(a) That the eight recommendations of the Local Government and Social Care
Ombudsman, as set out below in Section 3.1 of the report to Cabinet of 26 July
2022, be accepted.
(b) Adopt as actions to be taken by the Council
the further recommendations made by the Ombudsman, as set out and commented upon in Section
3.3 of the report.
(c) The action taken since receipt of the
Ombudsman’s report be noted, and agree that
the Children’s Services
Strengthening Services Board (Chaired by the Chief
Executive) should:
(i)
Oversee implementation of the actions
referred to in the second recommendation; and,
(ii)
Review the Ombudsman’s focus report “Out of school,
out of sight” and implement any necessary learning from that report.
(d) That People and Health Scrutiny
Committee be invited to:
(i) add the Council’s ongoing performance in addressing the
Ombudsman’s criticisms and concerns to the Committee’s forward work programme, and
(ii)
commission the South West Audit Partnership
to undertake focused work to provide assurance that the actions being taken
in response to the Ombudsman’s report are embedded in procedure and in practice.
(e) Send the minutes
of this meeting
to all Councillors as the Cabinet’s response to the Monitoring
Officer’s report.
Reason for the decision
The purpose of a section 5A
Monitoring Officer report was to ensure that the findings of the Ombudsman
were brought to the attention
of Cabinet and acted upon. There were also legal requirements that the report be sent to all other
Dorset Council councillors and that notices of the Ombudsman’s findings be
published in a local newspaper.
These transparency requirements reflect the seriousness of a formal finding of maladministration and injustice and are to ensure that the Cabinet and the
Council as whole is satisfied that an appropriate action plan is put in place so that:
· Wider systemic
issues identified by the Ombudsman
are addressed and
· There is no repetition of the failings
identified by the Ombudsman.