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Home Page > Your Council

Your Council

 

The Council is now able to web-cast its meetings, please visit our web-casting site for more information

 

The Council's Decision Making System

 

Maidstone Borough Council has 55 Councillors who meet as a Full Council to set the budget and overall council policy and to set the level of Council Tax. It also chooses the Council Leader, who then selects the Cabinet.  Council meetings are chaired by the Mayor of Maidstone.

 

The Executive

 

The Executive, consisting of the Leader and Cabinet, takes decisions on Council services. All decisions must be in line with the overall policy and budget frameworks set by the Council.  Each Cabinet Member has a portfolio area. Matters crossing over two or more portfolios are dealt with by the whole Cabinet. The portfolios are:

 

Corporate Services

Community Services

Environment

Leisure and Culture

Regeneration

Strategic Leadership

 

Overview and Scrutiny

 

Maidstone Borough Council has four Overview and Scrutiny Committees. They have two roles: to hold the Executive to account and to help develop new policies. They monitor decisions taken by Cabinet Members and examine the provision of services supplied by Council departments, contractors, and external agencies within the Borough.

 

Operating rather like Select Committees in the House of Commons, the Committees’ work falls into four broad areas:

 

Call-in: The Overview and Scrutiny Committees are charged with ensuring that the decisions taken by the Executive are appropriate and within the Council’s policy framework. If two members of a Committee feel that the decision is inappropriate they can ‘call the decision in’ after it has been made to prevent the decision taking immediate effect. They can then interview the Cabinet Member or Council Officers and make recommendations to the decision-maker suggesting improvements to the decision.


Policy Reviews: The Committees carry out detailed, evidence-based assessments of Council services or issues which affect the lives of local people. At the end of the inquiry the Committee produce reports making recommendations to the Executive and other partner agencies as to how things could be improved. During the course of reviews Councillors speak to Council Officers and external witnesses to assist them in their information gathering.


One-Off Reviews: In addition to conducting in-depth policy reviews Committees often want conduct a quick, one-off review of a topic. Typically the Committee will ask Council Officers to come and speak to them about a service or issue before making recommendations to the Cabinet.


Scrutiny of Council Documents: Much of the Scrutiny Committees’ work involves the detailed examination of key Council documents. The Budget, the Corporate Plan, the Best Value Performance Plan and the Asset Management Plan have all come under scrutiny in the last year and this process will be expanded over the coming year.