Agenda item

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, confirming the establishment of Cabinet Committees and Cabinet Groups for the 2026/27 Municipal Year and appointing members to the Committees and Groups.

Councillor Dad provided a brief introduction to the report and announced some additional nominees (not included in the report) for the various bodies being established, which are included in Table 1 below.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

In June 2015, Cabinet had established the Cabinet Committee (Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013).  The Cabinet Committee determined whether to grant, renew, revoke or vary scrap metal licences pursuant to the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, where the applicant or licensee (as the case may be) had informed the Council that they wished to make oral representations.  Meetings took place only as and when required, but this body was needed to enable compliance with statutory requirements.

In December 2017, Cabinet had established the Cabinet Committee (Street Naming).  The Cabinet Committee met from time to time and discharged the Council’s functions in respect of the naming and renaming of streets pursuant to Sections 17 and 18 Public Health Act 1925.

In June 2012, Cabinet had established the Cabinet Waste and Recycling Group.  The body acted in an advisory capacity to Cabinet and did not have any delegated or decision- making powers.  This Group met infrequently, but provided oversight of certain aspects of the Council’s Waste Services.

On 21^st September 2022, Cabinet had established the Net Zero Working Group.  The Working Group’s remit was to support the work of Cabinet in addressing climate change, but it did not have any delegated or decision-making powers.  The Group was currently active, but met infrequently.  It was proposed to amend the name of the group to the Sustainability Working Group, to more closely reflect the wider aims of environmental sustainability and to align this body with a named area of responsibility set out in the Leader of the Council’s portfolio.  Save for the change of name, the terms of reference of the Working Group would remain unchanged.

On 18^th September 2025, Cabinet had established the Cabinet Action Fund Working Group.  The group’s remit was to evaluate applications for funding from the Cabinet Action Fund and to make recommendations to the Leader of the Council and Executive Director (Resources) for the payment of any grant.  The delegated authority to make any payment rested with the Executive Director (Resources), following the aforementioned consultations.

For 2026/27, it was also proposed that a review of the terms of reference of the Economic Policy Forum take place to ensure that this was closely aligning to the business area of responsibility within the Leader of the Council’s portfolio.  This body was not currently a formally constituted Cabinet group.  Discussions would be held on this proposal and a further report may be provided at a later date.

It was proposed that the bodies set out in Table 1 continue into 2026/27, with the membership as shown in column 2 thereof.  The terms of reference for those bodies were included in the report as Appendix 1.  Some minor amendments were suggested to the terms of reference of the Cabinet Committee (Street Naming) and the Cabinet Waste and Recycling Group to take into account the existence of two Main Opposition groups, as well as the change noted above in relation to the new name of the Net Zero Working Group.  The changes proposed were highlighted in the appendix to the report.

Cabinet was reminded that the formal Committees could only comprise councillors who were Cabinet Members, whereas Working Groups could comprise both Cabinet and non-executive councillors.

Table 1

Alternative Options considered and Reasons for Rejection

The Cabinet could decide to create new or disestablish existing committees or working groups, as it saw fit.  It could also decide not to make appointments to any of the approved committees, panels and groups for the time being.  However, there was a need to finalise the above bodies as soon as possible to ensure continuity of cover for their areas of work.

Resolved                                 (1)   That Cabinet agrees to the establishment of the Cabinet Committees and Cabinet Groups, as set out in paragraph 3.8 of the report, and with the terms of reference, as set out in Appendix 1 thereof.

(2)   That the membership of the Cabinet Committees and Cabinet Groups, as set out in paragraph 3.8, with the additional nominees notified at the meeting, be approved.

(3)   That where nominations to the bodies agreed at (1) have not been made available in time for the Cabinet meeting, to delegate authority to the Chief Executive to approve any subsequent political group nominations received, following consultation with the leader of the political group concerned.