Agenda, decisions and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2014 (CA3) and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 16 September 2014 were approved and signed.

Councillor Hards had given notice of the following question to Councillor Lindsay-Gale

“Please would the Cabinet Member for Cultural and Community Services explain how the proposed enhanced Home Library Service would be publicised if the service changes in line with the current proposals? I ask because my enquiries suggest that the current Home Library Service is not well known among the potential users.”

Councillor Lindsay-Gale replied:

I agree that the wonderful service that the Home Library Service provides should be better known.  We do undertake regular promotion to customers, communities and the general public but I agree more could be done.  What the current review of mobile library services is demonstrating is that there is a clear interest and demand for this service.  Once the consultation has been completed and the results analysed, if we proceed in line with the current proposal, then our enhanced Home Library Service will be strongly promoted through a coordinated publicity campaign with posters and leaflets in libraries, health centres, doctor’s surgeries and other appropriate locations. 

We will talk to existing service users and reach potential customers through engagement with Adult Social Services, our delivery partners, AgeUK Oxfordshire and the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS), and referral through the Community Information Network via community events and locality workers. There is a dedicated page on the OCC website which will be updated regularly and we will seek to publicise the service through partner publications, parish and town newsletters and the local press.  We would welcome the support of county councillors in promoting the service in their divisions.

Supplementary: In answer to a request by Councillor Hards, Councillor Lindsay-Gale undertook to make a concerted effort to publicise the service changes and in particular to those staff that ran the old peoples homes

Councillor John Sanders had given notice of the following question to Councillor Hudspeth:

“I am told that it will take about half a day of preparation for negotiation of the lease of the Council’s land that would form the site, off Cornwallis Road in my Division, for the proposed City Farm development, to the advantage of children in Cowley and in the rest of Oxford.  We have been waiting 15 months for this half-day’s work by the County’s Contractor and seem no closer to achieving it than we were 15 months ago.

I concede that the project will not provide statutory services, however, we are not asking that the Council should provide the project, merely that it facilitates its implementation where it, cheaply, can.  If it will help, I am prepared to contribute money from my community budget to pay for the Contractor’s time and I should point out that I and Cllr Gill Sanders have already contributed £3000 of previous Community Budget money to facilitate earlier work on the project. 

While this matter remains unresolved the project is in grave danger of losing substantial funding from other sources and may be cancelled.

Will the Council now negotiate with the Contractor to facilitate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93/14

Cabinet Member: Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/076

Contact: Kathy Wilcox, Chief Accountant Tel: (01865) 323981

Report by Chief Finance Officer (CA6).

The report focuses on the delivery of the Directorate Business Strategies that were agreed as part of the Service and Resource Planning Process for 2014/15 – 2017/18.  Parts 1 and 2 include projections for revenue, reserves and balances as at the end of August 2014.   Capital Programme monitoring and an update to the Capital Programme is included in Part 3.  Part 4 sets out a change to un-ringfenced grant funding in 2014/15. 

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)          note the report and annexes including the Treasury Management lending list at Annex 3 and changes set out in paragraph 63;

(b)         approve the virement requests set out in Annex 2a and the supplementary estimate requests in Annex 2e;

(c)          delegate the approval of virements relating to the restructuring of Commercial Services (EE2) within Environment & Economy as set out in Annex 2a(b) and paragraph 53 and the implementation of saving 14EE31 relating to the consolidation of print services (paragraph 54);

(d)         approve the write off of invoices totalling £39,246.67 as set out in paragraph 62;

(e)          approve the new joint reserve for the Thames Valley Control Centre (paragraph 73);

(f)           approve the £0.480m contribution to capital from the Catering Investment Fund to part fund the capital scheme for the delivery of Universal Infant Free School Meals (paragraph 74);

(g)         approve the contribution of £0.532m of developer contributions funding to King Alfred’s Academy to secure additional school places (paragraph 97);

(h)         approve the outline business cases for the three City Deal schemes and release a total budget of £2.132m for detailed design and procurement (paragraph 99);

(i)           approve to delegateauthority for the approval of land purchase and advanced utility diversions ahead of full business case approval by Cabinet to the Chief Finance Officer and Director for Environment & Economy (paragraph 100); 

(j)           approve the budget increase of £0.610m on the A423 Southern bypass Kennington and Hinksey Hill roundabouts scheme (paragraph 101);

(k)          approve the forward funding of the Didcot Station Car Park Expansion to enable early delivery of the scheme in advance of receiving the grant through the Local Growth Fund (subject to final confirmation of the Local Growth Fund allocation) (paragraph 102);

(l)           approve the inclusion of the £2m contribution to the Advanced Manufacturing Hub in Culham as part of Chief Executive’s Office capital programme to enable the full delivery of this City Deal scheme (paragraph 103);

(m)        approve the updated capital programme in Annex 8 (changes to the Capital Programme are set out in Annex 7c); and

(n)         RECOMMEND Council to:

           (i)        approve the release of £2.751m contingency to Children’s Social Care (CEF2-3) within CE&F on a one – off basis (paragraphs 55-56);

            (ii)      agree that that £1.500m one – off funding from the Older People and Physical Disability Pooled Budget reserves will be used to offset part of the in – year pressure across  ...  view the full agenda text for item 94/14

Cabinet had before them a report which outlined the delivery of the Directorate Business Strategies that were agreed as part of the Service and Resource Planning Process for 2014/15 – 2017/18.  The report included projections for revenue, reserves and balances as at the end of August 2014,  Capital Programme monitoring and an update to the Capital Programme. It also set out a change to un-ringfenced grant funding in 2014/15. 

Councillor Nick Hards, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance, expressed concern over the level of overspend in the report, whilst acknowledging the plan to reduce the overspend outlined in paragraph 30 of the report.  He questioned why the Highways Services Contract Management Fee had been reduced and whether the Council were equipped to cope with the rising level of local authority children in care.

He further expressed concern over the way the current road works around Oxford had been executed, whilst acknowledging that the timings of the 3 major schemes being undertaken were due to constraints imposed by Central Government Funding.  The delays had meant that people were avoiding coming into the City which was bad for the Economy.

He welcomed the works being undertaken on the A34, though in his opinion doing both schemes together was unfortunate.

In response, Councillor Stratford, Cabinet Member for Finance acknowledged that there was a continuing pressure with more children being referred to the Council.  A temporary one-off funding from reserves had been used but a long term solution needed to be identified.

In introducing the report, Councillor Stratford indicated that the overspend forecast would need to be reduced through management action and/or the use of one off funding during the year.  Whilst action was being taken to manage the position in the year, there was underlying pressure on both Childrens’ and Adult Social Care.  Any temporary use of balances to address these issues would need to be made up next year and could not be repeated.

Councillor Heathcoat, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care confirmed that plans were in place to address the overspend within her area.  She referred to paragraphs 27 and 28 of the report which outlined the huge amount of work being undertaken within her area including the fact that over 90% of social care clients were now being supported to live in their own homes.

In relation to Highways, Councillor Nimmo Smith, Cabinet Member for Environment reminded the Cabinet that the works being undertaken currently were building a better future for Oxfordshire had been identified back in 2009 but had been cancelled due to lack of funding.

RESOLVED:  to:

(a)          note the report and annexes including the Treasury Management lending list at Annex 3 and changes set out in paragraph 63;

(b)          approve the virement requests set out in Annex 2a and the supplementary estimate requests in Annex 2e;

(c)          delegate the approval of virements relating to the restructuring of Commercial Services (EE2) within Environment & Economy as set out in Annex 2a(b) and paragraph 53 and the implementation of saving 14EE31  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94/14

The following requests to address the meeting had been agreed:

Item 5             Councillor Nick Hards, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance;

Item 7             Councillor Gill Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Families;

Item 9             Councillor John Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor John Howson, Local Member;

Item 10           Councillor Liz Brighouse, Opposition Leader;

Item 11           Councillor Liz Brighouse, Opposition Leader;

Item 15           Councillor Nick Hards, Local Member.

Cabinet Member: Children, Education & Families

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/103

Contact: Hannah Farncombe, Safeguarding Manager Tel: (01865) 815273

Report by Director for Children’s Services (CA7).

Cabinet, at its meeting on 13 May 2014, agreed the recommendations of the Cabinet Advisory Group on the Strategic Assurance Framework for safeguarding children and young people. One of those recommendations was that the Director for Children’s Services should provide a report to Cabinet on relevant issues for the County Council arising from the Annual Report of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB). This is the first such report.

This report follows the Annual Report of the OSCB for 2013- 2014 which was  approved by the Board on 28th July 2014. The OSCB report is the first by its new independent Chair, Maggie Blyth.

The report outlines the progress achieved in relation to the objectives of the 2013-15 OSCB Business Plan and looks ahead to future challenges.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the annual report of the OSCB and the progress made in relation to its objectives.

Cabinet, at its meeting on 13 May 2014 had agreed the recommendations of the Cabinet Advisory Group on the Strategic Assurance Framework for safeguarding children and young people. One of those recommendations was that the Director for Children’s Services should provide a report to Cabinet on relevant issues for the County Council arising from the Annual Report of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB). This was the first such report.

This report followed the Annual Report of the OSCB for 2013 - 2014 which had been approved by the Board on 28th July 2014. The OSCB report was the first by its new independent Chair, Maggie Blyth.

Councillor Gill Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Families paid tribute to the report as a very good way forward to prevent further sexual exploitation of children and Safeguarding.  Referring to page 132 of the report, she asked whether it could be compulsorily for all members to be trained so that they would know what to look for to pass information onto the relevant person.  She further asked how information was disseminated and whether the information in relation to reporting concerns set out on page 144 of the document could be available at community centres, doctors, notice boards and other public places to ensure more cases were picked up.  She referred to the £5m overspend in Children’s Social Care and the need for Central Government to fund this area properly.

The Leader commented that it was for all the community to take responsibility for the safeguarding of children.  More reports meant that eventually it could stop.

Councillor Tilley, Cabinet Member for children, Young People & Families thanked Maggie Blythe for such an excellent report concurring with the need for councillors to have as much information as possible.  She commended the report to the Cabinet.

Maggie Blyth, in introducing the report, outlined the progress achieved in relation to the objectives, together with the priorities moving forward.  She confirmed that it was a requirement to publish serious case reviews in full, but that the number of children harmed had remained constant over the last 30 years.  She was confident that the partnerships across Oxfordshire would provide continually improving services for all children and young people, ensuring too that the most vulnerable children had their voices heard.

RESOLVED:  to note the annual report of the OSCB and the progress made in relation to its objectives.

Cabinet Member: Environment

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/118

Contact: Steve Smith, Service Manager – Network & Asset Management Tel: (01865) 810435

Report by Director for Environment & Economy (CA8).

West Oxfordshire District Council has contacted the County Council seeking authority to undertake vehicle removals within West Oxfordshire as allowed for in the agency agreement delegating Civil Parking Enforcement Powers to the District Council.  As a result the Oxfordshire Parking Policy has been reviewed.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve:

(a)      use by West Oxfordshire District Council of delegated powers to remove vehicles;

(b)      the amended parking policy and adopt it as the Oxfordshire Parking Policy;

(c)      the authority for the Civil Enforcement Manager to approve removal of vehicles as described in paragraph 12 of this paper;

(d)      the nomination of the post of Traffic Manager to approve the removal of vehicles as described in paragraph 14 of this paper.

West Oxfordshire District Council had contacted the County Council seeking authority to undertake vehicle removals within West Oxfordshire as allowed for in the agency agreement delegating Civil Parking Enforcement Powers to the District Council.  As a result the Cabinet had before them a reviewed Parking Policy for Oxfordshire.

RESOLVED:  to approve:

(a)          use by West Oxfordshire District Council of delegated powers to remove vehicles;

(b)          the amended parking policy and adopt it as the Oxfordshire Parking Policy;

(c)          the authority for the Civil Enforcement Manager to approve removal of vehicles as described in paragraph 12 of this paper;

(d)          the nomination of the post of Traffic Manager to approve the removal of vehicles as described in paragraph 14 of this paper.

Cabinet Member: Environment

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/129

Contact: Tom Flanagan, Service Manager – Localities, Policy & Programmes, Tel: (01865) 815691

Report by Director for Environment & Economy (CA9).

This report seeks Cabinet’s approval for the revised design of the Frideswide Square transport and public realm improvements in Oxford. 

The latest design takes into account the feedback from stakeholders and the public following consultation on the scheme that ran from 14 August to 12 September 2014.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve:

(a)      the revised design for Frideswide Square shown in Annex 4 to be priced for construction;

(b)      the Traffic Regulation Orders as advertised for a restricted zone for Frideswide Square;

(c)      the area shown on the plan in Annex 1 to be shared use by pedestrians and cyclists.

The Cabinet had before them a report which sought approval for the revised design of the Frideswide Square transport and public realm improvements in Oxford. 

The latest design before the Cabinet took into account the feedback from stakeholders and the public following consultation on the scheme that ran from 14 August to 12 September 2014.

Councillor John Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment, referred to lack of specific cycle lanes in the proposals which was of great concern to the cyclists who would be using the junction.  He asked the Cabinet Member whether he thought that mitigations to traffic hold ups had been maximised and whether he was going to listen to cyclist lobby groups and provide a scheme similar to those schemes implemented abroad with segregated cycle lanes.

Councillor Howson stressed the importance of this north – south cycle route for residents in his division. He highlighted the importance of light phasing at the Worcester Street junction. This was a 4 way junction with traffic often backed up to Walton Street and St Giles.  Further consideration to signposting, particularly in Park End Street was needed to stop traffic backing up.  He further expressed concern about the lack of Cycle lane after Upper Row/ Rewley Road – there was a need to consider what would happen to cyclists when the cycle path disappeared.  He expressed the importance of people coming from the North seeing some benefit of the scheme.

Councillor Nimmo Smith, Cabinet Member for Environment commented that he was satisfied that the junction would be much improved and that comments on the design should have been given at the consultation stage. 

Sue Scane, Director for Environment & Economy referred to paragraph 18 of the report.  The City Council Executive Board had resolved to support the scheme subject to asking the County to give further consideration to a two lane cycle lane, clearer definition of the shared space, adequate parking for loading for local businesses, signage and lighting.  The full City Council resolution and the County’s response had been placed on the website.

RESOLVED: to approve:

(a)          the revised design for Frideswide Square shown in Annex 4 to be priced for construction;

(b)          the Traffic Regulation Orders as advertised for a restricted zone for Frideswide Square;

(c)          the area shown on the plan in Annex 1 to be shared use by pedestrians and cyclists.

Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/104

Contact: Simon Furlong, Assistance Chief Fire Officer Tel: (01865) 855206

Report by Chief Fire Officer (CA10).

Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service received an external Operational Assessment Peer Review in May 2014. This is a sector led process which replaced the previous inspection regime carried out by of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Fire Service. It is managed by the Local Government Association, Chief Fire Officers Association and supported by the Fire and Rescue sector.

The Service was required to complete a self-assessment against 7 key critical areas of delivery and the Peer review team then carried out a 4 day visit to review the self-assessment. The Peer Review team are then required to produce a report to advise the Service on areas of notable practices and areas for improvement. The team also reviewed the overarching areas of Leadership, Governance and Capacity.

Having received the report from the peer review team, Cabinet are asked to note the contents and approve the recommendations.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)        note the positive overall assessment (including three areas of notable practice) of OFRS by the peer review team, particularly in relation to its integrated approach with other OCC and partner services;

(b)        support OFRS Strategic Management Team’s aim to further add value to OCC (e.g. continuing to develop its safeguarding and community protection activities with SCS, CEF, E & E and PH);

(c)        support OFRS Strategic Management Team’s aim to increase specialist resource and asset collaboration with other ‘Blue Light’ services (i.e. Fire, Police & Ambulance), in line with current government policy and on the grounds of economy, effectiveness and/or efficiency;

(d)        agree for the Peer Review report to be made public via the OCC website and through normal communication channels.

Oxfordshire County Council Fire & Rescue Service had received an external Operational Assessment Peer Review in May 2014. This was a sector led process which replaced the previous inspection regime carried out by of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Fire Service. It was managed by the Local Government Association, Chief Fire Officers Association and supported by the Fire and Rescue sector.

The Service was required to complete a self-assessment against 7 key critical areas of delivery and the Peer review team then carried out a 4 day visit to review the self-assessment. The Peer Review team were then required to produce a report to advise the Service on areas of notable practices and areas for improvement. The team also reviewed the overarching areas of Leadership, Governance and Capacity.

Having received the report from the peer review team, Cabinet were asked to note the contents and approve the recommendations.

Councillor Brighouse, Opposition Leader congratulated the Chief Fire Officer on the outcome of the Peer Review and in particular on the 365alive target.She paid tribute to the fact that Oxfordshire had retained its own Fire & Rescue Service.

Councillor Rose, Deputy Leader added his thanks to the Chief Fire Office and the Fire & Rescue service for the excellent review and commended the recommendations to the Cabinet.

RESOLVED:    to:

(a)          note the positive overall assessment (including three areas of notable practice) of OFRS by the peer review team, particularly in relation to its integrated approach with other OCC and partner services;

(b)          support OFRS Strategic Management Team’s aim to further add value to OCC (e.g. continuing to develop its safeguarding and community protection activities with SCS, CEF, E & E and PH);

(c)          support OFRS Strategic Management Team’s aim to increase specialist resource and asset collaboration with other ‘Blue Light’ services (i.e. Fire, Police & Ambulance), in line with current government policy and on the grounds of economy, effectiveness and/or efficiency;

(d)          agree for the Peer Review report to be made public via the OCC website and through normal communication channels.

Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/077

Contact: Maggie Scott, Head of Policy Tel: (01865) 816081

Report by Head of Policy (CA11).

This paper provides details of performance for quarter one (2014-15) for the Cabinet to consider. The report is required so that the Cabinet can monitor the performance of the Council in key service areas and be assured that progress is being made to improve areas where performance is below the expected level.

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note and discuss the performance reported in the dashboards.

Cabinet had before them a report that provided details of performance for quarter one for the Cabinet to consider. The report was required so that the Cabinet could monitor the performance of the Council in key service areas and be assured that progress was being made to improve areas where performance was below the expected level.

Councillor Brighouse, Chairman of the Performance Committee, commented that in her view the Performance Committee had begun to work really well and that the Committee had decided to take a more focused approach when looking at issues.  The last issue that the Committee had focused on had been around safeguarding children and budget issues to ensure that the Council could respond to vulnerable children.

The Committee were also focusing on drug rehabilitation and opiate use including the on-going use of methadone when coming off heroin, particularly in relation to child protection issues.  She hoped that the Health Scrutiny Committee would also be looking at this issue.

Councillor Hibbert Biles, Cabinet Member for Public Health & the Voluntary Sector, commented that she shared the Performance Committee’s concerns over the use of methadone and that it was a case of educating GP’s to tackle the issue.  She confirmed that steps were being taken to tackle the issue.

Following discussion:

RESOLVED:  to note the performance reported in the dashboards.

Cabinet Member: Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/078

Contact: Sue Whitehead, Principal Committee Officer Tel: (01865) 810262

To report on a quarterly basis any executive decisions taken by the Chief Executive under the specific powers and functions delegated to her under the terms of Part 7.4 of the Council’s Constitution– Paragraph 1(A)(c)(i). It is not for scrutiny call in.

RESOLVED:             to note the following executive decisions taken by the Chief Executive under the specific powers and functions delegated to her under the terms of Part 7.3 of the Council’s Constitution – Paragraph 6.3.1(A)(c)(i).

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 CA13.  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.

(Agenda Item)

The Cabinet considered a list of items (CA13) for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet together with changes and additions set out in the schedule of addenda.

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

Cabinet Member:

Forward Plan Ref: 2014/146

Contact: Jeremy Hollard, Commercial Delivery Manager, Tel: (01865) 906891

Report by Director for Environment & Economy (CA15).

The Report follows the 16 September 2014 Cabinet Report for A34 Major Improvement Schemes Ref: 2014/116.  This report is provided specifically for Chilton Interchange, and updates Cabinet on the current position of the scheme, and provides the Stage 2 Business Case for approval.

The information contained in Annex 2 is exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category:

3.         Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, in that where a tender or bidding process is in progressdisclosure would distort the proper process of open competition and would prejudice the position of the authority in the process of the transaction and the Council’s standing generally in relation to such transactions in future, to the detriment of the Council’s ability properly to discharge its fiduciary and other duties as a public authority.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)          approve the Stage 2 – Full Business Case for the Chilton Interchange scheme;

(b)          pass Delegated Authority to the Executive Director for Environment and Economy in consultation with the Leader to Award the contract for construction once tender assessment is complete and provided the costs are within the budget envelope.

The Cabinet had before them a report which followed the 16 September 2014 Cabinet Report for A34 Major Improvement Schemes Ref: 2014/116.  This report was provided specifically for Chilton Interchange, and updated the Cabinet on the current position of the scheme, and provided the Stage 2 Business Case for approval.

The information contained in Annex 2 was exempt in that it fell within the following prescribed category:

3.         Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and since it was considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, in that where a tender or bidding process was in progressdisclosure would distort the proper process of open competition and would prejudice the position of the authority in the process of the transaction and the Council’s standing generally in relation to such transactions in future, to the detriment of the Council’s ability properly to discharge its fiduciary and other duties as a public authority.

In the event the Cabinet did not discuss the Exempt Information contained within the Annex.

Councillor Hards, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance welcomed the Business Case whilst warning that there was some disquiet amongst the public regarding the validity of the Business Case.  He referred to the need for consultation on safe crossing points, especially at Chiltern Fields which was fairly isolated.

The Leader confirmed that the Business Case for the proposals was strong and that the scheme would provide many benefits for the Science Area.  In response to Councillor Hards, he referred to two pedestrian crossings, on Chiltern East Side and on the village side.  These crossings would be activated by cars coming out of the village and would have yellow boxes in front of them.

RESOLVED:    to:

(a)            approve the Stage 2 – Full Business Case for the Chilton Interchange scheme;

(b)            pass Delegated Authority to the Executive Director for Environment and Economy in consultation with the Leader to Award the contract for construction once tender assessment is complete and provided the costs are within the budget envelope.