Council Decision Making

Full Council Meetings

Blaenau Gwent has 33 Councillors who meet every six weeks to approve major new policies and spending plans of the Council. Special council meetings are sometimes held to deal with specific issues.

Cabinet:

The Cabinet is effectively the decision making body of the Council and has responsibility for making decisions which are in line with the Council’s overall policies and budget. If it wishes to make a decision which is outside of the budget or policy framework, this must be referred to the Council as a whole.  The Cabinet will carry out all of the Local Authority’s functions which are not the responsibility of any other part of the Local Authority, whether by law or under the Constitution.

Meetings are currently held on a six weekly cycle.

Scrutiny Committees

These Committees comprise of 9 Councillors and their role is to review and scrutinise decisions made by the Cabinet, make recommendations for change based on their research and assist the Council and Cabinet in the development of its budget and policy framework. The council currently has five scrutiny committees (detailed below) which collectively oversees the five Cabinet portfolios.  These meetings are currently held on a six weekly cycle.

Corporate & Performance Scrutiny Committee
People Scrutiny Committee
Place Scrutiny Committee
Partnerships Scrutiny Committee

Call In:

Decisions made, but not yet implemented by the Cabinet are subject to call-in. Call-in is made when the validity of Cabinet decisions are considered inappropriate and challenged. If a decision is made by the Cabinet that causes major concern, a minimum of five members of the Council are able to request for a decision to be reconsidered by Cabinet (although the validity of call-in needs to be approved by the Monitoring Officer before the decision can be reconsidered).

Regulatory Committees

Planning Committee comprises of 14 Members and are held monthly whilst General Licensing Committee comprises of 11 Members and also meet monthly.  These Committees carry out specific functions given to them under delegated powers.