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________________________________

To Members of the Executive

Notice of a Meeting of the Executive

Tuesday 1 June 2004 at 2.00 pm

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 meeting will become effective at the end of the working day on 9 June 2004 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 May 2004 (EX3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.

4. Petitions and Public Address
   
   (See Addenda)
   
   
5. Oxfordshire Plan/Best Value Performance Plan and Programme
   
   (See also Addenda)

1. endorse the approach taken to align the Oxfordshire Plan and the CPA self assessment; and
2. subject to:

1. consideration of any comments received from the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee and any amendment of the Plan required as a result; and
2. further updating as mentioned in the report in consultation with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council;

6. Performance Management: Progress against Priorities and Targets

Executive Member: Leader of the Council
Forward Plan Ref: 2003/151
Contact: David Lines, Head of Performance & Review (01865 810150)

Report by County Council Management Team (EX6).

(EX6 - supplement)


This report summarises the Council’s performance during 2003 - 2004 against Oxfordshire Plan priorities, Public Service Agreement targets and Best Value Performance Indicators.

Overall there has been a good level of achievement against last year’s 49 Oxfordshire Plan priorities. This year’s Oxfordshire Plan focuses on a much smaller number of priorities based on the Community Strategy, public opinion surveys and areas where our performance is in particular need of strengthening. On the PSA targets, the position at the end of Year 1 is encouraging, given the demanding level of performance that the PSA requires. If this level of performance is replicated at March 2006, the Council will be eligible for a reward grant from the government of approximately £7m. The Council’s performance has improved against 50% of the BVPIs for which information is currently available and has been maintained at the same level as last year in a further 5%. A detailed schedule showing performance against the 2003-04 Best Value Performance Indicators and targets for the next three years will be included in the Best Value Performance Plan which will be presented to Council on 15 June.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to note the report.

7. Oxfordshire Carers' Strategy

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. approve the Oxfordshire Carers’ Strategy; and
2. agree that a further report be brought to the Executive on the implementation of the Carers’ Strategy across the County Council’s Directorates.

8. Use of School Premises for Community Purposes - Scrutiny Review
   
   (See also Addenda)

• identify local community needs for access to school facilities
• assess the degree of current non-school usage
• report back on key findings

9. Specialist Nursing Care in Oxfordshire’s Special Schools – Scrutiny Review

Executive Member: Schools, Children & Young People

Forward Plan Ref: 2004/057

Contact: Julie Dean, Principal Committee Officer (01865 815322); Gillian Tee, Head of Children's Services (01865 815125)

On 18 March 2004 the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee agreed the report of its Scrutiny Inquiry Panel appointed to obtain a clear picture of the current situation and issues arising from the funding and provision of specialist nursing care for profoundly disabled children with complex medical needs attending Oxfordshire’s Special Schools.

On 14 April 2004 the Best Value Committee also adopted recommendation 5 of the Panel’s report which requested that Committee to include the gaps in provision highlighted by this Inquiry within the current Best Value Review of Children’s Services which is being undertaken between the Council and Health.

The Panel’s Report has been circulated to members of the Executive and copies placed in the Members’ Resource Centre and available for public inspection. The Summary and Recommendations from the Report together with the response of the Oxford City Primary Care Trust are attached (EX9).

(Specialist Nursing Care in Oxfordshire's Special Schools - Scrutiny Inquiry (download as .doc file)

Specialist Nursing Care in Oxfordshire Schools - Section 1: Summary (download as .doc file))



The Executive is asked to consider and respond to the Health Overview & Scrutiny Review report and its recommendations, of which Recommendation R4 is expressly addressed to the Executive.

10. South East Regional Housing Strategy

Executive Member: Sustainable Development
Forward Plan Ref: 2004/061
Contact: Dawn Pettis, Affordable Housing Project Leader (01865 816082)

Report by Head of Sustainable Development (EX10).

Regional Housing Boards were established by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with specific responsibility for preparing Regional Housing Strategies, which will be used as the basis for advice to Ministers on strategic housing investment priorities in regions. The South East Regional Housing Board has published its interim Housing Strategy for 2004/5 – 2005/6 and is currently working towards its Regional Housing Strategy 2006 – 2009, the start of which is the preparation of a Green Paper, A Step Forward in Housing, for consultation. The Green Paper aims to seek the views of a range of regional stakeholders on issues key to delivering a decent home for everyone in the South East. The Green Paper is also a very important first step in formulating the Regional Housing Strategy covering a wide range of themes, including affordability, key worker housing, sub-regions, housing markets and Growth Areas, rural housing, neighbourhood management and equality and diversity. The closing date for comments is 11 June 2004 and the report suggests a formal County Council response on the Green Paper.

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to endorse the comments in the report as the basis for a formal response to the Regional Housing Board Green Paper.

11. A34 Scoping Study

• Option 1 – No Further Study – this would leave a significant number of the identified problems unresolved;
• Option 2 – Localised/Focused Studies for Route Sections – one section would cover nearly all the route within Oxfordshire, would consider the urban areas and the effects of continued growth and would take account of the rail line, bus services, Park and Ride and the potential GTE service;
• Option 3 – Whole Corridor Study – this would assess the range of pressures, issues and constraints affecting the whole of the A34 road and the parallel rail corridor;
• Option 4 – Focused Studies with Strategic Considerations – this would provide detailed land use/transport studies for the two sections facing the greatest pressures, namely South Hampshire and Oxfordshire, with less detailed coverage of the remaining route sections.

1. in view of the growing problems for local and strategic traffic on parts of the A34 route and adjacent transport networks, a study of the A34 corridor to find out how these problems may be resolved is now urgent;
2. the County Council should be fully involved in any transport studies, other studies and future decisions affecting transport routes and movement in the A34 corridor;
3. the specification for the study needs to be further developed from the consultants’ scoping study and the County Council would wish to be involved in that process;
4. some of the areas where the specification should be further developed are: the need for extensive data collection; clarification of the strategic considerations to be included in option 4; and structured public consultation on the relative importance of the identified issues and the range of solutions to be considered; and
5. the consultants’ options 3 (Whole Corridor Study) and 4 (Focused Studies with Strategic Considerations) are supported in principle and option 4 is considered to be the best way forward, subject to clarification of the scope of the study.

12. Cowley Road Casualty Reduction Scheme

The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. approve Project Appraisal H174 and authorise implementation of the scheme accordingly;
2. agree in principle the provision of additional funding from the Transport Capital Programme and S106 monies as set out in the Appraisal, subject to confirmation in the context of the review of the Transport Capital Programme in October 2004.

13. Forward Plan and Future Business
    
    (See also Addenda)