Return to AgendaITEM CA3
CABINET
MINUTES of the meeting held on 16 September 2008 commencing at 2.00 pm and finishing at 4.10 pm.
Present:
Voting Members: Councillor Keith R Mitchell CBE – in the chair
Councillor Roger Belson Councillor Louise Chapman Councillor Jim Couchman Councillor Mrs J. Heathcoat Councillor John Howell Councillor Ian Hudspeth Councillor David Robertson Councillor C.H. Shouler Councillor Michael Waine
Other Members in Councillor Jenny Hannaby (for Agenda Items 7 and 8) Attendance: Councillor Lesley Legge (Agenda Item 11) Councillor Bob Johnston (Agenda Items 13 and 14)
Officers:
Whole of meeting: Chief Executive and S. Whitehead (Legal & Democratic Services).
Part of meeting:
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.
86/08 DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Councillor Shouler declared a personal and prejudicial interest in Agenda Item CA8 as he had a close association with a person who could benefit financially should the development of an eco-town take place at Weston-on-the-Green.
87/08 MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2008 were approved and signed subject to the following amendment:
Minute 74/08 on Didcot 14-19 Provision: The Future of Secondary Education in Didcot – Delete the words ‘secondary facility’ and replace with the words ‘learning facility’.
88/08 FINANCIAL MONITORING (Agenda Item 5)
The Cabinet considered a report (CA5) that set out the Council’s forecast financial position for the 2008/09 financial year based on four months of actuals to the end of July 2008. It included projections for revenue, balances, reserves and capital. The report set out explanations where the forecast outturn was significantly different from the budget with action plans to recover the position where appropriate.
The Cabinet Member drew attention to the amended Annex 6 set out in the addenda. He referred to the turmoil in financial markets and stressed that there had been no deposits from revenue balances to the affected banks.
RESOLVED: to:
(a) note the report and the amendments to Annex 6 as set out in Annex 1 to the schedule of addenda;
(b) approve the virements as set out in Annex 2a; and
(c) approve the supplementary estimates totalling £0.315m as set out in Annex 2c.
89/08 SERVICE & RESOURCE PLANNING REPORT FOR 2009/10 - 2013/14 (Agenda Item 6)
The Cabinet considered a report (CA6) that was the first in a series on the service and resource planning process for 2009/10 to 2013/14, providing councillors with information on the budget issues for 2009/10 and the medium term. The report provided initial information that will lead to the Council agreeing a budget requirement and council tax for 2009/10 in February 2009.
The report set out estimated funding and planned expenditure for 2009/10 and the assumptions on which these are based. It outlined the budget issues emerging for 2009/10 and beyond for both revenue and capital expenditure. The report also set out the proposals from the County Council Management Team for managing the service and resource planning process for 2009/10 including a timetable of events.
RESOLVED: to:
(a) note the report;
(b) approve the Service and Resource Planning Process for 2009/10;
(c) consider spreading available one-off funding for 2009/10 over 2009/10 and 2010/11 and replacing this with available on-going funding from 2011/12; and
(d) approve the draft Capital Strategy as an aid to the planning process.
90/08 SOUTH EAST PLAN – PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS (CONSULTATION ON SECRETARY OF STATE’S PROPOSED CHANGES) (Agenda Item 7)
The Secretary of State had published Proposed Changes to the South East Plan which is currently out for consultation until 24th October 2008. Cabinet considered a report(CA7) that set out the main changes as they affect Oxfordshire including: the total housing provision proposed across the region and for Oxfordshire, the Strategic Development Area proposed to the south of Oxford and the implications for the Green Belt; changes to the economy chapter and Bicester, and the reservoir, and that recommended a response to them.
Councillor Hannaby, speaking as the Shadow Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development supported the response set out in paragraphs 7-23. She stressed that any housing development must have supporting infrastructure. She highlighted the excellent partnership working and the importance of the quadrant. She urged that pressure be maintained with respect to the reservoir proposals and congratulated offices on an excellent report.
The Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development introduced the report and noted that all councillors had been invited to a briefing in August. The Economy and Environment Scrutiny Committee had endorsed the response. and the Cabinet Member had undertaken to circulate copies of the responses to all councillors.
Cabinet agreed that the response as it related to the conditionality clause be strengthened.
RESOLVED: to:
(a) endorse the comments in paragraphs 7 to 23 as part of this Council’s response on the Secretary of State’s Proposed Changes;
(b) that the Head of Sustainable Development be authorised to finalise detailed comments on the Proposed Changes in consultation with the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development; and
(c) the Head of Sustainable Development in consultation with the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development be authorised to seek to agree a joint response from the local authorities in Oxfordshire on issues where there is common ground.
91/08 ECO-TOWNS : DRAFT PLANNING POLICY STATEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL – PROGRESS REPORT (Agenda Item 8)
Councillor Shouler withdrew from the meeting during consideration of this item.
Cabinet considered a report (CA8) that gave an update on the process so far, outlined the next stages of the government’s consideration of the eco-town proposals and recommended a further response to Communities and Local Government.
Councillor Hannaby, speaking as the Shadow Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development referred to proposals for the development of the Chilton rail service and improvements to stations that could be threatened by the proposed Eco-town.
The Head of Sustainable Development referred to paragraph 13 of the report and advised that the developer had indicated that they were not prepared to pay for the models and the Council was in dispute with them on this matter. Cabinet stressed that wore on the models should stop until the was clear agreement about who would pay. The Cabinet Member for Transport noted that a was not only a matter of the costs involved but was also an issue of capacity as it had meant that other come had remained undone.
RESOLVED: to endorse the comments in paragraphs 5 to 23 of the report, as supplemented by the comments made at the meeting and reiterate that on the information available would object strongly to the inclusion of the “Weston Otmoor” eco-town proposal in the final list of eco-towns locations, in particular on the grounds that:
(a) the proposal is contrary to the policies in the South East Plan, as proposed by the Secretary of State;
(b) the proposal would have a significantly detrimental impact on the implementation of planned development of Bicester and the promotion of Bicester as a major employment location in northern Central Oxfordshire;
(c) the Council remains unconvinced about the deliverability of the major infrastructure package that underpins the eco-town proposal;
92/08 EARLY YEARS CAPITAL PLAN (Agenda Item 9)
The Cabinet considered a report (CA9) on new capital funding which had been made available by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to secure significant investment in early years provision.
The report and annexes outlined the Council's approach to using the funding in Oxfordshire and included the aims, the current context, investment priorities, criteria and timescales.
RESOLVED: to:
(a) approve the Oxfordshire Early Years Capital Plan 2008 – 2011; and
(b) draw the report and decision to the attention of full Council.
93/08 SOLDIERS OF OXFORDSHIRE MUSEUM PROJECT (Agenda Item 10)
Following the failure of the bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2007 to extend the Museum Resources Centre at Standlake, negotiations had continued with SOFO to consider other options for housing and displaying their collections.
Cabinet considered a report (CA10) that sought approval in principle for a scheme to lease some land at The Oxfordshire Museum to the Soldiers of Oxfordshire in order to enable them to build a new museum to house their collections.
RESOLVED::
(a) to approve in principle the location of the SOFO museum within the grounds of the Oxfordshire Museum; and
(b) to instruct officers to draw up a Memorandum of Understanding for the SOFO museum, following completion of the Feasibility Study (Phase II) and conclusion of other detailed negotiations, to be agreed by the Leader and the Cabinet Member for Social and Community Services
94/08 FUNDAMENTAL SERVICE REVIEW OF DAY SERVICES FOR OLDER PEOPLE (Agenda Item 11) Cabinet considered a report (CA11) that summarised the key findings of a review of day services for older people and sought approval to the recommendations coming from it.
Councillor Lesley Legge speaking as the Cabinet Member for Social & Community Services welcomed the recommendations. She noted that issues around the demography of older people were a local matter. The move towards a resource centre was very sensible but any decision should involve local uses, carers and their representatives. She Get that with regard to Abingdon Day Cents local people were not being fully involved. Changes would impact on other facilities.
The Cabinet Manlier for Social and Community Services confirmed that local people were being kept informed. The proposals were key to the strategy of keeping people supported in their own homes.
RESOLVED: to:
(a) explore the provision of a Single Information Service across Oxfordshire with information provision supported by OCC, District/City Council, Health, key Voluntary Organisations, and others;
(b) revamp the image that Day Centres have and consider a separate work-stream to review how we market our services;
(c) redesign its referral processes to ensure local/community group options are explored as an alternative response to assessed needs before arranging services for service users;
(d) continue to increase its Resource Centre provision, ensuring that service developments undertaken by others are considered, and ensuring that a multi-agency Stakeholder Commissioning Group supports the location and service design of each service. The service design should include the provision of rehabilitative services, intermediate care services and support from mental health professionals. Resource Centres should be re-named Well Being Centres;
(e) support/facilitate an increase in the availability of independent (contracted and non-contracted) day centres and lunch clubs;
(f) concentrate service delivery to the core mid-week opening hours of some day centres and explore opportunities to open on a weekend;
(g) develop a strategy to improve the capacity of community support through increases in volunteering;
(h) encourage and influence the development of robust transport services that support access to day services for those service users most vulnerable and less mobile;
(i) implement localised networking/partnership groupings - involving one or two specialist centres supported by a range of other smaller day centres in specified geographical areas;
(j) ensure that day centres/services are able to respond to diverse cultural needs where demand requires such a response;
(k) ensure the provision of IT links in external day centres where the number of days provision per week justify this to assist with signposting/information provision; and
(l) shift the focus of some care management tasks to some IT-enabled Day Centres and explore how Centres can enter and maintain data on SWIFT as part of its routine business to support Care Management processes.
95/08 FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE CONTINGENCY PLANNING (Agenda Item 12)
The Cabinet considered a report setting out the options in respect of emergency cover to allow Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) to discharge their duties in exceptional circumstances such as national disaster, terrorist event, pandemic (Avian Flu, SARS etc) or industrial action. The report detailed proposals under the Fireguard project including the preffered bidder and financial costs.
The Cabinet noted that the green goddesses that had previously provided cover had actually now been sold by Government so were no longer available
RESOLVED: Agreed that option (ii) rejecting the Fireguard solution be accepted and the Director for Community Safety & Shared Services and Chief Fire Officer be directed to provide costings to meet the 2009/10 budget setting process deadlines, so that an informed decision can be made.
96/08 PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: 1ST QUARTER PROGRESS REPORT AGAINST PRIORITIES AND TARGETS (Agenda Item 13)
The Cabinet considered a report (CA13) on Council's Balanced Scorecard detailing progress against priorities and targets as at Quarter One 2008 - 2009.
Councillor Bob Johnston, speaking as the Shadow Cabinet Member for the Deputy Leader welcomed the report, which he had found clear and informative. He highlighted particular mattes of concern including educational attainment, and the Council’s carbon footprint. The Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement noted the historical nature of the data on GCSE English and maths. Cabinet welcomed the fuller nature of the report and that it was available to the opposition.
RESOLVED: to note this report.
97/08 ESTABLISHMENT REVIEW (Agenda Item 14)
The Cabinet considered a report (CA114) which gave an update on activity since the implementation of the Establishment Review and associated Recruitment Approval process on 1 August 2005. It provided detail on the overall objectives of the review and summarised progress made against the targets which were agreed to ensure delivery of those objectives. Details of the agreed establishment figure at 30 June 2008 in terms of Full Time Equivalents was provided, together with the detailed staffing position at 30 June 2008. These were shown in the report by directorate and service area.
The report also provided information on current activity and in addition there was information on grant funded posts and those vacancies which were being covered by agency staff and at what cost.
Councillor Bob Johnston, speaking as the Shadow Cabinet Member for the Deputy Leader indicated that he had found the report very clear. HO expressed Conan at the continuing high vacancy level in the Economy and Environment directorate, particularly in the transport area.
The Deputy Leader recognised the historic issue of transport recruitment and the Cabinet Member for Transport indicated there were specialised skills in short supply nationally. The Deputy Leader referred to the new format of the report that excluded school figures as they were not under the control of the Cabinet. He confirmed that the information was still available.
RESOLVED: to:
(a) note the report;
(b) confirm that the Establishment Review continues to meet the Cabinet’s requirements in reporting and managing staffing numbers.
98/08 APPOINTMENTS (Agenda Item 15)
Under Section H of the Constitution the Cabinet is responsible for appointments to those outside bodies which have been identified by the Cabinet as "strategic” (the Democracy & Organisation Committee has responsibility for appointments to other outside bodies).
The Council is entitled to three places (and three substitutes) on South East Employers, a strategic outside body. The Cabinet has appointed:
· as member representatives: Councillor John Howell OBE MP, Councillor Rodney Rose & Councillor David Wilmshurst; and · as substitutes: Councillor Timothy Hallchurch MBE, Councillor David Nimmo-Smith and Councillor Melinda Tilley.
A vacant member place has arisen following the resignation of Councillor Howell. A nomination has been received from Councillor David Robertson to be appointed.
It is also proposed that Councillor Rose be appointed as a substitute. If agreed this would create a vacant member place. A nomination has been received for Councillor Nimmo-Smith to be appointed.
RESOLVED: to:
(a) appoint Councillors David Nimmo-Smith and David Robertson to the two vacant member places on South East Employers; and (b) to appoint Councillor Rodney Rose to be a substitute member on South East Employers..
99/08 FORWARD PLAN AND FUTURE BUSINESS(Agenda Item 16)
The Cabinet considered a list of items (CA16) for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet and the amended forward plan as detailed in the schedule of addenda.
RESOLVED: to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings.
................................................................................... in the Chair
Date of signing.................................................................. 2008
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