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as of today, there were 20 Covid outbreak settings across the city which included 16 in care homes, two in support living, one in extra care and one in day care services; these outbreaks were being managed incredibly well and all staff were thanked for their continued hard work;

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16 care homes across the city had received, last week, the lateral flow device kits which would be used to support visitor testing; this provided a further layer of support, to assist the management of the virus; however, this was not a stand-alone measure but one that needed to be used alongside PPE, social distancing and infection control measures in place; it was important to recognise that whilst this was a positive step forward it did not come without risk;

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five identified care homes, across the city had been selected for the first tranche of staff vaccinations which would commence today; the Council was working closely with the University Hospital at Derriford and care home providers to provide logistical support;

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whilst the vaccination was hugely reassuring, residents were urged to continue with the measures in place hands, face space;

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congratulations were extended to the Rob Witton and the Community Clinic at the Plymouth Peninsula Dental School, who were the regional winners of the NHS Parliamentary Awards for the Health Equalities Award category; they had been nominated for this award by Luke Pollard MP; the Community Clinic had been launched to help those people experiencing homelessness that had higher dental needs but were less likely to seek treatment; through this innovative work numerous people had been helped who would otherwise have faced barriers in accessing dental care.

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Sir John Hawkins Square -

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in response to ongoing calls to change the name of the Sir John Hawkins Square which commemorated the Elizabethan seafarer closely associated with the slave trade, the Council undertook a renaming process, in order to commemorate Jack Leslie, the Argyle footballer, who was the only professional black player in England when he played for the club between 1921 and 1934;

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in line with the Council’s policy and national legislation, a member of the public appealed this decision; on Friday District Judge Matson ruled that that the Council’s policy met legislative requirements, was properly applied, followed democratic process and that the Council had not been racist in taking this decision;

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public consultation and a pre-application process had commenced for the development of the old Morley Youth centre site at Broadland Gardens; this would be an open market project; the Council wished to set the standard for what new homes should look like and instil a culture among the industry that high standard, well designed, viable sustainable and low carbon homes were the new normal for Plymouth;

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the 24 hectare site to the east of Stoggy Lane and south of West Park Hill in Plympton had been earmarked for housing development in the Joint Local Plan but no formal plans were yet in place; this area was of archaeological interest and a geophysical survey had located a settlement enclosure; a more detailed investigation had been commissioned to evaluate any below-ground archaeological deposits;

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Plymouth Climate Challenge -

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seven projects had been shortlisted for the Plymouth Climate Challenge, all of which had surpassed their fundraising goals and in one case their stretch target; together they had raised £163,032 from 516 donors; the Council had provided match funding through the City Challenge Fund, with five projects being entitled to a Climate Emergency Bonus;  each of the projects also received a cash prize from the Engaged Cities Award;

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Collins Park Trust, the Plymouth Nappy Library, Avfall and Wild Possibilities had been shortlisted and had raised the funding they needed to make their projects happen;

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the three finalists were all inspiring and each presented really ambitious and amazing projects; they raised £145,288; due to the work of Pollenzie there would be new wildflowers in the city which would encourage more bees;

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Plymouth would be centre stage at COP26 in Glasgow next year with the Moths to Flame project due to the funding that PEC had raised;

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the winners were using technology to research Plymouth Sound and were using the findings to inform understanding of the city’s history; this had found a substantial amount of discarded rubbish which the project would support in clearing; the project called 1000 Tyres (named after the number of tyres that had been mapped) would be removed and disposed of properly;

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each of these projects had citywide importance, two had national significance and one would have a global reach.

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the City Challenge Fund had included some fantastic projects which would impact the whole of the city; when the Council had pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030, it had aspired that the plan would contain actions and not just words and these innovative projects had demonstrated this aspiration;

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Plymouth had signed up to UK100 Cities Network which would be launched on Thursday 10 December 2020; by signing up to this initiative Plymouth would be playing its part in the effort to avoid eth worst impacts of climate change;

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the Council had also signed up to the Race to Zero Campaign which was a global initiative that would lobby Governments and share best practice; Plymouth’s aspirations would be seen both nationally and globally;

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took the opportunity to thank all the people that had taken part in the City Challenge Fund, as all entries were worthy projects and would help to engage people across the city and change behaviours towards climate change.

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registrations were operating as they had done throughout the pandemic; in line with guidance, the Council were able to commence weddings again from this week (with a limited number of guests) and had many weddings booked in over the Christmas period;

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local track tracing went live last week; this was supported by the massive flexibility and commitment across the team, especially the contact centre and library staff;

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bereavement services -

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work on the brand new crematorium had started; in November 2020, Kier were chosen as the Council’s preferred construction contractor following a competitive tendering process;

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an archaeological survey had been completed and other work was underway on the site to pave the way for the start of the build;

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there had been a huge amount of work that had been undertaken between the bereavement service management team and the project teams which included Keir, landscapers and the design team to ensure that all operational needs were met.

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took the opportunity to welcome Ming Zhang, the new Service Director for Education, Participation and Skills; he wished to put on record his and the Cabinet’s thanks to Judith Harwood, the former Service Director for Education, Participation and Skills, for her commitment and hard work over her many years of service which had left the service in a strong position;

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the Government’s recent announcement on exams and assessments had provided some clarification relating to GCSE and A-level students sitting exams in 2021; the measures included more generous grading, advance notice of some topics, exam aides (such as formula sheets) and additional papers; students would also be offered a ‘second chance’ to sit papers, if they missed any through illness, or self-isolation and in extreme cases where a student had legitimate reasons to miss all exams, a teacher informed assessment could be used;

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there had been some changes to primary school assessments; the changes to key stage one included the removal of tests for stats, reading, maths, grammar, punctuation and spelling and the teacher assessment for science; teacher assessments for reading, writing and maths would continue; there were some changes to key stage 2 but most tests and assessments would remain in place; there had also been some changes to the early years testing; the primary performance data would not be published, as it would be difficult to make comparisons to previous years;

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the Government’s announcement had been welcomed by head teachers, although there were concerns that the details behind this announcement would not be made available until January 2021 which was getting close to the commencement of the exam period and would also add to the worry and anxiety of young people;

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there had been a lack of solution regarding the loss of learning variances across both the region and schools; some students had been in a better position to access devices and the internet, whilst this had significantly impacted some young people in the city;

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all head teachers had been invited to advise the Council if they had any concerns, so it could lobby Government and also reassure young people impacted by this situation;

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there were four assistance schemes for the most vulnerable children and families in Plymouth that would shortly come on-line or where they already existed would be enhanced; the first part was the Winter Grant Scheme (WGS); this funding would be ring-fenced, with at least 80% earmarked to support with food and bills and would cover the period 18 December 2020 to 31 March 2021; local authorities would receive 50% funding at the beginning of December 2020, with a further 25% being released on receipt of Management Information returns in February 2021 and a further 25% in April 2021;

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the Council would also link up WGS with various initiatives in the city that were supporting the residents who needed help most this winter; these included The Box food parcels providing ingredients for cooking a meal and presents for the children (volunteers would be recruited  for delivering these); there were also a plethora of charities and organisations across the city who had plans in place to deliver food this Christmas;

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Plymouth City Council had funded Food Plymouth and 17 other food aid charities, so far, with the intention that food aide in the city would be co-ordinated going forward; the Council would be looking to invest in the development of food co-ops, as a way to combat food poverty more sustainably;

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the WGS and The Box were providing very different types of support and the Council would ensure that these schemes were targeted to the people who could most benefit; assistance with fuel and bills, as part of WGS, would be submitted to PEC direct; PEC would support utility vouchers and direct payments, under their existing arrangements;

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the WGS was not designed to replicate Free School Meals (FSM) in its entirety but this was a key factor; WGS was wider than children with FSM entitlement; not all families who qualified for FSM would need this support; the Council would be using the FSM register, together with other registers to capture and target the most vulnerable families and children; it was clear that this support would need to cover children at risk of going hungry but also support other vulnerable groups;

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the Council’s priority was that funds were delivered to the right cohort in time for the Christmas break commencing on 18 December 2020; after due consideration, the Council would be providing eligible families a voucher to the value of £30 to provide support with food; Blackhawk was the voucher provider for this scheme who would be working with schools to distribute the vouchers.