Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

No apologies for absence were received at the meeting.

Proposed by Cllr Canavan, seconded by Cllr Keddie.

Decision: that Cllr Les Fry be appointed as Chairman for the PCP Complaints sub-committee.

Proposed by Dr Mytton, seconded by Cllr Fry.

Decision: that Cllr Patrick Canavan be appointed as Vice-Chairman for the PCP Complaints sub-committee.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2023.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2023 were confirmed and signed.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council  

All submissions must be emailed in full to elaine.tibble@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Monday 25 September.

When submitting your question or statement please note that:  

·            You can submit 1 question or 1 statement. 

·            a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.  

·            It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted. 

·            Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.  

·            when submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder)  

·            Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting.  

·            questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda.  

·            all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.  

Dorset Council Constitution - Procedure Rule 9

Councillor Questions

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total. Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

The submissions must be emailed in full to elaine.tibble@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Monday 25 September.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no statements or questions from Town and Parish Councils or the public at the meeting:

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There was no urgent business.

That in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in item(s) No 7 because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) 3 of Part 1 of schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.  

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered. (Any live streaming will end at this juncture).  

Reason for taking the item in private

Paragraph 1 - Information relating to any individual.  

Proposed by Cllr Keddie, seconded by Cllr Fry

Decision: that the press and the public be excluded for the following item(s) in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The Service Manager for Assurance outlined the description and background of the complaint together with the action taken to date and the legislative framework.

Following an initial discussion, the Sub Committee invited Adam Harold of the OPCC to join the meeting to clarify a number of issues and to respond to a number of questions.

The sub-committee had been convened to consider whether:

i)               The complaint should be escalated to the IOPC; and

ii)                  Further contact from the complainant relating to the complaint and the manner in which it was handled, including any Freedom of Information requests, should be managed in line with the Dorset Council “Unreasonable Behaviour” protocol.

Decision: that no further action was necessary and that it would not be appropriate for the sub-committee to escalate this complaint to the IOPC. 

The sub-committee felt the matter was closed and would not consider any further correspondence relating to the complaint or the handling of the complaint, including any FOI requests.