Cabinet Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.  A flowchart providing guidance on interests is attached to assist councillors.

There were no declarations of interest.

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 31 October 2017.

The minutes of the 31 October 2017 were agreed.

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.

Question submitted by: Robin Nicholl

Response: Councillor Patrick Nicholson, Cabinet Member for Strategic Housing, Transport and Infrastructure

The City Council understands that the DWP are relocating their staff from one site to another. This is not subject to planning consent and is part of the normal business operations of the DWP – as it would be for any business seeking new premises to meet their operational needs.

The travelling public may experience delays at Woolwell, especially during peak times. In response the City Council is progressing the Woolwell to the George scheme. This will include improvements to the roundabout itself and dualling of the highway between Woolwell Roundabout and the George Junction.

The City Council is also currently helping the DWP to manage their potential traffic impacts in three ways through the Plymotion scheme by:-

1)    Supporting DWP staff with their office relocation through our business programme.

2)    Providing Personal Travel Planning advice to jobseekers at the job centres.

3)    Providing training to the DWP staff to be able to provide advice to job seekers themselves.

The City Council as Highway Authority is therefore doing all it can to ensure that jobs are not lost to the city whilst seeking to mitigate any impacts in a proactive way.

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 Dave Downie (Cabinet Member for Safer Communities) introduced a report on Unauthorised Encampment Policy and Procedure.  It was commented that –

·         Plymouth City Council is responsible for dealing with unauthorised Gypsy Roma and Traveller encampments on land owned by the Council.

·         The travelling community can experience difficulties finding an authorised place to stop, and may set up an encampment on someone's land without consent, including green space, highway verges and lay-bys.

·         Plymouth City Council’s approach is based on the need to uphold the law and prevent unlawful occupation of land, whilst meeting the needs of communities.

·         The aim of this policy is to address the need for an effective approach to the management of unauthorised Gypsy Roma and Traveller encampments on Plymouth City Council land, whilst ensuring that the rights of Plymouth’s local settled community and the Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities are balanced.

Following questions on the partnership work required with Devon and Cornwall Police Cabinet agreed to approve -

1.    Gypsy Roma and Traveller Unauthorised Encampment Policy, subject to consultation on the policy via the scrutiny process;

2.    Identification of sites for temporary stopping places progresses once Joint Local Plan Examination has completed.

Councillor Ian Darcy (Cabinet Member for Finance and IT) introduced the Corporate Finance Monitoring Report Q2, which was considered by Full Council on the 20 November 2017.

Councillor Darcy highlighted –

a.     Progress made from Q1 in reducing the overspend

b.    Continued actions to bring down the overspend, particularly with the people directorate and cost and volume pressures which were being mitigated by partnership working with Health partners.

c.     Correspondence had taken place between the Leader and the Secretary of State for the Department of Communities and Local Government regarding funding pressures

David Northey, Head of Integrated Finance, highlighted the work taking place in order to bring the People directorate budget to balance and the ongoing partnership working with health service partners.

Following a short debate Cabinet agreed to -

1. note the current revenue monitoring position and action plans in place to reduce/mitigate shortfalls;
2. approve the non-delegated virements which have occurred since 1^st July 2017;
3. note Full Council’s approval that the Capital Budget 2017 -2022 is revised to £691.000m (as shown in Table 6).

Andrew Loton, Senior Performance Advisor, introduced the report Mr Loton highlighted –

a.     Changes to the report to enable greater readability;

b.    Within “Pioneering” the focus on timescales for complaint handling had improved and Investment returns had reduced but was still above target;

c.     All indicators with “Growing” were on target;

d.    There was significant issues within “Caring” including safeguarding assessment within timescales and delayed transfers of care;

e.     There were additional measures added into caring regarding homelessness;

f.      Increased recycling rates across Quarter 2

Cabinet agreed to note and approve the Corporate Plan Q2 monitoring reports.