Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

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 interested.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 15 September 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 September 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, 28 January 2026.

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 Wednesday, 28 January 2026.

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 Director of Public Health and Prevention.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, who chairs the Health and Wellbeing Board, introduced the item. He outlined the purpose of the Health and Wellbeing Board and the role it could have within the upcoming NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) cluster arrangements.

The Deputy Director of Public Health and Prevention gave a presentation to the committee which considered the context, current position and opportunities for the development of the Health and Wellbeing Board Strategy. The presentation is attached as an appendix to these minutes.

The committee and non-committee members discussed the report and asked questions of the officers and Cabinet Member. The following points were raised during the discussion:

·         The NHS would be involved with this work, as the Health & Wellbeing Board’s vice-chair is an NHS representative. There are also regular meetings between senior officers of the council and NHS to ensure there was alignment.

·         The ICB cluster arrangements and commissioning arrangements for local places had not yet bee finalised. If local place commissioning was through the Health and Wellbeing Board, this would enable more democratic accountability and scrutiny.

·         Examples of the topics likely to be in the Health & Wellbeing Strategy would be living well, ageing well, healthy life expectancy and leaving hospital. However, the topics would be developed as the strategy develops.

·         The strategy would need to help encourage an NHS culture shift from sickness to prevention and reducing health inequalities. The Better Care Fund could be used as a method of redistributing funding into communities.

The committee discussed the next steps and future oversight for the development of the Health and Wellbeing Board strategy and requested a progress update and review in 6 months.

Proposed Cllr Jones, seconded by Cllr Holloway.

Decision:

That

a)    The proposed approach to developing the strategy and outcomes framework the Health and Wellbeing Board, be supported.

b)    The direction of travel with the Board overseeing the development of prevention-focused integrated care, working through a place-based partnership approach, be endorsed.

c)    The establishment of the Internal Dorset Council Prevention Steering Group (officers) and External Reference Group for partners, community representatives and Members, be noted. Both of these groups will be supported by a task focused product team to deliver the strategy content and outcomes framework.

To consider a report of the Commissioning Manager.

Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 are to follow and will be published as a supplement to the agenda.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care introduced the report. He thanked people for taking part in the public consultation and said that the outcomes of the consultation have helped shape the future intention for day opportunities.

Members discussed the report and raised the following points:

·         Ferndown was previously identified to close but now the new plan for Ferndown was broadly supported. There was concern that opening a community hub in Ferndown would compete with other community facilities.

·         The report had been revised following a conversation about Ferndown. There were still further opportunities to ensure that community work in the area was complimented and not replaced.

·         The council has a duty to ensure that peoples needs are met in practice, however a lack of public transport prevents people from accessing day opportunities. Direct payments could be used to help people source their own transport, but this could put further pressure on families and carers.

·         There would be a move in focus away from people going to buildings, to providing services in communities closer to where people live. A balance between continuity and innovation was needed so people already receiving day services were not distressed.

·         The report was on current day services provision, so Gillingham was not included. Information on day opportunities already available in Gillingham would be shared with members.

·         References to a ‘hub and spoke model’ needed to be reviewed so it was easier for service users to understand.

Proposed by Cllr Ezzard, seconded by Cllr Jones.

Decision:

That the draft Cabinet report and future intentions for day opportunities be supported.

To consider a report of the Service Manager for Housing Register and Lettings.

The Corporate Director for Housing and Community Safety introduced the report and outlined the purpose of the allocations policy. The policy would remain similar to the current policy, however there were some amendments and changes which were listed in an appendix to the report.

Since publication of the report, an issue was identified with section 4.15 of the report. The Corporate Director suggested an amendment to the committee to provide information on ownership of a property through a company or shares. The Committee agreed to including this amendment in a recommendation to Cabinet.

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

·         Whether registered providers can turn down people on the housing register. Registered providers could do this in some circumstances although the reasons need to be explained to the council. It was rare for this to happen.

·         The statutory guidance for bedroom standards and how house sizes are assessed for families.

·         The £60k income and the savings limit were not means-tested following allocation of a property.

·         The income limit of £60k was a common number across local authorities and was suggested by the government as a reasonable threshold. Only 45 people on the housing register of approximately 7000 people were earning between £50 – 60k.

·         Reassessment of approximately 2000 applicants on the housing resister would need to take place and would be undertaken with support from temporary staff.

·         Implementation of this new allocation policy would likely have a marginal impact on the waiting list for housing.

During the discussion, the committee considered recommendations for amendments to the draft policy. The following recommendations were made:

Proposed by Cllr Quayle, seconded by Cllr Parkes.

Recommendation: To replace ‘any English local authority’ with ‘any UK local authority’ in section 4.14 – moving to Dorset for work or an apprenticeship.

Proposed by Cllr Furhmann, seconded by Cllr Holloway.

Recommendation: To replace ‘a minimum of two years’ with ‘a minimum of five years’ in section 4.12 – association with close family.

Proposed by Cllr Furhmann, seconded by Cllr Bown.

Recommendation: To amend section 4.15 to add ‘or assets’ after ‘having £16,000 or more of savings’.

Following the discussion and making recommendations to Cabinet, the committee considered the recommendations in the report.

Proposed by Cllr Furhmann, seconded by Cllr Atwal.

Decision: To recommend to Cabinet that the Housing Allocations Policy 2026 – 2031 be recommended to Full Council for approval.

To consider a report of the Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Performance.

The Corporate Director for Housing and Community Safety introduced the report. Producing a Tenancy Strategy was a statutory requirement for the council. The purpose of the strategy and the role of the council in social housing tenancies was outlined. Housing registered providers had a duty to cooperate with the Housing Authority.

Cllr Fuhrmann proposed an amendment, which was agreed by the committee, to provide additional clarification to section 5.3 of the strategy. The amended part of the section would read as follows:

We welcome an approach where any breaches of tenancy (for example rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and damaging property) are dealt with under the normal possession process, allowing a court to consider the case. We expect registered providers to avoid including tenant rent arrears in decisions on tenancy renewals. We expect registered providers to prioritise other methods to resolve rent arrears.

We also expect registered providers to avoid including complaints due to antisocial behaviour in decisions on tenancy renewals.  In exceptional circumstances, if registered providers do consider non-renewal of tenancy because of antisocial behaviour, we expect that community care needs (e.g. social care needs, domiciliary care needs, health care needs, etc.) are included in any assessment.

There was no further discussion on the strategy.

Proposed by Cllr Jones, seconded by Cllr Atwal.

Decision:

That the Dorset Tenancy Strategy 2026 – 2031 and the amendment be recommended to Cabinet for approval.

To consider the Committee's Work Programme and the Executive Forward Plans.

The Housing Standards Enforcement Policy and Statement of Principles for Determining Financial Penalties would be considered at an additional People & Health Overview Committee meeting on 16 March.

The committee noted the work programme.

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.