Agenda and draft minutes

Due to the Chair of the shareholder committee having given apologies for the meeting, the Vice-chair, R Biggs, chaired the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2026.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2026 were agreed 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 9 September 2026.

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 9 September 2026.

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 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.

The Managing Director provided an overview of the issues covered in the report, which included an update on GCSE and other qualifications achieved by pupils over the summer and the school’s requirement to balance the needs of pupils attending a special needs school, with the aspiration for pupils to take and achieve qualifications. An update was provided on pupil turnover including transition to post-16 education, some to mainstream settings, and further information and analysis would be available for the next meeting of the shareholder committee. Other areas covered by the report included a note on the participation of the Managing Director at a meeting of the Dorset Inclusive Education Alliance to discuss how the wider educational system could serve all children in Dorset, adventurous experiences offered to pupils and to note that the accounts would be presented to the shareholder committee at the next meeting.

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

·       In response to a question relating to pupils transitioning to mainstream education, the Managing Director noted that the single common factor was that this was driven by a high motivation in the young person

·       The school had a rich offer of Key Stage 4 subjects, which included Maths, English and humanities. Where possible, the school would consider the passions of the pupils in determining available courses. The size of cohort in school presented some challenges in this area and there was an aspiration to look at ways to find individual approaches to subject provision

·       A request was made for financial information to be made available as soon as possible

·       The Director of Resources noted that there were ongoing discussions regarding some technical points relating to the wider group structure for council owned companies. Once this had been concluded, the position for the Dorset Centre of Excellence could be confirmed

·       The Chair of the Board confirmed that the draft financial information would be made available to members of the shareholder committee

·       In response to a question regarding the position with NEETs (young people ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’), a programme of check-ins with young people were undertaken to see how they were getting on over time and the school could assist with any queries. The role of other responsible organisations in enabling young people to access post-16 education was also noted

·       In response to a question from D Beer, the Managing Director provided an update on work to look at future options including the potential for progression of community use on site. It was hoped that more clarity could be provided in the next phase of work in this area.

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.

The Chair noted that there was one item of urgent business. The report ‘Dorset Council Commissioner’s Report’ had been received past the standard deadline for agenda publication. The Chair had agreed to add the item to the agenda to ensure timely dissemination of information to members.

DORSET COUNCIL COMMISSIONER’S REPORT

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.

Following discussion at the last meeting of the shareholder committee on future site options, the Corporate Director for Education and Learning provided an update on work undertaken to progress the recommendations which had been made and subsequently agreed by Cabinet. A further update would be provided at the next meeting of the shareholder committee, which would cover progress relating to all three recommendations.

In addition, the Corporate Director provided an overview of the areas covered by the report which included continuing regular contract review meetings, detail of an educational practice review which had taken place over the summer, which had provided positive assurance, detail on attendance levels including hot weather measures undertaken, admissions and transition arrangements being finalised for the new school year and a community farm event that had been held.

The report was NOTED.

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.