Councillor Jonathan Drean (Cabinet Member for Transport) made the following announcements:

a)    Cross Country trains would have an hourly service northbound from Plymouth from May 2023 that would connect Plymouth better to Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow;

b)    Platinum Way has opened with Brest Road and Morlaix Road due to open shortly and the Forder Valley Road Scheme had had significant community impact with 85% of the workforce living in a PL postcode, created 13 jobs as well as 75 weeks of work experience for over 16s and 455 weeks of training;

c)    Lining work was ongoing across the city;

d)    Additional lighting was installed in Central Park with TCF funding in partnership with the VAWG Commission;

Councillor Dr John Mahony (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) provided the following updates:

e)    The number of clients waiting for domiciliary care to be allocated to them in Plymouth was at its lowest level for 18 months or more and he expressed his thanks to the commissioning teams and the Council’s partners for their hard work in this area;

f)     Recruitment events had brought 25 new workers to the home care market as well as the arrival of 20 international recruits;

g)    The Council continued to perform ahead of its target for ‘no right to reside’ position which referred to patients who were fit to leave Derriford but were awaiting care to be provided in the community or at home;

h)    The uplift rates for adult care providers would see the hourly rate for domiciliary care rise from £19.87 to £22 and he would be urging providers to ensure the majority of this was passed onto workers through pay;

i)     There would also be an uplift in the contract for Care Homes and supported living provision by 8.5% from 1 April 2023 to encourage more people to work in the sector;

Councillor Charlotte Carlyle (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Children & Young People) provided the following updates:

j)     Skills Launchpad launched an employer hub which was providing a way for employers to engage with the Council and over 2000 learners had been supported with apprenticeships and education and a SEN employment forum had been established;

k)    She had been working with City Bus and Princess Yachts on signing the Care Leavers Covenant as well as Babcock and even finding placements for 2 young care leavers;

l)     As part of Safer Plymouth a youth engagement team out on the streets of Plymouth had engaged with 2620 young people to date;

m)  Youth Parliament Elections had been held and between the candidates, 700 votes were cast, and The Leader encouraged cabinet members to engage with the group;

Councillor Pat Patel (Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Culture, Leisure and Sport) provided the following updates:

n)    The events calendar for the year would be going live shortly and it was full of great events;

o)    There was a new Chief Operating Officer for Plymouth Active Leisure who would be focusing on increasing membership;

p)    The Box was exceeding visitor targets;

Councillor Rebecca Smith (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, Homes and Communities) provided the following updates:

q)    An Empty Homes initiative had been launched, which included financial assistance, to encourage landlords to get empty homes back into use in the city whilst working with the Council on letting it through one of the recognised social letting schemes.