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.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 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, 17 September 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 Wednesday, 17 September 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 by the Deputy Director of Public Health and Prevention.

The Director of Public Health and Prevention introduced the report on the disaggregation of Public Health Dorset. There were several key issues throughout the disaggregation, which included the need to ensure the disaggregation was safe whilst still maintaining an effective service in both councils. There would be a need for the committee to consider which areas of public health they would like to scrutinise in the future. Public Health Dorset was able to do significant work in the local health system, however the Public Health and Prevention Directorate would need to focus on delivering effectively with a smaller team and BCP Council’s public health team.

Members discussed the report and asked questions of the Director and Deputy Director of Public Health. During discussion, the following points were raised:

·         The re-procurement of public health contracts was to ensure they were right for the future and due to wider influences such as clustering of Integrated Care Boards and more place-based working.

·         Commissioning services separately from BCP Council could be better for integration of public health in Dorset Council, however joint commissioning could be more efficient and better value.

·         5-year projections and inflation were considered for the regional assurance process, due to the potential for 3-year Public Health Grant settlements. Additional grants received by public health would be included in the Public Health Grant.

·         Committee members were concerned that public health may receive less money if additional funding was merged into the Public Health Grant.

·         The Regional Director led a robust assurance visit and feedback from the visit was incorporated into an action plan.

·         Smoking cessation and NHS Health Checks were both examples of public health outcomes with performance measures. The Committee would monitor these metrics in quarterly performance reviews. An all-member webinar would be held on the Public Health and Prevention directorate, with information about smoking cessation and health checks included.

·         Members queried the numbers of people quitting smoking. It was the number of validated quitters after 4 weeks. High numbers were achieved through working with digital and marketing teams. Most of the 5-year smoking cessation programme was achieved in year 1, so it was unknown how successful it would be in the coming years. Following a question from the Chairman, it was confirmed that the majority have transferred to vaping and had not given up entirely.

·         A member asked if there had been a lower take up of childhood MMR vaccinations. It was confirmed that Dorset was not achieving the national standards, however the county was outperforming the wider South-West and England averages. Public health worked with the NHS on vaccinations but did not commission the vaccinations.

·         A member referenced a scheme in Minehead, where GP appointments were made for young people missing school, which had positive results for helping young people stay at school. The Deputy Director of Modernisation and Place offered to explore this with the NHS. Cllrs Jones, Todd and Kippax would collaborate on this piece of work.

·         Members emphasised that outcomes were the key to all the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

To consider a report by the Head of Quality Assurance and Partnerships.

The Executive Director of People – Children introduced the Safeguarding Children Partnership annual report. This was the first annual report since the disaggregation of the Pan-Dorset Safeguarding Children Partnership, due to Dorset Council taking part in the Families First for Children Pathfinder. The new model of the partnership is chaired by a senior person from a statutory partner, rather than an Independent Chair, however an Independent Scrutineer had been appointed to the partnership. Overall, the partnership had achieved deeper integration, better communication, and Ofsted commented positively about it.

The Committee asked questions of the Executive Director of People – Children and discussed the report. The following points were raised:

·         A member raised that there are 23% of children living in poverty and gave examples of poverty to remind the committee the challenges that poverty brings to young people.

·         Although the numbers were low, members were concerned by the number of young people experiencing harm. The Executive Director explained the work to reduce and prevent harm, which included working with the Community Safety Partnership and the police. The Pineapple Project focussed on safeguarding young women and girls and individual children would have their own Child Protection Plans. If the risk of significant harm increased then support would be increased, with the possibility of the young person being taken into care where necessary.

·         A member raised that family hubs were becoming a trusted place for families and asked how the council could measure and show the value of family hubs. The Executive Director explained that metrics for families receiving support would increase and the number of child protection plans decrease over time as family hubs are successful. Specific metrics for family hubs would be explored.

·         There were impact reports from the voluntary sector which measured the impacts of family hubs. The Our Future Council programme and developing a new customer model would provide opportunities to how the council receives feedback from customers about services.

·         There was a new target to report to Government for the percentage of children achieving a good level of development at early years foundation stage. The council was achieving 70% for this performance measure, however members emphasised the need to be supporting the other 30% of children to ensure they were also being developed.

·         A member raised that attainment in schools was lower than average for Key Stage 2 outcomes. This was confirmed by the Executive Director, and it was a target to improve KS2 outcomes in the council plan. Improving attainment was being delivered through the Dorset Education Board, an education improvement strategy, a school improvement team, and education challenge leads.

·         Members asked how the role of the Independent Scrutineer would operate in the Safeguarding Children Partnership and requested that they contribute to the annual report in future years. The partnership meetings would be chaired by the council’s Chief Executive rather than an Independent Chair going forward.

The Committee Chairman summed up the discussion and reiterated the need to ensure that the council continues to have effective  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

To consider the committee’s Work Programme and the Executive Forward Plans.

The Chairman outlined the agendas for the upcoming meetings in November and January. The November meeting would have a focus on Adult Social Care due to the upcoming CQC inspection in early December. The January meeting would focus on the budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan.

Changes to children and young people’s mental health services would be brought to the committee after a year to review the differences the changes are making.

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.