The Cabinet
Membership
The Cabinet is made up of the Leader of the council and up to a further nine Councillors appointed by the Leader. The Cabinet may comprise members from one political group only, or may comprise Members from 2 or more groups.
Roles of the Cabinet
The Cabinet develops the council’s Budget and certain policy items for recommendation to the council for approval or adoption. The process entails initial proposals being prepared by Portfolio Holders in liaison with the appropriate supporting council Officer(s). These proposals are submitted to the Cabinet for approval as the basis for consultation, including with the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee and, where appropriate, with the Township Committees – to consider corporate and local impacts respectively; and with the public and partner agencies as appropriate.
Having received the feedback for the consultation process, the Cabinet finalises proposals and presents them to full council for approval and adoption.
Once the Budget and various policies have been approved, they are implemented in accordance within the framework of executive arrangements as determined by the Leader of the council and decisions are taken by the Cabinet, individual Cabinet Members and by council Officers.
The Cabinet meets in public approximately every month.
Responsibilities of Cabinet Members
Members of the Cabinet have responsibility for overseeing particular areas of the council’s activities. These are determined by the Leader of the council and details of the current Portfolio responsibility are maintained on the council’s website.
Further to the Health and Social Care Act 2012 each portfolio holder has also been charged to show clear leadership to both the public and to officers for the promotion and improvement of the health of the local community.
The Cabinet Members report to the full council on developments in their areas of responsibility and answer questions from other councillors.
Decision-Making by Cabinet Members
The executive arrangements include a scheme for decision making by individual Cabinet Members. These decisions are also subject to scrutiny.
Decisions
The decisions of the Cabinet and, where appropriate, Township Committees taken under the indicated executive arrangements cannot take effect immediately. Within 5 working days of a meeting of the Cabinet and of a Township Committee (and some Township Sub-Committees), the minutes of the meeting are circulated to councillors as a Notice of Executive Decisions. councillors then have a period of 5 working days to "call-in" any of the executive decisions.
Any decision that is “called-in” will not take effect until the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee has considered the matter and decided whether the decision should stand or whether it should be referred back to the decision maker or onto full council for re-consideration.
Assistants to Portfolio Holders
Cabinet Members may have Assistants identified to assist them. The Assistants may, for example, attend meetings and speak on behalf of the cabinet member. However, they cannot exercise any formal decision making role on behalf of the cabinet member.