Meeting documents
The Executive
Tuesday, 20 April 2004
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To Members of the Executive Notice of a Meeting of the ExecutiveTuesday 20 April 2004 at 2.00 pm County Hall, Oxford
Contact officer: (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 28 April 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. AGENDAAddenda
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 7 April 2004 (EX3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom. Executive Member:
Leader of the Council Report by Head of Finance (EX5). This report sets out the financial position to the end of February. There are four Directorates with positive carry forwards. The position on Learning & Culture has not materially changed for some time and remains fairly stable overall. Learning & Culture have produced an action plan to repay the over spend over three years. There is a residual amount to repay of £0.358m which will need to be found in 2004/05 although this figure could still improve. The overall position on the Directorate Carry Forward Reserve is a positive carry forward of £1.6m. I set out in my previous report the improvement in forecast general reserves for 2004/05 since the estimated position used to set the budget. The main component of this is the over spend on City closed schools of £0.700m which is being met by excess capital receipts on sale of closed city school sites and not from general balances. I reaffirm that I have earmarked the overall improvement of around £1.3m against outstanding issues to be resolved on Social & Health Care debtors and income. The Executive is recommended to note the report. Executive
Member: Schools Report by Director for Learning & Culture (EX6). In October 2003 the Executive considered a report on the possible reconfiguration of secondary schools in Banbury town. Four options affecting Blessed George Napier RC(A), Banbury and Drayton schools were presented but all were felt to either lack sufficient merit or would not command sufficient local community support to warrant being taken forward for formal consultation. The report presents the outcome of further work in the context of a strategic options review of the Banbury area 14-19 age group being carried out by the Local Learning and Skills Council. Out of 6 medium term local strategic options considered in the review, two have been identified which may offer a way forward: (d) - merger of Drayton School with Oxford and Cherwell College; and (f) - City Academy on the Drayton School Campus. Both options require further work on detailed costings, identification/confirmation of funding sources and in the case of option (d), clarification of the legal framework. Specifically in relation to option (f) there is the need to confirm potential sponsor(s) and, if there is more than one individual or ‘consortium’, to decide which would be preferred. If any options or their variants are confirmed as viable (both logistically and in terms of meeting the core principles of addressing the specific issues of Drayton School and educational attainment in the Banbury area) then there will need to be consultation on these before decisions are made on whether to proceed to the formal processes leading to the implementation of any agreed changes. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:
Executive
Member: Learning & Culture Report by Director for Learning & Culture (EX7). The report summarises the 2004-05 Adult Learning Plan process and the proposed service priorities and development themes for adult learning managed by the County Council. It invites the Executive to confirm or modify those priorities, as a first step in the process leading to a completed plan being negotiated and agreed with the local Learning and Skills Council. It presents as the core of the Plan a revised mission statement, aims and objectives for the Service. In particular the Executive is invited to note cross-directorate working, and to indicate any additional cross-directorate adult learning needs that could be analysed for possible inclusion in 2004-05 or subsequent planning years. The final Adult Learning Plan will consist of revisions to the Three-year Strategic Plan, and a Business Plan. The Plan is expected to be negotiated with LSC on 30 April and reported to the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee and the Executive on 11 and 18 May respectively. The LSC has given 21 May as the deadline for the refined plan to be taken into account for 2004/05 funding. The Plan will however be subject to ratification by the full Council at its meeting on 15 June, in accordance with the Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rules set down in the Constitution. The report also briefs the Executive on the considerations which now drive a review of the current structure of the Service, and on the timetable for consultation and implementation. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:
(b) agree the revised Mission, Aims and Objectives and the outline plans for main areas of activity in 2004-05 as the basis of the new Adult Learning Plan, for negotiation with the Local Learning & Skills Council and submission to the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee for advice as set out in the report.
Executive Member:
Schools Report by Director for Learning & Culture (EX8). On 14 October 2003 the Executive considered the report of the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee on the Review of Recruitment & Retention of Teachers and Support Staff, focusing on the Retention of Teachers and Teachers’ Workloads, and requested a report on the implications of its recommendations. The Review’s recommendations dealt in turn with standards and achievement issues; workload issues; career structure and continuous professional development; recruitment and retention national and local strategies; cost of living issues; age profile; and retention. The present report addresses these issues, sets out progress so far and identifies what may be needed in order to make further progress. The report also outlines the scope of the National Agreement on Raising Standards and Tackling Workload, implementation of which has begun since the Scrutiny Review was completed. The Agreement is designed to create time for teachers and headteachers and raise standards. Changes to teachers’ contracts are being phased over three years beginning in September 2003, and these will have implications for the work of support staff in schools and will lead to the development of different roles and career structures as remodelling takes place. A National Remodelling Team has been established to support LEAs and schools in remodelling the school workforce through a structured change management process. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to endorse the actions taken as described in the report and note the progress made to date. Executive
Member: Schools The Director for Learning & Culture reports as follows. Outline project appraisal ED 609 (attached, EX9) sets out a strategy to provide suitable and sufficient accommodation at Faringdon Community College to meet the projected growth in pupil numbers to a capacity of 1050 pupils. The development is proposed in three phases, extending over three years. Detailed appraisals will be brought forward for each phase of the work as determined by the programme of work and available funding. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:
Executive
Member: Sustainable Development Report by Head of Sustainable Development (EX10). This report presents an Economic Development Action Plan for the period to 2007. The plan builds on the economic strategy agreed in 2002, the changes in the structure of the Directorate for Environment & Economy made in 2003, the Council’s aim in the Oxfordshire Plan of sustaining prosperity and the decision by Executive in April 2003 to produce an Economic Development work plan. It also makes proposals about the delivery of the action plan and the use of the Council’s Economic Development Initiatives budget. The Economic Development Action Plan illustrates how social inclusion and environmental quality are necessary conditions for sustaining prosperity for all in the county and takes account of the work going on to develop the Structure Plan and the South East Regional Spatial Strategy. The term "economic development" is therefore used to refer to this approach that fully integrates social and environmental aims into the goal of sustaining prosperity. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:
Executive Member:
Transport Report by Head of Transport (EX11). The purpose of this report is to seek approval for phase 1 of the Didcot Area Integrated Transport Strategy. The ITS study was intended to cover all aspects of transport infrastructure and services in the area. However, it has become evident that consideration of major highway schemes, such as trunk road (A34) access and junction improvements, require input from and consideration of the issues raised by two other sources – the Great Western Park housing development (and a transport assessment that would accompany any planning application for this development) and the County Council’s Transport Networks Review. The timescales for these two projects would mean holding up the rest of the ITS. The Member Steering Group have therefore proposed to split the ITS into two phases and agreed that phase 1 should not be delayed. Phase 1 covers traffic management; walking and cycling facilities within the town; measures to mitigate the speed of traffic through the villages; cycle links to employment sites and the town from the rural areas and public transport improvements. Phase 2 will cover the major highway schemes and associated junction improvements and is proposed to be the subject of further study work in 2004/05. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to approve phase 1 of the Didcot Area Integrated Transport Strategy as summarised in the report and described in detail in Halcrow’s Final Report. Executive Member:
Community Care & Health Report by Director for Social & Health Care (EX12). The report sets out the progress that has been made on implementing the Scrutiny Review of Geographical Equity for Older People’s Day Care Services in Oxfordshire and recommends future action. Day services are an important part of an integrated and comprehensive range of services to meet the needs of an increasingly old and frail population. However, the priorities and pressures on Older People’s Services are considerable. To illustrate this in 2003/04, managers and staff have been tackling delays in transfers of care in hospitals; acute shortage of Home Support Workers; integrating intermediate care services with PCTs and setting up Single Access and Rehabilitation to Care Teams; developing and evaluating Intermediate Care Units in the independent sector; stimulating supply of independent residential care and nursing home placements; continuing to develop ex-council care homes in partnership with Order of St John and Bedfordshire Pilgrims; supporting local providers in the independent sector; and working on the new single assessment process with IT systems to meet a range of target dates, the first being April 2004. As a consequence of this pressing agenda, progress has not been even across the actions proposed by the Scrutiny Committee. In addition, it is not recommended that priority is given to some of the proposed actions in 2004/05 in the light of other, more pressing requirements. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to note the work to date and agree the Action Plan as set out in Annex 1 to the report. Executive Member:
Deputy Leader of the Council Report by Director for Resources (EX13). On 13 January 2004 the Council adopted the following motion by Councillor Andrew Brown: "This Council agrees that to work effectively with the public and with other bodies, internal structures and nomenclature need to be configured in a way that makes sense to users of our services. To this end, the Council requests the Executive to work with the Customer Services Manager to identify what can be done to make the Council’s services and staff more easily accessible for members of the public and other bodies and to report back by September 2004." The report places the Council’s request in the context of the Customer Services Strategy which is currently in preparation, with particular reference to possible improvements to the County Council telephone directory (eg by listing contacts by the area with which they can help, rather than by job title) which is understood to be Cllr Brown’s principal concern. The Strategy is due for presentation to the Executive for approval in October 2004. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to: (a) note the potential of the approach set out in the report for meeting the requirements identified by the Council and in the feedback from the Customer Service ‘Launch Week’; (b) authorise development work on this approach for further report in the context of the Customer Services Strategy. Executive Member:
Leader of the Council Report by Head of Property (EX14). The County Council owns about 3.5 hectares of land on the western edge of Eynsham which is used as a detached playing field for Bartholomew School. Approximately a hectare of this land is surplus to the school’s requirements. In 2001 the Council was approached by agents acting on behalf of a housing developer who had secured an option to purchase an adjoining area of land proposing that the developer and the County Council should jointly pursue the allocation of both pieces of land for housing development through the local plan process. The agents also put forward alternative proposals that the Bartholomew School main site should be developed for housing and the school replaced on the land referred to above and that the primary school should also be relocated. The Council decided at that time not to support the developer’s proposals and the District Council decided not to allocate the land. The developer’s agents have again approached the County Council to seek their support at the public inquiry into the West Oxfordshire Local Plan in June. The report accordingly reconsiders the proposals in the light of current circumstances. The conclusion is that the allocation of the detached playing field (and adjoining land) for housing development should be supported as an allocation would secure a substantial capital receipt for the land. The school governors would need to be formally consulted (there has been informal consultation via the Headteacher already) and the consent of the DfES and Sport England would be needed. The developer would need to ensure that adequate sports facilities for the school were provided. The Executive is RECOMMENDED: (a) to support the proposal to pursue an allocation for housing development on the land at west Eynsham (as shown on the plan attached to the report) through the local plan process, subject to consultation with the Bartholomew School governors, the DfES and Sport England and to the proposals demonstrating that satisfactory or improved sporting facilities can be provided; (b) not to support the proposals to relocate the secondary and primary schools.
Executive
Member: All The Executive Procedure Rules provide that the business of each meeting of the Executive is to include "updating of the Forward Plan and proposals for business to be conducted at the following meeting". The publication date of the next Forward Plan, for the period June – September 2004, is 18 May 2004. It will be necessary to determine its content at the meeting on 4 May 2004, but members may wish at the present meeting to identify any changes they would wish to have incorporated in the next update. In the meantime, a list of items from the Forward Plan for the immediately forthcoming meetings is attached (EX15). The Executive is RECOMMENDED, subject to any changes and/or additional items it would wish to see incorporated in the next Forward Plan, to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings. Exempt Item The meeting will be invited to resolve to exclude the public for the consideration of the following exempt item (marked E) by passing a resolution in relation to such item in the following terms: "that the public be excluded during the consideration of the following item in the Agenda since it is likely that if they were present during the items there would be a disclosure of "exempt" information as described in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972 and specified below the item in the Agenda". THE REPORTS RELATING TO THE EXEMPT ITEM HAS NOT BEEN MADE PUBLIC AND SHOULD BE REGARDED AS STRICTLY PRIVATE TO MEMBERS AND OFFICERS ENTITLED TO RECEIVE IT. 16E. Benson Junior and Infant Schools Amalgamation Executive
Member: Schools The Director for Learning & Culture reports as follows: Approval is sought for revised detailed appraisal ED 494/2 (attached, EX16E) for the amalgamation of the Benson Junior School and Infant School onto a single site to create a 10-class primary school. Complex planning issues in redeveloping the Infant School site have delayed the project for over 2 years which has in turn resulted in cost increases in the implementation of the project to extend and rationalise accommodation on the Junior School site. The
Executive is RECOMMENDED to approve Revised Detailed Project Appraisal
ED494/2.
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