Portfolio holder duties

The portfolio holders need to:

  • Help with the development and delivery of the Council’s policy framework;
  • Work with officers and local public, private, voluntary, and community sector organisations to address local needs;
  • Present reports to Scrutiny committees;
  • Represent the views of the Council on matters of corporate or strategic policy and
  • Participate in consultative arrangements and actively engage in dialogue with officers and organisations involved in portfolio issues.

 The following duties are those which are common to portfolio holders:

  1. Attend Cabinet Catch up each Monday 5pm - 6pm, providing direction and guidance on strategic matters and reviewing Cabinet reports;
  2. Attend LCG as scheduled to discuss strategic matters with Group Leaders, including reviewing Cabinet reports;
  3. Attend public meeting of the Cabinet every six weeks;
  4. Attend public meeting of the Council 8 to 10 times a year;
  5. Occasional attendance at the meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee. Preparation has to be done ahead of this meeting so that questions can be answered;
  6. Writing the Portfolio Holder statement for Council;
  7. Providing strategic direction for the relevant service area(s) in liaison with the Head of Service(s);
  8. Liaising with report authors within their PH remit to provide a strategic approach to draft reports at appropriate approval stages;
  9. Possible post-meeting work for any questions that need clarifying and answers that need adding to;
  10. Dealing with correspondence relating to their portfolio, including;
  11. Responding to relevant media enquires in liaison with the Media Team;
  12. Attending relevant working parties & outside bodies (where appointed as Cabinet representative);
  13. Confidentially  (i.e. not shared with opposition Groups) discuss possible options they may wish to propose and the viability of them;
  14. Meeting with Head of Service (s) at least every month to review strategic service area matters:
    • Review Service area plan (which includes main aspects of workload, major work streams, performance and risk register)
    • Budget updates/planning
    • Appropriate Staffing matters
    • Confidentially advise on approaches administration may wish to take

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