Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Jan Britton and Bradley Stevens.

To elect a chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the year 2025-26.

Cllr S Robinson was nominated by Cllr G Taylor, seconded by Paul Dempsey.

There were no other nominations.

Decision:

That Cllr S Robinson be appointed Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the Year 2025/26.

To elect a vice-chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the year 2025-26.

Patricia Miller was proposed by Cllr S Robinson, seconded by Cllr C Sutton.

There were no other nominations.

Decision:

That Patricia Miller be appointed Vice-Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board for the Year 2025/26.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2025 were confirmed and signed.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interest 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 interests were made at this point in 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 Microsoft 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.  For further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected] by 8.30am on Friday, 13 June 2025.

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.   

There was no public participation.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  

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 [email protected] by 8.30am on Friday, 13 June 2025.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13 

There were no questions from councillors.

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 were no urgent items.

To consider the Health and Wellbeing Board’s work programme.

The Board noted its work programme.

To consider a report by the Strategic Health and Adult Social Care Integration Lead.

The Strategic Health and Adult Social Care Integration Lead introduced the update on the FutureCare Programme. The progress in the 4 workstreams was outlined, including an example of where the programme had been working particularly well in Wimborne. The programme would bring operational benefits to the health system, which included reducing the length of time people spend in hospital, and supporting people to recover better at home.

The Chief Executive of NHS Dorset felt that whilst the programme was about reducing the length of stay in hospitals, it was also more fundamental in improving people’s experiences and outcomes because they were staying in hospital too long or not for the right reasons.

A member asked how the Programme used a performance dashboard and a benefits tracker which were used to measure quantitative information. The personas of people who have experienced the pathway have been reviewed; and the Voluntary & Community Sector Assembly reference group would be used to collect information on user voice.

In response to a question about the develop and implementation of new technology, members were advised that tools being developed were within the existing Dorset Intelligence & Insight Service and no additional expenditure on software was needed at this stage.

The Health and Wellbeing Board confirmed its support to progress to the next phase of the programme.

To consider a report of the Head of Service Planning, Public Health.

The Acting Director of Public Health introduced the report, which sought feedback from the Board on the draft place-based partnership prospectus. The progress to develop the draft prospectus, which included a series of workshops with partners, was outlined.

The Board discussed the report and the draft Place-based Partnership Prospectus. The following points were raised:

·         The prospectus signalled a direction of travel to self-driven communities.

·         The use of the word ‘funding’ in the draft prospectus could be misleading. The wording of this part should be reviewed.

·         The name ‘place based’ was quite technical and it would not be clear to the public what this meant. Consideration should be given to what the partnership should be called.

·         Strategic priorities of the place-based partnership would help enable budgets to be pooled.

·         Consideration needed to be given to outcomes and metrics of the place-based partnership to measure its success and impact.

·         An action plan would be needed as a next step to develop the place-based partnership.

Further work was needed to refine and improve the draft place-based partnership prospectus, taking into account the Health & Wellbeing Board’s feedback. The prospectus would return to the Board at a future meeting for approval.

To consider a report by the Service Manager for Strategic Partnerships.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services Education and Skills introduced the report. The report highlighted partnership working and it followed positive outcomes of inspections of children’s services. The Corporate Director for Commissioning and Partnerships outlined the key areas of progress over the year, which included: multi-agency support through family hubs; school readiness and identifying needs earlier; and targeted support for care experienced people.

The Executive Director of People – Children raised that Ofsted highlighted the strength of Children’s Services working in partnership. The Council has also developed a good model for the Families First for Children Pathfinder which would be beneficial for councils nationally.

The Board noted the Annual Report of the Strategic Alliance for Children and Young People.

To consider a report by the Head of Service for Commissioning for Older People and Home First.

A report, appendices, and an exempt appendix are to follow.

The Head of Service for Older People, Home First and Market Access introduced the report and gave a presentation to the Board, which is attached to these minutes. She outlined differences the Better Care Fund has made to Dorset residents over the past year and then outlined they key features of the Better Care Fund 2025/26 Plan.

At this point, Cllr G Taylor declared she was in receipt of a direct payment and would not take part in the debate.

A member asked whether there was a link between technology enabled care (TEC) and discharge hubs. The Head of Service confirmed staff were made aware of the technology enabled care which was available as it could help enable earlier discharge.

Proposed by Cllr Robinson, seconded by Rachel Partridge.

Decision:

1.    That the Better Care Fund (BCF) Reporting Template for 2024/25 End of Year, approved under delegated authority, be endorsed.

2.    That the current version of the BCF Plan for 2025/26, approved under delegated authority, be endorsed.

3.    That further revision of the 2025/26 Plan may be required, pending resolution of financial dispute between Dorset Council and NHS Dorset, be noted.

To consider passing the following recommendation:  

Recommendation  

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 12 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 3 - Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).  

There was no exempt business.