Decision-making and constitution

There are 48 elected members (councillors) of Shropshire County Council, who form the Council and its numerous committees and groups.

Elected councillors (sometimes called Members) are central to the decision-making process. They attend Council meetings where plans, policies and budgets are agreed; serve on committees, scrutiny panels and policy commissions, and are consulted on issues affecting the area they represent. Local Members can ask questions or submit motions to Council and request that items be placed on agendas for Cabinet, Scrutiny Panels or Area Panels.

Shropshire County Councillors follow an agreed procedure for discussion and decision-making:

• The full Council elects a Leader each year and he or she then appoints up to nine Cabinet members.
• Council appoints Committees which scrutinise decisions taken by cabinet, individual cabinet members (portfolio holders) and key decisions taken by officers.
• The Cabinet is responsible for most day-to-day decisions, which it has to make in line with the Council's overall policies and budget. If it wishes to make a decision outside the budget or policy framework, this must be referred to the Council as a whole. For further details about the role of Cabinet, please see the Cabinet and key members link on this page.
• Scrutiny panels hold the Cabinet to account for the decisions that they make, scrutinise the quality and performance of services, and review Council policy. If you would like more information on our process of scrutiny, please see the Scrutiny at Shropshire County Council link.

Full details are given in the Shropshire County Council Constitution (to view, please follow the link on this page).

Council meetings are chaired by the speaker, who is also the vice-chair of the Council. Both the chair and vice-chair can come from any party, though in practice they usually belong to the same party as members of the Cabinet.

The Cabinet, or the Executive, consists of the leader of the council and up to nine other members - normally from the ruling party. Cabinet meets every two weeks to agree the policies of the council. For more information, follow the link to the Cabinet and key members page.

Scrutiny Panels review decisions made by the executive and senior officers. They have the power to refer decisions to full council, but cannot overturn them. There are five scrutiny panels, for further details please visit the Scrutiny at Shropshire County Council link.

Committees - Shropshire County Council has many decision-making committees and panels.

The day-to-day work of the council is in the hands of officers, who implement the councillors' decisions and manage the delivery of services. Senior officers with specialist knowledge in particular subjects also advise councillors.

Individual members of the public or organisations can make their voice heard at the county council in various ways, including opportunities to directly address members during council meetings. If you would like further information about how this please view the Public Question Time page.

If you require further information on these issues, please contact Democratic Services using the 'contact' link.