ITEM CA3CABINET – 7 MARCH 2006Minutes of
the Meeting commencing at 2.00 pm and finishing at 4.05 pm Present: Voting
Members: Other
Members in Attendance: Officers: Whole of meeting: Chief Executive, J. Leverton and M. Bayliss. Part of meeting: P. Edwards (Chief Executive’s Office); R. Munro, C. Taylor (Social & Community Services); Director for Children, Young People & Families S. Bingham, S. Breton, A. Davy, G. Tee, R. Harmes, J. Hayes; P. Day, J. Pandher, D. Waller (Environment & Economy); D. Etheridge, M. Smyth (Community Safety).
The Cabinet considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting, together with a schedule of addenda tabled at the meeting, and decided as set out below. Except insofar as otherwise specified, the reasons for the decisions are contained in the agenda, reports and schedule, copies of which are attached to the signed Minutes.
35/06. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Item 15 – Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme Councillor Howell declared a prejudicial interest in relation to Agenda Item 15, on the grounds that he was Chair of PAGE (Parishes Against Gravel Extraction). Item 11 - School Catering and Cleaning Services Councillor Chapman declared a personal interest in relation to Agenda Item 11, on the grounds that she was a parent of children who took meals supplied by CFM. 36/06. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2006 were approved and signed.
37/06. MEDIUM TERM CORPORATE PLAN 2006-2010
(Agenda Item 5) The Cabinet considered a proposed Medium Term Corporate Plan 2006-10, to be submitted to Council on 4 April 2006 as one of those plans and strategies which required full Council approval. The Cabinet welcomed the comments put forward by the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee. Mr Edwards was recommending that these should all be accepted and the text of the draft Plan amended accordingly. RESOLVED: subject
to the inclusion of consequential and editorial changes in the text
as agreed by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of
the Council, to RECOMMEND the Council to approve the Medium Term Corporate
Plan 2006-10. (Agenda Item 6) The Cabinet considered a report (CA6) on the Children and Young People’s Plan. A draft of this report had been considered by the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee on 28 February and the Cabinet welcomed the comments put forward by the Committee and the Director’s intention to incorporate changes to the Plan in line with those comments alongside the comments of the School Organisation Committee. Councillor Fooks, speaking as Shadow Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families, generally welcomed the Plan and particularly the summary produced for children and young people. She referred to the comments of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee, particularly in relation to bullying in schools as the issue of widest concern among young people, the need for an increase in facilities for cycling as part of health promotion and the need for development of the number and range of youth centres. She also referred to the need for improvements in the recruitment and retention of foster carers. Councillor Turner, speaking as Shadow Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement, also endorsed the Plan but expressed concern that the wording on the reduction of drug and alcohol abuse appeared to sanction a degree of illegal use. He suggested specific objectives to stop all illegal use and reduce the level of alcohol use. He also requested information on services/events in Oxford and Banbury to launch Learning Matters in those areas and whether the Learning Matters information pack was to be distributed further. Councillor Chapman thanked the officers involved for their hard work and enthusiasm. Responding to the comments made she confirmed that changes would be incorporated in the Plan as a result of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee advice but expressed caution on suggestions that cycle track schemes omitted from the Local Transport Plan might be reinstated, in view of government funding restrictions. She expressed the hope that the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee would assist with overseeing the implementation of the Plan by nominating a champion for each of its main themes. In response to Councillor Turner, Councillor Waine agreed to that the wording regarding drug and alcohol misuse needed tightening. He also confirmed that Learning Matters events were being organised in the coming months for the Oxford and Banbury areas, hosted by the three MPs, and that he would look at ways to ensure the information pack reached the right people. RESOLVED: to:
(Agenda Item 7) The Cabinet considered a report (CA7) on the work programme for proposals to take forward the principle of the Commissioning Trust in the form of a Children and Young People’s Board. Councillor Chapman thanked the officers involved and welcomed the comments made by the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee. In response to comments from Councillor Couchman she indicated her acceptance of the principle that Oxfordshire magistrates should be represented on the Children and Young People’s Partnership. RESOLVED: to:
40/06. WHITE PAPER: HIGHER STANDARDS, BETTER SCHOOLS FOR ALL
(Agenda Item 10) RESOLVED: to
defer consideration of this item to the meeting on 21 March so as to
take into account the advice of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee. (Agenda Item 12) The Cabinet considered its policy for discretionary awards to new applicants under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 for the next academic year. No provision had been made in the budget for such awards. RESOLVED: not to exercise the power to make discretionary awards for the 2006-2007 academic year and not to make any provision for considering applications.
42/06. FORWARD PLAN AND FUTURE BUSINESS
(Agenda Item 17) The Cabinet considered a list of items from the Forward Plan (CA17) for the immediately forthcoming meetings. Mr Leverton reported on possible adjustments to the timing of these items which might remove the necessity for proceeding with the meeting scheduled for 5 April. RESOLVED: to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings.
43/06. LOCALITY WORKING AND INTEGRATED SUPPORT SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE & FAMILIES
(Agenda Item 8) The Cabinet considered a report (CA8) on proposals to develop local, multi-disciplinary teams across Oxfordshire as part of Locality Working and Integrated Support Services for children, young people and families, together with the comments of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Fooks, speaking as Shadow Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families, commented on the disappointing response received from the consultation process, particularly on agencies’ willingness to devote time and resources to the administration/coordination process. She also expressed a lack of confidence that the child index would function adequately when considering central government’s history with large-scale ICT projects. She supported continuing with the trial but urged the importance of a coordinated system. Councillor Chapman, Councillor Waine, the Chief Executive and Mrs Bingham responded to Councillor Fooks’ comments and to questions by other members of the Cabinet. Pilots had already been conducted on a system for the child index and would need to be subject to a rigorous assessment. This would be overseen by one of the steering groups being set up for the various strands of the project; reporting and accountability issues for these groups were currently being resolved and officers would report back as appropriate to the Children and Young People's Board and the Cabinet. It was noted that the Scrutiny Committee also wished to review progress in due course. RESOLVED: to:
(Agenda Item 9) The Cabinet considered a report (CA9) on the developing strategy for the development of Children’s Centres in Oxfordshire. The Cabinet noted the correction of Annex E to the report by the substitution of £5,300 and £50,000 for the figures appearing against "Spurgeons" in the table in paragraph 2. Councillor Turner, speaking as Shadow Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement, generally welcomed the Strategy but commented that the Phase 1 priorities appeared to favour smaller villages over larger ones even though the latter might have relatively high numbers of deprived children. He understood that a recent reclassification by DEFRA might place villages such as Chalgrove in the category of "rural" and urged officers to review the needs analysis for the purpose of the Strategy accordingly. Councillor Chapman commented that the Strategy was the cornerstone for meeting the needs of young children and families. It was based on a phased approach and on the basis of the given criteria Phase 1 would cover 30% of the most deprived wards in the County, with the mobile centre addressing smaller pockets of deprivation. Councillor Couchman indicated that some concerns remained over the long term revenue funding of the project; Councillor Shouler advised that on the basis of the Financial Appraisal now provided there could be a reasonable degree of confidence in the project’s financial viability. RESOLVED: to:
45/06. SCHOOL CATERING AND CLEANING SERVICES
(Agenda Item 11) The Cabinet considered a report (CA11) on the school meals service and the provision of cleaning services in schools and some County Council buildings. Councillor Fooks, speaking as Shadow Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families, expressed concerns over the division of responsibility for the provision of the school meals service between the County Council and schools and about the sudden withdrawal of service from some secondary schools, which she requested be deferred until the end of the school year. She also expressed the importance for all schools to have adequate kitchen facilities and suggested that they should have access to "Grant 5B" for this purpose. Councillor Waine referred to efforts made by CFM to improve the attractiveness of its service and commended the proposals set out in the report as a clear basis for providing high quality and healthy school meals. In relation to Councillor Fooks’ comments, he advised that if schools had access to Grant 5B, there would be inadequate funding remaining to sustain the CFM business plan. He further advised that negotiations were in hand with those secondary schools from which the meals service was proposed to be withdrawn as from 1 April, with a view to agreeing appropriate cushioning arrangements. Councillor Shouler enumerated the risks to success of the strategy proposed in the report, and in particular the 5% growth assumption in the business plan, the disputed outstanding liabilities of some schools, and costs incurred through withdrawal of schools from the service. The Director for Children, Young People & Families confirmed that any school terminating the CFM meals service would be entitled to its proportion of the allocation which the Council would otherwise have used for capital improvements and he therefore did not consider that such a school would have a call on Grant 5B. Councillor Chapman recognized that achieving a 5% growth would be a challenge for CFM and suggested that individual councillors had a role in helping to promote the service locally. RESOLVED: to:
(Agenda Item 13) The Cabinet considered a project appraisal (CA13) for a replacement library in Thame. The Cabinet noted an amendment by the Director for Environment & Economy to paragraph 8 of the appraisal, to read as follows: "These costs will be resourced from the Annual Capital Guidelines credit approval, a capital receipt from sale of the present library and from developer-funded financial contributions in respect of residential development in and around Thame, certain of which have already been collected and others of which are being actively sought by the County Council’s Developer Funding Team." The Cabinet also noted that a decision by the Town Council on the release of the Town Hall for library purposes was awaited. RESOLVED: to approve the Project Appraisal to enable the scheme to proceed, subject to satisfactory terms being agreed with Thame Town Council for the acquisition of the Town Hall.
47/06. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR OXFORDSHIRE
(Agenda Item 14) The Cabinet considered a report (CA14) proposing a response to the Draft Economic Development Strategy for Oxfordshire. RESOLVED: to approve the comments in the report as the Cabinet’s response to the draft Economic Development Strategy for Oxfordshire.
48/06. OXFORDSHIRE MINERALS AND WASTE DEVELOPMENT SCHEME
(Agenda Item 15) The Cabinet considered a revised programme for the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (CA15) covering the period to July 2009. RESOLVED: to:
(Agenda Item 16) The Cabined considered progress on the implementation of projects within the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) Action Plan 2005-06 (CA16). RESOLVED: to:
in the Chair Date
of signing 2006
|