(a)

Alderman Ronald Simmonds

referred to the recent death of Alderman Ronald Simmonds who was elected to the City Council as a Labour councillor for the Budshead Ward from 1979 to 1987 and 1989 to 2007 and appointed Alderman in 2007 in recognition of his service to the City Council;

(b)

Former Devon County Councillor Norman Mallett

referred to the recent death of former Devon County Councillor Norman Mallett who was elected to Devon County Council as a Labour councillor for the St Budeaux Ward from 1993 to 1998 and served on the Joint Highways Committee;

(c)

Recent Events in France

referred to the recent tragic events in France.

The Council stood in silence as a mark of respect to remember those who had lost their lives in France, together with Alderman Simmonds and former County Councillor Norman Mallett;

(d)

Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 – 27 January 2015

reported that tomorrow was Holocaust Memorial Day and that he would be hosting the Council’s Civic Ceremony of Remembrance at the Orangery, Mount Edgcumbe, following which flowers would be laid at the foot of the Memorial Tree.

He would also be attending the Holocaust Memorial Day exhibition at the Roland Levinsky Building and would be lighting a special memorial candle, one of 70 to mark the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birchenau.

The Council was also advised that since last year’s motion to the Council, various work had been undertaken and events held to promote and celebrate equality and diversity; 

(e)

Individual electoral registration – make sure you register to vote

reminded everyone that the way in which people register to vote had changed and that every individual within a household now needed to be registered.  The Council was advised that there were still thousands of people in Plymouth who were not registered to vote and a link to the on-line registration site would be displayed during the meeting.  He also reminded everyone that advice and guidance was on the Plymouth City Council website and could be found by searching for ‘voting’;

(f)

Lesa Annear, Strategic Director for Transformation and Change

welcomed Lesa Annear to the Council as the newly appointed Strategic Director for Transformation and Change;   

(g)

Loo of the Year Awards

announced the Council’s success in the Loo of the Year Awards in relation to the toilets at Quay Point and Elphinstone car park at the Barbican which had received platinum awards (the highest standard) and a third award was received for the toilets at Armada Way.

The Lord Mayor congratulated Catherine Dilloway (Senior Project and Contract Manager) and Mary Lethbridge (Operational Supervisor) who were representing the service.

(h)

Ofsted Single Inspection of Children’s Services

referred to the report from Ofsted following their inspection of children’s services which had identified a number of areas that needed attention.  He advised that the Council was already working hard to address them and that Cabinet had already considered a draft improvement plan.

The Council was advised that they had found no widespread or serious failures that created or left children being harmed or at risk of harm, despite Children’s Social Care facing unprecedented demand nationally for services in the last 12 months.

The inspectors had also recognised the Council’s skilled, committed and passionate workforce who worked in very sensitive and difficult circumstances and Councillor Evans thanked all the staff involved, as well as those other teams that provided support.

He also thanked all the Council’s partners, including the police, health and schools, who worked with staff to ensure that children were kept safe promptly; 

(i)

Rail Infrastructure in the South West

referred to the announcement today by George Osborne MP (Chancellor of the Exchequer) that £6.4 billion was being awarded for Plymouth. He clarified that the money was for new trains in connection with the electrification of the railway, but that it did not come as far as Plymouth.

Councillor Evans called for new trains to Plymouth to replace those commissioned in the 1970s.

The Council was also informed that a Devon and Cornwall Rail Franchise had been announced by the government which had not been requested by Cornwall, the Peninsula Rail Task Force, and as far as he knew, not by the train operators.  He further reported that the source of the funding for the franchise was unknown but that the announcement came at a time when funding had been cut for North Devon, Cornwall and Plymouth;  

(j)

Individual electoral registration

further to the Lord Mayor’s announcement, emphasised the changes for  Electoral Registration with particular reference to the registration of 17 year olds. The Council was informed that 5 February 2015 was National Voter Registration Day and that 20 April 2015 was the last day for registration in the coming May elections.  He asked all councillors to use all available networks to encourage people to register and reminded them that arrangements had been made for an all member workshop on 24 February 2015 to discuss individual electoral registration;

(k)

Launch of ‘Building Plymouth’.

referred to the launch of the ‘Building Plymouth’ project which hoped to attract young dynamic people into the construction industry.  He reported that the Council would be running taster sessions and providing practical career advice on apprentices and links to the careers.  

(l)

15 newly qualified project managers: Tim Binding, Denise Clift, Helen Cocks, Anna Coles, Alex Davey, Marc Gorman, Ross Johnston, Sam MacDougall, Lee Pundsack, Harry Sherwin, Maria Sibson, James Stannard, Joanne Titmus and Paul Walshe;

(m)

Alex Mehaffey, a project management apprentice, who had recently been appointed to a post within the commissioning team;

(n)

Alex Hurth and Chris Coldwell who had passed Foundation Managing Successful Programmes’ Courses and were awaiting practitioner results;

(o)

Mark Jordan who had passed both the Foundation and Practitioner Management of a Risk Course.