Plans to abolish 6 district councils.

Mon 30 Jan 2017, 09:47

A reminder that there is an opportunity to find out more and to discuss the One Oxfordshire proposals at the library this afternoon (Monday 30th) from 2:30 to 4:30pm

Sun 29 Jan 2017, 16:27

The Oxfordshire Chief Executive salary is set out in their audited accounts. The CX earns @£150,000 (you need to look at the two part year figures to estimate this). The £250,000 figure to the previous CX reflects her redundancy package.

The savings (if any) from abolishing levels of local government are notoriously difficult to estimate. Much of the County spending goes straight onto schools or social services and will be incurred whatever structure is adopted.

Four of the five district councils have already shared services (ranging from Chief Executive to refuse collection contracts) with other councils - mainly to reduce costs.

The county council has developed shared arrangements for its back office (e.g. accountancy) with Hampshire county council with the same aim.

Any savings from changing structures would take some time to achieve, and before any savings from merging Oxfordshire councils is secured the costs of unwinding the existing shared arrangements would need to be taken account of.

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/sites/default/files/folders/documents/aboutyourcouncil/counciltaxandfinance/auditandaccounts/T040-05StatementofAccounts2015-16.pdf

Fri 27 Jan 2017, 14:47

Apologies for the error in my earlier post, it is the Chief Exec of OCC who is on a salary circa £250k pa, not the leader of the council.

The question regarding OCC value for money remains a valid one however.

Sat 21 Jan 2017, 21:03

Since the point's been raised:

Ian Hudspeth's remuneration as Leader of the county council is about £39,000.
www.ianhudspeth.com/id1.html

Theresa May's basic salary as an MP is £74,962 on top of which she also receives £75,440 for her role as Prime Minister, making a total of about £150,000 (exact figures vary depending on when you count from).
fullfact.org/law/how-much-does-prime-minister-get-paid/

Theresa May also gets to live in No.10 for free of course, and has main use of Chequers.

I'm neither defending nor supporting either salary package, I just think the facts are helpful since the point was raised.

Sat 21 Jan 2017, 11:47

Here is the link, fighting talk: "We think all six councils should be ABOLISHED and be replaced by just ONE new council for the whole of Oxfordshire."
www.oneoxfordshire.org/our-vision

And here is the link to "Join the Debate" ... "Read the draft proposals and have your say online"
www.oneoxfordshire.org/get-involved

Fri 20 Jan 2017, 22:21

If one layer of local government is to be cut away, I would prefer that it was the County Council. If I am not mistaken Ian Hudspeth draws a salary about 50% greater than the Prime Minister - for what?

Also, the County Council ought to keep its nose out of health & social care. That should be an NHS responsibility from top to bottom, then bedblocking would be less of a problem as the funding would all be from the one NHS budget. Utopia? I don't think so!

Fri 20 Jan 2017, 11:33 (last edited on Fri 20 Jan 2017, 20:58)

This is reported on bbcnews/Oxford on line, sorry don't know how do link!
WODC ....may be one of them according to the report, says the final proposal will be considered on 14 March.