(a)

that the Plan for Jobs was a new innovative initiative for Plymouth which aimed to deliver 19 projects which in turn would create 2,000 jobs over the next two years;

(b)

how the Plan for Jobs had been developed, through the establishment of a task force comprising private, public and third sector organisations, into a focused and deliverable short term initiative;

(c)

how the plan would be delivered and monitored to ensure that it had a strong positive impact on reducing unemployment via the creation of jobs.

(d)

in the last 12 months the Economic Development service had helped to establish 150 new small businesses, eight of which being social enterprise businesses, and create 1,102 jobs and safeguard a further 426, including –

·         50 construction jobs on the Theatre Royal improvements project;

·         79 jobs on the Bickleigh low carbon housing project;

·         200 jobs through urban enterprise;

(e)

there would be 90 apprenticeships coming out of the ‘Making Waves’ project;

(f)

there had been national interest in the 1000 Club which now had over 100 members;

(g)

in terms of inward investment, discussions were currently ongoing with five companies looking to relocate to Plymouth with the possible creation of 700 jobs;

(h)

the redevelopment of North Prospect was part of a large scale project to increase the availability of social housing and the ‘Get Plymouth Building’ item featured later on the agenda would provide more information on that and affordable housing;

(i)

access to finance was one of the things that stopped business and the economy growing.  Many people were still finding it impossible to obtain financial backing, particularly if they were viewed as a bad risk.  The Frederick Foundation would look at whether it was a good business case and, if it was, help bring it forward;

(j)

whilst the 11.6 per cent year on year decrease in unemployment was good news, the fact that there was a rising trend in the long term unemployed was worrying.  Work would be undertaken to try and understand why this was still happening and who these people were in order to develop programmes to help get them back into work;

(k)

it was important to spread word of the city’s successes so that more investors would be encouraged to visit with a view to entering into negotiations.  The appointment of a Chief Executive for Destination Plymouth would play a key part in promoting the city’s credentials in addition to using partner networks and social media.