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Contact: Susan Dallison Email: Susan.dallison@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
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Councillor M Parkes in the Chair |
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Election of Chairman To elect the Chairman of Council for 2021/22. Minutes: It was proposed by P Batstone seconded by T Coombs that V Pothecary be elected Chairman of Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2022. It was proposed by P Kimber seconded by L O’Leary that P Kimber be elected Chairman of Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2022. Decision That V Pothecary be elected Chairman of Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2022. The Chairman signed the declaration of acceptance of office and thanked the Council for supporting her. |
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Election of Vice-Chairman To elect the Vice-chairman of Council for 2021/22. Minutes: It was proposed by V Pothecary seconded by R Bryan that M Parkes be elected Vice-chairman of Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2022. It was proposed by N Ireland seconded by G Taylor that H Legg be elected Vice-chairman of Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2022. Decision That M Parkes be elected Vice-chairman of Dorset Council until the Annual Meeting of Council in May 2022. The Vice-chairman signed the declaration of acceptance of office and thanked Council for their support. |
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Apologies To receive any apologies for
absence. Minutes: An apology for absence was
received from D Taylor. |
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To confirm the minutes of the
meeting held on 15 April 2021. Additional documents:
Minutes: The
minutes of the meeting held on 15 April 2021 were confirmed and agreed as a
correct record. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations
of interest. Minutes: There were no declarations of
interest. |
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Chairman's Announcements To receive any announcements from the Chairman of Council. Minutes: There were no announcements from the Chairman of Council. |
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Election of Leader of Council To elect the Leader for 2021/22. Minutes: It was proposed by P Wharf seconded by A Parry that S Flower be elected Leader of the Council for 2021/22. There were no other nominations. Decision That S Flower be elected Leader of the Council for 2021/22. The Leader thanked councillors for their support, made reference to progress made by the Council and further work to be undertaken and acknowledged the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. |
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Appointment of Deputy Leader of Council, Cabinet/Portfolio Holders and Lead Members To note the Deputy Leader, Cabinet membership/Portfolio Holders and Lead members as appointed by the Leader of Council. Minutes: The Leader of the Council reported the appointment of the Deputy Leader, Portfolio Holders and Lead Members as follows:- Spencer Flower Leader / Governance, Performance and Communications Peter Wharf Deputy Leader / Corporate Development and Change Gary Suttle Finance, Commercial and Capital Strategy Ray Bryan Highways, Travel and Environment Tony Ferrari Economic Growth, Assets and Property David Walsh Planning Jill Haynes Customer and Community Services Andrew Parry Children, Education, Skills and Early Help Laura Miller Adult Social Care and Health Graham Carr-Jones Housing and Community Safety Byron Quayle Lead Member for Education Jane Somper Lead Member for Safeguarding Piers Brown Lead Member for Health Simon Gibson Lead Member for Care Noc Lacey-Clarke Lead Member for Environment, Travel and Harbours Cherry Brooks Lead member for Highways |
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Announcements and Reports from the Leader of Council and Cabinet Members To receive any announcements and reports from the Leader of Council and members of the Cabinet.
Minutes: There were no announcements from the Leader of Council or portfolio holders. |
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Public Participation - Questions and Statements PDF 46 KB A period of 30 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to questions and statements on the business of the Council in the following order: (a) Questions and statements from Town and Parish Councils; (b) Questions and statements from those living or working in the Dorset Council area; A person or organisation can ask either 2 questions, or 2 statements or 1 question and 1 statement at each meeting. The full text of the question or statement must be received by 8.30am on Wednesday 28 April. Details of the Council’s procedure rules can be found at: Temporary Council and Committee Procedure Rules Minutes: One question had been received from a member of the public but had been subsequently withdrawn. |
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Public participation - petitions and deputations A period of 15 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to petitions in accordance with the council’s petitions scheme. A period of 15 minutes is allocated to receive and respond to deputations in accordance with the council’s constitution. The petitions scheme and procedures relating to deputations can be viewed at : Minutes: There were no petitions or deputations. |
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Questions from Councillors PDF 42 KB To receive questions submitted by councillors. The deadline for receipt of questions is 8.30am on Wednesday 28 April 2021. Minutes: Questions put by councillors
to the Leader and relevant Portfolio Holders are attached to these minutes at
Appendix 1, together with the responses. |
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To consider a report by the Corporate Director, Legal & Democratic & Monitoring Officer. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Council considered a report on the appointment to Committees, Joint Committees, Panels and the election of Chairmen and Vice-chairmen for 2021/22. The nominations to committees from the Political Group Leaders had been circulated to all councillors prior to the meeting. It was proposed by S Flower and seconded by N Ireland that all the recommendations be approved. Decision (a) That
the allocation of committee seats and the appointments to committees and joint
committees, as nominated by the Political Group Leaders, be approved for
2021/22. (b) That
delegated authority be given to Political Group Leaders to make in-year changes
to committee appointments. (c) That the nominations for committee Chairmen and Vice-chairmen for 2021/22 be approved. Reason for Decision To comply with Dorset Council’s Procedural Rules (as set out in the Constitution). |
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Democratic Decision Making PDF 74 KB To consider a report by the Service Manager Democratic and Electoral Services. Additional documents: Minutes: The Council considered a report of the Service Manager, Democratic and Electoral Services, to confirm the arrangements for the effective and safe continuation of democratic decision making whilst social distancing requirements were still in place post 7 May 2021. In proposing the recommendations, the Leader noted that he hoped that the government would bring forward legislation to enable local government to be able to hold virtual meetings moving forward. The proposal was seconded by L Fry. The Corporate Director, Legal and Democratic confirmed that recommendation v) was now not required as the court case referred to in the report had been lost. The proposer and seconder confirmed that they were moving recommendations i) to iv) as set out in the report. R Knox proposed an additional recommendation v) as an amendment as follows; ‘That the Leader, with support from all political parties represented on the Council, continues to lobby for the means to ensure that the Council, as well as town and parish councils, can continue to meet in hybrid arrangements in the future.’ The amendment was seconded by T Cook. The Leader confirmed he was content with the proposed amendment and would reinforce the points made, in a letter to the Minister, setting out the benefits of virtual meetings. On being put to the vote the amendment was CARRIED. Decision (as a substantive motion) (i)
That
subject to the exceptions described in paragraph 2.9 of the report all council
meetings that are not executive in nature should continue to be held virtually
from 7 May until such time as social distancing requirements are removed
(currently scheduled to be lifted on 21 June 2021), with committee members
expressing a ‘minded to’ decision in respect of recommendations set out in
officer reports (ii)
That
as a temporary change to the scheme of delegation the Chief Executive,
appropriate Executive Director, Corporate Director, Head of Service or Service
Manager be authorised to exercise delegated powers to make non-executive
decisions in the light of ‘minded to’ decisions expressed by members in the
virtual meetings (iii)
That
the Leader should be asked to agree that the Cabinet continue to meet virtually
(until such time as social distancing requirements are removed) with decisions
to be made by the relevant portfolio holder in the light of views expressed by
the wider Cabinet (iv)
That
all members should be given a dispensation under section 85 of the Local
Government Act 1972 until such time as social distancing requirements are
removed (v)
That
the Leader, with support from all political parties represented on the Council,
continues to lobby for the means to ensure that the Council, as well as town
and parish councils, can continue to meet in hybrid arrangements in the future. Reason for Decision To ensure that democratic decision making is able to continue effectively and safely whilst social distancing requirements are still in place post 7 May 2021, and ensuring that decision making is transparent, that local residents are appropriately represented, and that ... view the full minutes text for item 14. |
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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 were no urgent items. |
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Exempt Business To move the exclusion of the press and the public
for the following item 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 public and the press will be asked to leave the
meeting whilst the item of business is considered. There is no
exempt business. Minutes: There was no exempt business. |
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Appendix 1 - Questions from Councillors Agenda item 12 - Questions from Councillors Question submitted by
Cllr Brian Heatley Adoption of a baseline budgeting procedure for setting
the Dorset Council budget for 2021-22 At the Budget Scrutiny meeting
of the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee on 11 December 2020, I suggested
that the Portfolio Holder should select one substantial budget that should for
the 2021-22 budget process be subject experimentally to a baseline budget
procedure. This would be instead of the
process hitherto used which places the emphasis on examining changes to the
baseline rather than examining the baseline itself. There was some support for this, represented
in the minutes by the entry: - A request is made to include scrutiny of the
Base Budget in next year’s budget scrutiny process. Since if we are to do this the selection of the budget
concerned needs to be done in good time, has the Portfolio holder made such a
selection, or if he has not done so, if and when he proposes to do so? Response by Cllr Gary
Suttle Thank you Cllr Heatley for your
question. I stated in my speech setting the budget that the process
would be enhanced for the coming year and that I had every intention of extending
it. Following the matters raised at scrutiny the Cabinet
agreed that officers would bring forward plans to review base budgets for
services which members may want to focus specific attention on. This will
need to be done in advance of the budget scrutiny settings/scrutiny process so
that resource allocation next year can take place against a good knowledge of
the current budget. As promised at the time of the budget setting, it is our intention to schedule an additional scrutiny cafe-style event into the process. However, I would like this to look at the base budgets for all directorates and not single one out. The budget process is about assessing and ensuring continuity in funding for the whole Council and in singling out one specific area we cannot achieve the overall objectives. |