Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the meeting from the Dorset Council representatives.

Resolved

That Councillor Laura Miller – Dorset Council – be elected Chairman for the meeting.

To appoint a Vice-Chairman for the meeting from the BCP representatives.

Resolved

That Councillor Nicola Greene – BCP – be appointed Vice-Chairman for the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

No apologies for absence were received at the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2020.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2020 were confirmed and would be signed at the earliest opportunity.

To receive any declarations of interest.

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

To receive questions or statements on the business of the committee from town and parish councils and members of the public.

There were no statements or questions from Town and Parish Councils, nor public statements or questions at the meeting.

To consider the Board’s Forward Plan.

The Board’s Forward Plan was noted and, what was due to be considered

over the coming months, accepted.

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.

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.

To consider a report by the Director of Public Health.

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.

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.

Resolved

That the dates for future meetings of the Board – on 20 May, 15 July, 18 November 2021 and 10 February 2022 - be agreed.

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 to be considered at the meeting.