Full Council is the governing body of the council so has the final say on the council’s budget - how much we spend and where we spend it - and the council’s policies. Policies tell officers how their decisions should be made and what action they should take in certain circumstances.
We then have three committees made up of councillors - Policy Committee, Community Committee and Regeneration Committee - that take detailed decisions.
Councillors from all parties are represented on those committees.
Committees are politically balanced. If a party has an overall majority on Full Council, it will have an overall majority on a committee.
The leader of the council is the chair of the Policy Committee but does not have any decision-making powers.
There are also other committees required by law such as Planning Committee and Licensing Committee. Their names are good descriptions of their responsibilities.
|
Full Council is the governing body of the council and decides the budget and policies.
Full Council appoints the leader. The leader of the council then appoints a cabinet which consists of themself and up to nine other councillors.
The cabinet does not have to include councillors from all political parties.
Each cabinet member is responsible for a particular service area (for example, housing or enforcement).
For matters reserved for the executive, the cabinet (or cabinet members) make decisions on important issues either as a group or individually.
The leader of the council chooses whether executive decisions are made by the cabinet as a group, or individually by cabinet members.
The number of decisions that need to be made is likely to determine the frequency of meetings including cabinet meetings.
The leader also decides which executive functions can be delegated to officers.
The cabinet (or cabinet members) are held to account for their decisions by other councillors through what is known as an overview and scrutiny process
|