Leader and cabinet

In England, local authorities are required to adopt one of three types of executive arrangements, which govern how decisions will be made within the council. Before the adoption of the Localism Act 2011 there were two principal modes of executive arrangement. They are the "leader and cabinet" and "elected mayor and cabinet" models. A third option "elected mayor and council manager" was withdrawn in 2007. Since 2012, principal authorities have been allowed to return to the "Committee system".

The leader and cabinet model was introduced following the Local Government Act 2000.

It consists of the leader and the cabinet itself, which is usually formed by the majority party in the local authority, where there is one, or by a coalition which comes together to elect a leader. The council elects the leader, and the leader appoints the other members of the cabinet. Each cabinet member holds a separate portfolio, such as housing, finance, economic development, or education. Decisions may be delegated to the individual members, or taken by the cabinet as a whole. These decisions are scrutinised by one or more scrutiny committees, which may be dedicated to one or more service areas.

The leader and cabinet are responsible for policies, plans, and strategies, which must be within the budget adopted by the full council. These will be reported to the overall council, which is convened as a whole, at regular council meetings. Ordinary committees follow and scrutinise the policies, etc., that have been taken by the cabinet. An overview and scrutiny committee holds the cabinet to account for its decisions and is responsible that the democratic checks and balances are maintained. The principle executive decisions taken by the council as a whole are to appoint the leader, to approve the leader's budget, to adopt development plan documents, and to agree on the council's constitution. Beyond that, it may raise issues, urge the leader, cabinet, or cabinet members to take actions, or pass a vote of no confidence in the leader.

In addition, the compliance of councillors with their code of conduct may be overseen by a standards committee, although since the coming into effect of the Localism Act 2011 this can be dispensed with and its functions can be delegated to a monitoring officer.

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