Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

a)    Plymouth had the second highest veteran population of all local authorities in the Country;

b)    The first Community Covenant was signed in 2012 which saw the appointment of the Council’s first Armed Forces and Veteran’s Champion;

c)    The Council achieved Silver Recognition in the Employment Recognition Scheme;

d)    New legislation changed the Covenant from voluntary to an organisational commitment, and this had changed the way covenants looked throughout the country, and since this had been changed the Council had received Gold Employment Recognition Status;

e)    The proposal for the new Covenant would go beyond legislative requirements and as an organisation; the council had already gone beyond the legislative requirements.

Councillor Murphy (Armed Forces and Veterans Champion) added:

f)     The Armed Forces Covenant was a commitment from the nation to those who serve, or have served in the British Military and to their families. By signing, the council committed to acknowledge and understand those who serve, or have served, in the armed forces, and their families, would be treated with respect and fairness in all of the services the Council offered, and the unique and selfless sacrifice associated with service would be recognised;

g)    Emphasis was put on supporting young people with their mental health due to the conditions their parents would work in, and the accommodation provided not being adequate;

h)    The new Covenant would outline a criteria that all businesses who had signed would offer a guaranteed interview for spouses of military personnel;

i)     Over 70 businesses had signed the Covenant;

j)     The Navy would become more involved in the new Covenant.

Cabinet asked that Officer’s correct an error in the document to remove reference to “Her Majesty’s” and replace with “His Majesty’s”.

The Cabinet agreed the renewal of the Armed Forces Covenant by Plymouth City Council subject to the above amendment being made.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

a)    There was a net forecast overspend for quarter two of £4.766 million which had decreased from £7.5 million in quarter one;

b)    Children’s Services projected overspend was £6.138 million which equated to an additional cost close to 10% of the budget and was not sustainable;

c)    David Northey (Interim Section 151 Officer) had worked closely with the Tracey Lee (Chief Executive) who had chaired the Children’s Services Transition Board to ensure children would get the care they required alongside  ensuring the council’s finances would remain robust;

d)    Adult Social Care had an overspend of £3.7 million which hadn’t increased since quarter one;

e)    There had been a significant increase of £1.5 million in home to school SEND public transport;

f)     Homelessness had a projected an overspend of £2.423 million pounds since the beginning of the 2023-24 financial year;

g)    £5.86 million of budget savings had been identified corporately which helped to offset the pressure which came from specific areas of the council;

h)    The original saving targets within budget were £23 million and  from period seven the projected forecast for savings were for £19 million, the remaining £4 million to be saved would hopefully be achieved in the coming months;

i)     The Capital Forecast Budget for 2023-28 had increased from £5.57 million to £6.29 million for the five year period;

j)     The Capital programme had a substantial increase to include £1.3 million for Plymouth and South Devon Freeport Terminal Development, £2.98 million for Tinside pool, the National Marine Park and other Marine projects, and a further £8.64 million for the Freeport.

David Northey (Interim Section 151 Officer) added:

k)    The Capital section of the report would go forward to Council at the next meeting on 20 November 2023.

The Cabinet agreed to -

1.    Note the forecast revenue monitoring position at Period 6 as set out in this report in the sum of £4.766m.

2.    Note the Capital Budget 2023-2028 is revised to £629.924m as shown in Table 1 and agreed to recommend these amendments to Full Council for approval.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) introduced the report and highlighted the following points:

a)    National inflation, energy costs, increased demands, rising social care costs, homelessness had all continued to increase and therefore had a significant impact on setting the budget;

b)    Additional allowance had been made in the budget to ensure there was adequate funding to repair potholes and keep the roads safe;

c)    Additional funding had also been allocated to grass cutting due to the significant number of complaints received;

d)    The council would have a shortfall of £2.358 million of funding in 2024-25 which would need to be closed;

e)    The Commitments made in the Labour Council Manifesto (less potholes, streets would be cleaner and greener, increase greener transportation, build more homes and invest in the green infrastructure) had been set out in the budget:

f)     Next steps would include public engagement with businesses and the community to ask for their views and opinions on the budget. The budget would follow the scrutiny process for further consideration on 6 and 7 December 2023;

g)    After those steps had been taken, Cabinet would consider a further report in January and February 2023, which would then go to the Full Council on 26 February 2024. 

The Cabinet agreed to note the report and acknowledged that the report would be subject to change in line with any Government Autumn Statement, Provisional Settlement adjustments and changes required as proposals are developed.