Welcome To Wirral

Its main items of business include:

• the receipt of petitions;
• Question time, which includes the opportunity for members of the public to ask questions, subject to appropriate notice;
• the receipt of decisions and consideration of recommendations from the Cabinet and committees;
• consideration of motions submitted by individual members;
• the approval of matters reserved to the Council in the Budget and Policy Framework including the budget and the level of council tax;
• the appointment of honorary aldermen or honorary freemen of the Borough.

The Annual meeting of the Council, usually held on a Monday evening in May, elects the Mayor for the municipal year and determines committee memberships [ link to Local councillors ] and decision making arrangements for the year.

Other than those matters shown above, the Council’s business is transacted through the Cabinet and various committees.

The Cabinet takes the majority of the decisions that are made on behalf of the Council. The Cabinet comprises the Leader of the Council and nine other members, each with responsibility for an individual portfolio. These are:

• Children’s Services and Lifelong Learning
• Community and Customer Engagement
• Corporate Services
• Culture, Tourism and Leisure
• Environment
• Finance and Best Value
• Housing and Community Safety
• Regeneration and Planning Strategy
• Social Care and Inclusion
• Street Scene and Transport Services

For more details of the responsibilities within each portfolio, see section 3 of the Council’s Constitution.

Any decision that the Cabinet takes is open to scrutiny by one of the overview and scrutiny committees and if a decision is “called in” for scrutiny it cannot be implemented until further consideration has been given to the matter in question by that committee.

There are ten overview and scrutiny committees, each comprising seven Councillors, plus, in some cases, co-opted members. Each committee directly shadows a Cabinet portfolio and shares its name, except that, in the case of the Social Care, Health and Inclusion O & S Committee, it also has a scrutiny role in relation to health functions.

• Within its respective portfolio area each committee can
• make policy development, monitoring and evaluation or other reports, or recommendations to the Council, in respect of any functions that are the responsibility of the Cabinet (either on its own initiative or following the submission of a report by a Chief Officer, a public petition or at the request of the Cabinet);
• review or scrutinise decisions or actions taken by the Cabinet and recommend that any decision made but not yet implemented in accordance with the “call-in” procedure be re-considered by the Cabinet, or by the Council if contrary to the policy framework or budget;
• make reports or recommendations to the Council or the Cabinet in respect of matters that affect the Borough of Wirral or its inhabitants and relate to that committee’s terms of reference;
• oversee the conduct of Best Value reviews at the request of the Cabinet.

Other committees have been established to carry out those functions that do not fall within the remit of the Cabinet. They are:

• Planning Committee, dealing with planning applications;
• Licensing, Health and Safety and General Purposes Committee, which deals with a range of regulatory and quasi-judicial issues;
• Licensing Act 2003 Committee, which is be responsible for licensing the sale and supply of alcohol, premises providing regulated entertainment and the provision of late-night refreshments; also, functions under the Gambling Act 2005;
• Pensions Committee, responsible for managing the Merseyside Pension Fund;
• Employment and Appointments Committee, responsible for various personnel issues;
• Audit and Risk Management Committee, which oversees various financial matters;
• Standards Committee, which deals with matters relating to the conduct of councillors, employees, complaints and probity issues.