Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2025 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

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.

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 10 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 were no questions or statements from members of the public or local organisations.

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 10 September 2025.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no questions from councillors.

To consider the Forward Plan.

The Forward Plan was noted.

To consider a report of the Head of Service – Health, Education and SEND Commissioning.

The Shareholder Committee received a report of the Head of Service – Health, Education and SEND Commissioning, which provided an overview of the position in relation to delivery by the Dorset Centre of Excellence (DCoE) against the commissioning agreement. As additional points, it was noted that the report following the recent Ofsted inspection of the school had been published and it was highlighted that the council and the school were currently working together to develop reporting arrangements for performance indicators, which would be brought to the shareholder committee at future meetings.

Councillors considered the issues arising from the report and during discussion, points were raised in the following areas:

·       The Chair and members of the committee congratulated the school on the outcome of the Ofsted inspection which had rated the overall effectiveness of the school as Good

·       The report noted an improving trend in attendance and reduction in unauthorised absence, and it was reported that it reflected a steady trajectory of improvement. There was confidence that the trend would continue to develop. The positive position regarding attendance had been identified in the Ofsted report

·       A question with regard to implementation of the business plan and re-profiling associated with phases 3 and 5 would be picked up during discussion of the report from the Chair of the Board

·       In response to a question, the Head of Service noted that the school was moving towards reaching the numbers stated in the commissioning agreement.

The report was NOTED.

To consider a report of the Chair of the Board.

The Chair of the Board introduced the report, which provided an update on the current situation at the Dorset Centre of Excellence (“the Company”) and the Coombe House School (“the School”). The report included progress made in relation to governance, leadership, staffing, estate, community use and finance. In addition, the Chair provided a summary of the key findings of the Ofsted report and in particular noted the ‘Outstanding’ rating in respect of the Personal Development category.

The Managing Director highlighted key successes from the summer period, which included a positive open day for families and a good set of exam results. In addition, he noted that it was hoped to share performance information at the next meeting of the shareholder committee and further information was presented in respect of recent positive annual quality assurance and annual safeguarding review visits by Dorset Council and Wiltshire Council.

A discussion was held with regard to work to implement the approved Business Plan and it was noted that dialogue was ongoing with Dorset Council officers. Reference was made to work being undertaken to reprofile phases and in response to a question, further detail was provided as to the detail of phases 3 (growing site capacity) and 5 (residential proposal). Work was underway to ensure that the next phases of the required development would best facilitate the company’s planned growth and represented value for money for all stakeholders. It was noted that all procurement to date had been managed through Dorset Council, although this was being discussed.

In response to a question relating to increasing the number of children at the school, the Executive Director, People – Children, noted that Coombe House School provided a good educational facility for children that may have previously had to travel further for school, with the associated transport costs for the council. Coombe House School was part of a wider strategy in Dorset and discussions were ongoing in respect of provision at the Dorset Centre of Excellence and also meeting wider needs across the area.

It was noted that there were both children from within and outside of the Dorset Council area attending the school and a point flagged that the Teckal arrangements in place put a restriction on the number of children that could attend the school from outside the area.

Further information on GCSE subject areas provided would be brought to the next meeting of the shareholder committee.

The Executive Director congratulated the school on a very successful period.

The report was NOTED.

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.

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.