Wirral Council has a bewildering array of different committees with different functions. Below is a list of some of the committees. The first numbers in brackets details councillors, the second independent or co-opted members the third vacancies and the fourth deputies (only of Wirral Council councillors). The next numbers in brackets denote Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem councillors (only of Wirral Council) followed by party of Chair. These are for the 2012/2013 year.
| Audit and Risk Management Committee | (9,0,0,24) | (5,3,1) | Labour |
| Employment and Appointments Committee | (9,0,0,24) | (5,3,1) | Labour |
| Licensing, Health & Safety and General Purposes Committee | (11,0,0,24) | (6,4,1) | Labour |
| Licensing Act 2003 Committee | (15,0,0,N/A) | (8,5,2) | Labour |
| Pensions Committee | (11,5,0,21) | (6,4,1) | Labour |
| Planning Committee | (11,0,0,24) | (6,4,1) | Labour |
| Standards Committee to 1/7/2012 | (9,0,3,22) | (5,3,1) | Labour |
| Standards Committee from 1/7/2012 | (9,3,0,22) | (5,3,1) | Labour |
| Scrutiny Programme Board | (9,0,0,22) | (5,3,1) | Labour |
| Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee | (9,4,1,22) | (5,3,1) | Conservative |
| Economy and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee | (10,0,0,22) | (6,3,1) | Liberal Democrat |
| Health and Well-Being Overview and Scrutiny Committee | (9,4,1,20) | (5,3,1) | Conservative |
| Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee | (10,0,0,22) | (6,3,1) | Conservative |
| Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee | (10,0,0,22) | (6,3,1) | Conservative |
| Cabinet | (10,0,0,N/A) | (10,0,0) | Labour |
There are also subcommittees, which are (usually) drawn up of members of the parent committee. For example the Highways and Traffic Representation Panel is drawn from the members of the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee etc…
Completely baffling why there are so many committees.
Don’t know where to email to , but I would like it made known to the Councillor Jim Crabtree, who represents Bidston and St James on Wirral Borough Council, that given Labour was exemplary in creating non-jobs whose only benefit was keeping people off the streets, at least Anthony McCall’s Olympic artwork Column attempted to leave something behind that someone might appreciate.
Apparently Jim Crabtree said it was “a complete and utter waste of public money”.
“They should have done their homework before committing £500,000, especially given what we’ve got going on today – people starving, we’ve got food banks all over the place. How many people could you feed with £500,000?”
Never mind the fact we are in this mess because of Labour – frankly their approach is simply to give money to people who sit on their backsides and produce even more feckless mouths to feed paid for by taxpayers.
Rest assured, there are those of us out there who realise we ARE getting something back for our money, not to mention the people who were employed and who actually did something for their wage.
Sorry it didn’t work.
PS – what exactly do these committees actually produce that makes the world a better place other than hot-air and more rules and regulations creating jobs for inspectors to make sure they are applied?
There are 66 councillors, each sit on at about two committees and usually represent Wirral Council on outside bodies too (which in some cases are bodies with just as much committees as Wirral Council which councillors also sit on). The number of committees is bewildering, but in addition to the committees are Working Groups and Working Parties. I think the reason there are so many is that Wirral Council has been around since 1974 and they’ve developed over time.
As to what committees produce, it varies from committee to committee, for example the Planning Committee produce decisions on major (or controversial) planning applications. A similar committee (but smaller) makes decisions on licences for (and changes to) pubs, restaurants and offlicences to serve alcohol, another on applications for taxi driver licences. Various overview and scrutiny committees just concentrate on a particular topic for example health and wellbeing, children and young people etc.
Regulations are decided nationally by government ministers (not Wirral Council), as to rules these are generally formulated and changed by the Council employees, then rubber stamped by councillors. Sometimes councillors will suggest rule changes, which go to another committee to be decided (which doesn’t always agree with the first committee an example would be over a bylaw for minimum alcohol pricing). In theory the councillors are there to represent the public’s view and make sure the rules and regulations are applied, in practice they have to rely (largely) on what they’re told by Council employees.