Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was received from Cllr Bridget Bolwell.

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.

Cllr Todd declared that his daughter had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2024 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 Friday, 16 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 Friday, 16 January 2026.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no questions form 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 report by the Strategic Performance, Intelligence & Risk Lead.

The Strategic Performance and Risk Manager introduced the quarterly performance report and invited the Executive Director of Children’s Services to outline the narrative for the performance indicators.

The committee discussed the Children’s performance indicators, and the following matters were raised during the discussion:

·         A member sought assurance on whether delays to EHCP’s would improve following implementation of the new case management system. The Executive Director of Children’s Services explained that delays were not just caused by the implementation of the new system, and that AI can help with improvements and robustness.

·         A new locality model was launching in April, and it would centralise the EHCP capacity. The use of AI was aiming to be launched within 6 months, however this needed to be done in a sensible way.

·         It was confirmed there were no children in care in unregistered provision.

·         The national data for SEND tribunals against local authorities was 98% of tribunals were lost by the local authority. In the last quarter, the council had won 3 tribunals which was considered a success.

·         Children’s services were working closely with the government and Department for Education, who wanted the council to continue to perform well in the Families First pathfinder and to roll it out nationally. Therefore, the Executive Director was confident that government support for the pathfinder would continue.

A written response would be provided to address a question from Cllr Kippax regarding an app that was being used.

The Committee noted the Quarter 2 Performance report.

To consider a report by the Corporate Director for Finance and Commercial (Section 151 Officer).

The Corporate Director for Finance and Commercial (Section 151 Officer) introduced the Budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP). The proposed net revenue budget for 2026/27 was £482.6m. The underlying cost pressure was approximately £37m, the pressures in the proposed budget were addressed through a range of efficiencies, savings, grants and income. The proposed budget presented a balanced budget to the council.

The Committee discussed the report and asked questions of the Section 151 Officer, Cabinet Members, and relevant directors. Non-committee members were also given the opportunity to ask questions. Each of the appendices relevant to the committee’s remit were discussed in-turn, following an introduction from the senior officer responsible for the service.

Appendix 1d – Adults and Housing

The demand in adult social care was predicted to continue rising, although it was not expected to increase above the growth included in the budget. Pressures on the wider system could create pressure on the budget. Savings were to be achieved during the year.

The following points were raised during discussion on the Adults and Housing budget:

·         Whether the FutureCare savings target was realistic. The Executive Director for Adults and Housing was very confident for that these savings would be made.

·         A 3% vacancy factor was expected to be built into the budget. Recruitment for social workers was a challenge but vacancies for these posts were not deliberately held.

·         The unfunded staffing posts pressure in housing were being extended into this financial year as they were on a 2-year basis but were needed to continue investment and transformation in housing.

·         With regards to the council’s transport offer and making savings, the Executive Director advised the council was looking at more cost-efficient ways of funding this, such as using more direct payments.

Appendix 1e – Children’s Services

There was a 5.7% increase in the Children’s Services budget with £3.5m of pressures from pay increases and inflation. The largest pressure was the children in care placement budget. The budget included a £1.5m investment into fostering and kinship care, which was the least expensive option for children in care.

The following points were raised during the Children’s Services budget discussion:

·         There was a concern from the committee about the council’s High Needs Block deficit. The Section 151 Officer advised this was a national issue and the government planned to introduce a SEND white paper which would set out policy reform options. The council was managing SEND well and there may be additional funding in the final settlement.

·         A specific timeline was not attached to the introduction of AI. Additional capacity from remodelling the service, along with using AI to support staff, would mean the council does not need to rely on agency staff. The Transformation Management Office were reviewing the options for the implementation of AI.

Appendix 1f – Birth to Settled Adulthood

There had been significant growth in the budget for Birth to Settled Adulthood to reflect the service need. The service should help prevent growth in need and supporting children to stay with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

To consider a report by the Complaints Manager.

The Service Manager for Assurance introduced the Corporate Complaints Team Annual Report. The key messages raised in the report included a 17% increase in complaints, greater use of AI in complaints, and improved processes where a complaint is sent to an MP or the Chief Executive.

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

·         The complaints team tracks learning from complaints, which was set out in the appendix to the report. There can be less complaints after lessons learnt, however some services can continue to have complaints, such as SEND due to a lack of specialist school places.

·         The complaints team can use AI to summarise complaints.

·         Complaints in Children’s and Adults social care were prioritised due to the impact it could have on their lives.

·         Poor communication was a theme in this and previous year’s complaints reports. This could be caused due to complainants sending multiple emails a day and expecting quick responses. Children’s Services recognised that communications issues have not been solved, but staff capacity was being increased which would give staff more time to respond to communication.

·         There are regular complaints meetings with directorates to review complaints and issues arising from them. Direct conversations with the complaints team take place when an individual complaint needs to be resolved.

·         Complaints about providers go through the usual complaints process as the council commissions the providers. These complaints could come in through a number of routs, such as safeguarding referrals.

·         Seeing learning from complaints embedded in services and considering how communication can be improved would be a positive next step for improvement.

The Committee noted the Annual Complaints Report for 2024/25.

To consider the committee’s Work Programme and the Cabinet Forward Plan.

The work programme would be updated to schedule timelines for the current unscheduled items, and these items would be added to future meetings following the approval of the Calendar of Meetings.

The following items were to be added to the work programme:

·         CQC Inspection report and action plan

·         EHCP Working Group final report and recommendations

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.