Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Suttle.

Cllr Beddow had advised that she would be unable to attend the meeting in person, but would take part in discussions via MS Teams.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 19 October 2022.

The minutes of the previous meeting, held on 19 October 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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 up to two questions or two statements for each meeting.  Alternatively, you could submit one question and one statement for each meeting.  

All submissions must be emailed in full to chris.harrod@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Wednesday 30 November 2022. 

When submitting your question(s) and/or statement(s) please note that: 

• no more than three minutes will be allowed for any one question or statement to be asked/read  
• a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context and this will be included within the three-minute period 
• please note that sub divided questions count towards your total of two 
• 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.   

Dorset Council Constitution Procedure Rule 9 

There was no public participation to report.

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 chris.harrod@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk  8.30am on Wednesday 30 November 2022.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13 

No councillor questions had been received.

To consider the Forward Plan.

The Forward Plan, as amended in the Agenda Supplement Pack, was received and noted.

To consider the report of the Corporate Director of Commissioning and Partnerships.

Claire Sheils, Corporate Director for Commissioning & Partnerships, advised that there had been three new Non-Executive Director appointments to the Board: Hilary Morris, Diane Grannell and Anil Patel and set out the experience that each would bring to the Board, which the committee noted and agreed.

Although there were no questions from Committee Members relating to this item, it was requested that Board Members from both Dorset Centre of Excellence and Care Dorset Holdings Ltd were introduced to elected members.

The Executive Director for Children’s services agreed that this would be appropriate and would liaise with the Chairs of both respective Boards to arrange.

Resolved:
That the three non-executive directors referred to in the report be appointed to
the Board of Directors.

To consider the report of the Chairman of the Board.

The Chair of the Board introduced his report which set out:

Officers responded to comments and requests for clarifications, details included:

• Before the facilities could be offered for community use, there was a small amount of maintenance work to be undertaken and the wording of terms of use agreement for hire also needed to be finalised. Once this had been completed it was anticipated that the ‘dry’ facilities would be available for the community to use from January 2023, with ‘wet’ facilities to follow shortly after.
• The newly appointed Managing Director had observed that was a lot going well with the curriculum and that children were engaging well with it most of the time, although there was some work to be undertaken to ensure that it offered more variety to some pupils with EHCPs and that the provision met the needs of individual plans.
• The Board was seeking to expand the provision of what was currently offered by the School, particularly that of creative arts and sports, in terms of curriculum delivery and develop it so that became more embedded in the school day.
• There was a strong belief held by the Managing Director that all schools should live and function within their communities and that once the foundations of the school’s operation were in place, partnerships were built on and that the local community and groups were invited to assist the school in achieving this. There was a strong community interest in utilising the school’s music facilities in facilitating community activities, although it would need to ensure safeguarding remained robust.
• A short progress report indicating the key milestones and achievements of the school could be circulated to Members to act as a helpful narrative and ensuring that they were kept informed. It was also further suggested and subsequently agreed that a short video could be produced to add to the value of such reports.

Noted

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 move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following items in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within meaning of paragraph 3 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 following item of business is considered.

It was proposed by Cllr Parry and seconded by Cllr Wharf:

Decision

That the press and the public be excluded for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt business information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

To consider the report of the Corporate Director for Commissioning and Partnerships.

The Committee received an update on the commissioning activity being undertaken at Coombe House School, including that related to its recovery plan, future ambitions, media protocol and human resources support.

Noted