Portfolio and purse strings

Who It's For

Cabinet members, portfolio holders and aspiring front bench councillors in Wales and England

Overview

Moving into cabinet turns a ward mandate into a promise to the whole area. This first half of Leading from the front bench opens with the political group and the chamber, from the whip to Baddeley and James's owl, fox, donkey and sheep, then the move into cabinet with Hambrick and Mason's Upper Echelon Theory and a first hundred days plan. Decisions and budgets follow, including the balanced budget duty and the line between predisposition and predetermination, then the councillor's public voice. Council resources run from business rates to Woking and Somerset. It concludes with finance as a board responsibility, Northamptonshire, the language of finance and the income statement.

Aims

The goal is to help portfolio holders lead with clear political and managerial boundaries, deciding the what and trusting officers with the how, while reading budget reports and accounts with enough confidence to ask the questions that keep spending lawful and honest.

In summary, you will be able to:

1. 1Plan your first hundred days in a portfolio, distinguishing political from managerial leadership across the five portfolio threads.
2. 2Explain the balanced budget duty, the roles of the three statutory officers and the difference between predisposition and predetermination.
3. 3Use five plain questions and a structured reading order to question a financial paper, an income statement and a reported surplus.

What you'll develop

Across this Explore, you will develop the ability to:

1. 1Describe what a political group does, and use the adapted Johari window to read what is visible and hidden in group behaviour.
2. 2Explain why a council has two top teams with shared legitimacy, and how the cabinet team brings members and officers together at the strategic point.
3. 3Outline how a scheme of delegation, the decision cycle, key decisions and call-in shape who decides what and how decisions are held to account.
4. 4Use the two question grid to judge when to speak, when to amplify others, when to speak with care and when to stay out of an issue.
5. 5Describe the five foundations of local government and explain how they connect as one system.
6. 6Explain why financial oversight is a stewardship duty shared by every board member, including the four financial duties and the roles of board, audit committee, finance director and auditor.
7. 7Distinguish cash accounting from accruals accounting and explain how the three financial statements and the accounting equation connect.
8. 8Explain how the income statement tests whether an organisation lived within its means, including when income is recognised, and compare its form in companies, charities and councils.