Agenda, decisions and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on  15 December 2020  (CA3) and to receive information arising from them.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 15 December 2020 were approved and signed as an accurate record.

Four questions with Notice were asked.  Details of the questions and answers and supplementary questions and answers are set out in the Annex to the minutes.

In relation to Question 1, (Question from Councillor John Howson to Councillor Eddie Reeves) Councillor Reeves undertook to talk to officers and provide Councillor Howson with a written response as to why it had taken five failed repairs before the real problem with the gully was spotted.

In relation to Question 2, (Question from Councillor Liz Leffman to Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale) Councillor Corkin in consultation with Councillor Lindsay-Gale undertook to look at the issue of Children in households with poor connectivity or no access to broadband and provide Councillor Leffman with a written response.

This Cabinet meeting will be held virtually in order to conform with current guidelines regarding social distancing. Normally requests to speak at this public meeting are required by 9 am on the day preceding the published date of the meeting. However, during the current situation and to facilitate these new arrangements we are asking that requests to speak are submitted by no later than 9am four working days before the meeting i.e. 9 am on Wednesday 13 January 2021. Requests to speak should be sent to deborah.miller@oxfordshire.gov.uk together with a written statement of your presentation to ensure that if the technology fails then your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9 am 2 working days before the meeting.

Where a meeting is held virtually and the addressee is unable to participate virtually their written submission will be accepted.

Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

The following requests to address the meeting had been agreed by the Chairman:

Item 6 – Councillor Liz Brighouse and Councillor Glynis Phillips

Item 7 - Councillor Liz Brighouse and Councillor Glynis Phillips

Item 8 – Councillor Emma Turnbull

Item 9 – Councillor Liz Brighouse and Councillor John Sanders

Item 10 – Councillor John Sanders

The addresses are recorded at the relevant items.

Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/118

Contact: Louise Tustian, Head of Insight & Corporate Programmes Tel: 07741 607452/Hannah Doney, Head of Corporate Finance Tel: 07584 174654

Report by Corporate Director Customers & Organisational Development and Director of Finance (CA6).

This report sets out Oxfordshire County Council’s (OCC’s) progress towards Corporate Plan priorities for 2020/21 – November 2020.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED tonote thismonth’s businessmanagement andmonitoring report.

Cabinet considered a report which set out Oxfordshire County Council's progress towards Corporate Plan priorities and provided an update on the delivery of the Medium-Term Financial Plan, at 30 November 2020. The monthly business management reports were part of a suite of performance, leadership risk and budget documents which set out the Council’s ambitions, priorities and financial performance. The Corporate Plan set out the Council’s ambitions for the next two years, under the vision for Thriving Communities.It further setout the priorityactivities forthe currentbusiness year.

Councillor Liz Brighouse, Chairman of the Performance Scrutiny Committee highlighted issues from the Performance Scrutiny Committee.  She reported that the Committee had felt that it was vital that the Council set more serious targets for carbon reduction in line with the long-term ambition of being carbon neutral by 2030 because the current indicator of Green hardly reflected the amount of work that needs to be done to achieve that.

It was noted that the indicator for air quality was Amber in a year which has seen a large reduction in road traffic.  The Committee indicated that it would like more information on why that was the case.  There was a need to push more quickly for the installation of LED street lighting as part of our commitment to reduce carbon emissions and save money.

Regarding the new Home First programme, the Committee questioned whether care workers who are going into people’s homes were being prioritised for COVID-19 vaccines?

Members wondered if the Click and Collect service was regarded as an essential service given that other similar services have been halted due to COVID.

Finally, the Committee looked forward to discussing the Outcomes Framework in the new financial year and reviewing the targets and tolerances.

In relation to the points from the Performance Scrutiny Committee around their Zero Carbon targets, Councillor Constance commented that they were doubling the target previously set and were expecting their own estate to be net zero by 2030, it was a very significant target and she did not understand the comments from the Performance Scrutiny Committee.  In relation to air quality in the Risk Register being amber, despite the reduction in traffic last year, she reported that it had been noted by officers, and thought that perhaps it showed that the air quality in Oxford had already improved.  The LED street lighting project was well underway with over 3,000 streetlights already replaced and there was negotiation underway for a new contractor.  She undertook to go back to Councillor Brighouse on the non-reduction of air quality in the City.

Councillor Brighouse commented that their issue on the green indicator for zero carbon was that if you already had a green indicator, there wasn’t much room for pushing further.

Councillor Constance gave an assurance that the green indicator did not mean that they would reduce the target and that OCC was the only Council to have set action in place.

Councillor Grey noted the Performance Scrutiny Committees comments around  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4/21

Cabinet Member: Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/117

Contact: Hannah Doney, Head of Corporate Finance Tel: 07584 174654

Report by Director of Finance (CA7). REPORT TO FOLLOW

This report is the culmination of the Budget & Business Planning process for 2021/22 to 2025/26 and sets out the Cabinet’s proposed Corporate Plan and supporting budget, medium term financial strategy, capital programme and supporting strategies.

The report is set out in three sections; the Corporate Plan; the revenue budget including the draft council tax precept for 2021/22 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to 2025/26; and the Capital & Investment Strategy and Capital Programme including the Treasury Management Strategy.  Information outstanding at the time of the Cabinet meeting will be reported to Council when it considers the budget on 9 February 2021.

Cabinet’s budget proposals take into consideration the latest information on the council’s financial position outlined in this report; comments from the Performance Scrutiny Committee meeting on 18 December 2020 as well as 14 January 2021; and comments from the public consultation on the budget which closes on Wednesday13 February. The report will therefore be published on Friday 15 February.

As final notification of some funding streams is awaited, some further changes may be made to the budget proposals ahead of full Council on 9 February 2021. 

Cabinet had before it a report which was the culmination of the Budget & Business Planning process for 2021/22 to 2025/26 and set out the Cabinet’s proposed Corporate Plan and supporting budget, medium term financial strategy, capital programme and supporting strategies.

The report was set out in three sections; the Corporate Plan; the revenue budget including the draft council tax precept for 2021/22 and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to 2025/26; and the Capital & Investment Strategy and Capital Programme including the Treasury Management Strategy.  Information outstanding at the time of the Cabinet meeting would be reported to Council when it considered the budget on 9 February 2021.

Cabinet’s budget proposals took into consideration the latest information on the council’s financial position outlined in the report; comments from the Performance Scrutiny Committee meeting on 18 December 2020 as well as 14 January 2021; and comments from the public consultation on the budget which closed on Wednesday13 February.

As final notification of some funding streams was awaited, some further changes may be made to the budget proposals ahead of full Council on 9 February 2021. 

Councillor Liz Brighouse, Chairman of the Performance Scrutiny Committee read out the statement by the Performance Scrutiny Committee included in the papers at Section 4.   She added that Members of the Committee had also been concerned that local members should have been better engaged at an early stage when some of the proposals were being worked up.

Councillor Glynis Phillips, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance noted that Cabinet was being asked to approve a complex set of papers which should support each other in achieving financial balance in 2021/2022 and provide valued services in efficient and effective ways.

The Labour Group were mindful of the amount of time and effort that officers had devoted to this suite of documents. There was a tangible change to the strategic direction being taken in relation to the property and investment strategies. She further noted the renewed energy to revisit the property and investment strategies as a way of maximising assets to fund services, meet climate emergency targets and as well as considering the implications for staff and residents.

She expressed the importance of member involvement in discussions about changes to building use and this was a clear concern from members of the Performance Scrutiny Committee. Members not only knew about issues in their division, but also needed to be able to discuss any proposals with local residents, community groups and town and parish councils. One line in the Corporate Plan was ‘to listen to residents and improving what we do’ and this needed to be extended to listening to local councillors as well.

She noted that the Treasury Management Strategy and Annual Investment Strategy had been discussed at Audit & Governance as well as Performance Scrutiny and there was broad support for the decision to increase long term lending as well as seeing a reduction in cash balances to £185m by 2024/2025 to meet the Capital Programme.

She noted that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/21

Cabinet Member: Education & Cultural Services

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/170

Contact: Hayley Good, Deputy Director of Children’s Services – Education Tel: 07551 680562

Report by Deputy Director of Children’s Services – Education (CA8).

The report sets out the background to how SEND (High Needs) top-up funding currently operates for special schools in Oxfordshire and how, with Cabinet's approval, a transfer of Dedicated Schools Grant High Needs funding will help support an increase in top-up funding in line with that agreed in September for mainstream schools, in order to better meet the needs of children in these schools.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve a one-off increase in top-up funding for Special Schools for 2020/21 funded through the High Needs Block (HNB) of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), in line with the increase provided for mainstream primary and secondary schools in September 2020.

Cabinet had before it a report which set out the background to how SEND (High Needs) top-up funding currently operated for special schools in Oxfordshire and how, with Cabinet's approval, a transfer of Dedicated Schools Grant High Needs funding would help support an increase in top-up funding in line with that agreed in September for mainstream schools, in order to better meet the needs of children in these schools.

Councillor Emma Turnbull, Shadow Cabinet Member for Education & Cultural Services welcomed the recommendation for one off top of Funding Services.  The Special Schools had done an excellent job of continuing to provide excellent support throughout the pandemic but were under immense strain due to extra costs created by Covid on already highly strained budgets.  These additional costs would not be met by the Governments Covid Support packages. 

She expressed deep concern for the longer-term funding environment schools faced, the one-off uplift did not address the systemic under funding of special schools.  She further noted with concern that Oxfordshire funding of special was below the national average.  She requested to see the full comparative analysis that had been undertaken by officers and indicated that she would wish for the data to be considered by the Education Scrutiny Committee.

Young people with SEND had experienced a significant inequity in terms of the Covid response and the report had highlighted that disadvantage was baked into the system of funding of the special schools.

Councillor Lindsay-Gale thanked Councillor Turnbull for her comments and support of the one-off funding.  She agreed that the funding for the special schools was inadequate and expressed her regret that over the years OCC had allowed the level of funding to slip below the national average.  The proposal today was the start of addressing the issue to get back to being better than average.  This was against a huge deficit, which was a national issue and was due to be reviewed nationally.

A new management structure had been put in to place to reorganise how the SEND service was funded, with a paper coming forward shortly.  She undertook to make the analysis available and for the issue to be discussed at Education Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Lindsay-Gale, in introducing the report and moving the recommendations commented that the proposal would bring in-line the special schools with the secondary and primary schools and was in essence a 16% uplift of Funding.  She commended the report to the Cabinet.

RESOLVED: to approve a one-off increase in top-up funding for Special Schools for 2020/21 funded through the High Needs Block (HNB) of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), in line with the increase provided for mainstream primary and secondary schools in September 2020.

Cabinet Member: Environment

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/138

Contact: James Gagg, Infrastructure Strategy Team Leader (Interim) Tel: 07776 997303/Joseph Kay, Strategic Transport Lead Tel: 07827 979234

Report by Director of Planning & Place (CA9).

The report updates Cabinet on development of the new Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan- called the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan. Specifically, it outlines the context and key points included in a proposed Vision Document (Annex 1), on which it is proposed to undertake public consultation. It also includes a summary of the engagement exercise undertaken in Spring 2020 (Annex 2), and a summary of key evidence that has been reviewed to support development of the Vision. (Annex 3) The Cabinet are asked to endorse these 3 documents as basis for public consultation commencing in February 2021.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)              note progress on the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan and the timetable leading to Plan adoption set out in Annex 1;

(b)              endorse the content of the Vision Document in Annex 1, and the supporting engagement summary and baseline evidence base documents in Annex 2 and 3 as the basis for public consultation, commencing in February 2021 for a period of 6 weeks; and

(c)              delegate the decision on the graphical format of the final Vision Document to the Corporate Director for Communities in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport.

Cabinet had before it a report which updated Members on development of the new Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan - called the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan. The report outlined the context and key points included in a proposed Vision Document (Annex 1), on which it was proposed to undertake public consultation. It further included a summary of the engagement exercise undertaken in Spring 2020 (Annex 2), and a summary of key evidence that had been reviewed to support development of the Vision (Annex 3).  The Cabinet were asked to endorse the 3 documents as basis for public consultation commencing in February 2021.

Councillor Liz Brighouse, Chairman of the Performance Scrutiny Committee highlighted the issues raised by the Committee.  The Committee felt that the reduction of inequalities needed to be more strongly reflected, and that the public health team should be engaged in LTCP development to ensure it was in line with the Director for Public Health’s emphasis on reducing inequalities.  For example, a person’s employment prospects might be seriously limited by poor public transport connections where they live.

In relation to Consultation, the Committee questioned how the consultation was going to work if Covid restrictions remained in place for a long period. The Committee felt that there was a need for an equality impact assessment on the consultation itself to ensure that it reached all communities and questioned whether the consultation would include AONBs.

In relation to public transport, the Committee noted that there were specific challenges in rural areas, including connectivity into and between main towns.  Nearly all the money for buses seemed to be going to Oxford or for services to and from Oxford.There was support for develop delivery hubs to reduce the number of large lorries in built-up areas.

The Committee felt that congestion on the Oxford Ring-Road needed to be tackled and it was noted that much of the congestion took place in areas experiencing deprivation. Concern was expressed about HGV rat running and the need for more access control. There was also concern about tree removal by the A40 when more need trees were needed by main roads to assist in air quality.

In relation to electric vehicles, the Committee noted that there was also the challenge of electric vehicle ‘switch’ and the need to provide for this in terms of charging points for those who do not have a garage or driveway. Concern was also expressed that school transport would be the last to get electric buses given that they always seem to have the oldest vehicles.

On planning, the Committee noted that there was an issue with out of town retail undermining local connectivity and disadvantaging people. They sought assurance that there would be connectivity improvements to those new locations.

The Committee questioned how it could be ensured that existing new development proposals reflected new policy priorities.  Development needed to have more mixed use and to move away from large housing-only estates.  Look more at place shaping, including better designed streets.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7/21

Cabinet Member: Environment

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/168

Contact: Charlotte Simms. Prinicpal Minerals & Waste Policy Officer Tel: 07741 607726

Report by Director for Planning & Place (CA10).

To seek approval of the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (Eleventh Revision) 2021, in order to have effect from 19 January 2021 and to delegate final detailed amendment and editing to the Corporate Director of Place and Growth in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to approve the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (Eleventh Revision) 2021 at Annex 1, in order to have effect from 19 January 2021 and to delegate final detailed amendment and editing to the Corporate Director of Place and Growth in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment.

Cabinet had before them a report which sought approval of the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (Eleventh Revision) 2021, in order to have effect from 19 January 2021 and to delegate final detailed amendment and editing to the Corporate Director of Place and Growth in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment.

Councillor John Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment noted that the additional preferred options consultation had added yet another necessary delay to more than a decade of delays, during which the Council had been at risk of exploitation by developers pushing to exploited the mineral reserves of the County to a potential inappropriate cost to the County and to residents.  The fact that this had not happened yet, was due to the diligent efforts of officers who had successfully discouraged such exploitation and partly due to luck.

He noted that the final completion date was now December 2023.  He had been on the Minerals and Waste working party for most of the past 16 years and that he had been given an assurance by officers that he would be invited to any celebrations when the final plan was adopted.

Councillor Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment, commented that it was deeply regretful that they had not had an up to date Minerals & Waste Strategy since 1995.  They had agreed the Strategy in 2017, the report before the Cabinet today was concerned with the site allocation.  Not only were they not happy with the sites from the first iteration of the scheme, they were concerned that the estimates of the gravel capable of being extracted was less than expected and they had received a lot of push back about many of the sites.  Therefore, they had decided to stand back and review the allocation.

They had now engaged Northamptonshire County Council who had recently completed their Minerals and Waste Strategy and so had recent relevant experience with the Inspectorate, to assist them in shaping their allocations.  They needed to revise their timetable, which was now out of date, but upon the advice of the advisory group, they had decided that it was better to take their time and get it right.

Councillor Lindsay Gale commented and paid tribute to the diligence of her community which had picked up the discrepancy in the amount of gravel that was expected to be extracted.

Councillor Gray commented that the important thing was to get it right and get it right the first time for their communities.

Councillor Constance moved the recommendation set out in the report.

RESOLVED:  to approve the Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Scheme (Eleventh Revision) 2021 at Annex 1, in order to have effect from 19 January 2021 and to delegate final detailed amendment and editing to the Corporate Director of Place and Growth in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment.

Recommendations Agreed.

Cabinet Member: Environment

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/172

Contact: Sarah Gilbert, Climate Action Team Leader Tel: 07867 467797

Report by Corporate Director Communities (CA11).

In support of the council’s climate action and healthy place shaping agendas, as well as national commitments to a green recovery, a funding application in relation to the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery 1b has been submitted. If successful, the project would deliver home energy efficiency retrofits to 150 households living in energy inefficient properties and fuel poverty.

The report outlines the bid, and, should the bid be successful, seeks to delegate authority to the Corporate Director Communities to proceed, subject to the terms and conditions of the grant offer letter.

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)       note the submission of a funding bid to support retrofit of homes in fuel poverty under Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery 1b (GHG LAD 1b).

(b)       Support the recommendation to delegate authority to the Corporate Director Communities in conjunction with S151 Officer, and Lead Member for Environment to review and conclude legal agreements should the application be successful.

In support of the council’s climate action and healthy place shaping agendas, as well as national commitments to a green recovery, a funding application in relation to the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery 1b has been submitted. If successful, the project would deliver home energy efficiency retrofits to 150 households living in energy inefficient properties and fuel poverty.

Cabinet had before it a report (CC11) which outlined the bid, and, in the event that the bid was successful, sought to delegate authority to the Corporate Director Communities to proceed, subject to the terms and conditions of the grant offer letter.

Councillor John Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment wished the Council well for its bid for the grant.  However, he expressed concerned that the proposal did not go far enough with only 150 houses to be upgraded out of a need for over 4,000 houses to be upgraded every year.

His understanding was that this was a part of a wider government scheme which had seemed to be going for quite some time, he questioned whether this proposal was just for those people who could not afford to improve their home’s insulation.  He expressed concern that not only had the builders to be trust marked accredited, but also accredited to publicly available specification standards which very few contractors were signed up to. 

The Green Homes Grant was designed to create skilled jobs and cut household emissions and was muted to help 600,000 homes become energy efficient by March 2021.  The scheme had a complex structure that required homeowners to choose primary measures such as installing a heat pump or loft insulation, before they could access value adding secondary measures like double glazing.  The structure had led to adverse incentives that had pushed people to install specific measures, even if that was not what their home most needed.  Additionally, householders nationally had experienced considerable delays in getting approval.  In a survey by the Environmental Audit Committee, 86% of people rated the grant as poor or very poor.  He hoped that the government had learnt from that and that the current scheme becomes a success.  He questioned how they would find the households or whether they were expecting households to contact the Council.  He urged the Council to take great care to ensure the proper take up of the scheme.

Councillor Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment, thanked Councillor Sanders for his well-informed comments.

Ms Rachel Wiley, Assistant Director for Strategic Infrastructure and Planning confirmed that the bid was specifically for the local authority programme to deal with 150 homes in fuel poverty.  It was important to be aware that they were already working on the better homes better health programme that was delivered by NEFF, so this was the County Council working in collaboration with the districts and the City to fund this programme, to ensure that those homes that are worse performing for energy efficiency were identified and to work with those households in fuel poverty to improve health.

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9/21

Cabinet Member: Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/119

Contact: Sue Whitehead, Principal Committee Officer Tel: 07393 001213

To report on a quarterly basis any executive decisions taken under the specific powers and functions delegated under the terms of Part 7.2 (Scheme of Delegation to Officers) of the Council’s Constitution – Paragraph 6.3(c)(i). It is not for scrutiny to call in.

Cabinet noted a quarterly report on executive decisions taken under the specific powers and functions delegated under the terms of Part 7.2 (Scheme of Delegation to Officers) of the Council’s Constitution – Paragraph 6.3(c)(i).  It is not for Scrutiny call-in.

Cabinet Member: All

Contact Officer: Sue Whitehead, Principal Committee Officer Tel: 07393 001213

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.

The Cabinet considered a list of items for the immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet together with changes and additions set out in the schedule of addenda and tabled at the Meeting as follows:

Delayed until further notice:

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