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ITEM EX3

EXECUTIVE – 21 & 28 JANUARY 2003

Minutes of the Meeting commencing at 2.00 pm on 21 January and adjourned at 4.20 pm and resumed at 10.00 am on 28 January and finishing at 11.07 am

 

Present:

Voting Members:

Councillor Keith R Mitchell – in the chair

Councillor Tony Crabbe
Councillor John Farrow
Councillor Neil Fawcett
Councillor Janet Godden
Councillor Margaret Godden
Councillor Anne Purse
Councillor David Robertson
Councillor Don Seale

Other Members in Attendance:

Councillor Julian Cooper (for Agenda Item 9)
Councillor Barbara Gatehouse (for Agenda Item 5)
Councillor Brian Hodgson (for Agenda Items 5 and 9)
Councillor Biddy Hudson (for Agenda Item 9)
Councillor Power (for Agenda Item 5)

Officers:

Whole of meeting: Chief Executive, J. Leverton and G. Warrington.

Part of meeting: Chief Fire Officer; Director of Cultural Services; J. Hydari and M. Petty (Business Support Directorate); M. Bowmer and A. Davy (Education Department); R. Helling (Environmental Services); and L. Brown (Social & Health Care).

The Executive considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting and decided as set out below. Except insofar as otherwise specified, the reasons for the decisions are contained in the agenda and reports, copies of which are attached to the signed Minutes.

BUSINESS CONDUCTED ON 21 JANUARY 2003

    24/03. DECLARATION OF INTEREST

    Councillor Janet Godden declared a personal interest under Item 12 insofar as she was a Non-Executive Director of the Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare Trust.

    25/03. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 7 January 2003 were approved and signed subject to the following amendments:-

    • Minute 8/03(b) delete "in principle" in line 1;

    • Minute 11/03 insert "and invited the Executive to consider its own pilot" at the end of the last paragraph of the preamble to the minute.

    26/03. PETITIONS AND PUBLIC ADDRESS

    The Chair reported that the following request to address the meeting had been agreed:-

    Request from

    Agenda Item

    Mr Alan Lester

    5. Budget Monitoring

    27/03. FIRE SERVICE DISPUTE

    The Executive received an oral report from the Chief Fire Officer which set out the latest position regarding the current pay dispute between the Fire Brigades Union and the national employers.

    He reported that the Fire Brigades Union was due to begin its next 24 hour strike at 9 am the following day with further 2 day strikes planned for 28 and 29 January and 1 and 2 February 2003. He was confident that the Service would continue to provide a response to life threatening incidents and that the public would continue to be vigilant. Further talks were scheduled for 22 January 2003 and he hoped that a resolution to the dispute could be found.

    RESOLVED: to note the report.

    28/03. BUDGET MONITORING

    (Agenda Item 5)

    The Executive considered a report (EX5) which detailed the budget monitoring position of the Council for 2002/03 as at 30 November 2002.

    Mr Alan Lester addressed the Executive. He expressed his concern over the current levels of underspends in the County Council’s budget. This had been money raised through Council Tax and he suggested that rather than being asked to pay an increase in Council Tax at the level currently anticipated when inflation currently stood at 2½% the Council tax payers of Oxfordshire should be entitled to a refund. There was a need for more detailed consultation and he called for a referendum in order to gauge public opinion on the budget measures proposed.

    Councillor Gatehouse expressed her concern over the increasing costs of the OCN/Broadband Project and called for a report to explain why this was so.

    Councillor Power questioned the need to impose a Council Tax increase of over 14% in view of Oxfordshire’s settlement being above the average for Shire Counties, the high level of underspends across the County Council’s budget and the current level of inflation.

    Councillor Mitchell pointed out that the current level of stated underspends was a consequence of holding back expenditure where this had been practicable to ensure that overspending in other areas could be offset without drawing on balances. He advised the meeting that to keep any increase in the level of Council tax equal to the level of inflation would require cuts of £22m to County services, which would be undeliverable. Furthermore whilst the County Council had indeed received a better than hoped for Government settlement this had been offset by a withdrawal of £2½m of grants for Learning & Culture and additional central costs imposed such as the Unison pay award and increased employee insurance costs.

    Councillor Margaret Godden sympathised with the views put forward by Councillor Gatehouse. The increased costs had to some extent been unforeseen and identified as the project had continued to develop. However, she considered the project to be worthwhile but agreed that a further report should be prepared in order to bring members up to date on its development.

    RESOLVED:

    1. to receive the report and to strongly reiterate to directors the continued need to proceed cautiously and endeavour to maintain their levels of underspend for the rest of the financial year;

    2. request officers to report back to the Executive with 3 months on progress with the development of the Broadband/OCN Project.

    29/03. SCHOOLS’ DELEGATED BUDGETS FORMULA 2003/04

    (Agenda Item 7)

    The Committee considered a report (EX7) which sought agreement to the introduction of changes to the formula in the light of the consultation responses carried out under the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998.

    Mr Bowmer summarised the outcome of the consultation and drew particular attention to a letter from Marlborough School relating to post 16 funding, which suggested that the Council should allocate additional funds for Key Stage 3 to avoid any abatement in the allocation to schools with sixth forms.

    The Executive considered that the report’s proposals were the fairest solution, when seen in the light of the large increase to budgets for schools with sixth forms in the current year.

    RESOLVED: to agree the proposals set out in the report.

    30/03. BUS SERVICES REVIEW

(Agenda Item 9)

On 6 February 2002 the Executive had agreed to commission the Environment Scrutiny Committee, using consultants employed through the Department of Environmental Services, to undertake a review of bus services across the County. On 18 December 2002 the Environment Scrutiny Committee had considered the outcome of the review and its recommendations were now before the Executive.

Councillor Julian Cooper addressed the Executive with regard to the provision of Postal Buses. He considered that a limited service would be feasible and could provide a lifeline to some of the more remote rural parts of the County. He felt that the Post Office should be asked to justify why a level of service could not be provided in Oxfordshire when it supported similar services in Berkshire and other areas of the Country.

Councillor Hodgson addressed the Executive on behalf of Councillor Mold. He suggested that public consultation on the bus strategy should take place in the context of the level of budget allocated for bus subsidies.

Councillor Hudson commended the recommendations of the Environment Scrutiny Committee and advised that that Committee would like to retain an ingoing involvement in this area of work, including the question of Postal Buses, as part of its work programme.

Councillor Robertson thanked the Scrutiny Committee for its work and felt that the recommendations confirmed current County Council policies. He also agreed to consult Councillor Hudson further on the possibility of asking the Environment Scrutiny Committee to explore further with the Post Office the provision of Postal Buses.

Other points raised by members during discussion included support for the flexible approach recommended towards identification of need and achievement of modal shift; the possible further examination of coordinated procurement of school and public transport; the practicality of the "cost per passenger kilometre" formula for assessing justification for service subsidy; and the particular importance of customer care training in public transport services.

RESOLVED: to:

    1. ask the Executive Members for Transport and for Strategic Planning and Waste Management, taking account of the views of Executive Members at this meeting, to report to the 5 March meeting of the Executive on the options for taking forward each of the recommendations of the Environment Scrutiny Committee; and

    2. ask officers to review bus services in the Faringdon area in 2003 and the Chipping Norton area in 2004, and in consequence authorise extending subsidy contracts in the Chipping Norton area by one year, and shortening those in the Faringdon area by one year.

    31/03. EARLY YEARS DEVELOPMENT AND CHILDCARE PLAN - IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 2003 – 04

(Agenda Item 10)

The Committee considered a report (EX10) which set out progress on targets and business objectives for 2002/03 as well as setting further milestones for 2003/04.

The Executive noted the following changes to Annex 3 (page 86) of the Plan:

    • Column 1 and Column 23 of Out of School Childcare places (not including childminders) figures to read 2399/390 and 1349/285 respectively;

    • Column 5 of Pre-School Childcare Places (not including childminders) figures to read 1832/443;

    • Column 5 of Places with Childminders figures to read 1939/2456.

Councillor Janert Godden congratulated those officers involved in the production of the report and on the 2 national awards gained for work in this area of service. She also thanked Dr. Marjorie Evans for her contribution as Chair of the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership.

RESOLVED: to:

    1. approve the proposals set out in the Early Years Development and Childcare Implementation Plan for 2003/04 subject to the changes to Annex 3 as set out above;

    2. note the importance for achieving the objectives of the Plan of the growth option of £899,000 identified as high priority for the 2003/04 budget in respect of additional funding required to meet the statutory duty for provision of funded 3 year old places in private and voluntary sector settings, and of an additional £687,000 in the medium term plan for 2004/05;

    3. request officers to monitor take up of places for 3 year olds and report back to the Executive in July 2003 including an updated analysis of sufficiency of places in each school partnership area; and

    4. authorise the Acting Chief Education Officer, in consultation with the Executive Members for Children & Young People and Learning & Culture, to consider and agree any changes (other than any which had substantive additional resource implications) requested as a result of discussion at the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership meeting on 29 January.

    32/03. CRITERIA FOR CONTINUING HEALTH CARE

(Agenda item 11)

The Committee considered a report (EX11) which outlined the development of eligibility criteria between health organisations and the Local Authority for NHS funded continuing care since 1995.

Councillor Seale commended the report to the Executive.

RESOLVED: to:

    1. approve the eligibility criteria, assessment tool and scoring threshold for older people and adults with a physical disability as contained in Annex 2 to the report EX11 for implementation by the end of January 2003;

    2. request the Director for Social & Health Care to present a further report to the Executive in respect of adults with a mental health need or learning disability.

    33/03. INTEGRATION OF ADULT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

    (Agenda Item 12)

    The Committee considered a paper (EX12) which examined the proposal to further develop the integration of mental health services for adults of a working age between Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust and Oxfordshire County Council set out against the background to the proposal and options available.

    RESOLVED: to:

    1. agree to the proposal to further develop the integration of mental health services for adults of working age;

    2. agree that the Director for Social and Health Care in partnership with the Chief Executive of Oxfordshire Mental Health Care NHS Trust develop the project brief and detailed proposals for the integration of services and commissioning;

    3. agree to a period of formal consultation on the proposals, lasting no less than three months and involving staff and key stakeholders;

    4. request the Director for Social & Health Care to present the outcome of consultation and the final proposals for the approval of the Executive in six months.

    34/03. FORWARD PLAN AND FUTURE BUSINESS

    (Agenda Item 13)

    The Executive considered a list of items from the Forward Plan for the next two meetings.

    RESOLVED: to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings, subject to Item 4 for the 5 February meeting being amended to read "Secondary Schooling in the Wantage and Grove Area.

    The meeting thereupon adjourned and reconvened on 28 January 2003

    BUSINESS CONDUCTED ON 28 JANUARY

    35/03. REVENUE AND CAPITAL BUDGET 2003/04 AND MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL PLAN 2004/05 – 2007/08; OXFORDSHIRE PLAN 2003/04

(Agenda Item 6)

The Executive at this meeting needed to make recommendations to the Council on the Revenue Budget, Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital Programme. The meeting had before it the following reports:

    • Overview by the Director of Business Support & County Treasurer (EX6) which drew together the issues which the Executive needed to address in formulating recommendations to the Council, updated the information circulated to the December Scrutiny Committee meetings and showed the implications for future years of the identified revenue options and priorities.

    • Report by the Leader of the Council and Deputy Leader of the Council (EX6 Supplement) setting out proposals for a draft Revenue Budget 2003/04 and Medium Term Financial Plan 2004/05 to 2007/08.

    • Report by Director for Business Support & County Treasurer (EX6 Supplement 2) providing updated information on capital resources.

    • Report by the Leader of the Council and Deputy Leader of the Council (EX6 Supplement 3) which explained how the Medium Term Financial Plan had been constructed.

    • Commentary by the Director for Business Support & County Treasurer on the proposals of the Leader of the Council and Deputy Leader of the Council.

Councillor Hodgson addressed the Executive and posed a number of questions:

EX6 Supplement:

  • Page 4: how would efficiency savings be achieved?

  • Pages 15/16: how had the job evaluation figures been arrived at?

  • Where was the £15.9m "earmarked reserves" figure explained in the budget document?

EX6

  • Page 1, paragraph 4: what information on government grants remained outstanding and what were the implications for the overall budget?

  • Page 4, paragraph 22: had the potential Performance Reward Grant figure of £12.9m been allowed for in the budget?

  • Page 9, paragraph 60: why had the County Council only achieved a "satisfactory" rating for its Asset Management Plan?

Finally, he referred to the letter from the Headteacher of Marlborough School which had been reported on 21 January 2003 (Minute 29/03 above refers) and declared a personal interest insofar as he was a Governor of the School. The matter was of great concern to the School and he enquired if a reply had been sent.

In response, Councillor Mitchell advised that efficiency savings were only indicative at this stage but that it was intended that the base budget would be examined as soon as the budget had been settled. A further report would be submitted to the Executive and comments from Scrutiny Committees would be welcomed. He confirmed that the Performance Reward Grant figure had not been included in the budget at this stage, and agreed that the Asset Management Plan rating had been disappointing. He undertook to send Councillor Hodgson a copy of an explanatory paper which set out reasons why officers felt that the rating achieved had been lower than expected.

Councillor Margaret Godden advised that the job evaluation figures in the budget represented costs involved in any increases that might be required to pay levels.

Officers undertook to circulate to members the latest position regarding outstanding grants and a list setting out a breakdown of reserves.

Councillor Fawcett advised that the matter of clawback of additional LSC funding had been fully discussed fully by the Executive, and it had been accepted that the proposals for 2003/04 were fair. He undertook to ensure that a copy of the reply sent to Marlborough School would be sent to Councillor Hodgson.

The Leader of the Council and Deputy Leader of the Council introduced their report and draft budget proposals (EX6 Supplement). Councillor Mitchell referred to the significant pressures on the budget and the effects of reductions in specific grant that had offset the better-than-expected formula grant settlement. He acknowledged the advice and guidance received from the Scrutiny Committees and the MORI-led community workshop. The revised 13.6% Council Tax increase was within the range discussed at the workshop and would enable the maintenance of services for the residents of Oxfordshire. There were however concerns about pressures in future years, particularly in 2003/05 when there was to be a substantial loss of grant in respect of education. He thanked the County Treasurer’s staff for their assistance to members throughout the budget process.

Councillor Margaret Godden also paid tribute to the Scrutiny input, and expressed appreciation of the co-operative discussions on budget priorities between Executive members. It had been possible in putting forward a recommended budget to avoid identification of service reductions. She supported the intention to make an early start on preparations for the 2004/05 budget and referred to a shared determination to progress the sound management of the Council’s resources.

The Chief Executive highlighted a number of issues, which included the value of the community workshop and the need to strengthen the current level of balances. He welcomed the initiative to examine the base budget in order to find efficiency savings so as to promote investment in service provision and also welcomed the move to target investment from within the job evaluation programme area towards those areas which traditionally experienced difficulties in recruiting staff. He paid tribute to managers in the Social & Health Care Directorate for their work in improving the financial control on that budget which had been undertaken during a period of intense transition and change.

Councillor Mitchell advised that under the Council’s Constitution the Executive would need to meet to consider any objection to the budget that might be made by the Council. If that was the case then it was proposed that the Executive meet on 12 February 2003 to consider its response and report back to Council on 18 February 2003.

RESOLVED:

    1. in respect of Revenue, to RECOMMEND the Council to approve:

      1. a Medium Term Financial Plan for the Council as set out at Annex B to EX6 Supplement;

      2. a budget for 2003/04 as shown in the first year of Annex B;

      3. a budget requirement for 2003/04 of £508,136,000;

      4. a precept of £197,069,000 for 2003/04;

      5. a Council Tax for Band D Equivalent Properties of £872.23; and

      6. virement arrangements for 2003/04 as set out in Annex 13 to EX6;

    2. in respect of Capital, to RECOMMEND the Council to approve:

      1. a Capital Programme for 2003/04 as set out in the booklet accompanying EX6 including:

        1. allowing Education to bring forward capital projects totalling £14.9m, phased as £1.2m in 2003/04, £11.5m in 2004/05 and £2.2m in 2005/06;

        2. transferring the estimated surplus from the HOPS contract of £0.9m at the end of 2003/04 to a reserve to meet future revenue budget costs; and

        3. Charging £1.5m of ICT to the Capital Programme in 2003/04;

      2. an overall borrowing limit for 2003/04 of £337m;

      3. an overall borrowing limit for short term borrowing for 2003/04 of £124m; and

      4. a maximum amount of borrowing with interest payable at variable rates for 2003/04 of £124m;

    3. to defer further decisions on the Capital Programme:

      1. in respect of Transport, to the 4 March meeting, as mentioned in paragraph 61 of EX6; and

      2. otherwise to the meeting on 29 April;

    4. to endorse the Capital Strategy at Annex 14 of EX6.

in the Chair

Date of signing 2003

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