Committee details

Efforts are made to ensure that as much as possible of the Cabinet's business is done in public meetings.  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.

In accordance with regulation 5 of The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 notice is given of the intention to hold part of the meeting of the Cabinet in private. This will allow consideration of agenda items containing confidential or exempt information. The full list of business will be published in the agenda 5 clear days before the meeting is to take place If representations wish to be made about holding part of the meeting in private, please send to constitutional.services@oldham.gov.uk

The Cabinet is a group of nine elected members responsible for the overall business of the Council.

The Cabinet comprises the Leader of the Council who is the Chairperson, and eight 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.

The Forward Plan is published every month and lists key decisions to be made by the Cabinet within the following four months to allow at least 28 clear days’ notice. The Forward Plan is available to view on the website. Where a decision needs to be taken more urgently so that giving 28 days’ notice is impractical, a General Exception Notice or Special Urgency Noticewill be published and these will be available to view on the website also.

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 and executive leader is Councillor Arooj Shah who is elected by members of the Council.

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 Graham Sheldon who shadows and scrutinise 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.