Harrogate Borough Council
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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 clicking on 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 three overview and scrutiny
commissions. 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.