The Leader of the Council is elected by the
City Council and is responsible for all of the executive functions
of the Council – including most major decisions about service
delivery within the over-arching policies and budget set by the
City Council. He/ she can personally
make these decisions or choose to delegate them, including to the
Executive Board.
The Leader of the Council appoints councillors
to sit on the Executive Board and allocates specific areas of
responsibility, known as ‘portfolios’. These councillors are known as ‘the
Executive’ and collectively take decisions as an Executive
Board. Individual Executive councillors
may work with Council officers and others to develop policy within
their portfolio which then comes to Executive Board for
approval.
A decision is referred to as a ‘Key
Decision’ if it will result in the Council incurring
expenditure or making income or savings of £1,000,000 or
more, or if it will have a significant impact on two or more wards
in the City. The intention to take a
Key Decision is published in advance in the ’28 Day
Notice’. By law the Executive is
not allowed to take certain decisions, such as those about planning
or licensing – these non-executive decisions are taken by
committees set up by the City Council.
The Executive Board meets monthly and is
chaired by the Leader of the Council.
Meetings are open to the public.
The ability to take decisions on certain
issues within their portfolio has been delegated to individual
Executive councillors and, in some cases, to individual Council
officers. This individual decision
making takes place outside of Executive Board meetings and
decisions are published on the Council’s website.