Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2025.

(To follow)

As this was an additional meeting the minutes from 20 November 2025 were carried forward to be signed at the meeting on 22 January 2026.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests 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.

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 MS 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.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected]  by 8.30am on 8 November 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 8 November 2025 

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no questions from Councillors.

To consider a report by the Strategic Performance and Risk Lead.

The Head of Strategy introduced the report and the journey undertaken to form the performance dashboard. The Relevant officers were introduced to  address the specific indicators that were detailed in the report.

The Head of People and Workforce addressed the metrics around sickness and DBS check completion and the committee debate that followed covered the following areas;

·       Sickness absence and a pilot that was undertaken to try to encourage earlier return to work in the Place directorate.

·       The level of absence due to stress and mental health and the level of impact on those aspects of absence by budget pressures and the reduction of roles planned within the transformation programmes.

·       The introduction of a new employee assistance programme to support employees with their wellbeing.

·       The dispersion of sickness absence across the organisation and demographic factors.

·       The current practices and interventions around DBS checks.

The Head of ICT Operations (Chief Technical Officer) spoke to the rating around cyber security and the training provided and the weaknesses within the data quality.

The committee investigated into the data quality issue to ensure progress and requested a more comprehensive update at the next quarterly update with a specific time frame to be provided. Concern were raised around the impact of a cyber security breach and the rate of training completion was discussed. The impact of data quality was raised in relation to the implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning system.

Missed bin collections metric and parking metrics were addressed by the Executive Director for Place who described the situation and steps that were taken to address the issue.

·       The opportunity to development of people to become Heavy Goods Vehicle operators to address the impact of skills shortages.

·       The opportunity to advertise HGV training and waste roles

·       The development of new properties and incomplete infrastructure being a factor that impacted round completion and missed bin collection.

·       The redeployment of vehicles to provide best fit for the route requirements.

·       Recycling practices of residents and the impact of battery fires on collection of bins.

·       Reassurance was given around parking revenue.

The Chair recognised the report, the dashboard and the effort taken by colleagues to get the data into such a clear format and thanked officers for their efforts and contributions.

To receive a report by the Complaints Manager.

Senior Assurance Officer Complaints introduced the report and outlined the role of the ombudsman and the processes taken by Dorset Council.

·       The online form and it’s key role in effective management of complaints.

·       The opportunity to use technology more effectively to meet the rising demands.

·       Complaints made to Councillors and ensuring alignment with the corporate complaints process.

The Senior Assurance Officer for Complaints was to produce a briefing document for the nuance of dealing with complaints for councillors to ensure the correct processes were followed.

To review the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

The Committee reviewed the work programme.

To review the Executive arrangements Forward Plans.

Forward Plans are provided to members of the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee to review and identify any potential post decision scrutiny to be undertaken, by scheduling items into the work programme to review after a period of implementation.

The committee reviewed the forward plans.

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.

To consider any items of business which the Chair 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.