The following question was asked by Mr Surtees to Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications).

Question: With the announcement made that Plymouth will bid to be UK City of Culture 2029, will you commit to working with and including our diverse communities, from our Black and Ethnic communities to the Disabled community and more, in any and all plans made? 

Answer: Thank you for your question and the answer is yes, most definitely. For any bid to succeed we will need to demonstrate meaningful engagement with our residents across the city and that is what we intend to do. 

There are several phases to the process. The first phase is to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) by 8 February 2026 which doesn’t give us a lot of time. During this phase, meetings are taking place with stakeholders (this includes representatives from culture, sport, education, community, local authority, NHS, community homes, business, social enterprise, natural environment, tourism, leisure, hospitality) and the cultural sector including companies, artists and freelancers. We will also be hosting several community drop-in discussions to garner information from as many people as possible. Please check the Plymouth Culture website and social media platforms for announcements regarding dates. 

If we go through to the next phase of the process, we will be able to undertake a deeper dive into community engagement. DCMS has not yet issued a detailed timetable but we think that a bid would need to be prepared between April and late July this year. 

The following question was asked by Mr Moore to Councillor Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships).

Question: Regarding the decision to withdraw funding for CaterEd what guarantees can you make that the quality and costs of school meals to children in Plymouth will not be affected? 

Answer: The planned closure of the school catering company CATERed is not a result of the council withdrawing any funding, and it will not lead to children going without school meals. 

CATERed is a cooperative trading company, jointly owned by local schools and Plymouth City Council and was formed in 2015 to provide high quality school meals to Plymouth schools by using a cooperative model designed to provide economies of scale. 

As CATERed currently is unable to continue trading beyond academic year 2025/2026, the CATERed Board has taken the decision to cease school meal provision to prevent a situation of wrongful trading, and to give schools time to secure alternative providers. This is a Board of Director decision and not a shareholder decision, Council Member decision or a Plymouth City Council decision. 

The supply and provision of school meals (meeting mandatory School Food Standards) is a statutory responsibility that is delegated to school governing bodies and, where appropriate, trusts. Funding for the school meals service comes from the school's delegated budgets. While many schools in Plymouth are part of the CATERed cooperative company that provides school meals, they are free to choose how they provide  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57