ITEM CA3CABINETMINUTES of the meeting held on 16 January 2007 commencing at 2.00 pm and finishing at 5.44 pm.Present: Voting
Members: Councillor
Roger Belson Officers: Part of Meeting: M. Bramwell (Item 16/07), P. Edwards (Items 6/07 & 7/07) (Chief Executive's Office); Director for Children, Young People & Families (Item 17/07), I. Kirkman (Item 3/07), J. Morris ((Item 3/07), J. Vallis (Item 4/07), L. Baxter (Items 6/07 & 7/07), S. Corrigan (Item 14/07), J. Hydari (Item 8/07), M. Petty (Items 5/07, 6/07 & 8/07), D. Ross (Item 9/07), M.Tailby (Items 8/07 & 10/07), S. Scane (Item 6/07), S.Skivington (Items 5/07) D. Wilkins (Item 10/07) (Resources); Director for Environment & Economy (Item 12/07), J.Clegg (Item 11/07), T. Dow (Item 11/07), S. Roberts (Item 13/07), P.Wilson (Item 13/07), M. Smyth (Item 15/07 (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. 1/07 MINUTES The Minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2007 were approved and signed. Matters Arising Minute 187/06 – Chipping Norton: Care Home and Primary Care Facilities – Customs and Excise had now come through with a solution that removed the impediment of VAT. The PCT was working to resolve impairment, which was the other impediment. 2/07 PETITIONS AND PUBLIC ADDRESS The following requests to address the meeting had been agreed:-
3/07 THE FUTURE OF DUNMORE INFANT AND JUNIOR SCHOOLS (Agenda Item 5) The Cabinet considered a report (CA5) which outlined briefly the background to the consultation on the future of Dunmore Infant and Junior Schools, the two options proposed and the response to the consultation by all the stakeholders. A number of speakers addressed the Cabinet, stating their concerns. Mr Tim Smith (School Governor), made the following points: · the jointly held views of the Dunmore Infant and Junior school governing bodies were that the informal consultation process had been poorly handled, leading to considerable concern amongst parents and staff; · as a result a number of children had now left the schools; · the Governors believed that they should have been consulted prior to the start of the informal consultation; · the public consultation paper contained insufficient detail, had been provided too late in the overall process and insufficient copies had been made available. · the Governors felt that the case put forward by the Local Authority (LA) for the 3 – 19 option was seriously lacking and called for its immediate withdrawal; · the Governors were concerned by the ongoing lack of information available to the public and the refusal to release information requested under the Freedom of Information Act; and · they requested that the decision on how best to achieve the through primary school was deferred until the February Cabinet meeting. Mr Jonathan Hopkins, a concerned parent, made the following points: · early conversations should have been held with the schools; · he broadly welcomed the recommendations and was pleased that the Cabinet had been recommended not to approve the creation of an all through 3 – 19 school; · the infant school leadership was integral to the future of the schools and nearly 1/4 of the respondents to the governors’ poll had wanted to keep the infants school; · he urged the Cabinet to address the negative public perception surrounding the consultation process and to review the process so that lessons could be learnt. Councillor Alan Bryden, speaking as a local member, made the following points: · his children had attended Dunmore School and he had been a Governor of Fitzharrys School for 10 years; · many people had been concerned that the County Council might have been intending to sell the land for building; · more than half the children who had attended Dunmore School then went to John Mason School. Most of these pupils left at year 6 or entered at year 7 and he wondered how would this would work under the new proposals; · there was considerable anger amongst parents, who thought that Fitzharrys School should also be closed if Dunmore School was closed; · Dunmore exam results showed that it was not a failing school and to close it would create anguish. · he was pleased that option 2 was recommended for removal and that discussions were now taking place with the governing bodies, although they should have taken place before the consultation. Councillor Lesley Legge, speaking as a local member, made the following points: · she was pleased to see that officers were now working with the school governors; · she was concerned that Dunmore School had been represented as being in special measures but it had done well in the league tables. A review shold be undertaken into why Dunmore School had been placed in special measures in the first place. Councillor Waine responded as follows: · the 3 – 19 option had received very little support from stakeholders and the recommendations before the Cabinet reflected the concerns that had been expressed during the consultation; · a full internal review of why Dunmore School was being put into special measures was underway and would feed into the consultation process; · schools’ exam results were only part of the Ofstead inspection. The poor management and leadership within the school had resulted in the school being put under special measures; · building on the strengths of both schools was important. There were still strengths within Dunmore School that needed to be taken forward into any new school that was formed; and · lessons would be learnt from the way in which the consultation had been carried out. Ms Morris responded as follows: · officers would look into all concerns raised during this meeting and previously; · change was always difficult. Change was sought now in order to address current concerns regarding Dunmore school to ensure that its pupils received a high quality education; · officers were also now looking at the possibility of extending the Infant School; and · more work needed to be done by officers, for example, by investigating how a Federation School would deliver the required outcomes, and report back to the Cabinet in February. RESOLVED: to: (a) agree that the creation of an all through 3-19 school, by extending the age range of Fitzharrys School, should not be pursued to the formal consultation stage, given the strength and scale of the opposition to it; (b) approve the creation of an all through primary school on the Dunmore Infant and Junior School Sites; and (c)
instruct officers to explore further, in consultation with
a representative group of governors from the Dunmore Infant and Junior
schools, ways of achieving a primary school in place of separate infant
and junior schools and to report back to the Cabinet on 20 February 2007
with recommendations on the primary school model that should be taken
forward to formal consultation. ITEM OF SPECIAL URGENCY The Chairman of the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee had given her assent to the inclusion of this item on the agenda under Rule 16 (Special Urgency) given that Oxford City Council had agreed to meet on 22 January to determine whether or not to bid for unitary authority status, which decision would affect all the residents of Oxfordshire. The Leader of the Council therefore exercised his discretion and added this item to the agenda for the reasons stated above. 4/07 POTENTIAL PROPOSAL BY OXFORD CITY COUNCIL FOR UNITARY STRUCTURES IN OXFORDSHIRE The Cabinet had before them a paper on the potential proposal by Oxford City Council for Unitary structures in Oxfordshire. This item had been placed on the agenda as an item of urgent business following approval by the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee. The Chief Executive reported that the City Council was currently working on its business case. A decision would be made on Monday 22 January as to whether they would submit a bid for unitary status. The Leader of the Council expressed his opposition to unitary structures on the following grounds: · should a bid be submitted and agreed, the whole county would be affected and the costs would be shared by the whole county; · the City Council had been judged 'weak' by the Audit Commission, whereas the County Council had received a rating of 'good'; · external partners, for example the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and the Police had been realigned to work on a county basis and a unitary structure would weaken partnership working; and · Oxford City was inseparable from the rest of the county and strong cross county links existed for transport and employment. RESOLVED: to: ask the Chief Executive to keep members informed about the progress of any proposal by Oxford City Council to create unitary structures in Oxfordshire. 5/07 FINANCIAL MONITORING (Agenda Item 6) The Cabinet considered a report (CA6) which covered the period ended 30 November 2006 for both revenue and capital. RESOLVED: to: (a) note the report; (b) approve the £2.327m permanent virement from Children’s Centres South to Early Intervention (paragraph 29 of the report); (c) approve the £5.509m permanent virement within Early Years to consolidate the Sure Start grant into one cost centre for effective monitoring (paragraph 30 of the report); (d) recommend Council to approve the additional contribution of £0.200m to the Older People pooled budget (paragraph 44 of the report); (e) approve the supplementary estimate of £0.434m to Cultural & Adult Learning Services as set out in paragraph 41 of the report; and (f) approve the temporary supplementary estimate of £0.040m to Property Services as set out in paragraph 68 of the report. 6/07 SERVICE AND RESOURCE PLANNING 2007/08 – 2011/12 (Agenda Item 7) The Cabinet had before them: · a report (CA7) which set out the latest information on the Council's financial position and provided an initial commentary from the Head of Finance & Procurement as well as an updated Financial Strategy for the period up to 2009/10; · a report by the Cabinet Member for Finance & Property (CA7 Supplement) which outlined the budget proposals which he intended subject to taking into account the views of the Scrutiny Committees, to recommend to the Cabinet for onward submission to Council; · an amended copy of Annexes 1 (MTFP) and 6 (Council Tax and Precepts 2007/08) of report CA7, which now reflected the Cabinet proposals set out in the supplementary report by the Cabinet Member for Finance; and · comments from the Scrutiny Committees. Councillor Larry Sanders welcomed what he perceived to be the Directorate's recognition of the severity of the situation regarding older people's services. He commented that although it was proposed that extra funds be put into addressing demographic pressures, this was only a relatively small sum of money. He expressed concern that the budget proosals for Social & Community Services involved cuts in the number of residential and nursing beds, commenting that there would be insufficient levels of home care to meet demand, resulting in older people being isolated. He urged the Cabinet to put more money into older people's services in order to turn what he perceived to be Cinderella service into a flagship service.. Councillor Couchman responded that the budget proposals included extra money for older people’s services (£1½m) and for carers (£300,000). Councillor Howell stated that the fundamental review of the Home Care Service had shown that savings could be made without cutting service provision. Councillor Shouler responded verbally to the advice from the Scrutiny Committees. A paper setting out the Cabinet’s response to Scrutiny advice would shortly be circulated to the Scrutiny Committees. The Cabinet thanked Ms Scane and her team for their hard work in assisting with preparations of the budget and RESOLVED: to: (a) (in respect of revenue) to RECOMMEND Council to approve: (1) a budget for 2007/08; (2) a medium term plan to 2011/12; (3) a budget requirement for 2007/08; (4) a precept for 2007/08; (5) a council tax for band D equivalent properties; (6) virement arrangements to operate within the approved budget; (7) the allocation of the PSA reward grant between directorates and the corporate core; (8) the creation of a budget reserve in 2009/10 by deferring interest on developer contributions by one year; and (9) ask the County Council Management Team to consider how the higher AES target from 2008/09 could be achieved; (b) (in respect of capital) to RECOMMEND Council to approve: (1) that the schemes identified by the Capital Steering Group should be included in the Capital Programme for submission to Council in February 2007; (2) a Capital Programme for 2007/08 to 2009/10;and (3) prudential indicators from April 2007. 7/07 MEDIUM TERM CORPORATE PLAN (Agenda Item 8) The Cabinet considered the Council's proposed Medium Term Corporate Plan 2007-11 (CA8), together with comments from the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Mitchell welcomed the comments. The amended plan, reflecting the changes suggested by the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee and the following amendment (in bold italic): ‘Working with our partners through the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership to reduce the amount of landfill and further improve levels of recycling’ (p14) would be submitted to Council for consideration on 13 February. 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 2007-11. 8/07 DRAFT CORPORATE ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN & CAPITAL STRATEGY (Agenda Item 9) The Cabinet considered the County Council’s Draft Corporate Asset Management Plan (AMP) and Capital Strategy (CS), together with comments from the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Jean Fooks, speaking as a local member, commented that she could not find any reference to Holmleigh Children’s Home in the report and asked what plans had been made regarding the site. Mr Tailby reported that the site would be vacated the next day and it was hoped that it could be disposed of before the end of the financial year. He undertook to find out if a planning application was being submitted as part of the disposal of the home. Councillor Shouler welcomed the comments from the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee, stating that the County Council could not put any money towards recycling centres in the current allocation. However, this would need to be addressed in future in order to reduce the cost of landfill. The Leader of the Council undertook to write to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to seek assurance that there would be no delay to the building schools for the future programme in Oxfordshire. He would also seek assurances that the pattern of increased funding and closures did not reflect local political administrations, as appeared to be the case with local hospitals. RESOLVED: to endorse the Corporate Asset Management Plan & Capital Strategy and RECOMMEND the Corporate Asset Management Plan and the Capital Strategy to the Council. 9/07 TREASURY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY (Agenda Item 10) The Cabinet considered the County Council’s treasury management strategy statement and annual investment strategy for 2007/08 (CA10), together with the comments from the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Robertson thanked officers for their success in increasing income for the balances every year. RESOLVED to endorse: (a) the Prudential Indicators in Annex 1 to the report; (b) the continued use of Lender Option/Borrower Option loans restricted to 20% of the in-house investment portfolio; (c) the use of forward borrowing limited to £10m in 2007/08; (d) an increase in in-house lending for periods in excess of 1-year from £20m to £50 million; (e) the continued use of the services of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership and Investec and, subject to performance, the investment of up to a further £10million each with these fund managers. and RECOMMEND the Council to approve the Treasury Management Strategy Statement and Annual Investment Strategy accordingly. 10/07 REVIEW OF PROPERTY ASSETS (Agenda Item 11) The Cabinet had considered a report on the Review of Property Assets in October 2006 which proposed that a Business Case was brought to the Cabinet in January 2007. This was now before the Cabinet for consideration (CA11). The Cabinet noted that the Review of Property Assets would now be referred to as the Better Offices Programme to more accurately reflect the nature of the work. RESOLVED: to approve the Business Case for the Review of Property Assets and approve the provision of revenue funding through prudential borrowing, as indicated in Annex 2 of the report, and to include this within the Medium Term Financial Plan 2007/08 – 2011/12. 11/07 SOUTH EAST PLAN - DIDCOT HOUSING DISTRIBUTION (Agenda Item 12) The Cabinet considered a report (CA12) which concluded that there was no significant planning justification to object to a housing distribution of 1,500 dwellings in the Vale and 1,500 in South Oxfordshire and recommended that this split should be supported. Councillor Terry Joslin, speaking as a local member, commented that Didcot's expansion must be based on sound planning principles. He expressed concernt that whilst the provision of sufficient infrastructure and funding for the management of transport demand would be key to delivering housing growth at Didcot, the Highways Agency saw the problems relating to the A34 as being inoperable by 2026 and drivers were being discouraged from using the A34. He then mande a number of technical comments relating to Didcot as the origin of journeys, local routes, the Hagbourne Bypasses and the best options to be taken forward. He urged the Cabinet not to accept recommendation (b) and to call for a public consultation to talke place which showed all the options available. Councillor Belson commented that many of Councillor Joslin’s comments were of a technical nature and therefore referred them to Ms Dow and Ms Clegg, in order for them to respond directly to him outside the meeting. RESOLVED: to: (a) advise the Panel considering the Draft South East Plan that as a result of further detailed work on Didcot, which was set out in the accompanying reports, the housing distribution in policies H1 and CO2 for South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse was supported; and (b) strongly emphasise to the Panel that the provision of adequate infrastructure would be key to delivering this housing growth at Didcot, including sufficient investment in transport infrastructure and funding for the management of transport demand. 12/07 NEW GOVERNANCE AND FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE OXFORDSHIRE WASTE PARTNERSHIP (Agenda Item 13) The Cabinet considered the new governance and financial arrangements for the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (CA13), which would require the formal endorsement of all six councils. The Cabinet thanked the Director for Environment & Economy for his work on the partnership arrangements. RESOLVED: to agree that Oxfordshire County Council should formally sign the attached Legal agreement, subject to minor drafting changes to be approved by the Director for Environment & Economy following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development. 13/07 CARTERTON, CLOSURE OF KILKENNY LANE (Agenda item 14) The Cabinet considered a report (CA14) which had been produced to seek approval for the closure of Kilkenny Lane, Carterton. RESOLVED: to approve the closure of Kilkenny Lane and associated construction works for implementation in the 2006/07 financial year. 14/07 RETIREMENT POLICY (Agenda Item 15) The Cabinet considered revised policies and procedures on retirement, premature retirement compensation for teachers and redundancy, together with the results of the consultation exercise (CA15). Sue Corrigan reported that these policies and procedures did not cover redundancy handling procedures for school staff, which would be the subject of a separate report to Cabinet on 20 February. RESOLVED: to: (a) agree that existing policies and procedures would be applied to cases where estimates of benefits had been given and the termination of employment date would be on or before 31 March 2007; (b) approve the attached Redundancy Policy for Green Book Non-School Employees and policies on Retirement for ‘Green Book’ Employees and Teachers and Teachers’ Premature Retirement Compensation Scheme. 15/07 OXFORDSHIRE FIRE COVER REVIEW (Agenda Item 16) The Cabinet considered the findings of the Oxfordshire Fire Cover Review (CA16), which had been initiated to develop a ten year strategy for the Fire & Rescue Service. RESOLVED: (a) to note the three options and indicative costs, which would be subject to further financial analysis; (b) to note the expectations and parameters of the fundamental review into the Retained Firefighter costs; (c) to note that the Review would be a continual process monitored with successes or challenges being identified by Best Value Performance Indicators and the local performance standards that would flow from the 365 Alive Strategy. 16/07 CAR BOOT SALES SCRUTINY REVIEW (Agenda Item 17) The Cabinet considered the findings of the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee’s Review into Car Boot Sales (CA17). The Committee had wished to investigate the extent to which a minority of traders took advantage of the traditionally under-regulated environment in which car boot sales operated. Councillor Colin Lamont reported the Review findings and was congratulated on the quality of the review and the recommendations. RESOLVED:
to accept the Review recommendations. 17/07 CONNEXIONS (Agenda Item 18) The Cabinet considered a summary of the transition arrangements for both the management of the Connexions service and for the ongoing service delivery to young people (CA18). RESOLVED: to: (a) endorse the Children & Young People’s Board’s recommendations for the transfer of the Connexions Service to Oxfordshire County Council from April 2007; (b) ask the Children & Young People’s Board to monitor progress; (c) approve the ongoing provision of direct services to young people through entering into one year contracts with existing providers; and (d) exempt those contracts from tendering under Contract Procedure Rule 4.1.1 for one year pending the redesign and recommissioning of services for 2008. 18/07 FORWARD PLAN AND FUTURE BUSINESS(Agenda Item 19) The Cabinet considered a list of items (CA16) for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet . RESOLVED: to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings, subject to the inclusion of the policy on redundancy handling procedures for school staff at Full Cabinet on 20 February 2007. ................................................................................... in the Chair Date of signing..................................................................
2007
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