Agenda, decisions and minutes

Before inviting the Solicitor of the Council to seek nominations for the office of Chairman of the Council, Councillor John Sanders (the retiring Chairman) addressed the meeting, reflecting on his year in office, in particular his time as ambassador for the Council.  He thanked members of the Council for their support throughout the year. 

He then went on to thank his wife, who had been her consort for the year and his personal assistant, Sara Lenihan, The Head of Paid Services, Peter Clark and the Monitoring Officer, Nick Graham for their help and support during the year.  He then presented his wife with her consort badge and flowers as a token of his appreciation.

Councillors Brighouse, Hudspeth, Webber, Williams, Atkins and Harris paid tribute to Councillor John Sanders, expressing their thanks for his work over the last year as Chairman and ambassador for the Council.

The Chief Legal & Monitoring Officer sought nominations for the position of Chairman of the Council.

Councillor Hudspeth proposed and Councillor Brighouse seconded that Councillor Michael Waine be elected Chairman of the Council for the 2016/17 Council Year. 

There being no further nominations and no dissent, Councillor Michael Waine was declared elected as Chairman for the 2015/16 Council Year. Councillor Waine then read and signed the statutory Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

RESOLVED: (unanimously) that Councillor Michael Waine be elected Chairman of the Council for the 2016/17 Council Year.

The Chairman called for nominations for the office of Vice-Chairman.  Councillor Webber proposed and Councillor Brighouse seconded that Councillor Zoe Patrick be elected Vice-Chairman for the 2016/2017 Council Year.  There being no further nominations and no dissent, Councillor Zoe Patrick was declared elected.  Councillor Patrick read and signed the statutory Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

RESOLVED: (unanimously) that Councillor Zoe Patrick be elected as Vice-Chairman for the 2015/16 Council Year.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 5 April 2016 (CC1) and to receive information arising from them.

RESOLVED:  (by 57 votes to 1) that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 5 April 2016 were approved and signed subject to the word ‘tribe’ being changed to ‘tribute’ in Minute 13/16.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Fawcett, Hards, Langridge, Purse and Stratford.

The Chairman reported as follows:

·         Council sent its best wishes to Yvonne Staniford and family, wishing her a speedy recovery;

·         Council congratulated Oxford United on their recent promotion.

Ms Charlie Payne spoke in relation to Agenda Item 11, Scrutiny Committee – Annual Report.  She referred to the service and geography gap analysis commissioned by the performance scrutiny committee to identify how the £2m could be used most effectively in February 2016 and the fact that it had not been undertaken.  She believed if the survey had been undertaken it would have shown that whilst some of the county would be well covered a great many areas of the County and some of the most vulnerable children in Oxfordshire would have to travel an average of between 7 and 19 miles to their nearest family centre.

She believed that the plans had been rushed, illogical and undemocratic and expressed regret that the £2m would now not be spent on children’s centres, referring to the social community impact assessment that stated that the closure of centres may lead to an increase in safeguarding risk to children.  She urged the Council to request that the appropriate analysis is carried out immediately.

Report by the Leader of the Council (CC9) – to be published with the Schedule of Business.

Council is RECOMMENDED to note the delegations made by the Leader of the Council with regard to the functions of the Cabinet.

Under the Council’s Constitution, the Leader of the Council was required to inform the Annual Meeting of the Council of the delegations that he had made, as Leader of the council, in relations to the functions of the Cabinet.  Council had before them a report (Annex 1 to the Schedule of Business) which set out the delegations.

RESOLVED: (on a motion from Councillor Hudspeth, seconded by Councillor Rose and carried nem con) to note the delegations made by the Leader of the Council with regards to the functions of the Cabinet.

Report by the Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer (CC10).

The Council is required by the Local Government & Housing Act 1989 to review the political balance on its committees on an annual basis. The report sets out how the rules operate and seeks approval for adjustments which are necessary to achieve the balance across and within committees to comply with the rules.

In summary the changes necessary are:

(a)       to obtain balance across the scrutiny committees, the Green Group has a seat on the Performance & Scrutiny Committee. There are no unfilled seats;

 (b)      to obtain balance across the other committees of the Council and overall the Green Group has a seat on either the Remuneration Committee or the Planning & Regulation Committee;

(c)        Once political balance has been applied there remains one unfilled seat (either on Remuneration or Planning & Regulation Committee) which must be allocated to the independent members of the Council.

The Council is RECOMMENDED:

(a)          to confirm the political balance on committees shown in Annex 2  to the report;

(b)          to appoint to committees the councillors and co-opted members shown in Annex 3, subject to any changes reported in any amended schedule and at the meeting;

The Council was required by the Local Government & Housing Act 1989 to review the political balance on its committees on an annual basis. The Council had before it a report (CC10), together with additional information set out in the Schedule of Business (Annex 3) which set out how the rules operate and sought approval for adjustments which were necessary to achieve the balance across and within committees to comply with the rules.

In summary the changes necessary were:

(a)       to obtain balance across the scrutiny committees, the Green Group had a seat on the Performance & Scrutiny Committee. There were no unfilled seats;

 (b)      to obtain balance across the other committees of the Council and overall, the Green Group had a seat on either the Remuneration Committee or the Planning & Regulation Committee;

(c)        Once political balance had been applied there remained one unfilled seat (either on Remuneration or Planning & Regulation Committee) which had to be allocated to the independent members of the Council.

Councillor Waine moved and Councillor Patrick seconded that the recommendations set out on the face of the Agenda and in the report be adopted.

Councillor Brighouse notified the Council of a further change on Employees Joint Consultative Committee, in that Councillor John Sanders would take the place of Councillor John Christie.

Councillor Lynda Atkins nominated herself on the Planning & Regulation Committee.

The motion was put to the vote and was carried nem con.

RESOLVED: (nem con)

(a)          to confirm the political balance on committees shown in Annex 2  to the report;

(b)          to appoint to committees the councillors and co-opted members shown in Annex 3, subject to Councillor Lynda Atkins being appointed onto the Planning & Regulation Committee.

The report is structured to reflect the activity of the Council’s three scrutiny committees; Performance Scrutiny, Education Scrutiny and Health Overview & Scrutiny and the Cabinet Advisory Groups. The report highlights the work carried out by each Committee to scrutinise service activity and performance as well as Cabinet decisions taken over the past year.

Council is RECOMMENDED to receive the report.

The Council had before them the Annual Report of the Scrutiny Committee (CC11) which set out the activity of the Council’s three scrutiny committees; Performance Scrutiny, Education Scrutiny and Health Overview & Scrutiny and the Cabinet Advisory Groups. The report highlighted the work carried out by each Committee to scrutinise service activity and performance as well as Cabinet decisions taken over the past year.

Councillor Brighouse moved and Councillor Constance seconded that the Council receive the Annual Report of the scrutiny committees.

Councillor Bartholomew reported that the Audit & Governance Committee had considered the report at their meeting on 20 April 2016.  The Committee requested the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the Group Leaders, to consider the future structure of Scrutiny with the specific option of creating an Adult & Child Social Care Scrutiny Committee.

Following debate the motion was put to the vote and was carried by 56 votes to 0, with 2 abstentions.

At its Annual Meeting, Council is required to agree the officer scheme of delegation within the Council's Constitution.  The Scheme of Delegation forms Part 7.2 of the Constitution and gives delegated authority to the Head of Paid Service, directors and to other chief officers whose titles and/or areas of responsibility are set out in Part 2, Article 13 of the Constitution.

This report highlights some minor amendments to the Scheme of Delegation and to Article 13 principally changes taking place since the departure of the Chief Executive last year.

Council is RECOMMENDED to note the amendments to Article 13 and to Part 7.2 of the Constitution and to approve the Scheme of Officer Delegation (Part 7.2) as amended.

At its Annual Meeting Council is required to agree the officer scheme officer scheme of delegation within the council’s Constitution.  The scheme of delegation forms Part 7.2 of the Constitution and gives delegated authority to the Head of Paid Service, directors and other chief officers whose titles and/or areas of responsibility are set out in Part 2, Article 13 of the Constitution.

The Council had before them a report (CC12) which highlighted some minor amendments to the Scheme of Delegation and to Article 13 principally changes taking place since the departure of the Chief Executive last year.

RESOLVED: (on a motion by Councillor Waine, seconded by Councillor Patrick and carried nem con) to note the amendments to Article 13 and to Part 7.2 of the Constitution and to approve the Scheme of Officer Delegation (Part 7.2) as amended.