Agenda item
Cabinet Member Updates
Minutes:
Councillor Sue Dann (Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Sport, Leisure and HR & OD) provided the following updates:
a)
Over the summer,
free or holiday clubs had been offered to local
children on a variety of subjects such as water sports, science,
sports, dance and
theatre, as well as a forest
school;
b)
10 new holiday club
providers had been worked with and
8 special educational needs specific holiday clubs
were run;
c)
Full, fit and fed
programs had been delivered, and over 4 park events,
over 2,500 lunches were handed out;
d)
The council had worked
with Melanoma UK to provide free sun safety and protection to
families;
e)
The council had also
worked with Fair Share to provide
takeaway bags on Friday evenings to some older young
people;
f)
Budget friendly cooking
workshops had been provided;
g)
At events, cost of
living leaflets were shared to
signpost people who might need
support;
h)
Plymouth Active Leisure
had had a cost of living summer
program with free and low-cost taster
sessions;
i)
Over 420 people attended
the Mount Wise pools for a family fun night, organised by Ward
Councillors and Plymouth Active Leisure;
j) People could visit Cost of living | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK for support with the cost of living.
Councillor Jemima Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for
Children’s Social Care, Culture, Events and Communications)
gave the following updates:
k)
Bonfire Night 2023 would
take place on The Hoe, which was a
centrepiece of a free fun campaign, part of the Action Plan, to ensure there were activities that families could
enjoy without worrying about additional costs;
l)
It had been important to
bring back Bonfire Night as it was an event that brought
communities together to enjoy the evening, around 25,000 people in
attendance.
Councillor Sally Haydon (Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Libraries, Cemeteries and Crematoria) updated Cabinet on the following:
m)
Freshers Week was
approaching, and street
marshals would be starting on 8 September 2023 to provide
additional support to students, and would be linked up with the
CCTV system to enable them to be deployed to the areas where they
were most needed and would also be linked in with the Police,
Street Pastors and the night bus, all funded through Safer Streets
funding awarded to the University of
Plymouth;
n)
The first
Time for Change conference had been held in
Plymouth, which explored the role of masculinity for
a better future;
o) There had been an increase of 23% in engagement with the summer reading challenge through Plymouth Libraries, library visits were up by 19% and Rhyme Time was up 49.64%.
Councillor Tom Brairs-Delve (Cabinet Member for
Environment and Climate Change) provided
the following
update:
p) The previously unused top deck of the Theatre Royal Car Park now housed a large solar array and was powering the car park, with surplus energy being exported back into the local grid, with the possibility of using this additional energy to power heat pumps at the Guildhall and Council House being explored.
Councillor Chris Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) provided the following updates:
q)
Westwood were developing
a site in Plympton into 5 bungalows, 2 of which would be affordable
home-ownership, and the other 3 for
social rent;
r)
Moses Close in Southway
development was underway on 13 affordable homes for
rent;
s) 10 new eco-friendly homes were nearing completion in Plymstock, invested in by Plymouth City Council, with the profits from the project going into the investment fund for homes to support more affordable homes in the city, and a tree would be planted in the village green at the site with a plaque in memory of the late Alderwoman Councillor Vivien Pengelly, who had been involved in the project.
Councillor Sally Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships) provided the following updates:
t)
Plymouth City Council
had been proactive in communicating with school leaders on the use
of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in schools buildings, with surveys being undertaken
since 2018 in all 14 schools and none were
found to contain it;
u)
Academies and Trusts
were responsible for their own
school buildings and had been contacted by the Department for
Education earlier in the year and it had been understood
none contained RAAC. The education
team did contact the chief executives of academics to confirm
relevant checks had been undertaken and offer support if
needed;
v)
The Area Inspection
of Plymouth Local Area Partnership took place from 16-30 June 2023
and the report was published on 22 August 2023 and the council have
fully accepted OFSTED’s
findings;
w)
Five areas of priority
action had been identified,
one to vulnerable children living in
residential special schools and children’s homes at a
distance and children receiving short breaks, was addressed
immediately to ensure
reassurance about their safety;
x)
Cross partnership work
was underway to communicate about the report and get engagement in
developing and implementing an action plan for improvement which
would be published on 29 September
2023;
y)
The Short Breaks
Innovation Grant programme was designed to support young people
with additional needs to develop the necessary skills and knowledge
to transition to adulthood, securely, and in a way that maximised
life chances, and a 3rd round of funding was being applied
for to enable 200 young people aged 14-25 to access the program,
which was running in partnership with a number of providers across
the city;
z) A school attendance campaign had been launched at the beginning of September as attendance levels had become a national issue following the COVID19 pandemic, increasing in Plymouth from 4.9% pre-pandemic to 8.8% post-pandemic, and the campaign was working with schools and to help them to support their parents and carers, which had received largely positive feedback, had been covered by ITV Westcountry News, and would enter its second phase later in the year.