Elliot Wearne-Gould (Principal Democratic, Governance and Scrutiny Officer) presented the Revised Terms of Reference and discussed:

a)     That in Spring 2025 the Board had participated in Development Workshops to review whether the existing Terms of Reference and membership remained fit for purpose;

b)    That a subsequent report had been submitted to the Board in April 2025, where Members agreed to explore widening membership to improve representation, particularly by clarifying the distinction between core and co?opted members and how this related to quorum and voting rights;

c)     That the revised Terms of Reference included updated partner organisation names, refreshed membership lists, revised role profiles and the incorporation of Neighbourhood Health guidance to reflect emerging national requirements;

d)    That a significant proposed change was an amendment to the quorum rules, removing co?opted members from the quorum count to ensure meetings remained functional as the Board expanded its co?opted membership, noting that co?opted members were not mandated to attend all meetings;

e)     That, subject to HWB approval, the revised Terms of Reference would be submitted to City Council for adoption;

Ruth Harrell (Consultant in Public Health) added:

f)      That the Plymouth Plan, which also served as the city’s statutory Health and Wellbeing Strategy, was in the process of being refreshed and updated;

g)     That Public Health requested a workshop be scheduled in late February for HWB Members to review the health and wellbeing elements of the Plymouth Plan and consider any amendments;

h)    That the workshop would also include a draft of the new State of the City (health and wellbeing) report to support the Board in identifying priorities for the forthcoming year.

In response to questions, the Board discussed:

i)      Members supported setting up a workshop to review the strategy and identify priorities;

j)      That further amendments would be made to the Board membership once additional partner organisations had been contacted and confirmed acceptance to Join the Board;

k)     That the term “statutory members” had been clarified to remove previous ambiguity around additional/co?opted membership. Statutory members were those required by legislation, while co?opted members were appointed at the Board’s discretion.

The Board agreed:

1. To review, comment, and endorse the draft updated Terms of Reference;

2. To submit the revised Terms of Reference to City Council for approval, subject to clarification of additional co-opted partners.