ITEM CMDT7
CABINET MEMBER FOR TRANSPORT – 26 MARCH 2009
REVIEW OF FUNDING FOR EXTERNAL TRANSPORT POSTS
Report by Head of Transport
Introduction
1. This report follows on from a report to the Cabinet Member for Transport on 27 March 2008 and invites the Cabinet Member to formally approve funding for a further year to support the employment of three externally-based posts at Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC), each with a complementary remit to advise, assist and encourage the provision of transport in various ways by the community and voluntary sector. Further consideration of funding for these posts takes place in the light of the decisions made by the various district councils in Oxfordshire.
2. These posts are long-established, having been introduced progressively since 1984 (Community Transport Advisor), 1988 (Disability Transport Advisor / Trainer {originally as Oxfordshire Transport Co-ordinator}) and 1999 (OCTAP Officer {originally as Rural Transport Partnership Officer}).
3. On 27 March 2008 the Cabinet Member for Transport agreed:
(a) to fund the continuation of the external transport posts in the amount stated in decision (c) below for a period of four years, subject to annual review and to the continuation of appropriate levels of funding from district councils;
(b) to pay a grant for this provision to ORCC to provide these posts for a period of one year, and to review continuation of this grant funding towards the end of that period;
(c) to agree additional funding support to increase the total to £86,290 per annum (with annual increases for inflation) so as to fill the identified funding gap arising from the decision of the district councils; and
(d) to ask officers to continue to work with ORCC to develop proposals for offering enhanced support to the community transport sector and to report back to a subsequent meeting on this.
Oxfordshire Rural Community Council transport team
4. The funding structure agreed last year has allowed ORCC to employ three FTE posts, one of which is currently filled with a job-share arrangement. One post was transferred to ORCC from OCVA. This has allowed the establishment of a unified and co-ordinated transport team at ORCC, with all the benefits to be expected of such streamlined and integrated working.
5. A report from ORCC summarising the responsibilities and work-streams of the members of the transport team is attached at Annex 1 (download as .doc file)
6. As will be apparent, the ORCC transport team has provided a wide range of advice and support to community transport groups, parish councils, Oxfordshire district councils, Oxfordshire County Council and, through RASP, has been able to support a number of local initiatives. For example, they have been supporting West Oxfordshire Volunteer Link-Up to adopt more efficient methods of record-keeping and administration of their volunteer car scheme, in line with the decisions of the Cabinet Member taken on 8 January 2009 as part of an agreement to provide new grant funding for this scheme.
Enhanced Support to Community Transport Sector
7. The Cabinet Member for Transport will be aware of the opinions expressed by councillors, including members of the Cabinet, to the effect that officers should seek to develop an enhanced and more ‘hands-on’ approach to working with the community transport sector; that improved publicity be given to the range of support available from the County Council and that further work be undertaken in those areas of the county identified as having weaker provision of community transport schemes (perceived as being mainly the east side of Oxfordshire).
8. The Local Transport Act 2008 (which received Royal Assent in November) has changed the legal basis upon which community transport services can be provided. In particular, whereas it was previously illegal for drivers of such services to receive any remuneration, drivers can now be paid in certain circumstances. This clearly offers additional opportunities to community transport groups, but also potentially puts extra pressures on the co-ordinators of the schemes, who would have to deal with all of the issues involved in employing paid staff were they to take advantage of this new freedom. This is therefore an ideal time for ORCC both to ‘re-launch’ their encouragement to potential CT schemes and to increase the support which they offer in order to make it more practicable for such schemes to take advantage of the new freedoms.
9. Accordingly, officers have engaged in discussion with ORCC on the additional funding that might be required to permit this level of enhanced support.
10. ORCC have presented new
proposals, with associated costings, for the employment of additional resources
to be deployed in this way. These are shown in detail at Annex 2 (download as .doc file). Financial and Staff Implications
11. ORCC have indicated that the costs (based on their established policy of Full Cost Recovery) of providing the work-streams based on three full-time equivalents would continue to amount to some £153,750 for 2009/10. (i.e. there would be no requirement for an inflationary increase in the forthcoming year).
12. The 2008/09 funding from each source is as follows:
Oxfordshire County Council £86,290 Oxford City Council £ 5,000 Cherwell District Council £15,615 South Oxfordshire District Council £15,615 Vale of White Horse District Council £15,615 West Oxfordshire District Council £15,615 Total required funding £153,750
13. The funding for 2009/10 from South Oxfordshire District Council and from Vale of White Horse District Council is already committed. The funding from the other district councils is not anticipated to differ from the sums shown. Any variance from this position will be reported at the meeting.
14. In addition to the County Council’s share of the costs of supporting the transport posts shown above, there is also a further £8,500 already agreed to be provided as a delegated fund to cover the costs of training provision for the drivers of community transport services. The current total annual expenditure by Oxfordshire County Council is therefore £94,790.00.
15. Funding is available within the Public Transport Policy budget which could be used to cover the required sum to maintain the existing level of ORCC provision.
16. However, the proposal to offer enhanced support to the community transport sector would require extra funding of £34,000 a year, plus a further delegated fund of up to £10,000 from which to provide grants to schemes. This is not currently allowed for within the Public Transport Policy budget. On the basis that it is difficult to see how this would directly improve accessibility for rural areas, it is not proposed to re-allocate funding to this at this stage. However, if a stronger relationship can be demonstrated by ORCC to the Council’s Accessibility objectives and if funding becomes available during the coming financial year then it may be possible to revisit this issue.
RECOMMENDATION
17. The Cabinet Member for Transport is RECOMMENDED:
(a) to confirm funding of the external transport posts in the amount of £86,290 for the financial year 2009/10, subject to the continuation of appropriate levels of funding from district councils;
(b) to pay a grant for this provision to ORCC to provide these posts for 2009/10 and to review continuation of this grant funding towards the end of that period; and
(c) to agree that funding for the ORCC proposal for offering enhanced support to the community transport sector is not supported at present but to continue dialogue on the benefits that this might bring in the future.
STEVE HOWELL Head of Transport
Background papers: Nil
Contact Officer: Neil Timberlake. Tel: Oxford 815585
February 2009
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