(a)

unemployment benefit claims in Plymouth were at 3.6 per cent of the city’s population, which was lower than the national claimant rate at 3.9 per cent and was a positive reduction on a comparable time in 2012 were claimants in Plymouth totalled 4.2 per cent;

(b)

the largest claimant group were 18-24 year olds, where in Plymouth 6 per cent of this age group claimed unemployment benefits; this was a concern despite the figures being considerably lower than the national average of 7.2 per cent;

(c)

a recent economic review identified an increase in part-time employment as well as comparatively high rates of underemployment in the city;

(d)

in an attempt to bring unemployment levels back to pre-recession rates and increase investment in the city the Economic Development department had created a dedicated Enterprise and Inward Investment team, consisting of three new members of staff;

(e)

inward investment was not solely about obtaining investment from outside of the city but also by creating opportunities for city-based companies to invest further in the city by ensuring that the infrastructure and skills were accessible to these companies;

(f)

a major aspect of the work undertaken by the inward investment team involved providing an excellent aftercare programme; this programme was available to all investing companies and was a key initiative in delivering financial benefits through re-investment and creating additional jobs to drive the city’s growth agenda;

(g)

investment enquiries were another key role within the team and this had been very successful, with in excess of 250 enquiries being dealt with in the past 12 months;

(h)

it was hoped that the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), who had provided six investment enquiries to the Heart of  the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), would generate more investment enquiries as Plymouth improved its inward investment programme;

(i)

vital to delivering investment in the city was for Plymouth to improve its marketing ability and to sell its potential and resources to investors, this had been successfully achieved following the America’s Cup, the City of Culture bid and City Deal opportunity and would further be improved by the creation of an ambassador programme, which would be led by current city-based businesses.

(j)

low-pay was not seen as a significant issue in Plymouth with many of the city’s employees highlighting lifestyle, the local environment, quality of education and infrastructure as more important issues;

(k)

Plymouth was employing an enterprising culture in an effort to improve prospects for young people in the city; this initiative had a partnership led focus involving the University of Plymouth, City College and businesses in the city’s growth sectors;

(l)

other initiatives such as the 1000 club were also improving the prospects of young people finding employment.

(1)

the panel notes the current activities being carried out and planned for the coming months;

(2)

the panel notes, with staff resources focused on inward investment coming into being during April 2013, that an end of year progress report on enhanced activity is brought back to the appropriate scrutiny panel in Spring 2014.