Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Chapman, Councillor Fatemian, Councillor Hibbert-Biles and Councillor Mallon.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 May 2012 (CA3) and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 May 2012 were approved and signed.

Cabinet approved an erratum to the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 17 April 2012 and the resolution as corrected is set out in full below.

57/12 2011/12 Financial Monitoring & Business Strategy Delivery Report - February 2012

RESOLVED to:

(a) note the report;

(b) approve the supplementary estimates as set out in Annex 2e;

(c) agree the creation of the new reserves as set out in paragraph 44 to 48;

(d) approve the new capital schemes and budget changes set out in Annex

10c; and

(e) approve virements for financial year 2012/13 included in Annex 9.

Any county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two working days before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the Cabinet’s delegated powers.

The number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of this item will receive a written response.

Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time.

Councillor David Turner had given notice of the following question to Councillor Nick Carter:

" Would the Cabinet confirm that the policy of only spending the £3.86M central government grant on Broadband in areas of Oxfordshire where the download speed is lower than 2.0 Mb/s is still in place and advise in broad terms what we might expect to get in terms of speed and Countywide coverage in the future for the combined investment from Government, OCC’s matched funding, use of OCN money and private sector funding?"

Councillor Nick Carter replied:

“The national programme of broadband improvement will only improve services to approximately 70% of Oxfordshire by the end of 2015. The Council’s programme, agreed in February 2012, remains in place and to have “superfast” broadband available to 90%. “Superfast” means speeds in excess of 24 Mb. The further aim is to have a minimum 2Mb in place for the remaining 10% of the county. The programme is intended to establish the necessary infrastructure on which commercial organisations can deliver broadband services. The Council will not be delivering broadband services. The budget for the current Council led broadband programme comprises:

£3.86 Million from BDUK (Government funding)

£3.86 Million from OCC as matched funding for the BDUK contribution

£6.14 Million from OCC to enable us to cease the OCN by 2015

Through a procurement process, in common with similar programmes running elsewhere, we aim to secure a private sector partner who will make at least the same matched funding ie approximately £14 Million. The necessary procurement is now in progress and we expect to secure a private sector partner by the end of 2012.”

Supplementary: Councillor David Turner referred to the National Rural Community Broadband Fund aimed at those 10% of people that Councillor Carter is seeking to help. Applications to the Fund are needed by 6 July and applicants are being asked to look at and engage with the local Broadband Plan. This was not currently on the Council web site and Councillor Turner sought assurance that it would be put on there speedily. Councillor Carter gave an assurance that he would ensure the Plan or details of it were on the web site and get back to Councillor Turner.

The following requests to address the meeting had been agreed:

Item 6 – Councillor Roz Smith, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance & Police

Item 7 –Councillor Roz Smith, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance & Police

Item 8 - Councillor Alan Armitage, Opposition Deputy Leader

Cabinet Member: Finance & Police

Forward Plan Ref: 2012/007

Contact: Lorna Baxter, Deputy Chief Finance Officer, Tel: (01865) 323971

Report by Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer (CA 6).

This report sets out the revenue and capital outturn for 2011/12 and shows how actual expenditure and income for the year compares to the budgeted position.  It also includes proposals for carry forwards from 2011/12 to 2012/13.   The report is consistent with the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2011/12.  This will be submitted to the Audit Committee on 4 July 2012 following certification by the Chief Finance Officer and prior to external audit. 

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)               note the revenue and capital outturn, and the year end position on balances and reserves as set out in the report;

(b)              approve the carry-forwards and virements as set out in Annex 2;

(c)               recommend Council to approve the virements greater than £0.5m for Children, Education & Families, Social & Community Services and Environment & Economy Directorates as set out in Annex 2b;

(d)              agree that the surplus on the On-Street Parking Account at the end of the 2011/12 financial year, so far as not applied to particular eligible purposes in accordance with Section 55(4) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, be carried forward in the account to the 2012/13 financial year.

Cabinet considered a report that set out the revenue and capital outturn for 2011/12 and showed how actual expenditure and income for the year compared to the budgeted position. It also included proposals for carry forwards from 2011/12 to 2012/13.

Councillor Roz Smith, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance and Police noted the need for the Council to make savings and referred to the revenue underspends predicted which could be read with concern if they meant that services were stretched. Councillor Smith highlighted the level of general balances and commented that the Liberal Democrat Group would query why the balances were so high. Referring to the School Balances she asked that any balances recovered from schools be spent locally.The Leader responded to the comments made.

RESOLVED:             to:

(a)       note the revenue and capital outturn, and the year end position on balances and reserves as set out in the report;

(b)       approve the carry-forwards and virements as set out in Annex 2;

(c)        RECOMMEND Council to approve the virements greater than £0.5m for Children, Education & Families, Social & Community Services and Environment & Economy Directorates as set out in Annex 2b;

(d)       agree that the surplus on the On-Street Parking Account at the end of the 2011/12 financial year, so far as not applied to particular eligible purposes in accordance with Section 55(4) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, be carried forward in the account to the 2012/13 financial year.

Cabinet Member: Finance & Police

Forward Plan Ref: 2012/006

Contact: Kathy Wilcox, Principal Financial Manager Tel: (01865) 323981

Report by Assistant Chief Executive & Chief Finance Officer (CA7).

This is the first report for 2012/13 and covers the period to the end of April 2012 for both revenue and capital budgets.  The report focuses on significant issues around the on-going delivery of the Directorate Business Strategies.  

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)              note the report;

(b)              approve the virement requests set out in Annex 3a;

(c)               approve the creation of a new reserve for Thriving Families as set out in paragraph 31;

(d)              note the updated Treasury Management lending list at Annex 4.

Cabinet considered the first in a series of regular reports for 2012/13 that covered the period to the end of April 2012 for both revenue and capital budgets.  The report focused on significant issues around the on-going delivery of the Directorate Business Strategies.  These were approved by Council in February 2011 and subsequently reviewed as part of the 2012/13 Service & Resource Planning process.

Councillor Roz Smith, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance & Police, commented that the Liberal Democrat Group recognised the risks involved in making savings and there were known unknowns that had led them to put more money into adult services in their proposed budget in February. The Leader recognised that there were indeed known unknowns but that the Council was committed to making medium term savings.

RESOLVED:             to:

(a)       note the report;

(b)       approve the virement requests set out in Annex 3a;

(c)        approve the creation of a new reserve for Thriving Families as set out in paragraph 31;

(d)       note the updated Treasury Management lending list at Annex 4.

Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2012/008

Contact: Alexandra Bailey, Senior Performance & Improvement Manager Tel: (01865) 816384

Report by County Council Management Team (CA8).

Quarterly performance monitoring report against the Corporate Plan priorities - Quarter 4

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note this report.

The Cabinet considered a report setting out progress made toward the Corporate Plan priorities for the period between January and March 2012.

Councillor Alan Armitage, Opposition Deputy Leader stated that the report was a useful summary of progress that was frank  about areas where targets had not been met. However he referred to a number of areas where he suggested that progress was over stated and it was premature to refer to major achievement These included breaking the cycle of deprivation, broadband, energy usage and early discharges from hospital. The Leader updated the figures in relation to .

Cabinet noted that the report was the end of year position and reflected the targets agreed by the Council.

RESOLVED:             to note the report.

Cabinet Member: All

Contact Officer: Sue Whitehead, Committee Services Manager (01865 810262)

The Cabinet Procedure Rules provide that the business of each meeting at the Cabinet is to include “updating of the Forward Plan and proposals for business to be conducted at the following meeting”.   Items from the Forward Plan for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet appear in the Schedule at CA9.  This includes any updated information relating to the business for those meetings that has already been identified for inclusion in the next Forward Plan update.

The Schedule is for noting, but Cabinet Members may also wish to take this opportunity to identify any further changes they would wish to be incorporated in the next Forward Plan update.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings.

The Cabinet considered a list of items for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet together with amendments to the Forward Plan published last week.

RESOLVED:            to note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings.