Questions on notice received in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.9(b).

Questions may be asked of the Lord Mayor, a Member of the City Executive Board or a Chair of a Committee.

The full text of questions must be received by the Head of Law and Governance by no later than 1.00pm on Thursday 2 April 2015.

Full details of all questions, and written responses where available, will be provided in the briefing note.

Questions on notice submitted in accordance with Council procedure rule 11.9(b), written responses, and supplementary question and responses asked of the Board members and Leader are set out below.

To the Board member for Educational Attainment and Youth Ambition, Councillor Kennedy

1.            From Councillor Gant

In considering recent reports into educational attainment in Oxford, will the leader accept that at KS1 and KS2 Oxford city had the lowest %s of pupils reaching expected attainment in the county in both 2013 and 2014 despite progress being made with only reading not being worst in county, as paragraphs 1 and 2 of the document "School Performance 2013-14" shows; that the aggregate data for the city masks considerable differences and that in fact the spread between best and worst outcomes in progression is far worse than the average would suggest?

Written Response

I should like to thank Councillor Gant for again raising the issue of poor performance of primary schools in the city. However, the schools which we supported made substantial improvements. Between 2012 and 2014, the schools which followed our education attainment  programme saw a 10 percentage point  increase in the number of children achieving level 2 in reading, writing and maths at age 7, from 65% to 75%. This contrasts with a 4 percentage point increase across Oxfordshire primaries. And the same schools saw a 4 percentage point increase in level 4 in reading, writing and maths at age 11, from 59 to 63%, as against a single percentage point increase across the county. This indicates that educational attainment in the most disadvantaged schools in the city can be raised by consistent and appropriate teaching methods. We hope that these improvements will provide a sound basis for bringing the performance of these schools closer to the county wide average.

We understand that the County Council is reviewing its role in supporting educational attainment, and we are committed to working with county colleagues and teachers to realise the educational potential of children in city schools.

Supplementary Question

Would you agree that the way forward would be to allow schools greater freedom to spend the money?

Response

While it is important that schools set their own policies, cuts to education budgets have increased the effects of disadvantage and the programme was designed to reduce these.

To the Board member for Housing and Estate Regeneration, Councillor Seamons

2.            From Councillor Fooks

I am sure that we all applaud the installation of solar PV (photovoltaics) on Council housing stock, to reduce carbon emissions and reduce tenants’ electricity bills. Can the Board member tell Council how the benefits can be shared out among those tenants who do not yet have any such panels or other source of renewable energy for their homes?

Written response

There is no practical way that tenants who do not have PV or other renewables installed directly benefit from those who have. However, as PV’s represent an investment by the HRA the resultant income directly received by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 115