Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Paul Kimber, Belinda Ridout, Bill Pipe and Louie O’Leary.

Cllr Molly Rennie attended the meeting online.

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 Ireland declared that he was a governor of Dorset HealthCare.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 11 December 2023.

Proposed by Cllr Taylor and seconded by Cllr Ireland.

Decision

That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 December 2023 be 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 george.dare@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Tuesday, 7 January 2024.

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 george.dare@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Tuesday, 7 January 2024. 

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

There were no comments on the work programme and forward plans.

Members noted the committee’s work programme and the Executive forward plans.

To consider a report by the Executive Director of Corporate Development.

The Executive Director for Corporate Development introduced the budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan. Overall, the budget proposed an 8% increase in funding for the council, which included a 5% increase in council tax. The proposed budget included a savings target of £12m for the Our Future Council programme. The budget setting process until this point was outlined.

The Committee and non-committee members raised a series of issues and recommendations for Cabinet to consider prior to finalising the budget. The table below summarises the issues raised, and responses given at the committee meeting, as well as the recommendations for Cabinet to consider.