Venue: Virtual/MS Teams with Outside Broadcast
Contact: David Northover 224175 Email: david.northover@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
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Election of Chairman To elect a Chairman for the meeting from the Dorset Council representatives. Minutes: Resolved That Councillor Laura Miller – Dorset Council – be elected Chairman for the meeting. |
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Appointment of Vice-Chairman To appoint a Vice-Chairman for the meeting from the BCP representatives. Minutes: Resolved That Councillor Nicola Greene – BCP – be appointed Vice-Chairman for the meeting. |
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Apologies To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: No apologies for absence were received at the meeting. |
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To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2020. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2020 were confirmed and would be signed at the earliest opportunity. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest. Minutes: No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting. |
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Public Participation PDF 49 KB To receive questions or statements on the business of the
committee from town and parish councils and members of the public. Minutes: There were no statements or questions from Town and Parish Councils, nor public statements or questions at the meeting. |
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To consider the Board’s Forward Plan. Minutes: The Board’s
Forward Plan was noted and, what was due to be considered over the
coming months, accepted. |
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Presentation by the Director on DPH activities and progress PDF 469 KB To receive and oral briefing and presentation by the Director on Dorset Public Health activities and progress – particularly in respect of the Coronavirus pandemic - since the last meeting. Minutes: The
Director of Public Health took the opportunity to inform the Board of what had been
done by Public Health Dorset (PHD) - in partnership with other heath bodies
GP’s; Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group; the NHS, emergency
services; and Dorset and BCP Councils - to address and manage the
Coronavirus pandemic within Dorset over recent months, what progress had been
made and how the usual business of PHD was still being managed and delivered. The Board
was given a presentation by the Director – appended to the minutes –
outlining the local outbreak management plans, how they were being applied and
managed and what was being done in practice, along with other associated
information pertaining to the pandemic, to put what PHD was doing – and had
done - in some context. The
presentation covered :- •
what 2020 had meant for PHD – in being integral
and fundamental in leading response to COVID-19 across the Dorset system, as
well as, amongst other things:- - Public Health England being dis-established
(from April 2021) - introduction of Integrated Care Systems as
legal entities from 2022 -Public health functions would remain with Councils - greater responsibility for local delivery of pandemic response,
supported by colossal amounts of grant funding - a limited number of qualified public health people to draw from ·
current peak was now receding, but had been the
worst yet in terms of cases and severe disease requiring hospitalisation ·
local peaks compared with the national picture ·
local delivery, regional co-ordination, national
support ·
health protection and response – what had been
done, how it had been done and what impact all this had on the team ·
local tracing partnerships: contact tracing ·
testing – roll out of lateral flow testing ·
vaccination – in supporting Dorset CCG to
mobilise and deliver vaccinations ·
surveillance and intelligence ·
how a new model for a new year might be delivered ·
communications, engagement, and
behavioural insights work ·
other issues – how business planning and
re-prioritisation of work programme in the light of COVID continued to be
delivered/ LiveWell roll out and success Whilst,
since the last meeting, two lockdowns had been imposed and case rates had risen
significantly since the beginning of the new year, and had been highly
concerning, the trend being now seen showed that compliance with the
interventions put in place - together with the success of the vaccination
programme now being seen - had achieved some considerable success and should
hopefully only get better. Public Health Dorset considered that this reduction
seen in Covid-19 infection rates was again pleasing to see and reflected the
efforts made to manage this and the means by which this was done. Nevertheless,
it was of critical importance that compliance with the lockdown rules
were maintained to ensure that trend continued and that there should be no place
for complacency, or this would contribute to this trend being reversed. Household
transmission remained the most significant exposure setting, followed by
visiting friends and family. The Director said that the ... view the full minutes text for item 75. |
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To consider a report by the Director of Public Health. Minutes: The Board received an update on the use of
each Council’s grant for public health, including the budget for the shared
service, Public Health Dorset, and the other elements of grant used within each
Council outside of the public health shared service. The report described
how the funding was being applied and to what services and in what
proportion. The opening revenue budget for Public Health
Dorset in 2020/2021 was £28.748M, based on a combined Grant
Allocation of £33.838M. Both Dorset Council and BCP were forecasting breakeven
against their retained grant. COVID-19 had had a significant impact on Public
Health Dorset and both local authorities. Financial impacts continued to be
challenging to gauge owing to additional costs due to COVID and the reduction
in services paid on an activity model where activity had declined
substantially. After allowing for known cost pressures, the current provisional
forecast for 20/21 was £1.4M underspend. How the COVID-19 local outbreak management
plans were being applied and by whom were described, with the additional
funding from the Test and Trace Grant being noted. With some additional costs
to the shared service in supporting this work now being met through the Contain
Outbreak Management Fun, Reserves stood at £617k for Prevention at Scale and
£293k uncommitted funds. Grant allocations for public health in 21/22 were as
yet unknown, although it had been indicated that the previous year’s increase
would be maintained. In applying the 2020/21 underspend and a reduced
provisional budget for the shared service for 21/22 of £28,133k, recommended
contributions from each local authority were set out in Appendix 2 to the
report. The Board asked to be assured that what was being proposed by PHD accorded with was being proposed by the two Council’s Medium Term Financial Plans (MTFP) so that financial strategies were as aligned as they might be to ensure a holistic approach was maintained. The Director confirmed that this would be the case and that any future finance paper would include a representation of this. How any underspend would be managed and allocated was also raised to ensure prevention services could be managed effectively and maintain its level of effectiveness. As previously, whilst it was acknowledged
that the continued interventions needed to address the issues associated with
Covid-19 were unprecedented and represented a unique challenge both in
financial and practical terms, the Board recognised, and understood, that the
available funding was being used as efficiently as it could be and
appropriately prioritised to continue to optimise outcomes. Resolved 1)That the use of £338k of the anticipated
2020/21 underspend as a contingency to support restarting health
improvement services in 2021/22 be agreed. 2)That the use of the remaining £1M
anticipated 2020/21 underspend to reduce each local authority’s financial
contribution for 2021/22 as a oneoff be agreed. This would mean a reduction of
£532k in BCP’s contribution and £468k for Dorset Council. 3)That a provisional budget for the shared
service for 21/22 of £28,133k be approved 4)That Appendix 2, which will form the financial ... view the full minutes text for item 76. |
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Dates of future meetings To consider dates for future meetings of the Board – proposes as being on the Thursday’s of 20 May, 15 July, 18 November 2021 and 10 February 2022. Minutes: Resolved That the
dates for future meetings of the Board – on 20 May, 15 July, 18 November 2021
and 10 February 2022 - be agreed. |
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Urgent items 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. Minutes: There was no urgent business to be considered at the meeting. |