Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was received from Councillors Beryl Ezzard and Jindy Atwal.

Vice-chair in the Chair.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2025 were confirmed and signed.

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 Wednesday, 14 May 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 [email protected] by 8.30am on Wednesday, 14 May 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 a report of the Head of Service – Dorset Combines Youth Justice Service.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Skills introduced the report.

The Head of Service for the Dorset Combined Youth Justice Service outlined the report and the annual Youth Justice Plan. He highlighted the key points in the report, which included how the Youth Justice Plan meets the statutory guidance, performance and priorities for the year ahead.

Members discussed the report and asked questions of officers. The following points were raised:

·         Since the report was written, the annual grant allocation had now been provided with a 1.5% increase.

·         The Re-Engage Programme was used to identify which children at risk of exclusion had speech, language and communication needs. Since September 2024, 70 children had referrals to the programme and 70% of those assessed had communication needs, which would not have been known without the assessment.

·         The Re-Engage programme was operating in Key Stage 3, however it has been used for some children in Year 6.

·         The Re-Engage programme was funded for 2 years.

·         Dorset HealthCare has a speech and language champion for every school, so community provision can provide speech and language support outside of the Re-Engage programme.

·         The Youth Justice Partnership Board would review the Re-Engage programme in July. The Board would review the programme’s effectiveness and how it could be sustained.

·         There were no local places for children to be kept in custody, due to the very low numbers of local children needing to be kept in custody. This could create disruption for families and friends of those children.

·         Core funding was used for maintaining a good Youth Justice service, however short-term funding, such as Lottery Heritage funding, was used for some projects and programmes.

·         There was a difference in health commissioning arrangements across Dorset for diagnosing ADHD in young people. This caused some differences in arrangements for young people in the East Dorset area.

·         The 21 young people taking part in employment and training programmes had not taken part in a structured evaluation of the programme. This could be added to the action plan to ensure feedback is collected.

·         Speech and language therapy was a resource that social workers could access for children on the edge of care.

·         Children’s Services Localities worked with the Youth Justice Service for some families or specific areas.

Proposed by Cllr Jones, seconded by Cllr Holloway.

Decision:

That the Youth Justice Plan 2025/26 be endorsed and to recommend that Cabinet recommends its approval to Council.

To consider the Committee's Work Programme and the Cabinet Forward Plan.

The Committee noted its work programme and the Cabinet Forward Plan.

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 x 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 are no exempt items scheduled for this meeting.

There was no exempt business.