For the person who just asked what the difference is between Cabinet governance and Committee governance at district council level, this comment has been bumped to a post:
“Both the cabinet system and the committee system have committees, which ultimately report to and are approved by the full council, but in the cabinet system a small subset of the full council makes the policies and decisions without the remainder of the full council having a vote or any real say. According to Wikipedia, in a Cabinet system the full council is responsible only for agreeing the council’s constitution, electing the Leader, giving them a budget, and adopting the Local Plan – the Cabinet is responsible for all other policies and decisions, and full council can only raise issues or in extremis hold a Vote of No Confidence.
They key difference is that in the committee system, committees are represented by different parties in proportion to the membership of the full council, but a Cabinet is appointed by the Leader / Mayor and is typically formed only or mostly by members of the majority party and minority parties have far less influence.
Prior to the Local Government Act of 2000, the committee model was the only one that existed. The LGA abolished the committee system (which was seen as inefficient) and introduced 3 alternative models:
Leader and Cabinet – where the Leader is elected by the members of the council who then appoints a cabinet of their choosing
Elected Mayor and Cabinet – where the Mayor is elected separately by the electorate and they then appoint a cabinet of their choosing
Elected Mayor and Council Manager – where the Mayor is elected by the electorate but there is no cabinet. This option only had referendums for adoption in two councils of which only one was selected – in 2007 the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act abolished this option.
The Localism Act 2011 reintroduced the Committee system – it should be noted that EDDC Leader Paul Diviani was wrong when he said at Annual Council in May 2015 that they were not allowed to return to the Committee system (but then he would say that as the Cabinet system gives him a great deal of power).”
See Wikipedia: Executive arrangements ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_arrangement)”
East Devon Watch 
A “typo” in your last line – it’s the “cabinet” system that gives Diviani the power. Dorset has gone for the more democratic “committee” system.
LikeLike
Thanks, amended.
LikeLike
Thank you. In that case we need to get back to a committee system. How do we press for this?
LikeLike
We do what West Dorset did – about 5,000 signatures, a well-run, well-publicised campaign and a council that needs the change.
LikeLike