(a)

recommendation 1 – the Board queried whether adequate work had been undertaken in identifying external funding sources for both revenue and capital which were available to the Council and whether a statement listing the levels of funding could be incorporated into the corporate finance monitoring reports;

(b)

recommendation 2 – the Board considered that with the enormous amount of knowledge and expertise that had been gained through the development of the Plymouth Plan this should be commercialised in order to provide a consultancy offer to other local authorities;

(c)

recommendation 3 –  whilst the Board heard that targeted services were being integrated (complete care plans which looked at the services that would be required from birth to the end of life);  it considered that further work was required in order to ensure the greatest impact for the most vulnerable children and young people, including those on the edge of care;

(d)

recommendation 4 – the Board heard that any reduction in the police budget which resulted in the number of police officers and police community support officers being cut would have an adverse effect on people feeling safe in their communities;  work would need to be re-prioritised to ensure that people felt safe;

(e)

recommendation 5 –the Board raised concerns at the lack of integration regarding the number of ‘community hubs’ relating in particular to health and social care, children’s services and changes to policing;

(f)

recommendation 6 – the Board raised concerns at the results of the 2015 staff survey; in mitigation it heard that the survey had been

conducted during a major period of change and whilst several services had been subject to service reviews; the Board considered that the acceleration of the  development of a strategic four year Workforce and Organisational Development Plan would set out clear objectives for the development of staff ensuring that staff had the right skills, capabilities and expertise;

(g)

recommendation 7 – the Board queried the lack of consistent communications across all wards (particularly in relation to ‘have your say’ meetings); whilst it was recognised that a ‘one size’ model was not suitable for all wards, the lack of a consistent approach affected how councillors were able to effectively engage with residents;

(h)

recommendation 8 – the Board heard that in order to generate income, the Council needed to be more focused on commercial projects (projects had commenced such as the maintenance of Amey’s fleet); the establishment of a central commercial team would help to drive through this change within the organisation; the Board considered that through the Commercialisation Framework the whole Council needed to develop an entrepreneurial approach and set a commercial ethos throughout the organisation;

(i)

recommendation 9 – the Board raised concerns regarding the current level of empty homes within the City and the need to make funding available in order to accelerate the process of bringing these homes back into use and further increase of the New Homes Bonus;

(j)

recommendation 10 – the Board heard that £6.5m would be cut from the adult social care budget for 216/17; the 2% precept which could be levied for adult social care would raise £1.8m; although this was a Council decision the Cabinet Member for Finance was minded to consider this option for the Council;

(k)

recommendation 11 – the Board heard that the setting up of Delt Shared Services Ltd had been challenging and there were valuable lessons to be learnt for future ventures; it was recognised, that at present, the Council’s capability around commercialisation was weak;

(l)

recommendation 12 – the Board heard of the importance of the Council remaining engaged with the Success Regime, as this framed on-going work on budgets, recovery and finance;

(m)

recommendation 13; the Board heard that there was a new requirement to produce a five year Sustainability and Transformation Plan to achieve financial balance in the health system, whilst focusing on changing the way it provided high quality care for patients; (this would make seven day services a reality for patients and also meet the ambitious of the NHS Five Year Forward View);

(n)

recommendation 14 – the Board heard that work had commenced on a communications and engagement strategy with the aim of it being a corporate strategy owned by the organisation as a whole and not merely used as a communications tool.

(1)

to quantify, in an appendix to the budget report, the levels of external funding both capital and revenue, currently being utilised by the City Council with an accompanying statement outlining how further resources are being sought;

(2)

that the Place Directorate consider how experience in the development of the Plymouth Plan can be commercialised to provide a consultancy offer to other local authorities;

(3)

that work continues to further integrate targeted services, to ensure the greatest impact for the most vulnerable children and young people, including those on the edge of care;

(4)

that the Police and local authority work together to deliver an integrated approach to neighbourhood and community safety services;

(5)

that a time limited working group including cabinet and scrutiny members is established to consider the opportunities that the One Public Estate programme offers to  develop a rational approach to community hubs and avoid a duplicated and fragmented range of initiatives;

(6)

to accelerate the development of the Workforce Plan, with particular regard to succession planning and to bring a report to scrutiny at a future meeting, to include an update on the actions undertaken with regard to the 2015 staff survey;

(7)

that the Chief Executive unit, develop a dedicated approach to communication with councillors;

(8)

to disaggregate the commercialisation project and targets across the Council Directorates and use the available framework to develop an entrepreneurial approach and commercial ethos within Directorates of the Council;

(9)

to consider further provision within the capital programme to bring empty homes back into use;

(10)

that the 2% adult social care levy is applied to council tax bills; the levy should be highlighted on council tax bills with enclosed information on how the money is spent; a report should be provided to scrutiny on the use of the levy at an appropriate future meeting.

(11)

to undertake a review of the DELT and commercialisation  transformation projects and present a ‘lessons learned’ report to scrutiny;

(12)

to receive regular updates on progress of the Success Regime to ensure that it is aligned with local objectives and priorities at the same time as bringing they system back to financial stability;

(13)

that overview and scrutiny should receive updates on pooled budget and commissioning plans for 2016/17 when they are finalised and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan as required in the planning guidance for 2016/17 is produced;

14

that the new communications and engagement framework is scrutinised ahead of a formal decision.