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 20 May 2024.

The minutes of the meeting that took place on 20 May 2024 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.

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

There were no item of Chair’s urgent business.

Councillor Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)    In response to concerns around End of Life Care performance in Plymouth, as well as statistically higher hospital deaths at University Hospital’s Plymouth (UHP) than national averages, the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee (H&ASC OSC) considered End of Life Care at the end of the last municipal year;

b)    A key priority for the Labour Administration was better access to healthcare across the course of a person’s life, and therefore Cabinet were made aware of the recommendations to the Local Health Services to help improve the support for those nearing their end of life;

c)    It was critically important that people were supported, particularly around quality of life, ensuring that good symptom management delivered comfort, maintained dignity and allowed people to live as fully as possible until their passing;

d)    There should have been a personalised approach where healthcare Professionals collaborated with the person, their family and loved ones, to make informed decisions about their care options;

e)    Holistic care should have been addressed physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually;

f)     By treating the needs of the person and not just their illness, it provided comprehensive support throughout their sensitive time;

g)    The H&ASC OSC made a number of recommendation to Health Partners reflecting the above;

h)    The proposal of the following:

i) Cabinet recognised the importance of End of Life Care for the citizens of Plymouth and thanked the Scrutiny Committee for their diligent work;

ii) Cabinet endorsed further review at H&ASC OSC of the Improvement Plan being undertaken by the NHS and Partners in relation to End of Life provision and the consideration of any further recommendations that the Committee deem appropriate;

iii) Cabinet noted the Cabinet Member response to Appendix Two.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Co-Operative Development and Community) added:

i)     Plan for Homes 1, 2, 3 and 4 had been concerned about ensuring that that there was adequate housing provision for everyone who needed housing in the city;

j)     This was also reflected in the Joint Local Plan;

k)    This meant specialist housing would have to be provided for those with specialist conditions, including End of Life conditions;

l)     Councillor Aspinall would work closely with officers in Adult Social Care to ensure the Service Director for Community Connections had all of the evidence necessary to build a strong Housing Needs Assessment. This would ensure there was the appropriate provision for people with health needs, people with disabilities and people receiving End of Life Care.

Gary Walbridge (Interim Strategic Director for Adults, Health and Communities) added:

m)  The H&ASC OSC was powerful and gave people a chance to discuss the choices they would make in terms of End of Life Care and gave credence to talking about End of Life Care as early as possible to reduce the stigma around it.

Cabinet agreed to the following recommendations:

1.    That  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

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

a)    Recruiting, supporting and retaining Foster Carers for Plymouth children in Plymouth City Council’s (PCC) care was a key priority for the Administration;

b)    When a child did need to be in PCC’s care, the goal was to have them live in a family setting that enabled them to still be connected to their families, schools and communities;

c)    The budget for 2024/25 increased the budget for the range of measures that supported Foster Carers, including an improved financial package;

d)    Following the Foster Care Summit and further consultation with Foster Carers, the report set out how the allowances had been improved for Fosters Carers that included a 6% uplift in allowances and a Council Tax Allowance;

e)    Foster Carers continued to collaborate with PCC to co-design the support and retention measures and would provide opportunities where Foster Carers, social workers and the wider professional network could come together and share their views, ideas and learn together;

f)     Foster Carers were an invaluable asset to Plymouth and the measures would help PCC to provide the absolute best care for the children who cannot remain with their families.

David Haley (Director for Children’s Services) added:

g)    The tremendous work that PCC Foster Carers do for Plymouth, children and young people was acknowledged;

h)    The report, and the Summit, demonstrated that PCC had listened to the Foster Carers about what would make a difference in helping them to care for the children and the first element of that was financial;

i)     There was further work being done with the Foster Carers to ensure that the right support package was put in place;

j)     Decisions were made with Foster Carers to ensure future implementations aligned with their needs.

In response to questions, it was explained:

k)    There was now a regional approach to recruitment as part of the Department for Education (DFE) funded programme, and early signed were encouraging in terms of Foster Carer enquiries;

l)      Retention levels were also key, as well as understanding why Foster Carers may leave to go to independent fostering agencies or give up fostering altogether.

Cabinet agreed to the following recommendations:

1. To note the content of the report and the work undertaken to support Plymouth City Council’s Foster Carers; 
 

2. To endorse a new foster carers financial package that includes a Council Tax Allowance within the agreed 2024/25 financial envelope;  
 

3. To note the annual uplift to the Fostering Allowances since 01 April 2024, of 6% (including the new reward payment) and the commitment to continued annual reviews of allowances in line with the financial year; 
 

4. To note the uplift in Festival, Birthday and Holiday Allowances since 01 April 2024;  
 

5. To note the work being undertaken in Phase two, to co-design the support and retention offer to Plymouth City Council’s Foster Carers;  
 

6. To endorse the co-design of the support and retention  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

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 report set out a three-year Strategic Plan to develop, sustain and embed good and outstanding practice for all children, young people and families in Plymouth;

b)    The plan set out how PCC would create the conditions within the organisation to achieve excellent and build on the improvement that had been made whilst recognising the Council were not consistently good yet in all areas;

c)    The plan described the vision for Children’s Services by 2027, where children and families would receive the help they needed and would prevent problems from escalating wherever possible;

d)    When families did need support from PCC’s statutory services, the Council stepped in seamlessly with timely and high quality assessment and intervention, with would meet identified needs using evidence based and value for money approaches with were developed within Plymouth wherever possible;

e)    Asked Cabinet to approve the three-year Strategic Plan and the proposed milestones for the delivery of the ten strategic priorities.

David Haley (Director for Children’s Services) added:

f)     The plan set out ambitious targets over the next three years;

g)    Each of the 10 priorities had detail of what the milestones were for each three years;

h)    There were more detailed plans within each of the service areas to ensure that there was alignment and that the key milestones were truly delivered by the services;

i)     The plan had been developed with PCC’s key partners, particularly statutory partners that worked across the safeguarding system, meaning many of the priorities were shared priorities.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) added:

j)      The OFSTED inspection was the start of the new journey towards excellence.

Temilola Salimon (Service Director for Children, Young People and Families) added:

k)    All of the milestones were well understood across all teams and the heads of service, and the service plans reflected that.

Nigel Denning (Interim Service Director for Children, Young People and Families) also added:

l)      The plan had been co-produced by PCC’s partners, frontline practitioners and had had contributions from young people.

Cabinet agreed:

1.    The Children’s Services Strategic Plan, Achieving Excellence - 2024 – 27;  

2.    The proposed milestones for the delivery of the ten Strategic Priorities were implemented in Children’s Services as set out in the attached three-year milestones. 

Tracey Lee (Chief Executive) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)    Simon Hoare (Minister for Local Government) in the previous Government had asked all Local Authorities in April 2024 to produce a Productivity Plan which needed to cover areas such as, how services had been transformed, how technology was being used, how Local Authorities were maximising efficiency and what the barriers/challenges were;

b)    The Plan should not have been more than three to four pages long;

c)    PCC and the Local Government Association (LGA) took advice from the Government regarding the change of Government and how this would affect the Productivity Plan;

d)    The Plan would not be scored, however a panel would be set up to consider the themes;

e)    The barriers had been set out in the Plan, outlining what PCC wanted to do in Local Government, with multi-year settlements being one of the most important areas.

Cabinet agreed to the following recommendation:

1. To endorse the content of the Productivity Plan and agreed to submit to Government.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     When the Labour Local Authority got elected in May 2023, the budget inherited from the Conservative Local Authority had a forecast pressure of £8.14 million;

b)    There were additional costs from a Local Government Pay ward of approximately £1.2 million;

c)     In the 23/24 budget, Children’s Services saw an additional net increase of £1.6 million, SEND schools transport increased by £2.2 million and Adult Social Care increased by £6.4 million;

d)    There were additional costs of over £105,000 for the Keyham World War II bomb emergency;

e)     Three by-elections increased the cost of Local Government by £150,000;

f)      Work had been carried out to improve the homelessness agenda and the SEND agenda, and the 24/25 budget reflected the costs needed to deliver those services;

g)     The gross expenditure budget was balanced at £560 million;

h)    There was a drawdown of £1.93 million in unusable reserves and there was £9.3 million from corporate resourcing adjustments;

i)      An additional £4.9 million was brought it from business rates. Devon business rate pool provided an additional £2 million and additional council tax provided an additional £2.1 million;

j)      Working balances had been retained at £8.7 million and had not been used during the last financial year;

k)     The 23/24 budget for the Capital Programme was £189 million, however the actual spend from the most recent forecast was £91 million. This was caused by disruption of the supply chain, considerable labour shortages in the construction industry, COVID-19 and there had been a significant increase in inflation and interest rates, which had a huge effect on the Council’s ability to borrow;

l)      Projects which were grant-funded had been brought forward, however some projects that required borrowing had been slowed down until interest rates had fallen;

m)   There would be continual slow-down in expenditure where it was required to borrow money to ensure that when it was borrowed, it would be done so at the cheapest possible rate.

David Northey (Service Director for Finance, Section 151 Officer) added:

n)    The 23/24 budget had £23 million of savings;

o)    The report remained provisional under external Auditors had signed it off as being true and fair view;

p)    Due to a national backlog, the report was not due back from the external Auditors until February/March 2025.

Cabinet agreed to the following recommendations:

1.     To note the Provisional Revenue Outturn position for the year to 31 March 2024; 

2.     To note the Provisional Capital Outturn position for that year including the Capital Financing Requirement of £91.361m;  

3.     To recommend the report to City Council 16 September 2024. 

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)    There was a £44 million forecast shortfall over the next four years, however the change in Government could affect this;

b)    £188 million had been saved through budget savings in the past decade;

c)    Assumptions included the predicted Revenue Support Grant with an annual uplift, an assumed cap on the council tax increase and the continuation of the council tax precept for Adult Social Care for 2025 and the future years;

d)    There was uncertainty about the future fair funding review and the changes to business rates due to the fact they were set out by the previous Government;

e)    There were cost pressures around key services including Adult Social Care, Children, and Homelessness, with 73% of all expenditure being spent in those areas;

f)     There was not a lot of money left to address issues such as climate change, transport, housing and communities.

David Northey (Service Director for Finance, Section 151 Officer) added:

g)    The forecast set out the parameters the Council would work within.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) added:

h)    The new Government would look at the Country’s resources against its priorities which would make decisions about how Local Authorities are treated.

Cabinet agreed to the following recommendations:

1.    To note the Medium Term Financial Forecast 2024/25 – 2028/29;  

2.    To note the Capital Programme including the Capital Financing Requirements;  

3.    To note a revised Medium Term Financial Strategy will be presented to Cabinet and recommended to City Council. 

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Co-Operative Development and Community) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     This was the final report for the 2023/24 financial year ending in March and provided Cabinet with an overview of how the Council was performing against the priority indicators agreed in the 2023 – 2026 Corporate Plan;

b)    More 16 -17 year olds were in education, employment and training since before the COVID-19 pandemic;

c)     In May 2023, 80% of pupils attended schools judged good or better, and that figure was now at 90%;

d)    There had been improvement in dealing with complaints with 88% being resolved within the specified timeframe, in comparison to 70% in 2022/23;

e)     In the last year the amount of adults registered to vote in the City had increased by 2,460 voters;

f)      The Trust Budget and the previous Government not dealing with Section 21 Notices meant more people had been at risk of homelessness as rents rose at their fastest rate since records began with tenants facing a 3.6% increase in their rent;

g)     In 2021/22 839 households were prevented from becoming homeless and the focus on homelessness in 2023/24 increased that figure to 929;

h)    There were continued challenges facing PCC and the Council would be working with the Labour Government and local partners to deliver economic stability, cut NHS waiting times and reduce Anti-Social Behaviour in line with the Government’s missions;

i)      The national missions were also local commitments, and the report set out the difference a Labour Administration had made in the past 12 months.

Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) added:

j)      A few indicators within the report were based on annual information which would be made available in the Q1 report.

Cabinet agreed to note the Corporate Plan Performance Report, Quarter Four 2023/24.

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

a)    Tribute was paid to Terry Galloway for his work on the campaign;

b)    In March 2023, the Council unanimously supported the motion to treat care experience as if it were a protected characteristic;

c)    The report provided an update on how each resolution within the motion had been progressed and confirmed that the approach had been incorporated into Service delivery across the Council;

d)    PCC were the first Council in the Southwest to pass the motion;

e)    The motion had a valuable impact on the future of Care Leavers;

f)     Officers had taken the resolutions in the motion and made them meaningful;

g)    An equality objective was ‘Plymouth City Council will give specific consideration to care experienced people in its decision making to raise aspirations, increase opportunities and seek to improve their life outcomes including access to training, employment and housing, and we would encourage other organisations to do the same’;

h)    Cabinet Members across the county had been in contact to hear more about the work;

i)     Progress would be monitored through the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.

Cabinet agreed:

1.    To note the progress made to embed care experience as a protected characteristic across the Council;

2.    To support this by ensuring care experienced individuals were considered in decision-making to help raise aspirations and increase opportunities; 

3.    To encourage other organisations to treat care experience as if it were a protected characteristic to increase access to opportunities across the city for those individuals.

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

a)    Thanked the Returning Officer and staff for their hard work during the General Election;

b)    Free and fair elections were run in Plymouth which gave people confidence in the electoral process;

c)    Kemi Badenoch won in her constituency by 2,106 votes, however 2,100 postal votes were not dispatched to voters which called into question the legitimacy of the election;

d)    Gary Streeter stepped down from the South West Devon constituency and Rebecca Smith (MP) stood for the seat;

e)    Gave congratulations to Rebecca Smith (MP) for winning the South West Devon seat;

f)     Gave congratulations to Luke Pollard (MP) who had returned for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency, totalling 13,328 votes;

g)    Former MP Johnny Mercer was defenestrated and replaced by Fred Thomas (MP);

h)    There was a 32% drop in Conservative votes in Moorview constituency;

i)     Councillor Sarah Allen entered the race for South West Devon at a late stage and nearly pulled off a shock win;

j)     Local and regional political geography had changed dramatically with there being 24 Labour MPs in the South West of England which was more than any other party;

k)    Cornwall had gone from six Conservative MPs to four Labour MPs and two Liberal Democrat MPs;

l)     There being four Labour MPs in Cornwall and two Labour MPs in Plymouth would hopefully increase the South West’s ability to be heard at a national level;

m)  A letter would be sent to the three Plymouth MPs to invite them for a regular cross party meetings with political leadership of PCC;

n)    The new Government’s agenda included Local Government playing a part of its five missions, in particular inclusive economic growth, housing, and net zero. These three were of particular interest as PCC to try and delivery clear evidence of change for Plymouth;

o)    PCC under Labour leadership wanted to play its full part in delivering and helping the Government to deliver on its five missions and its six first steps.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) gave the following announcements:

a)      Due to the Pre-Election Period there had been no updates published but there were 84 projects underway;

b)      Work had started on the Civic Centre Project, the Brickfields Community Hub Project, the City Centre Community Health Hub Project, the Derriford District Centre Project, and at Tinside Lido.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) added:

c)      There were buildings under construction in the new Derriford District Shopping Centre;

d)      PCC bought the land and were working with developers to bring the project forward;

e)      It was a nearly £20 million project;

f)        The construction started in June 2023 and was due to finish in October 2024;

g)      The Shopping Centre would include a Costa, an ALDI, a Pet’s Corner, a Pure Gym and EV Charging spaces;

h)      20,000 square feet of space would be handed to ALDI in the coming week for them to start their final fit out, and they would be opening in October 2024;

i)        The businesses would be providing jobs for the city, and providing rent which would come back to PCC.

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

a)    The Box and Mount Edgcumbe had been awarded a 2024 Trip Advisor Travellers Choice Award which meant that they were in the top 10% of attractions worldwide;

b)    There had been over 800,000 for The Box, with over 60% being from Plymouth;

c)    The Box had a new summer show called ‘The Time Is Always Now’ and was an international blockbuster and there were ten things that were highlighted:

i) ‘The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure’ was an internationally touring exhibition which included work from some of the most important living artists from Britain and America;

ii) The exhibition was a major study of the Black figure and its representation in contemporary art;

iii) It had been organised by the National Portrait Gallery and curated by writer Ekow Eshun who was the former assistant editor of ‘The Face’ and former editor of ‘Arena Magazine’ and was the current Chair of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square;

iv) The exhibition was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery earlier in 2024 and received a number of four and five star reviews from national art critics;

v) The Box was the only location outside of London where the exhibition could be seen in the UK;

vi) The exhibition opened on Saturday 29 June 2024 and would stay until Sunday 29 September 2024, and had attracted over 3000 visitors alone in its opening weekend;

vii) The exhibition would start in St Luke’s church before continuing in North Hall (ground floor), North Gallery and Hurdle Gallery (first floor) in The Box’s main building;

viii) It featured 46 works of sculpture, painting and drawing by 22 artists from the UK and USA, all of which had been made between 2000 and 2023;

ix) In London the exhibition was a paid-for show but at The Box it was free for everyone to visit;

x) It would travel to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA after it’s showing in Plymouth.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Co-Operative Development and Community) gave the following updates:

d)    Saturday 6 July 2024 marked the International Day of Co-Operatives;

e)    PCC were proud to be a Co-Operative Council and worked hard to grow Plymouth’s Co-Operative economy;

f)     Co-Operatives empowered people by offering them greater control over their jobs, livelihoods and the businesses they work for, as well as giving control to the people who used the businesses;

g)    Co-Operatives kept money in the local economy and ensured everyone benefits from economic growth;

h)    Co-Operatives were firmly woven into the fabric of Plymouth’s economy were recognised in PCC’s strategy as a good growth model;

i)     In 2018, PCC launched a plan to support the development of Co-Operatives in Plymouth, and a recent review by Co-Operatives UK, indicated that there had been notable success;

j)     Since 2018 there was growth of 43% of Co-Operatives headquartered in Plymouth compared to national growth  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) gave the following update:

a)    A number of Councillors were successful in their parliamentary ambitions in the General Election which left necessary and urgent changed to the Local Government Association (LGA) leadership;

b)    As well as being the Chair of the Co-Operative Councils Innovation Network, Councillor Louise Gittins was the new Chair of the LGA, taking over from Shaun Davies (MP); 

c)    Shaun Davies (MP) initiated a review in which the LGA operated, which caused changes such as there would no longer be an LGA Board, they would be an Executive made up of Chairs of individual panels;

d)    The LGA were still committed to the Improvement Agenda and Sector Led Improvement;

e)    The offer made to the previous Government still stood, which was that Councillors and the sector stood ready to be credible and competent and would deliver in cheaper and faster ways than Government can.