The Cabinet is the
part of the Council responsible for most day-to-day decisions. It
is made up of a Leader and no more than nine other members (Cabinet
Members), all appointed by the County Council from amongst its
membership. When major decisions are to be discussed or made, these
are published in the Cabinet’s Forward Plan in so far as they
can be foreseen. The County Council’s Cabinet has
responsibility for the delivery of the council functions in its
statutory role as:
·
Education Authority
·
Social Services Authority
·
Highway Authority
·
County Planning Authority
·
Waste Disposal Authority
·
Public Transport Authority
·
Traffic authority
An example of what
the Cabinet does would be to get involved in the councils budgetary
process; direct the Council’s economic regeneration
activities and address all issues of importance or public concern
to the County among many other things. Each member of the Cabinet
has an area of responsibility for which they will monitor the
budget and allocated resources for that specific area (this is
known as his/her remit see below for details), ensuring that it
delivers best value and adheres to the councils priorities of
Equality, Social inclusion & Sustainability. In some
circumstances Cabinet Members and / or Committee Chair’s may
have to take a decision (other than a key decision) within his /
her remit, within the policy and budget framework. Any such
decision is notified to all members of the Council within 2 working
days of it having been made. All decision forms sent to the Chief
Executive are kept in a Register which is tabled at all meetings of
the Cabinet and is available for public inspection.
The Constitution,
under the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and
Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, outlines rule
7.0 (General Exception) and rule 8.0 (Special Urgency) procedures
for decision making.
Rule 7 would need
to be applied if it became impracticable to delay a decision which
the Cabinet had defined as a key decision until the date fixed for
its determination.
And Rule 8, if by
virtue of the date by which a decision must be taken Rule 7.0
(general exception) cannot be followed, for example the required
notice period (28 days) before the meeting at which the matter is
to be considered and also if the matter is to be considered in
private.
In both cases,
notice of that agreement shall be published at the Council’s
offices and alongside the agenda item on the website. Notices prior
to 2019 are published
here.
The Membership of
the Cabinet is detailed below, but the actual remits and
responsibilities can be found here, as
well as being outlined in full in Part 3, paragraph 8, in the
Constitution.