Cabinet Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda. 

There were no declarations of interest.

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2025.

The minutes from the meeting held 10 February 2025 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

To receive questions from the public in accordance with the Constitution.

Questions, of no longer than 50 words, can be submitted to the Democratic Support Unit, Plymouth City Council, Ballard House, Plymouth, PL1 3BJ, or email to democraticsupport@plymouth.gov.uk. Any questions must be received at least five clear working days before the date of the meeting.

There were no questions from the public.

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing. Cooperative Development and Communities) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)    On 22 March 2024, Cabinet approved a four-year approach to the public sector equalities duties;

b)    Plymouth City Council (PCC) were required by legislation to demonstrate due regard to the public sector equality duty to: eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, advance equality of opportunity between people who shared a protected characteristic and those who did not, and foster good relations between people who shared a protected characteristic and those who did not;

c)    There had been unexpected incidents since 22 March 2024, including the riots of 05 August 2024 and as a result of this, the report had been adapted to reflect the feedback from local communities;

d)    The plan had been preliminarily in place for a year, and now a more concentrated three-year action plan would start;

e)    Cabinet Members were working collaboratively on the action plan due to the cross over in portfolios;

f)     PCC staff networks were becoming more proactive notably a neuro-divergency conference and LGBTQ+ network.

Councillor Penrose (Welcoming City Champion) added:

g)    The Welcoming City Champion role now included linking and networking with various Cabinet Members to better understand their roles;

h)    The International Dinner was held monthly to welcome students from overseas. These included learning about other cultures, including celebration of Chinese New Year and the Persian New Year, and experiencing food from around the world; 

i)     Work had been done with Safer Communities since August 2024 including visiting the hubs to discuss Hate Crime Week;

j)     PCC would continue to listen to local communities and encourage partners in Plymouth to make decisions around equality and diversity;

k)    There would be a campaign on gender equality, in particular the gender pay gap.

Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications) added:

l)     A motion had been passed at City Council in 2023 to treat care experiences as a protected characteristic. PCC were the 12^th council in the country and the first in the Southwest to pass this motion and 111 councils had now followed suit;

m)  The report outlined 12 bullet points with the way PCC had responded to the motion including:

i) Application forms and related recruitments and selection policy had been updated in May 2024 to reflect care experience under the guaranteed interview scheme;

ii) The recent budget engagement survey respondents were invites to select if they had care experience as part of demographic monitoring;

iii) Care experience had also been included in the city survey due to take place in 2025 with demographic monitoring allowing PCC to better understand specific communities to guide decision making and service delivery;

iv) There were also free passes to the Life Centre for both care experienced young people and a friend.

Councillor Haydon (Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Libraries, Events, Cemeteries and Crematoria) added:

n)    There had been an increase in hate crime in Plymouth and PCC took  ...  view the full minutes text for item 112.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) introduced the report and highlighted the following items:

a)    After two years of work in partnership with the Plymouth Growth Board, PCC could formally adopt the new 10 year economic plan and the delivery plan for the next three years;

b)    After 15 years of innovative work by the economic development team, Plymouth was at an economic tipping point and had created a transformational pipeline of investment which would transform the city’s economy;

c)    The pipeline included six billion pounds worth of investment which would create 8,000 higher paid jobs;

d)    The pipeline builds on the opportunity presented by Growth Alliance Plymouth with £4.5 billion investment in the defence sector from the Government;

e)    The pipeline stretched to 2050, creating years of economic certainty;

f)     The economic strategy and delivery plan was a statement of intent and placed Plymouth at the heart of endeavour, building on its strengths in defence and marine autonomy and recognising Plymouth’s role in other sectors such as advanced manufacturing and life sciences;

g)    Growth in Plymouth was about creating better paid jobs that residents could access, attracting and retaining a new workforce, shifting the economy towards net zero and strong, vibrant communities;

h)    Within the next three years, PCC would deliver 55 projects across the city. These projects had been designed with partners, with 20 organisations taking on lead roles;

i)     The potential impacts were:

i) 1,000 new businesses;

ii) 8,000 new jobs;

iii) Six billion pounds of investment;

iv) One billion pound increase to Gross Value Added (GVA);

v)  Productivity up 20%;

vi) Helping 5,000 people get work;

vii) Bringing 50 vacant buildings back into use;

viii) Building 10,000 new homes and;

ix) Lifting 3,000 people out of poverty;

j)     The economic strategy was owned by the Plymouth Growth Board with identified leads from the business community, academic community, cultural community, and voluntary sector community working together with the Cabinet and Officer leads to ensure that PCC delivered;

k)    The investment would be felt across the following geographical investment areas: Defence Sector in Devonport. The Waterfront with maritime, the heart of the city centre and the north of the city;

l)     Upcoming projects would include: supporting floating offshore wind, further development of smart sound in the ports, delivering the city centre master plan, investing in priority sites included the Civic Centre, business support for manufacturing, tech sectors and start-ups, better work experience and apprentice opportunities, developing the evening and night-time economy, city branding, social value, Plymouth Science Park and innovation, maximising defence industry, equipping Plymouth citizens with the right skills to access jobs and graduate retention.

Richard Davies (Vice Chancellor, University of Plymouth) added:

m)  The University would lean into their civic responsibilities;

n)    Half of the University’s UK based students were from Devon and Cornwall;

o)    Plymouth and its University were key to the social, cultural and economic success of the surrounding region;

p)    The University had invested approximately £250 million into redevelopment and regeneration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 113.

Cabinet notes the key findings and approves the Plymouth Ports Strategy.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) introduced the report and highlighted the following items:

a)    Plymouth employed more people in the marine sector than any other Local Authority in the country;

b)    Plymouth’s marine and defence sector employed more than 20,000 people which was 18% of the city’s workforce;

c)    Devonport Dockyard was the largest naval base in Western Europe and was the largest land user in the city, covering 650 hectares with 14 dry docks, 25 tidal berths and four miles of docks;

d)    There were 16 leisure and boat yards around Plymouth Sound including 1,400 Gold Anchor berths;

e)    12 cruise ships visited Plymouth every year with plans in place to double this within coming years;

f)     Plymouth ports were at the forefront marine technology and innovation including research organisations and companies at the cutting edge of work to develop autonomous vessels and floating offshore wind;

g)    Plymouth Sounds natural environment was an important part of the National Marine Park and was home to over 1,000 species and over 6,000 hectares were in an area of special scientific interest;

h)    Port operations underpinned the economy and life of the city, but were of regional and national significance;

i)     Although PCC didn’t play a direct role in port operations, it did play an important role in supporting the future development and growth of the ports as an advocate, a city leader and creating a supportive policy environment;

j)     There were six focus areas within the plan:

i) To invest in and develop maritime skills as a key enabler of future growth and to anchor the benefits of this growth into local communities;

ii) To preserve space for the ports through work to determine future requirements;

iii) To maintain Plymouth expertise in innovation and marine autonomy, clean propulsion and digital ocean technology;

iv) To foster communication and collaboration to promote Plymouth ports and to identify and drive forward new initiatives;

v) To support investment in infrastructure to ensure that the ports remained competitive;

vi) To recognise the role that the ports could play in preparing for Net Zero and the opportunity and benefits that this could deliver in productivity and job creation;

k)    If the plan were to deliver the objectives, there was a potential to create an additional 2,600 in the ports by 2030.

Richard Allen (Harbour Master, Cattewater Harbour Commissioners) added:

l)     There was a marine and dock side apprenticeship programme;

m)  Plymouth had ceased training sea fairing officers, however this had opened up other training and skills opportunities such as SeaRegs training;

n)    Plymouth was home to the Marine Apprenticeship Training and Turnchapel Wharf Operators supported further courses for maritime professionals;

o)    Plymouth had been a pillar of Britain’s naval defences, playing a decisive role in conflict from the Napoleonic Wars, World Wars, and the Falklands conflict and still worked to keep us safe today; 

p)    Plymouth was recognised as the main shipping hub in the Southwest, with more movements than any other port in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 114.

Cabinet agreed to:

1. Adopt the Creative Industries Plan;

2. Mandate Plymouth Culture to develop a full implementation plan, based on the outline action plan within the Creative Industries Plan, with support from PCC and city stakeholders, to be presented to Scrutiny/Cabinet in the next financial year.

Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)    The Creative Industries Plan provided data specific to Plymouth, enabling the city to identify their strengths;

b)    The creative industries in Plymouth comprised of 648 registered companies, employing approximately 5,000 people, with a further 4,000 in the wider creative economy, and accounted for 2.1% of employment in Plymouth;

c)    The Great Southwest had the joint fastest creative industries job growth of any British region between 2019 and 2022 at 4.1%;

d)    Plymouth had the opportunity to position itself as the urban capital of this region and capture this growth and if Plymouth’s job share could reach the Southwest average, it would generate 1,640 jobs and an additional 90 to 126 million GVA to the Local Authority District;

e)    Against the backdrop of national cuts and economic crisis, PCC had continued to invest in culture as it recognised its value and significant contribution to Plymouth, society and residents;

f)     The strategic approach had been successful in securing external partnerships and investment which in turn enabled PCC to develop and grow Plymouth’s cultural infrastructure;

g)    The same methodology of tailored strategy, partnership and investment was now required for the creative industries;

h)    The creative industries had been identified in the industrial strategy as one of the eight growth sectors and this was mirrored within Plymouth’s economic development plan.

Hannah Harris (Chief Executive, Plymouth Culture) added:

i)     The Creative UK Conference was held across Devon and Cornwall where the Head of Policy said the strongest negotiation with Government was Plymouth’s ability to articulate the relationship between the creative industries and other sectors;

j)     At the Creative UK Summit it was stated that you could not have a defence sector fit for the future without the creative industries.

Lindsey Hall (Chief Executive, Real Ideas Organisation) added:

k)    Dazzle, a festival of light, creativity and heritage had been held in Devonport;

l)     Investment from Share Prosperity from PCC had allowed Real Ideas Organisation to run the Devonport Futures Project in 2024 around skills development;

m)  Plymouth Community Homes had worked with young people and older people within the community to were economically inactive to help them develop new skills and find new ways forward;

n)    Creative industries needed to ‘cluster’ in order to succeed and this was outlined in the plan;

o)    The Market Hall was being used as research linked to the marine industry and the temperate rainforest in Bodmin Moor.

James McKenzie-Blackman (Chief Executive and Executive Producer, Theatre Royal Plymouth) added:

p)    Key reflections on children, young people and the community had been incorporated into the plan;

q)    There was a curriculum review taking place lead by the Department for Education and an interim report was expected in the coming weeks;

r)    There was a need for creativity and cultural experiences to improve life changes;

s)      Partners would work together with Local Government to ensure work in the creative and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 115.

Cabinet agrees:

1. To endorse changes to the Council’s current contract with Plymouth Active Leisure Ltd. proposed in this report, enabling the introduction of an Agency Model.

2. To delegate final agreement of a Deed of Variation to the current contract to the Director of Public Health in consultation with the Head of Finance and the Head of Legal Services.

3. To endorse the pricing principles to be applied to set prices for the leisure services the Council will provide from 1st April 2025, using Plymouth Active Leisure as its agent.

4. To delegate authority to the Director of Public Health to determine and set the final, detailed list of fees and charges for these services in accordance with the principles.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     Plymouth Active Leisure (PAL) was created as a Local Authority trading company following a decision by Cabinet in August 2021;

b)    In the past year, PAL had achieved:

i) Over 1.5 million visits to all facilities;

ii) Six million pounds worth of social value from visits, directly improving health and well-being;

iii) Provided free access to over 180 looked after children and care leavers;

iv) 52,000 residents used PAL services;

v) Administered and delivered Fit and Fed sessions, supporting 2,850 children from deprived areas including 196 clubs, providing 3096 spaces;

vi) Trained over 50 lifeguards via the PAL Training Academy;

vii) Taught 6,000 children to swim;

viii) Delivered over 1,000 safe swim lessons in collaboration with the NMP (National Marine Park) and Swim England;

ix) Reduced energy consumption by more than 10%;

x) Began delivery of Active Health in October 2024, aimed at tackling inequalities and improving people’s health;

xi) Grown fitness membership by 45% since 2022;

xii) Were second in the UK in the Sport and Leisure Sector for gender pay equality;

xiii) 55 people were supported with gym memberships and personal training sessions through the Plymouth Skills Builder Project;

c)     PAL provided a range of programmes and services to improve and maintain health and well-being, delivering on strategic priorities for Plymouth;

d)    PAL provided their services on behalf of PCC through a service contract and was wholly owned by PCC;

e)     Following recent changes to VAT guidance, the proposal was to adopt an agency model which would support the financial sustainability of PAL;

f)      The agency model was a HMRC compliant approach which would improve the trading position by £150,000 to £250,000 annually;

g)     Both PCC and PAL had received external legal and tax advice that supported the agency model;

h)    PCC choosing to follow an agency model would join them with a large number of Local Authorities who were delivering their leisure services in this way;

i)      In agreement with Cabinet, a deed of variation would need to be completed to change the operational model of PAL. PCC would need to set prices for services provided under the agency model in line with the fees and charges policy.

Cabinet agreed:

1.     To endorse changes to the Council’s current contact with Plymouth Active Leisure Ltd proposed in the report, enabling the introduction of the agency model;

2.     To delegate final agreement of a Deed of Variation to the current contract to the Director of Public Health in consultation with the Head of Finance and the Head of Legal Services;

3.     To endorse the pricing principles to be applied to set prices for the leisure services the Council would provide from 01 April 2025, using Plymouth Active Leisure as its agent, as set out in paragraph 4.4 of the report;

4.     To delegate authority to the Director of Public Health to determine and set the final, detailed list of fees and charges  ...  view the full minutes text for item 116.

Cabinet agreed to extend through variation, an existing contract to the incumbent providers of supported accommodation for young people in care aged 16+, for a period of 2 years to an estimated value of £6.78m.

Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     Providing safe, welcoming and caring homes for children and young people in care remained one a priority for PCC;

b)    Children in care and those who were care experienced needed choices about where they live as they become young adults to ensure they had the opportunities to live independently with support and guidance;

c)     PCC’s 16+ supported accommodation provided that choice with a range of shared houses and flats, helping young people to learn how to budget, cook and prepare for life as adults;

d)    100 young people a year who were in the Council’s care were placed in 16+ accommodation, with majority able to live in Plymouth to keep their links with family, friends, education, training and support.

Emma Crowther (Service Director for Integrated Commissioning) added:

e)     The contract had been in place since April 2021;

f)      The housing ranged from individual flats to shares houses with staff available 24 hours a day;

g)     All 16+ providers had been registered with OFSTED as part of new national regulations;

h)    Local providers had joined the 16+ provider forum to share ideas, experiences and challenges;

i)      The two-year contract variation would allow the providers to be inspected and help PCC to further understand the numbers and types of homes that would be needed in the future.

Chris Wiltshire (Commissioning Manager) added;

j)      The relational approach that providers had with young people was integral in ensuring consistency.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) added:

k)     The intention at the end of the two-year period was to go through another tender process.

Emma Crowther (Service Director for Integrated Commissioning) added:

l)      Due to new procurement regulations PCC were operating under a different procurement regime.

Cabinet agreed to extend through variation, an existing contract to the incumbent providers of supported accommodation for young people in care aged 16+, for a period of 2 years to an estimated value of £6.78m.

Councillor Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships) provided the following update:

a)    PCC had been shortlisted for four awards from the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards;

b)    PCC were helping individuals secure meaningful sustainable employment by combining tailored workplace experiences, personalised coaching and classroom learning;

c)    In two years, the supported internships had expanded from nine to 56;

d)    Through Skills Launchpad Plymouth, PCC were transforming how they supported people into work. The intelligence-led, person-centred skills system brought together over 80 public, private and voluntary services to create a multi-agency response;

e)    Rising youth unemployment was being tackled by the Youth Hub by engaging directly with young people, listening to their challenges and providing targeted support;

f)     Both PCC’s supported internship programmes and Skills Launchpad had been shortlisted for the LGC awards;

g)    Five Plymouth primary schools had been announced as early adopters for free breakfast clubs for primary school age children;

h)    The new Government had introduced free breakfast clubs, the benefits of which were:

i) Wraparound care for children;

ii) Parents were able to go to work, training or education knowing their children were provided for;

iii) Parents would save around £450 per year per child, helping tackle the cost of living crisis;

i)     The Plymouth primary schools selected were: St Joseph’s, St Peters, Pilgrim Primary, Widey Court Primary and Pennycross Primary;

j)     City College Plymouth had been awarded the 2024/25 Association of Colleges Beacon Award for Digital Innovation;

k)    By streamlining lesson observations, peer review and deep dives the College enabled their lecturers to focus on delivering outstanding learning experiences;

l)     Congratulations were extended to City College Plymouth for their hard work and dedication.

Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications) provided the following update:

m)  From 01 April 2025, Plymouth care leavers aged 18 to 25 would be entitled to free prepaid prescription certificates;

n)    A total of £4 million of investment was implemented to three youth centres.

Councillor Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport) provided the following update:

o)    Events at The Box and the Dazzle event at the Market Hall had been well received in Devonport, and it was beholden of PCC to ensure arts history was inclusive of everyone.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) provided in the following update in the absence of Councillor Dann (Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Sport, Leisure and HR&OD):

p)    The £4 million refurbishment at the Mount Batten Centre had started and was funding by the National Lottery’s Levelling Up Fund, and PCC’s own resources;

q)    Through the NMP there was a new vision for the Mount Batten Centre as an anchor institution for the NMP and the Mount Batten peninsular and the project would see the centre transformed with a new internal design, modern Sports England compliant changing facilities and a new bistro; 

r)    The Mount Batten Tower would remain open to the public throughout the refurbishments;

s)     The project would take  ...  view the full minutes text for item 118.