The full Council comprises of 74 members who meet together on dates agreed at the Annual Council Meeting and most meetings are usually open to the public.  Here Councillors decide Council’s overall policies and set the budget framework each year.  Meetings are chaired by the Speaker, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the Council.  Both the Chairman and Vice-Chairman can come from any party, though in practice they usually belong to the same party as members of the Cabinet.

The Cabinet is responsible for most day-to-day decisions, which it has to make in line with the Council’s overall policies and budget.  The Cabinet, or the Executive, consists of the Leader and up to 9 other members, normally from the ruling party.  Cabinet meets on dates agreed by the Leader to agree the policies of the Council.  Individual Cabinet Members (Portfolio Holders) have also been given certain delegated powers by the Leader to take decisions. Executive decisions are also taken on behalf of the Cabinet by the Health and Well-Being Board, Marches Local Enterprise Partnership Joint Executive Committee and West Mercia Energy Joint Committee.

Scrutiny (also known as Overview and Scrutiny) is vital to the work of the Council and its partners.  It helps to develop policy, improve the performance of the Council, and holds the Cabinet and Portfolio Holders to account for their decisions.  Scrutiny looks at Council services as well as services provided by other local agencies and organisations.  There are currently 5 formal scrutiny committees all with a membership of 10 councillors.