The Cabinet
CABINET AND THE 2000 ACT
The Local Government Act 2000 required the majority of councils in England and Wales to introduce new political arrangements. Harrogate Borough Council elected to implement the leader/cabinet model which forms the executive. The intention was to make decision-making more effective, streamlined, transparent and accountable.
Members appointed to the cabinet are now able to take individual decisions affecting sums up to £100,000 provided they are within existing budgets and policy framework previously approved by the council.
Similarly, the cabinet itself can take
key decisions involving sums over this amount but prior public notice must be given in the
forward plan.
The Act and subsequent legislation sets out which functions must remain the responsibility of the full council and which are now the responsibility of the executive.
Cabinet meetings - details of meeting dates and agenda, reports, minutes and other papers are published on this website. These meetings are open to the public.
CABINET FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The political group on the council with the most members has formed the current administration or executive. Decisions relating to executive functions are taken either collectively by cabinet itself, or individually by each of the 7 cabinet members. In addition, some of these decisions have been delegated to chief officers of the council to take.
Each cabinet member has his or her own portfolio of responsibilities.
These are extensive and can be accessed by selected the various links at the
top of this page.
You can also then access the contact information page for each cabinet member and details of their decision-making meetings.
Constitution - this extract from the articles in the council's constitution sets out formal arrangements for the executive.
CABINET AND THE COUNCIL
Even though the executive now takes various decisions for the authority, the full council of
54 members still has the final say on certain areas of business; some of the most important being:
- to decide the council's constitution
- to elect the mayor
- to appoint or remove the leader of the council
- to determine revenue and capital budgets, set the council tax and determine any supplementary estimates which are outside the cabinet's authority to spend
- to determine the policy framework and any departures from it, other than the policies and proposals which form part of the development plan or local development framework.
The 2000 Act also required the setting up of formal procedures for holding the executive to account for their actions and decisions and, in Harrogate District,
this is undertaken by the council's overview and scrutiny commission and its panels. See Overview &
Scrutiny in Harrogate District.
Please contact the Member Services Manager on 01423 556002 or by email at
membserv@harrogate.gov.uk if you need further information on the Cabinet.