Issue - meetings

The report (which is to be considered by each of the Scrutiny Committees on 15 December) forms part of a series relating to the Service and Resource Planning process for 2012/13 to 2016/17.

Each Committee will meet in turn to consider the Business Strategies and savings proposed for their service areas. Comments from each Committee will then be considered by Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 12 January 2012 prior to being fed back to Cabinet in order that they can take the comments into consideration in proposing their budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in January 2012.

The following annexes are attached:

The Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer and Director for Environment & Economy will be available to respond to questions, together with the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Property.

The Committee received a presentation from Huw Jones (Director of Environment & Economy) on the Environment & Economy (E&E) business strategy in relation to Property and Oxfordshire Customer Services (including ICT) and looked at changes and variations in Annex 4 in detail.

Huw explained that the majority of savings in E&E going forward would be achieved by changing the way the directorate works, through strategic asset management, ICT and workforce planning.

Proposals for savings in the property area were discussed first.

In giving their support for the proposals some Members did express concern about risks to the Council being increased through exposure to external providers. Huw Jones explained the due diligence processes in place and offered to explain the approach to contracting further to any Members that were interested.

Cllr Brighouse was happy to accept this offer.

Oxfordshire Customer Services (OCS) and ICT were then discussed. Members were keen to understand more about the decision not to pursue arms-length trading in OCS. The substantial changes to the market caused by the financial constraints in local government and significant savings already achieved in OCS were explained as the reasons.

The Committee were interested to hear about the challenges facing the Oxfordshire Community Network (OCN) and Public Service Network. Officers stressed the importance of investment in the County’s ICT offer, particularly in the context of the expansion of superfast broadband to ensure it remains competitive option for schools and other users.

Members were happy with the explanations given for variations to the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP). Huw Jones welcomed questions from the scrutiny committee on implementation throughout the year.

Chief Executive’s Office

Four minor variations to the MTFP as set out in Annex 4, were explained by Sue Scane (Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer). The committee expressed concerns about the impact that staffing reductions in the Chief Executive’s Office was having on staff workload and stress levels.

Councillor Fooks asked for a report on changes to staffing arrangements in the Chief Executive’s Office to be added to the future work plan of the committee. This was agreed by the Chairman.

The importance of working differently and maximising the use of IT in future in order to maintain levels of service to frontline customers was stressed by both the Assistant Chief Executive and Councillors Robertson and Couchman.

The Committee broadly supported the Chief Executive’s Office Business Strategy.

Capital Strategy

Members supported the capital strategy as set out in Annex 7b.

The report (which is to be considered by each of the Scrutiny Committees on 15 December) forms part of a series relating to the Service and Resource Planning process for 2012/13 to 2016/17.

Each Committee will meet in turn to consider the Business Strategies and savings proposed for their service areas. Comments from each Committee will then be considered by Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 12 January 2012 prior to being fed back to Cabinet in order that they can take the comments into consideration in proposing their budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in January 2012.

The following annexes are attached:

The Acting Director for Children, Education & Families for will be available to respond to questions, together with the Cabinet Members for Children, Education and Families and Schools Improvement.

Cllr Chapman began the meeting with overall remarks on the budget process.  The committee then received presentations from Lorna Baxter, Head of Corporate Finance and Jim Leivers, Acting Director of the Children, Education and Families Directorate.

The committee began their discussion with the capital plan with clarification coming from Arzu Ulusoy-Shipstone, Capital, Strategy & Transformation Manager for the Environment and Economy Directorate.  The committee expressed concern that the capital plan might not address needed projects in schools.  It was also mentioned that recent clarification of capital funding from the education settlement meant that the figures in the papers as presented would be changing.  The committee decided to return to the capital discussion as part of their meeting scheduled for the 20^th of January with the updated papers.

Members of the committee then had individual discussions on each of the proposed variations to the Medium Term Financial Plan which related to children’s services as indicated in Annex 4 of the papers.

From this discussion the committee decided:

·        To ensure that the effectiveness of the HUB model for service delivery remain a priority on the work programme.

·        That the committee receive information regarding outdoor learning centres which is scheduled to be considered by Cabinet in January at its meeting in February.

·        That the committee would engage in the upcoming review on children’s centres as part of the work programme.

The committee also wished to recognise Jan Paine, Deputy Director Children's Services - Education and Early Intervention as she leaves the county council for another position. 

Overall the committee:

Had no further comments regarding the Capital Plan pending a further discussion in January,

Felt that frontline services were protected and accepted the proposals.

Cllr Turner had a further comment that, ‘We recognise that there are still large potential pressures in regards to government announcements such as the academy programme, and request that we are kept updated as the figures and situation become clearer, and fully consulted on any major changes that they may include.’

The meeting concluded at 4.30pm.

The report (which is to be considered by each of the Scrutiny Committees on 15 December) forms part of a series relating to the Service and Resource Planning process for 2012/13 to 2016/17.

Each Committee will meet in turn to consider the Business Strategies and savings proposed for their service areas. Comments from each Committee will then be considered by Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 12 January 2012 prior to being fed back to Cabinet in order that they can take the comments into consideration in proposing their budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in January 2012.

The following annexes are attached:

The Director for Social & Community Services will be available to respond to questions, together with the Cabinet Member for Adult Services.

Lorna Baxter, Head of Corporate Finance, gave an overview of the report and responded to members’ questions for clarification. John Jackson, Director of Social and Community Services, then invited the committee to comment on the proposals.

The committee wished to bring the following comments to Cabinet:

·        The possible impact of acceptance of the Dilnot recommendations and the possible impacts on the Social and Healthcare budget. The need for adequate central government funding.

·        The need for increased Health funding after the planned restructure of Health to reduce pressures on Social and Health care, and the need for an adequate provision of funds for Continuing Healthcare.

·        The need to understand the origin and impacts of the increased demand for Health and Social Care.

·        The reliance on reducing the costs of care through private providers, and the possible impact on the quality of care.

·        The risk of private providers experiencing financial difficulties and the potential impact on service users.

·        The capacity of management within the directorate to adequately deal with service changes and new providers whilst undergoing significant internal restructuring.

·        The current capacity of ICT infrastructure and the need for upgrades in the near future.

·        The long term funding and potential overspends on Physical Disabilities support services.

·        The provision of transport for those who wish to use day services.

The committee applauded the following:

·        The efforts to reduce the needs for long term support by prevention strategies.

·        The emphasis on Extra Care Housing provision.

·        The emphasis on Telecare support services.

·        The increased emphasis on Adult Family Placements.

·        Efforts to reduce the number of people going into long term residential care

·        The support for carers and day opportunities.

·        The efforts to coordinate community transport by Adult Services, Growth and Infrastructure, and the NHS under the Health and Wellbeing Board.

·        The County Council Support for the Dilnot proposals.

A minority opinion was expressed, which did not endorse moves towards increased commissioning of services. The possible fragmentation of the system and the difficulties in reliably monitoring providers were given as the main reasons for these reservations.

Overall the committee supported the proposals outlined in the directorate Business Strategy and the Capital Plan, accepting them by a majority of 8 votes to 2.

The report (which is to be considered by each of the Scrutiny Committees on 15 December) forms part of a series relating to the Service and Resource Planning process for 2012/13 to 2016/17.

Each Committee will meet in turn to consider the Business Strategies and savings proposed for their service areas. Comments from each Committee will then be considered by Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 12 January 2012 prior to being fed back to Cabinet in order that they can take the comments into consideration in proposing their budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in January 2012.

The following annexes are attached:

The Director for Environment & Economy, Chief Fire Officer and Head of Community Safety and Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officerwill be available to respond to questions, together with the Cabinet Members for Police and Policy Co-ordination and Safer and Stronger Communities.

Lorna Baxter gave an overview of the report to the committee and responded to members’ questions for clarifications.

The discussion was then grouped by service area. Officers gave presentations containing an overview of proposals and responded to questions by members, as follows:

1. Fire & Rescue - Dave Etheridge, Nathan Travis
2. Community Safety – Dave Etheridge, Richard Webb
3. Community Services – Simon Kearey, Karen Warren
4. Adult Learning – Huw Jones, Vicky Field
5. Registration & Coroners – Peter Clarke, Jacquie Bugeja

Summary of discussion:

Members welcomed the focus on prevention within Fire & Rescue but were concerned that it would be difficult to deal with future pressures without affecting frontline services. Officers responded that they were looking to secure national funding to deal with specific pressures, such as upgrading the control room, and to continue making the most of being part of the council rather than stand-alone.

Members were reassured that in Community Safety changes to the service were being managed through smarter working, using intelligence to target investigations and clearer prioritisation.

Proposals for the Library Services had been discussed in detail at Monday’s scrutiny meeting. Further details relating to council support for arts organisations will be made available to interested members.

Adult Learning and the Registration Service are part self-funding services. Members commended Jacquie Bugeja, Head of Registration and Coroner's Service, for her work including delivering on the national “Tell us once” initiative as an early adopter. The joint effort made by officers and members in working with partners on repatriations was also recognized.

The committee agreed to support the proposals made for the services listed above in principle. In giving their support, members stated that:

• The committee wished to receive further information about the potential and experience of transferring council run Gypsy and Traveller sites to the private sector
• The proposed review of the mobile library service should be brought to scrutiny early next year
• The Library Service should continue to remain on the committee’s forward plan as proposals are implemented, as will Adult Learning
• They asked services to consider, and keep under review, whether there are any opportunities to generate income

The report (which is to be considered by each of the Scrutiny Committees on 15 December) forms part of a series relating to the Service and Resource Planning process for 2012/13 to 2016/17.

Each Committee will meet in turn to consider the Business Strategies and savings proposed for their service areas. Comments from each Committee will then be considered by Strategy & Partnerships Scrutiny Committee on 12 January 2012 prior to being fed back to Cabinet in order that they can take the comments into consideration in proposing their budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in January 2012.

The following annexes are attached:

The Director for Environment & Economy will be available to respond to questions, together with the Cabinet Member for Growth & Infrastructure.

The Committee received a presentation from Officers outlining progress that has been made since the Business Strategy was agreed by Council in February 2011. They also set out the new pressures and variations to the Medium Term Financial Plan that are proposed for next year’s budget.

The Committee raised a number of areas of concern that should be monitored by Scrutiny throughout the year:

• Cllr Nimmo-Smith and Cllr Purse stressed the need to monitor the impact of changes on smaller services, such as the Countryside Service when they are supporting voluntary organisations. This should come to a future scrutiny meeting.
• Cllr Mathew asked how performance on planning applications and enforcement will be affected by the proposals, which should come to a future scrutiny meeting. Cllr Mathew requested further information on the Growing Places Fund. Huw Jones agreed to provide to the Committee. Cllr Mathew suggested that efficiencies could be made through a more effective process for contacting Area Stewards, which should come to a future scrutiny meeting. Cllr Mathew urged officers to consider charging utilities companies for digging up highways and charging for commercial parking at park and ride sites.
• Cllr Nimmo-Smith was concerned that the announcement on the likely changes to solar panel tariffs would have an adverse effect on the budget; new plans should be considered at a future scrutiny meeting. Martin Tugwell described how the implications of the announcement will be unclear for a while.
• Cllr Greene urged that funding for infrastructure projects that will encourage business growth across Oxfordshire should be prioritised.

The committee were concerned with how accurate the plans could be beyond 2012/13 and reinforced the need to monitor upcoming national policy changes that will affect local government funding, responding and influencing as much as we can.

Cllr Skolar was concerned by the reduced budget for the schools capital programme, which has been caused by a change in the funding received from central government.

Cllr Strangwood challenged Officers to find bigger savings on contracts and re-negotiating with suppliers.

The Committee broadly supported the Business Strategy.

Cllr Nicholas Turner proposed that Officers and Cabinet members explore

• Amalgamating the Natural History Service with the Countryside Service
• Amalgamating the Business Skills Bureau with the Connexions Service
• Robust monitoring arrangements for road repairs to ensure extra money can be diverted quickly if necessary

The recommendation was seconded by Cllr Strangwood and carried unanimously.