Nottinghamshire County Council to return to leader and cabinet model

It will be the first time the authority has operated with a cabinet in a decade – councillors voted in 2012 to move to the committee operation currently in place.

It comes as the Conservative-led authority gears up for a potential devolution deal from Whitehall which could see a directly-elected mayor and combined authority set up in the East Midlands.

The Government’s Levelling Up White Paper, which sets out the framework for devolution deals, is more in favour of councils operating under a cabinet system than the committee form of governance.

It means the current committees will be scrapped and replaced by a cabinet comprising of Coun Ben Bradley MP (Con), council leader and nine other senior councillors, with cabinet members to have delegated powers to make major decisions.

The move was given cross-party backing, despite some opposition members raising concerns about scrutiny in the new system.

The authority will, however, continue to operate its existing health and wellbeing board and the planning and rights of way, pension fund and governance and ethics committees.

And the council will also create select committees covering adult social care and public health, children and young people’s, and place.

The move was approved by the full council on Thursday (March 31), with some opposition councillors raising concerns about adequate levels of scrutiny in moving to the new system.

But Coun Philip Owen (Con) confirmed the vice-chairperson roles of most scrutiny committees will be filled by opposition councillors.

This, he says, will ‘increase their ability to hold the executive to account’.

Coun Michael Payne (Lab), said: “I’m less interested in the way we make decisions and I’m more interested in the decisions actually taken in this chamber.

“I hope the system goes well, you’ve got an absolute commitment from us (Labour) that we will absolutely keep your feet to the fire in the decisions you make.”

Coun Payne also called for a ‘strong system’ to notify councillors when decisions have been taken by the executive and for all councillors to be able to reflect on them in full council meetings.

This suggestion was echoed by other councillors from all sides of the chamber, with the system to be reviewed over the coming year once it comes into effect from May.

Coun Bradley said the new governance was an ‘ongoing process’ and will be assessed regularly to see if improvements are needed.

He said: “This change leads us to the best possible position to access devolution powers, not least because it gives us the accountability the Government seeks in terms of our structures.

“Regardless of that, it puts us in the best possible place to have a modern and effective structure of decision-making.”

The new arrangements will see scrutiny committees given call-in abilities when they believe decisions taken by the cabinet had ‘perceived procedural error’.

Cabinet members will be given final sign-off powers for decisions within their remit, with the authority to begin a delegated decision log on key changes taken by the authority.

And they will be required to regularly attend overview and scrutiny meetings to explain decisions.

Full council will still be responsible for finalising the authority’s annual budget, as well as setting members of committees and any key governance issues.