The following question was submitted by Grace Strickland –

Question: The shortage of SEN places has caused a huge gap in provision, when will the council and public be informed of the outlined planned investment to pay for the extra places required? 

Answer: The majority of our children with EHCPs are educated in mainstream schools, forming approximately 2.5% of the mainstream school population.  

Our maintained special schools are full and we have a plan for short term expansion and a strategy for expansion of special places. These need to go alongside the approaches used by the council, schools and MATs to ensure mainstream schools are, and continue to be as inclusive as possible of children with SEND.  

In the short term, the council is using government grant to expand Cann Bridge School. Funding is being used to provide modular classrooms for an additional 16 children from January 2024. 

We expect and need to have the specific plans agreed by the end of 2023. We will be working with our special schools and our MATs to take this forward.  

The following question was submitted by Mr Batkin –

Question:As the proposal to implement additional restricted parking in Zone GG requires the agreement of all Ward Councillors for them to be signed I would ask the Cabinet Member if the lack of response from Cllrs Allen and Gosling is reasonable and consequently what can be done about it? 

Answer: Officers have been involved in dialogue with a Ward Member concerning a request for proposed changes to some unrestricted parking within this area, however no proposals have been discussed concerning additional restricted parking under a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ).  It is correct that any changes within a ward does require the consensus of all Ward Members.   

In light of your I will ask officers engage with all Ward Members in respect to thoughts on considering any changes to restricted parking in accordance with the Councils CPZ policy. 

The following question was submitted by Ryan Aldred –

Question:I know of 6 incidences of voter suppression in the May local elections thanks to new voter ID laws. Will you, as Leader of the Council, write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to demand this disenfranchising, undemocratic law be overturned?  

Answer: The Council agreed in March to undertake a review of the impact of voter ID and report to the September Audit and Governance Committee and following that review will make further representations.  

I have also raised this issue at the Local Government Association and will continue to do so over the course of the next few months, particularly as a further raft of needless changes in relation to absent voting, overseas electors and EU citizens’ voting and candidacy rights are expected to come into force in advance of the May  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16

The following question was submitted by Mr D Bamping –

Question: Does Plymouth City Council have a published policy for putting people on Specific Point of Contact (SPoC) with the Council?  If not; then can the council confirm that it is not able to put anyone on a SPoC as it would be unlawful without a written policy?

Answer: The Council does not have a published Single Point of Contact policy, and I am advised that there is no legal requirement for the Council to have such a policy.? Each case of potentially excessive, malicious or vexatious communication with Councillors and/or officers is considered in the light of guidance from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman on managing unreasonable complaint behaviour.? The Council has, however, undertaken to review and implement a Single Point of Contact policy in due course.

The following question was submitted by Mr C R Wildman -

Question: Regarding the Taxi Policy. Consultation was the only input allowed, and ignored. Licensing Office Report appeared to be unread, simply accepted. Trades and Travelling Public need proper input to decision makers before adoption.

Consultation was broadly against.??Democracy? It was a pointless paper exercise. Can PCC reconsider the Policy?

Answer: There was pre-consultation with the PLTA and members of the taxi trade and a number of private hire operators. This was followed by a 12-week consultation and the feedback questionnaire was made available online to encourage more people to respond.  A total of 338 responses were received, which is much higher than the last Taxi Policy Consultation, which resulted in 95 responses. The consultation responses were reviewed and the Policy updated accordingly.  The consultation responses and considerations are included in the City Council report dated 21 March 2022. The Policy and consultation was also reviewed by Members at the Scrutiny Committee on 15 March 2022.   

The following question was submitted by Mr R Hamilton -

Question: Trade Representatives and Licensees should be able to speak to, and answer questions from, Councillors at Committee. Regarding taking Taxi payment by Card, common issues are no signal, incompatible phone, insufficient funds, card declined, PIN Number not known and bank system inoperative. Will PCC Reconsider the mandatory requirement?

Answer: It is at the discretion of the Chair of any committee to invite members of the public or other representative to speak at committee on any particular agenda item. A scrutiny review of the implementation of the Taxi Policy is planned and the Chair of that session would make appropriate invitations to witnesses. Officers have spoken to a number of taxi and private hire drivers who have no issues with taking card payments. A large number of vehicles already have card payment readers fitted to their vehicles and have had these in place for a number of years. This not only assists passengers to ensure they can get home safely but is also safer for the drivers as they do not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4