12/05/2011 - Permalink

Changes to Cabinet members and scrutiny chairs

Related topics: Democracy

Shropshire Council has announced some changes to the way it will make decisions from now on.

The Cabinet portfolios have changed to reflect the changing nature of the council (Cabinet is the group of councillors who make most of the day-to-day decisions at the council).

There are now five portfolios, and the councillors responsible for each are listed below:

Portfolio 1: Flourishing Shropshire communities

  • Cabinet members: Gwilym Butler and Cecilia Motley
  • Deputy: Martin Bennett

Portfolio 2: Economic growth and prosperity

  • Cabinet members: Mike Owen and Malcolm Price
  • Deputy: John Hurst-Knight

Portfolio 3: Education and skills

  • Cabinet members: Aggie Caesar-Homden and Simon Jones
  • Deputy: Karen Burgoyne

Portfolio 4: Health and well-being

  • Cabinet members: Steve Charmley and Ann Hartley
  • Deputy: Claire Wild

Portfolio 5: Service transformation and organisational development

  • Cabinet member: Martin Taylor-Smith
  • Deputies: Robert Tindall and Tina Woodward

Council leader, Keith Barrow, said:  

“The role of councils and councillors in general is changing on a grand scale – services will be provided differently in the future, and the council will be structured differently.  As part of that I think it’s important that the political structure of the council is set up to be as decisive and reactive as possible.

“That’s why we are changing the cabinet portfolios to better reflect the changing nature of the council – moving away from rigid service-based directorates to more fluid portfolios that may cover a range of service areas.  The addition of deputy Cabinet members will spread the workload and add more expertise to the team, which is a really positive step.”

There are also new chairs of the council’s scrutiny committees after the annual meeting of the full council on Thursday 12 May.

The new chairs and vice chairs as agreed at council are:

Healthy communities

  • Chair: Gerald Dakin
  • Vice chair: David Minnery

Safe and confident communities

  • Chair: Joyce Barrow
  • Vice chair: Milner Whiteman

Enterprise and growth

  • Chair: Steve Davenport
  • Vice chair: Brian Williams

Protecting and enhancing the environment

  • Chair: Vince Hunt
  • Vice chair: Peter Adams

Performance and strategy

  • Chair: Tim Barker
  • Vice chair: David Lloyd