Cabinet

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.