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 made by Councillors, in accordance with the code of conduct.

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2020.

Cabinet agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2020 are confirmed as a correct 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 items of Chair’s urgent business.

Ruth Harrell (Director of Public Health) provided an update on Covid-19 which included –

Tracey Lee, Chief Executive provided an update on Covid-19 reset/response which included the following –

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader) highlighted the following in his announcements –

Councillor Kate Taylor (Cabinet Member forHealth and Adult Social Care) made the following announcements –

Councillor Chris Penberthy (Cabinet for Housing and Co-operative Development) made the following announcements -

Councillor Darren Winter (Chair of the Brexit, Infrastructure and Legislative Change Overview and Scrutiny Committee presented the comprehensive report on the economic impact and business preparedness and the Cabinet’s response to the committee’s recommendations.  Giles Perritt (Assistant Chief Executive) and Kevin McKenzie (Policy and Intelligence Adviser) were also present for this item.

The report outlined the work completed by the committee in identifying the economic impact of Brexit to ensure that research was undertaken and made available to the public, as set out in the Council’s Pledge 11 (‘not enough work has been done on the economic impact of Brexit, both positive and negative, on the City Council and Plymouth in general. We will make sure that research is undertaken and is made available to the public’). To also draw the attention of Cabinet to the current preparedness of the city’s business sector for the end of the Brexit transition period.

Councillor Darren Winter (Chair of the Brexit, Infrastructure and Legislative Change Overview and Scrutiny Committee) took the opportunity to thank Giles Perritt (Assistance Chief Executive), Kevin McKenzie (Policy and Intelligence Adviser) and the team for their work for the committee, the committee Members and also Councillor Morris (former Chair of the Scrutiny Committee) for the committee’s robust framework.

The key areas highlighted included –

Amanda Lumley (Executive Director Destination Plymouth) provided an update on the visitor economy report.

The report outlined the significant impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism and hospitality (visitor economy) sector over the past 10 months.  The growth of tourism and the visitor economy had been a great success story for the city with over 25% growth in the last eight years. From just under four million visitors to 5.4 million in 2018 spending over £337m annually and supporting nearly 8000 jobs, over 7% of the city’s employment.

Visitor numbers for 2018 were very positive having risen 5% from 5.1 million to 5.4 million with spend increasing from £332m to £337m a 2% increase.  This reflected very strong growth in the day visitor market (6%) however, overseas and UK staying visitor numbers were static and reflected the lack of growth in the city’s serviced accommodation offer. Within the region, Plymouth had outperformed every other destination in Devon.

On 10 March 2020, Destination Plymouth brought a report to Cabinet together with a new ‘refreshed’ visitor plan and vision for the sector from 2020 to 2030. The new plan would enable Plymouth’s residents to benefit from the visitor economy, supporting quality job retention and creation, whilst also enabling Plymothians to take full advantage of the city’s rich history, heritage and unique environment, by promoting opportunities for education, health and wellbeing and pride.

On 23 March 2020, the country was forced to shut down for 12 weeks and the world completely changed overnight.  The visitor economy had been one of the hardest hit sectors and had effectively gone into economic shock losing in excess of 50% of annual visitor spend in the city.

The Leader advised that he had received a response from Nigel Huddleston MP the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, to a letter he had written in August 2020, in which the Under Secretary confirmed that he had held meetings with Amanda Lumley and sought to continue to be appraised of the situation.

The Leader requested that Amanda Lumley (Executive Director Destination Plymouth) provide a visitor economy update to Cabinet in the spring, as data from post-lockdown and Christmas would be available.

The Cabinet agreed –

Councillor Chris Penberthy (Cabinet for Housing and Co-operative Development) presented the equality and diversity review and action plan 2020-21. Kim Brown (Service Director for HR and OD) and Laura Hill (Policy and Intelligence Adviser)     were also present for this item.

Between September and November 2020, the Council undertook a review of the organisational practices on equality and diversity.  This report provided Cabinet with a summary of the findings from this equality review.

The report sets out the context for this work and the methodology used within the review which included a mix of workshops, surveys and one-to-one interviews with internal and external stakeholders, including employees, Members and partners.

The report also explored key themes that were identified through this review which included leadership and organisational commitment, organisational culture, workforce development, community engagement and the way services were delivered.

The Cabinet agreed to endorse the –

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) presented the Corporate Plan quarter two performance report (including Covid-19 update).

The Corporate Plan performance report detailed how the Council was performing against its priority performance indicators that were agreed at the inception of the Plan. It provided an analysis of performance, as at the end of September 2020, against the Council’s key performance indicators (KPIs) which provided a detailed performance update against the Corporate Plan.

The report formed part of the Council’s performance framework and was a key part of the Council’s aim to achieve a ‘golden thread’ from the Corporate Plan and its KPIs and delivery plans, through to service and team level business plans and ultimately to individual objectives.

Performance indicators for the theme ‘A Growing City’ were showing a positive performance and direction of travel in a number of areas. In particular, the number of gross additional homes built continued to achieve its target and the number of jobs facilitated by the Council, inward investment, businesses supported and young people in education and training all increased.

Within the ‘Caring Council’ theme, 504 households had been prevented from becoming homeless between April and September 2020 which formed a part of the considerable response to the threat of increased homelessness during the Covid-19 pandemic.  In quarter two alone, more than 242 individuals ‘were the alleged victim in a closed adult safeguarding enquiry’ and of those who stated a desired outcome as part of the ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’ process more than 96% had their outcomes either fully or partially met. The Council also had green indicators for people successfully quitting smoking, excess weight in 10-11 year olds, children with multiple protection plans and repeat referrals to Children’s Social Care.

Within the ‘How We Will Deliver’ theme, business rates and council tax collection performance was showing a slight decline which had been adversely affected by Covid-19. However the levels of sickness among council staff was showing continued improvement.

Within the ‘A Broad Range of Homes’ theme the Council had exceeded 5000 homes over five years with the delivery of 5500 homes.

The Cabinet noted the report.

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) presented the Risk and Opportunity Management Strategy 2020 – 2022 report.

Risk and opportunity management was the culture, processes and structures that were directed towards effective management of potential opportunities and threats to an organisation achieving its objectives and delivering services to the community.

The strategy was intended to reaffirm and improve effective risk and opportunity management in Plymouth, comply with good practice and in doing so, effectively manage potential opportunities and threats to the Council achieving its objectives.

The strategy provided a comprehensive framework and process designed to support Members and officers, in ensuring that the Council was able to discharge its risk management responsibility fully.

Four out of the 15 strategic risks had a risk rating of ‘red’, these related to finance, demand on children’s social care services, education attainment and economic performance.  Two risks had been moved onto the Strategic Risk Register from the Operation Risk Register. These related to increased and sustained pressure on the adult social care budget due to the increase in numbers of people or increased complexity of need and risk of market failure.

The strategy was reviewed annually to ensure it remained current and fit for purpose and had been approved by the Audit and Governance Committee on 30 November 2020.

The Cabinet agreed the Risk and Opportunity Management Strategy 2020-22.

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) presented the Internal Audit half year report 2020-21.

Due to the impact of Covid-19, it had been necessary for the Devon and Audit Partnership to review its approach in the delivery of the audit work in these rapidly changing and difficult times.  It was recognised that tying up key staff, who continued to work under immense pressure responding to the challenges brought by the pandemic, would not be welcomed and the approach adopted had been to liaise with managers and where possible use remote access to information and to minimise client disruption.

The Devon and Audit Partnership continued to liaise closely with management to identify changes in processes and procedures and new areas of expenditure.  The risk-based approach had resulted in changes to the audit plan, with new areas being included which in turn necessitated some areas being deferred to next year.

The Cabinet noted the Internal Audit half year report 2020-21.

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member or Finance) presented the Counter Fraud Services half yearly report.

The report summarised the work carried out during the first six months of 2020-21 by the Counter Fraud Services team, in order to counter fraudulent threats to the Council’s budget and reputation.  The Audit and Governance Committee had noted the report at its meeting held on 30 November 2020. This provided assurance that Plymouth City Council continued to support robust counter fraud measures in order to protect public money.

There had been 235 allegations of fraud, made so far this year which had resulted in 13 recommended prosecutions and 21 recommendations for cautions and other forms of sanctions. Together with various compliance visits a total savings of £377,146.22 had been realised. The Council had accumulated savings over the past five years in excess of £6m.

The Cabinet noted the Counter Fraud Service half yearly report.

Councillor Jemima Laing (Cabinet Member for Children and Young People) advised that this was an opportunity to look at how the Youth Service had operated during the two Covid-19 lockdowns and how impressed she had been with the way in which the service had adapted in these challenging times.

Kerry Powell-Tuckett (Youth Worker) advised that the service engaged with over 400 young people on a weekly basis in face to face sessions. With the closure of the youth centres across the city on 23 March 2020 due to the pandemic, the service had to adapt to the restrictions that had been imposed.

The following presentation which was narrated by Jessica (Young Carer), also present at the meeting, highlighted how the Council’s Community Youth Work team had adapted to the restrictions of Covid-19 which included -

The Leader firstly thanked Jessica for her powerful narration of the presentation which had provided a real insight into the valued work of the service which had been clearly demonstrated by the testimonials given by the young people. He also wished to thank Kelly Powell-Tuckett for the important work that she and the team undertook.