Agenda and draft minutes

In the absence of both the Chair and Vice-Chair, it was necessary to undertake an election of chair for this meeting.

It was therefore proposed by Cllr Jill Taylor and seconded by Cllr Ryan Hope that Cllr Clare Sutton be elected as Chair of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Nick Ireland and Richard Biggs

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed as a correct record.

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 chris.harrod@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by 8.30am on Wednesday 11 September 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.   

A question had been received, however it did not fall within the remit of the shareholder committee to address.

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 13 September 2024.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13 

No questions were received.

To consider the report.

The Strategic Commissioner introduced the report which set out the commissioning activity that had taken place since the previous meeting, current activities taking place and also provided a forecast for the next quarter.

Officers responded to Members’ comments and requests for clarification, details included:

• While there had been some delays to the building programme, which had affected a small number of children, the council, as commissioners, had ensured that bespoke transitions in place. Care had been taken to identify students and families affected and mitigating plans had been put in place along with regular communication. Those students affected had a longer transition plan that ensured that a suitable provision was available for each individual child until such a time that the classrooms were open for use. The Committee was advised that the assembly of the pre-fabricated building had been completed on site at the end of the previous week and work to complete was moving to the next stage.
• The commissioning team were naturally cautious and had felt that wating the residual risk as ‘medium’ was the correct approach to take at this point in time, highlighting that there was a lot going on at the school right now in terms of growth and staffing that needed to “bed-in”. It was expected that this risk would be lowered from the spring term.
• It was acknowledged that the on-site swimming pool was not being fully utilised and that while the school had clear plans to get to that point and there was a meeting due to be held to review a series of submissions from community groups that had expressed an interest in using the pool. The school naturally had to work out how multiple providers of swimming lessons could utilise the same pool without conflicts of interest arising.
• The Coombe House Reading Scale was a solution that set about measuring progress in a different way that worked on the logic of its pupils being able to try different learning methods that encouraged engagement through innovation and sharing successes.

NOTED

To consider the report.

The Chair of the Board introduced the report, which set out the work that had been undertaken by The Dorset Centre for Excellence since its opening, including progress made since the previous board report.

Officers responded to Member comments and requests for clarification, details included:

• Coombe House School wanted to do more than what was expected of it in terms of the support that it provided its pupils throughout their time there and in order to prepare them for departure, and this was constantly monitored to with students their families to ensure that things were progressing well. What was offered by the school was considered to be sustainable.
• Clare Sutton – check question – There had been some discussions relating to the provision of residential social care on-site and some modelling had been undertaken by Dorset Centre of Excellence for the type of provision and associated costs, although the commissioning team needed to review what had been put forward to try and match the need for such provision. This was still in the very early stages and so there was not yet enough information available.
• Coombe House School worked to ensure best outcomes for children and this is why it undertook the monitoring referred to in a previous question. The desire was that school leavers had a route into employment. From a wider perspective the commissioning team and other children’s teams across the council were focussing on children moving from this setting into adulthood.

NOTED.

To consider the draft Forward Plan.

The forward plan was 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 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 was no exempt business