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To Members of the Executive

Notice of a Meeting of the Executive

Tuesday 4 March 2003 at 2.00 pm

County Hall, Oxford

Chris Impey
Assistant Chief Executive

Contact officer: Deborah Mitchell (Tel: 01865 815463; E-mail)

Membership

The Agenda follows. Decisions taken at the meeting will become effective at the end of the working day on 12 March 2003 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

Addenda

1. Apologies for Absence
   
   
2. Declarations of Interest
   
   
3. Minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 18 February 2003 (EX3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.

4. Petitions and Public Address (see Addenda)
   
   
5. Bus Services Review

The Executive is RECOMMENDED:

1. to incorporate the following in the draft Bus Strategy:

1. Scrutiny Recommendations A(I), F, H(I), I, K, M, amended only insofar as is necessary to ensure consistency of style with the rest of the document;
2. a policy not to subsidise services above hourly save:

(1) where subsidy is required to minimise a reduction from a previous higher frequency; or

(2) where the additional cost of a higher frequency is negligible; or

(3) where needed to pump-prime frequency as part of a Premium Route package including new infrastructure and improved marketing, driver training and vehicles, and if no alternative funds are available;

and in furtherance of (3) to support a Government pump-priming scheme such as "Kickstart" and to seek pump-priming funding from all appropriate new building developments;

3. the ticketing aspirations mentioned in the report on the basis that implementation will be through voluntary initiatives such as Plus+Pass in the first instance, with use of Transport Act 2000 powers to set up a ticketing company as a last resort;

2. not to introduce a Preferred Bidder scheme unless and until the average number of tenders per contract rises to at least three, but to ask officers to explore further the cost, legal and administrative implications of direct purchase of buses by the County Council, as recommended by Halcrow and the Bus Services Review Panel;
3. to ask officers to remind all bus operators of the commitment to compulsory Disability Awareness Training for all subsidised service bus drivers from 1 January 2005, and advise them that it should also cover wider Customer Care issues; to offer to work with each to assist them in meeting this target; and to report back to the Executive in the event that serious staffing difficulties appear to remain as an obstacle to this;
4. to authorise officers, in consultation with the Executive Members for Transport and Strategic Planning & Waste Management, to take the following actions (which would incur extra cost and/or a staff requirement), subsequent to an appropriate source of finance being identified:

1. appoint consultants to explore provision of public transport by use of Social Services’ vehicles’ spare time, in conjunction with the area review of bus services in the Faringdon/Wantage area due for implementation in October 2003 and the review of day care provision in the same area;
2. appoint consultants to carry out a study jointly with RTP, into the feasibility and the likely passenger demand and reaction to using Thornhill Park & Ride for interchange between buses, particularly for local rural services;
3. appoint consultants to explore provision of public transport by flexibly-routed services, and by postbuses, as part of the Chipping Norton area review, including submission of a Rural Bus Challenge bid and implementation of any agreed new services;
4. ask operators to supply comprehensive data on usage of subsidised services, and more general data on commercial services, on a standardised basis; as soon as legally possible make receipt of such information in respect of subsidised services a condition of subsidy payments; and agree employment of additional staff time to permit this;
5. subject to the Transport Implementation Committee being satisfied upon receipt of full information from officers on how such a score would work that it would be a valuable aid to decision-making, ask officers to report an accessibility score to Transport Implementation Committee in addition to other information on bus services whose subsidy is under review;

and in relation to (i)–(iii), ask Environment Scrutiny Committee to consider how they wish to be involved in these studies.

5. (i) not to pursue availability of concessionary fares before 0900, in view of

concerns about crowding on buses;

(ii) to ask the Executive Members for Transport and Strategic Planning & Waste Management to discuss with District Councils the possibility, and implications for the County Council, of a countywide concessionary fares scheme, and report back to the Executive;

6. not to take the following forward for the time being, but to review them in conjunction with the LTP review in 2005/06;

1. fares concessions for 16-25 year-olds;
2. enhanced monitoring of service reliability;
3. a Community Transport Strategy;
4. use of subsidy per passenger-kilometre in subsidy decisions;
5. provision of bus services for travel to school by children not entitled to free transport.

6. Green Road Roundabout

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. approve the long term measures shown on drawing No 30510/P001 in Annex 2 to the report as the preferred scheme for further development and consultation;
2. approve the implementation of the short and medium term measures set out in paragraph 16 of the report, subject to inclusion of the schemes in the Transport Capital Programme and the consideration of any observations or objections resulting from consultation on the individual measures by the Transport Implementation Committee.

7. Oxford Parking Shop

Executive Member: Transport
Forward Plan Ref: 2003/35
Contact Officer: Richard Dix, Assistant Director (01865 815663)

Report by Director of Environmental Services (EX7).

The Executive is asked to agree to an exemption to the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules to enable the conclusion of a formal agreement with Oxford City Council for the running of the existing Parking Shop in Oxford High Street. This provides a payment centre for the issue of permits and the payment of penalty charges and charges for the release of impounded vehicles in connection with the operation of the Oxford Special Parking Area.

The present Parking Shop arrangements are working well, they provide mutual benefits with the County Council obtaining an economic service and the City Council being able to increase the cost-effectiveness of their activities by off-setting some costs onto the Parking Shop work that they do. Neither an in-house nor contracted out alternative could provide the same service for a lower cost. Maintenance of the existing arrangements would avoid potential disruption and demonstrate the benefits of joint working between partner authorities in providing a cost-effective service which is well located for public access.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED, in accordance with Rule 3.2 of the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules, to exempt the proposed agreement with Oxford City Council under the Local Authorities (Goods and Services) Act 1970 for the provision of Parking Shop services as described in the report from the requirements as to tendering set out in Rules 7-12 and to authorise completion of the agreement accordingly.

8. Joint Health and Social Care Community Learning Disability Teams

• Joint Health and Social Care Community Teams
• A Pooled Budget under Section 31 Health Act Flexibilities
• A new Joint Strategy and Decision Making Structure

• Assessment, Care Planning and Reviewing
• Occupational Therapy
• Nursing
• Care Management
• Social Work

9. Use of British Sign Language and the Standard Manual Alphabet in Schools

1. to plan to ensure that all pupils are taught the Standard Manual Alphabet, as a basic signing medium for communicating with deaf people; and
2. to urge the government to provide funding:
   
   

1. for an Oxfordshire pilot project for the teaching in school of the basics of British Sign Language (BSL); and
2. to help the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) in its efforts to train more BSL interpreters nation-wide."

10. Forward Plan and Future Business

Item	Speaker
5. Bus Services Review	Councillor Diana Ludlow Councillor Jean Fooks
6. Green Road Roundabout	Councillor Sylvia Tompkins
9. Use of British Sign Language and the Standard Manual Alphabet in Schools	Frances Simmons, Chairman of the Oxfordshire Deaf Children’s Society Councillor Brian Hodgson

10. Forward Plan and Future Business

Proposals for Early Years Units Approval of proposals received	Children & Young People	13 May 2003
Common Hall Café Representations from the OCC & Employees JCC that provision be made to enable hot food to be served	Deputy Leader of the Council	27 May 2003
Arrangements with Early Years and Family Support Providers Review of rents and lease arrangements	Children & Young People	10 June 2003

Amend date of the Annual Library Plan item to 2 September 2003

Schedule 2

Additional Retimings: 2002/169 (to April); 2002/230* and 254* (to May); 2003/6 (to June); 2002/206* (to September)

Deletion: 2002/238* (no decision required)

Schedule 3

Additional Item (17 April 2003): The Transport Implementation Committee on 27 February 2003 called for a report in response to a petition received calling for measures to improve road safety at The Slade, Charlbury.

Schedule 4

Consequential amendments to reflect the items marked * above.

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