The Cabinet - who's involved and how it works

What is the Cabinet?

The Cabinet (or 'Executive') is made up of the leader and executive members, whose role is to:

• Provide leadership
• Propose the budget and policy framework
• Implement policy through chief officers

Our Committee Meeting Finder gives details of forthcoming meetings, explains the arrangements for public participation and provides the papers on which the decisions are made.

Executive members are councillors with special responsibilities over an area of the council's activities e.g. Education & Children's Planning. Their area of responsibility is known as their portfolio.

The work and decisions of the Cabinet and executive members are scrutinised by the council's scrutiny commissions. Councillors have the right, in certain circumstances, to 'call in' a Cabinet decision for consideration by a scrutiny commission.

The leader and executive members are elected at the annual meeting of the council. It is normal practice for them to be drawn from the political party with an overall majority on the council. Where no one party has overall control, political parties may work together to propose the leader of the council and Cabinet members.

Until 2001, councils in England and Wales had a committee system for taking decisions. Under the Local Government Act 2000, councils were required to change the way they made decisions and adopt a new system. We adopted the leader and cabinet system in 2001, along with many other councils in England and Wales.

Although the Cabinet only includes the leader and executive members, the Full Council includes all councillors.  The Full Council's role is to:

• Approve or reject the budget and policy framework
• Select the leader of the council and appoint executive members
• Adopt the constitution
• Appoint committees to be responsible for overview and scrutiny functions and regulatory matters

Cabinet members and portfolios

With effect from 15 May 2012

The Cabinet has eight members and two assistant members. The Cabinet members are:

Councillor Simon Cook - Leader

Councillor Dr. Jon Rogers - Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources

Councillor Tim Kent - Cabinet Member for Budget and Transport

Councillor Guy Poultney - Cabinet Member for Festivals and Communities

Councillor Gary Hopkins - Cabinet Member for Environment and Community Safety

Councillor Clare Campion-Smith - Cabinent Member for Children and Young People

Councillor Anthony Negus - Cabinet  Member for Housing, Property Services and Regeneration

Councillor Glenise Morgan - Cabinet Member for Care and Health

Councillor Neil Harrison - Assistant Cabinet Member

Councillor Sean Emmett - Assistant Cabinet Member

Portfolios (pdf, 21 KB) of each Cabinet member in fuller detail.

Further information can be found on our Councillor Finder.