Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were no apologies.  The following Cabinet Members attended remotely in order to minimise the possibility of Covid transmission:

Councillors Liz Brighouse, Neil Fawcett, Mark Lygo and Pete Sudbury.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2021 (CA3) and to receive information arising from them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2021 were approved and signed as an accurate record.

The questions received from County Councillors and responses are set out in an Annex to these Minutes.

Currently council meetings are taking place in-person (not virtually) with Covid safety procedures operating in the venues.  However, members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting ‘virtually’ through an online connection.  While you can ask to attend the meeting in person, you are strongly encouraged to attend ‘virtually’ to minimise the risk of Covid-19 infection.

Please also note that in line with current government guidance all attendees are strongly encouraged to take a lateral flow test in advance of the meeting.

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 15 December 2021 Requests to speak should be sent to colm.ocaomhanaigh@oxfordshire.gov.uk .  You will be contacted by the officer regarding the arrangements for speaking.

If you ask to attend in person, the officer will also advise you regarding Covid-19 safety at the meeting.  If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit 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. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

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

Item 6: Business Management and Monitoring Report

Councillor David Bartholomew

Item 7: Capital Programme Update and Monitoring Report

Councillor David Bartholomew

Cabinet Member: Cabinet Member for Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/128

Contact: Louise Tustian, Head of Insight & Corporate Programmes Tel: 07741 607452/ Kathy Wilcox, Head of Financial Strategy Tel: 07788 302163

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

This report presents the October 2021 performance, risk and finance position for the Council.

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED

a)           To note the October business management and monitoring report.

b)           To agree virements set out in Annex C -2b which relate to the Covid-19 costs incurred by the directorates between July and September 2021.

c)           To note virements set out in Annex C-2c

d)           To approve the bad debt, write off in Annex C paragraph 48

e)           To approve the use of the Transformation Reserve and COVID Reserve paragraphs 80 and 81

Cabinet considered the report presenting the October 2021 performance, risk and finance position for the Council.

Councillor David Bartholomew, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance, addressed the financial aspects of the report:

·         He was concerned about the increase in the variance against budget of £1.2m in the last month including a deterioration of £200,000 for children’s social care.

·         He was pleased to hear that the issue of the Memorandum of Cooperation in relation to agency costs was being revisited and looked forward to seeing the details.

·         He noted a 10.8% increase in the average costs of residential home placements.  Individual placements can cost over £250,000 per annum which the public would find hard to understand.  He suggested cooperation with other councils to develop innovative solutions.

·         There had been an overspend of £400,000 under Community Operations due to transport fleet services.  An update was promised in the next report which he hoped would show an improvement.

·         He expressed disappointment that the corporate debt collection rate and adult social care invoice collection rate had both fallen below target.  He hoped that the Cabinet Member would be able to assist staff to improve these rates.

Councillor Calum Miller, Cabinet Member for Finance responded and summarised the report as follows:

·         It was expected that the Memorandum of Cooperation would be in place in time for the new financial year but a number of councils in special measures had indicated that they could not participate.

·         He agreed that the increase in costs for external placements in children’s social care was worrying but it was a function of the market.  The Competition and Markets Authority reported on this in November and expressed concern that the market may be broken.  The Cabinet will certainly add its voice to those who were seeking to improve the situation.

·         Transport services across the country were experiencing increases in staffing and fuel costs.  So there was a limit to what this Council could do to control costs.

·         The Council will continue to pursue debts where they can be recovered but they would also continue to show sensitivity to those residents who have been negatively affected by the pandemic.

·         There were two new red ratings in the report.  One under Finance related to matters largely outside the Council’s control regarding the High Needs Block and Adult Social Care.  The other related to Infrastructure Delivery where there were delays conditioned by the outside environment.

·         There was a new risk identified relating to Deprivation of Liberty Authorisations.  The relevant Corporate Director and Cabinet Member were looking to do everything in their power to avoid being forced into this position.

Councillor Miller moved the recommendations and they were agreed.

RESOLVED:

a)            To note the October business management and monitoring report.

b)           To agree virements set out in Annex C -2b which relate to the Covid-19 costs incurred by the directorates between July and September 2021.

c)            To note virements set out in Annex C-2c

d)           To approve the bad debt, write off in Annex C  ...  view the full minutes text for item 127/21

Cabinet Member: Finance

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/126

Contact: Kathy Wilcox, Head of Financial Strategy Tel: 07788 302163

Report by Director of Finance (CA7).

Finance report on capital spending against budget allocations, including any necessary capital programme approvals.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

a)            Agree the increase in the budget for the following schemes:

·      £1.415m for the Lord Williams’s School, Thame expansion by 1 form entry funded from basic need programme contingency.

·      £1.198m increase to the Kennington Bridge Maintenance Scheme funded from capital programme contingency.

b)           Approve the updated Capital Programme at Annex 2.

Cabinet considered a finance report on capital spending against budget allocations, including any necessary capital programme approvals.

Councillor David Bartholomew, Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance, drew attention to the following:

·         He hoped that the reduced spending on the Kennington Bridge due to revised timing of the detailed design stage did not indicate slippage on this important project.

·         He noted the cap of £35m placed on spending on the Science Transit Phase 2 Scheme by the Department for Transport and asked if this meant that the Council was liable for any overspend on the project.

·         He welcomed the provision by the Department of funding towards the provision of electric charging points in district council car parks across the county.

Councillor Calum Miller responded that he was not in a position to answer the question about liability for overspend on the Science Transit Scheme but would forward information on that.  He also suggested meeting with Councillor Bartholomew to discuss ways of limiting the Council’s liability on Kennington Bridge.

Councillor Miller highlighted the decrease in the latest outturn forecast spend for the capital programme for 2021/22 of £29.2m to £205.3m and the decrease in the total ten-year capital programme of £25.1m to £1,345.8m.  He moved the recommendations and they were agreed,

RESOLVED to:

a)            Agree the increase in the budget for the following schemes:

·      £1.415m for the Lord Williams’s School, Thame expansion by 1 form entry funded from basic need programme contingency.

·      £1.198m increase to the Kennington Bridge Maintenance Scheme funded from capital programme contingency.

b)           Approve the updated Capital Programme at Annex 2.

Cabinet Member: Corporate Services

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/104

Contact: Karen Edwards, Director of Human Resources Tel: 07825 521526

Report by Corporate Director Customers, Organisational Development and Resources (CA8).

Quarterly staffing report providing details of key people numbers and analysis of main changes since the previous report.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the report.

Cabinet had before it a quarterly staffing report providing details of key people numbers and analysis of main changes since the previous report.

Councillor Glynis Phillips summarised the report:

·         congratulating staff on continuing to deliver services against a background of uncertainty.

·         noting that over 700 managers will have trained in delivering one-to-one meetings with staff by the end of the financial year as part of the Delivering the Future Together programme.

·         since Q2 managers can now record sick leave on the system on behalf of staff members who do not have access to the system.  This has contributed to an increase in sick leave recorded from 2.74% in Q1 to 3.35% in Q2.

·         during the pandemic stress, anxiety and depression has accounted for 29% of all sick leave compared to 19% pre-pandemic.  It will be a focus for directorate leaderships to refer to Occupational Health and HR Business Partners as appropriate.

·         It was hoped that restructuring in the Environment and Place Directorate will reduce their agency spend over time.

Cabinet Members echoed the thanks to staff for their continued work during the pandemic.  They raised a number of points and Councillor Phillips responded as follows:

·         There was some very good managerial support available to staff to reduce any feelings of isolation due to increased remote working.

·         The restructuring of Environment and Place gave the opportunity for the development of job descriptions in order to directly recruit the staff needed.

·         Much of the agency spend came from Adult Social Care where there was a real shortage of workers.

Councillors Liz Brighouse and Jenny Hannaby added that both the children and adult directorates were working to train their own social workers and other specialists.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Cabinet Member: Travel & Development Strategy

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/159

Contact: Chris Stevenson, Planning Obligations Manager Tel: 07825 052782

Report by Corporate Director Environment & Place (CA9).

The Infrastructure Funding Statement is a statutory statement of fact to be reported annually, by 31 December 2021 on developer contributions secured, spent or received during the previous financial year, 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

a)            Consider the content of the Infrastructure Funding Statement 2020/21.

b)           Approve the publication of the report onto the Oxfordshire County Council website.

Cabinet was recommended to approve the Infrastructure Funding Statement which is a statutory statement of fact to be reported annually on developer contributions secured, spent or received during the previous financial year.

Councillor Duncan Enright, Cabinet Member for Travel & Development Strategy, emphasised that developer contributions were a very important part of funding for the capital programme.  He reminded Members that the Infrastructure Strategy was out for consideration and that would inform how this development money would be spent to move more towards a zero carbon economy.

Councillor Glynis Phillips asked that local Members be involved as early as possible in the decision-making process.  Councillor Enright agreed that Members had valuable insights to bring to the process.

Councillor Calum Miller stressed the importance of managing monies received but not yet spent in order to ensure we can deliver on projects and make full use of these funds.

The recommendations were put and agreed.

RESOLVED to:

a)            Consider the content of the Infrastructure Funding Statement 2020/21.

b)           Approve the publication of the report onto the Oxfordshire County Council website.

Cabinet Member: Adult Social Care

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/187

Contact: Steven Turner, OSAB Business Manager Tel: 07917 534230

Report by Corporate Director – Adult and Housing Services (CA10).

The OSAB report provides an overview of the work of the Safeguarding Board and its partners during 2020-21. It is a statutory requirement that an annual report is produced and shared with partners. Some partners, such as the Local Authority, have specific expectations placed upon them within the Care Act guidance about how they will respond to the report.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the content of the report, particularly the findings of the Vulnerable Adults Mortality group (page 15), the merging findings from the Homeless Mortality Review group (page 16) and the overall summary of progress during the year including the outstanding work (page 24).

Cabinet was asked to note the report providing an overview of the work of the Safeguarding Board and its partners during 2020-21.

Councillor Jenny Hannaby, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, introduced Jayne Chidgey-Clark, Independent Chair, OSAB; Alison Chapman, Designated Nurse and Safeguarding Lead, Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and Karen Fuller, Deputy Director Adult Social Care.

Alison Chapman and Karen Fuller highlighted elements of the report:

·         The Board was actually able to enhance its work during the pandemic utilising virtual media and has been able to respond to every need as it has arisen.  This despite the government having suggested that the Board could step down services during the pandemic.

·         Making Safeguarding Personal has been a success.  92.5% of respondents reported that risk to them had been reduced.

·         Before the pandemic the Board was already focussed on early mortality among those with Learning Disabilities.  Lessons were learned through studying each individual case.  Oxfordshire has been one of the few areas that has not seen in increase in the number of deaths of people with Learning Disabilities during the pandemic.

·         A Homeless Mortality Review Group has been set up to review deaths and advise the partnership groups and the Countywide Homelessness Steering Group of their findings.

·         Processes have been put in place to have shared risk assessments for those with complex needs.  Anybody in the partnership can refer a case into this system.

Jayne Chidgey-Clark added that it was a privilege to be appointed Independent Chair in November this year.  The report pre-dated her but she reiterated that the priorities would continue to be people with Learning Disabilities, Autism, Homelessness and the complexity agenda.

Councillor Hannaby welcomed Jayne Chidgey-Clark and thanked officers for the report and for all the work of the wonderful team in safeguarding.

Councillor Pete Sudbury described the report as inspiring.  He particularly welcomed the introduction of joint risk assessments.  Throughout his professional career he had seen many reports say that the crisis could have been avoided if information had been shared.

The Chair asked the Independent Chair OSAB to take back the thanks of the Board to all staff who have worked so well in very difficult circumstances.

RESOLVED: to note the content of the report, particularly the findings of the Vulnerable adults Mortality group (page 15), the merging findings from the Homeless Mortality Review group (page 16) and the overall summary of progress during the year including the outstanding work (page 24).

Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader of the Council

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/197

Contact: Lara Patel, Deputy Director of Children’s Services Tel: 07917 534366

Report by Corporate Director of Children’s Services (CA11).

This paper highlights findings from the Board's annual report on the effectiveness of local arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Oxfordshire.

Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the annual report of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board senior safeguarding partners and to consider the key messages.

Cabinet had before it for noting a paper highlighting findings from the Board's annual report on the effectiveness of local arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Oxfordshire.

Councillor Liz Brighouse, Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Young People’s Services, introduced the Independent Chair of the Board, Derek Benson.  She thanked all staff across the partnership for the work they do in safeguarding children and noted that many would probably be busier over the Christmas and New Year period while most people were winding down.

Derek Benson highlighted some of the strengths and achievements of the Board:

·         The Board benefits from the continuing commitment of the police service, health partners, children’s social care, the voluntary sector, fire service, probation service and the education sector.

·         He recommended members to read the report into the case of Jacob which concluded that services needed to be more joined up.

·         Training had been delivered to over 15,000 local practitioners.

·         The move to online was done quickly and effectively.

·         There will continue to be a focus on neglect and exploitation.

·         His personal view was that children were better served by being in education.  A lot of work has been done during the pandemic to ensure that vulnerable children were in school.

·         There continued to be concern about the delays in accessing mental health services especially since the pandemic has seen an increase in anxiety particularly in young people.

Tan Lee, Strategic Safeguarding Partnerships Manager, summarised the case reviews and quality assurance work:

·         Lessons learned across the reviews were the need to identify and intervene early as well as improving the whole-system approach.

·         On neglect in the family home, they were working with a national expert and a review showed that, while the building blocks were in place, more needed to be done to embed the processes.

·         On exploitation, work was focussed on being better at keeping children in school and how the whole system works together.

·         Families involved in reviews have said that they want to continue engaging with services to support the learning from their cases.

·         Surveys had shown that 75% of responding practitioners felt that the safeguarding leadership had been visible during the pandemic and 95% had undertaken safeguarding training in the last three years.

·         There were key concerns from the pandemic around increases in mental health issues, access to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub and domestic abuse.

Derek Benson concluded by drawing attention to the shortage of foster homes which was a national outrage.  He had written to the government on this issue and still awaited a response.

Kevin Gordon, Corporate Director for Children’s Services, thanked Derek Benson for being a fantastic Chair during a very difficult year.

Councillor Brighouse echoed concerns about the lack of appropriate placements – especially in-county – and stated that the Cabinet would be supporting the Independent Chair on that point.  Leaders across the South East Region were starting to work together on this.

Councillor Calum Miller, as a Chair of School Governors, emphasised how  ...  view the full minutes text for item 132/21

Cabinet Member: Community Services & Safety

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/056

Contact: Lesli Good, Assistant Director, Cultural Services Tel: 07930 617798

Report by Corporate Director of Customers and Organisational Development (CA12).

In April 2021 the Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet commissioned the development of a strategy for the future direction of the county’s library and heritage services. 

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to

a)                  Agree the draft Libraries and Heritage Strategy and action plan as set out in appendices 1 and 2, developed following a programme of stakeholder engagement and feedback from the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

b)                 Agree a period of 8 weeks for public consultation on the strategy on the Let’s Talk Oxfordshire portal and taking place within libraries and heritage venues.

c)                  Note the feedback provided by the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee and that an annual review of the actions to deliver the strategy will be reported to the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the future.

Cabinet considered the draft Libraries and Heritage Services Strategy. 

Councillor Neil Fawcett, Cabinet Member for Community Services and Safety, introduced the draft which took into account feedback from stakeholders, councillors and the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He thanked Lesli Good for her hard work in bringing the document to this stage.

Councillor Fawcett emphasised the importance of ensuring continued access to libraries as restrictions come into effect again due to Covid.  He particularly thanked Councillor Kieron Mallon for his constructive engagement with the strategy.  The next stage was to go out for public consultation.

Councillor Jenny Hannaby praised library staff for being so welcoming and had been delighted to see so many children using the library on a recent visit.

The Chair thanked officers for a very lively document that would encourage a lot of feedback.

Councillor Glynis Phillips proposed the recommendations.

RESOLVED to:

a)               Agree the draft Libraries and Heritage Strategy and action plan as set out in appendices 1 and 2, developed following a programme of stakeholder engagement and feedback from the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

b)              Agree a period of 8 weeks for public consultation on the strategy on the Let’s Talk Oxfordshire portal and taking place within libraries and heritage venues.

c)               Note the feedback provided by the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee and that an annual review of the actions to deliver the strategy will be reported to the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the future.

Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader of the Council/Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Young People’s Services

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/202

Contact: Jessie Dobson, Partnership Youth Development Manager Tel: 07776 997935

Report by Corporate Director of Children’s Services (CA13).

For information only.

The purpose of this report is to share progress of the youth offer development.  It provides details about the structure for the Youth Services that the Children Education and Families Department are currently putting in place

Cabinet received for information a report to share progress of the youth offer development, providing details about the structure for the Youth Services that the Children Education and Families Department were putting in place.

Councillor Liz Brighouse, Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Young People’s Services, introduced the report.  She stated that youth workers will be employed across the county for the first time in many years.  They will support the work of other professionals and the voluntary sector.  The report was clear on the outcomes expected.

Kevin Gordon, Corporate Director for Children’s Services, hoped that in the new year Members could be involved in road show events in their own areas and play a role in how this was shaped.

Councillor Glynis Phillips noted that the new workers would be placed consistently across the county.  After a year or so they would have more information on inequalities and she hoped the workforce would then be enlarged and additional staff allocated equitably.

Councillor Andy Graham noted that there was significant reliance on the voluntary sector and he thought that refresher training might be needed.  He added that it should be on the agenda for each locality meeting how they can work with this great initiative.

Councillor Brighouse responded that there was some magnificent training being delivered thanks to good infrastructure in the county to support voluntary work and the new workers will work alongside that system.  She believed that there was already a lot of information available on inequalities and thanked Jessie Dobson in particular for her work on this.

Cabinet Members welcomed implementation of this election manifesto promise to reintroduce youth workers, noting how the pandemic restrictions had been particularly hard on young people.

Cabinet Member: All

Contact Officer: Alison Bartlett, Democratic Support Officer Tel: 07741 607515

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 CA14.  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.

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