure of Keble Road at its junction with Banbury Road is necessary to prevent it being used by vehicles travelling from St. Giles to the Science Area. This journey is better accommodated at the Banbury Road/Parks Road traffic signals.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. authorise officers to promote areas for :-

1. the closure of Keble Road at its junction with Banbury Road to all vehicles excluding cyclists;
2. the relocation and shortening of the loading bay on the south side of High Street, opposite Queens Lane;
3. the prohibition of entry into the slip road leading into Magdalen Street East; and
4. the prohibition of right turns from and left turns into Longwall Street;

subject to any representations or objections being considered by the Director of Environmental Services in consultation with the Executive Member for Transport and local member(s);

2. agree the introduction of an experimental order to permit local buses to turn right from Tidmarsh Lane into Park End Street and to the Order being made permanent subject to any representations or objections being considered by the Director of Environmental Services in consultation with the Executive Member for Transport and local member(s).

Speed Management Policy

Executive Member: Transport
Forward Plan Ref: 98/2001
Contact Officer: Phil Crossland (01865 815083)

Report by Director of Environmental Services (EX17).

Speed management is a fundamental part of the Government’s Road Safety Strategy. This report , building on a recent Government initiative, recommends the development of a hierarchy of roads for rural speed management, specific speed limit proposals and a speed management strategy.

On average, 341 people are killed or seriously injured on the County’s rural road network each year (i.e. roads not subject to a 40mph or lower speed limit). This is over 65% of the total people killed or seriously injured each year on Oxfordshire’s roads. These accidents tend to be spread out across the network and are not clustered together. This makes site specific treatment to reduce the number of casualties difficult to implement. The development of the proposed hierarchical approach would allow casualties to be tackled on a route or area-wide basis and, even if modest reductions in speed are achieved, there is the potential to save a significant number of casualties each year, thus helping to achieve the national target of a 40% reduction by 2010 and the County Council’s local targets for casualty reduction.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

(a) approve the development of a hierarchy of roads for speed management, specific speed limit proposals and speed management strategy as set out in paragraphs 3 to 8 of the report, for future consideration by the Executive; and

(b) invite the comments of the Environment Scrutiny Committee on these issues in the context of the draft strategy to be produced under (a) above.

16. Abingdon Integrated Transport Strategy

    – Cycle and Pedestrian Facilities

Executive Member: Transport
Forward Plan Ref: 16/2002
Contact Officer: Mark Bostock (01865 815755)

Report by Director of Environmental Services (EX18).

Consultation has been undertaken on a proposal to comment on the footway along Audlett Drive to shared use pedestrian/cycle facilities as one of the first steps of the Abingdon Integrated Transport Strategy. Consultation has been undertaken on the scheme and no objections have been received.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to approve the conversion (under Sections 65 and 66 of the Highways Act 1980) of the footway in Audlett Drive from Thames View northwards to Radley Road to shared use footway/cycle track.

Forward Plan and Future Business

Exempt Item

The meeting will be invited to resolve to exclude the public for the consideration of the following exempt item (marked E) by passing a resolution in relation to the item in the following terms:

"that the public be excluded during the consideration of the following item in the Agenda since it is likely that if they were present during that item there would be a disclosure of "exempt" information as described in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972 and specified below the item in the Agenda".

THE REPORT RELATING TO THE EXEMPT ITEM HAS NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC AND SHOULD BE REGARDED AS STRICTLY PRIVATE TO MEMBERS AND OFFICERS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE IT.

Education Capital Projects

March 2002

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