Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q14(14/15)

Mr John Williams

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance)

Council Tax Liability Order Charges

Whereas other local authorities employ lawyers to represent them in court over Council Tax liability, this Authority does not. 

Notwithstanding this, national figures place charges levied by this Authority in the upper quartile, which seems hard to justify. 

Does the Authority make a profit from the costs it claims here? 

Response

Plymouth City Council reduced its Liability Order charge from £83 to £60 in 2013/14 which benchmarks favourably against other councils within the region. The cost is broken down as £40 per account to issue the summons with an additional £20.00 per account to obtain the order.

The charge reflects recovery activity undertaken by council staff which includes preparing documentation, presenting and attending the Court.  The council does not make a profit from these charges.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q15(14/15)

Mr Ryan Aldred

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance)

Use of the Council’s Reserves

Why is the council not making full use of its £10.4 million working reserves to protect jobs and services? Could you not use that money to protect jobs and services whilst simultaneously lobbying the government to restore the council's funding to pre-2010 levels?

Response

We have used our reserves in the past and are likely to do so this year and given the cuts from government will likely need to do so in future years. We try and retain a modest reserve of 5 percent which is less than average. We are lobbying, and continue to lobby, government for fairer funding for Plymouth and retain a focus on protecting jobs. I refer to our budget papers published in December 2014 and February 2015

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q16 (14/15)

Mr Tom Sloman

Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member for Transformation and  Change

Outsourcing of Services

What does this mean: "developing the intelligent client function would move away from directly delivering services, therefore staff would need have different expertise in order to manage the different service models"? Does this mean that the council will be looking to outsource its services to the private sector?  (Quote taken from the budget scrutiny document section 9.1)

Response

Developing an intelligent client function does not mean the council will be looking to outsource its services to the private sector. Alternative models of delivery for some services will be considered in our transformation programmes, but these alternative models will always be consistent with the Council’s cooperative principles.

The Council has instigated an ‘Intelligent Client Function’ to ensure that it’s ethical, social and statutory obligations are discharged in a way that benefits and emphasises Plymouth. We are committed to spending money with Plymouth firms and that at least 50% of Plymouth Councils spend is directed to the local economy. That is a requirement of the Council, and any partner organisations it deems beneficial to commission.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q17(14/15)

Mr Tom Nally

Question asked of Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and Councillor McDonald (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Public Health). 

Answered by Councillor Tuffin as within his portfolio

Adult Social Care and Children’s Services

What measures are being taken to eliminate the overspend of £2.55 million within Adult Social Care and Children's Services and how will the service, which has already received £4.9 million in cuts, be affected?

Response

Adult and children’s social care budgets are under unprecedented pressure across the country, due to increasing demand and reductions in government funding for local authorities.

Careful analysis of the cost of social care services provided and the number of people in receipt of support has enabled us to identify where we can further reduce costs and increase efficiencies, addressing the current overspend.

Our programme of transformation is addressing the way we will operate as a Council over the next few years by radically changing how local services are delivered.  The cornerstone of our change programme is our integration agenda with health, with a pooled combined budget of circa £420m, to provide a joined up approach to the way services are commissioned and delivered in order to reduce costs, improve the experience of patients and service users and improve the health of Plymouth residents.

A key part of this major transformation programme is the Integrated Commissioning Project which aims to deliver a single integrated commissioning function focused on developing joined up preventative and early intervention strategies and adopt an asset based approach to providing an integrated system of health and wellbeing. These integrated commissioning arrangements are founded in a section 75 Agreement between the Clinical Commissioning Group and Plymouth City Council that was agreed by Cabinet on 10 March.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q18(14/15)

Ms Hannah Lewis

Question asked of Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and Councillor McDonald (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Public Health).  Answered by Councillor Penberthy as within his portfolio.

Child Poverty

How is the council going to meet its target to reduce child poverty when there appears to be no budget for it?

Response

In line with the Child Poverty Strategy for Plymouth 2013-16, the Council has not designated a discrete budget but is delivering against its objectives across Council budgets.  Here are some examples:

·      Implementation of the national living wage for all Council employees and temporary staff.

·      Plymouth has not closed a single Children’s Centre: £1.5 million of their collective budget is spent directly on tackling child poverty including school readiness, raising aspirations and confidence, worklessness, money advice, and basic skills for parents.

·      Capital commitment of £1.75m to develop early years’ provision, ensuring we have enough early education places for vulnerable 2 year olds.

·      Creation of a £20 million investment fund to invest in Plymouth’s economy, as part of the city’s Plan for Jobs.

·      Free wifi is now available in all Plymouth libraries.

·      £430,000 of our housing commissioned services is allocated to our most vulnerable families and children.

·      Fuel poverty is addressed through the Plymouth Energy Community which has provided tariff guidance to over 600 households, offering more than £130,000 in savings, and the Fuel Debt Advice service which has helped to clear nearly £25,000 of debt locally.

·      The 1000 Club supports young people into employment. Membership now exceeds 1000 local businesses with a target to provide an additional 1250 opportunities for young people this year.

·      Taking action to house 21% of families on the priority housing waiting list in brand new, energy efficient homes.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q19 (14/15)

Mr Aaron Smith

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance)

Revenue Budget Cuts

The revenue budget for 2014/15 is £204.68 million but there is already an overspend of £2.55 million. How on Earth is the council going to cut it to £178.40 million in 2018/19 without cuts to jobs and services as well as further increases in Council Tax?

Response

The Council is being proactive in managing down the projected 2014/15 overspend which, at the end of January 2015, had reduced to £1.3m. We continue to strive to deliver as near as possible to a balanced budget at the end of the year.

We have clearly set out our plans to deliver a balanced budget in 2015/16 and beyond within our published budget papers which include financial savings and income generation that will be generated from our Transformation Programme.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q20 (14/15)

Mr Robert Plumb

Councillor Vincent (Cabinet Member for Environment)

Greenfield Sites to the North of Tamerton Foliot

Noting that the draft Plymouth Plan (Part 1) supports major development on brownfield land and on the E and NE fringes of the city rather than elsewhere: specifically how is the Council aiming to protect our community from unsustainable development on greenfield sites to the north of Tamerton Foliot (e.g. at Allern Lane).

Response

The PlymouthPlan supportsthe useof brownfieldlandfor majordevelopment,particularly residentialdevelopment.Policy42 makesclearthatthe Planwill givepriorityto developmenton previouslydevelopedsites.

StrategicObjective 8alsomakesclearthat the Council will givepriorityto meeting its housingneed within its administrativeboundariesbefore consideringjointly withSouth HamsDistrictCouncil the opportunitiesfor meetingneeds in the urbanfringe.

It shouldbe notedthat thePlymouthPlan PartOnedoes notidentify sitesto meet itshousingneed– it sets outthestrategicframeworkto be usedto identify sites.Site allocationsthemselveswill be investigatedaspartofthe workon the PlymouthPlanPartTwo, and will be setout in the single PlymouthPlan which willbe consultedon andsubmittedto the Governmentnext year.  The strategicframeworksetout in thePlymouthPlan PartOnethereforedirectshousing developmentandgrowthto the mostsustainablelocations– for exampleonpreviouslydeveloped landwheredevelopmentwill contributeto the creationof sustainablelinked neighbourhoods,in line with Policy2 of the Plan.

The questionnotesthat the PlymouthPlan PartOne supports majordevelopmenton the eastern andnorth easternfringesof the city.  Thispoint requiresclarification.

StrategicObjective 8indicatesthat if, afterlookingto maximise development within the city’s administrativeboundaries,it is necessaryto workwith SouthHams tofind opportunitiesin the urban fringe,we would lookto the northand northeasternfringesfor sustainablelocationsto meet ourhousingneed.  Policy 43 then goes on to statethat opportunitiesfor sustainablegrowthwill be exploredat Woolwelland Newnhamto meet such need.

Therefore,with regardto greenfield sitesatTamertonFoliot, the PlymouthPlan doesnot support majordevelopmentin thispartofthe cityor inadjacentpartsof SouthHams.  The PlymouthPlan does notprioritisegreenfieldsites,and would notsupportunsustainabledevelopmentin this location.

Ifany sitesareproposedfor developmentoutsideof the administrativeboundary,South Hams District Councilwould consultwith the City Council onthe implicationsof development.  South Hamshavea duty towork with us onensuringthe developmentproposalsaresustainable.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q21(14/15)

Mr Brian Else

Councillor Vincent (Cabinet Member for the Environment)

Saltram Quay

Would you agree that there are safety concerns with the new slope onto Saltram Quay. Cyclists, especially young and night users could come down it and straight into the river, onto the concrete gangplank or drop 4 feet onto rocks and estuary mud.

Response

No, I would disagree there are safety concerns with this solution. This scheme involves the reinstatement of an historic footpath link, which will be considerably widened to 3 metres, with a slope of wildflowers between the edge of the ramp and the Quay itself. This will mean there are no more risks to the young than exist with the Quay already, which is accessible to the public currently.

Since we do not propose to light the route on public safety and environmental grounds there is not considered to be a risk for night users.