The following is adapted from an Isle of Wight Council press release with my comment added at the end.

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Isle of Wight councillors are looking at whether to change council decision making from the current Cabinet model to a committee based system.

At their Full Council meeting in July 2023 the council agreed to start work on changing its governance and the way elected councillors make decisions on local matters. At present, whilst some decisions are made by Full Council the majority of decisions are taken by a Cabinet, of 8 councillors, appointed by the leader of the council. This can mean that the remaining councillors can feel excluded from the decision-making process under this system.

A working group of councillors was established and in late 2023 the group set out their initial views and a framework for a committee system, which would widen opportunities for all members to get involved in council decision making. Under this system, instead of a Cabinet, the council would be divided into politically balanced committees that will make the majority of council policy decisions, allowing all councillors to take part in some way.

This initial framework suggests five service committees:

• Children’s Services
• Adult Social Care, Public Health & Housing
• Economy, Transport & Infrastructure
• Environment & Community Protection
• Policy, Finance & Resources

Alongside these would continue the existing separate committees that cover statutory functions, such as Planning and Licensing and a new single committee to undertake statutory scrutiny functions of Health and Crime and Flooding.

The next stage will be to set out more detail on a proposed committee system as well as a timetable that concludes in the Full Council making a formal decision.

The Council is seeking the views of Islanders about the proposed changes throughout the process and residents can make their views known via a dedicated email: future.governance@iow.gov.uk or in writing to “Future Governance”, IOW Council, County Hall, High Street, Newport PO30 1UD

I believe that the Cabinet system does not work well for the Isle of Wight and that a committee system will mean more councillors will have a say in decisions, whether as part of a ‘ruling group’ or otherwise. As representatives of their communities this will help residents know that anything they raise with their councillor is more likely to be taken account of.