Article: Council - decision making process Article Body Barnsley Council operates an executive decision making structure through the following: Council Cabinet Scrutiny commissions Regulatory boards Audit Committee These bodies work in line with procedures in the Council's Constitution. Dates and times of meetings for 2011/12 are set out in the Council Timetable. Details of the Elected Members who serve on each of these bodies are set out in the List of Committee memberships. A brief summary of the powers and responsibilties of the council's Member decision-making bodies is given below. Minutes, agendas and reports for the various council meetings are available to the public on-line. Papers for previous meetings can also be downloaded through a separate site. It is also possible to view papers at the council's Central Library and at the town hall, Barnsley. All reports are publically available to the public, except where the reports include personal or confidential information. Details of significant items to be considered at forthcoming Cabinet meetings are set out in the Forward Plan of Key Decisions. Any information concerning the meetings of the council can be obtained by contacting: The Council Governance Unit Chief Executive's Department PO Box 634 Barnsley S70 9GG Tel. (01226) 773421 E-mail the Council Governance Unit Council The council is composed of 63 councillors. They all meet together as the council to decide the council's overall policies and to set the budget and council tax each year. The council appoints the Leader of the Council and members of the Cabinet and also approves the membership of the various scrutiny commissions and so on. The council meeting on 11th March 2010 was the first to be webcast live on the Internet. View webcasts and archived recordings of council meetings. Cabinet meetings The Cabinet is composed of the leader and seven councillors appointed by the council. Cabinet has overall responsibility for the services that the council provides and operates within the overall policies and budget agreed by the council. Recommendations on major items of policy and on the annual budget and capital programme are passed to the council for consideration and approval. Scrutiny Commissions The council has four scrutiny commissions which support the work of the Cabinet and council as a whole by looking into matters of local concern and making recommendations on policy, budget making and service delivery. Regulatory boards Members have important roles in terms of discharging the many regulatory or 'quasi-judicial' responsibilities of the council. These are many and varied and include, planning and building control applications; licensing of hackney carriages/private hire and public entertainments/amusement venues; appeals (for example, school admissions), awards (for example student grants); enforcement of codes of conduct for members and officers. These regulatory responsibilities are discharged by five regulatory boards which have clearly defined roles, membership and democratic practices: Planning Board General Licensing Board Statutory Licensing Board Appeals and Awards Board Standards Committee Audit Committee The Audit Committee gives the council an independent view of the strength of the control mechanisms within the council. It considers action taken in response to reports from the internal and external auditors and work done on risk management and to secure value for money. Three of its eight members are independent people from outside the council. Location Map of Barnsley Town Hall