Efforts are made to ensure that as much as
possible of the Cabinet's business is done in public
meetings. Occasionally, Cabinet will
meet in private when it might consider items that include
information that, if discussed in public, might prejudice the
public interest. Examples might be:
The value of land that the Council wishes to
sell, which might affect the price negotiated if discussed in
public the details of proposed contracts for goods, services or
works that might reveal commercially confidential information or
might affect the price the Council has to pay information about an
individual
Details of the type information that might be
discussed in private are set out in the Council's access to
information rules within the
Council’s Constitution. Where
an item is discussed in private, any report discussed may be
released after the meeting on request, with any private information
deleted.
The Local
Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to
Information) (England) Regulations 2012 requires the Council to
give at least 28 days notice of any private meetings of the Cabinet
or its sub-committees. This is to allow
any interested party to make representations that the meeting
should be held in public. A further
notice then has to be given 5 clear days before the private
meeting, setting out the Council's response to any
representations.
Notices of private
meetings can be downloaded within each meeting date as a pre-agenda
notice.
The
Cabinet is a group of eight elected members responsible for the
overall business of the Council.
The
Cabinet comprises the Leader of the Council who is the Chairperson,
and seven other members appointed by the Leader.
Each
Cabinet member has a defined portfolio of responsibilities linked
to the Council’s range of services.
All
Cabinet Members have a shared and individual responsibility for
developing and implementing the Council’s policy, performance
and budget framework.
For further details of the
Cabinet, please follow this link: https://www.oldham.gov.uk/cabinet
Leader of the Council
The
Leader chairs the Council’s Cabinet meeting and is
accountable for proposing and directing the overall strategy,
budget and policy arrangements of the Council.
The
Leader of the Council is Councillor Sean Fielding who is elected by
all members of the Council at the annual Council
meeting.
It is
the responsibility of the Leader to ‘lead the Council’,
build a vision for the district and represent Oldham at regional
and national events.
The
Leader also provides community leadership to those organisations
that work closely with the Council.
Leader of the Opposition
The
Leader of the Opposition is Councillor Howard
Sykes who shadows and scrutinises the Leader of the
Council and Cabinet in the undertaking of their duties.
The
Leader of the Opposition acts as the principal spokesperson for the
Opposition Group of which they are leader and establishes and
represents the views of the group on issues of policy and
priority.