Councillor Vince Maple was elected as the new Leader of Medway Council at the Annual Council meeting on Wednesday 24 May 2023.
Service area: Leader
Portfolio Holder: Vince Maple
Areas of responsibility:
- Armed Forces Covenant (in conjunction with Armed Forces Champion)
- Benefits and Financial Welfare Services
- Category Management/Procurement
- Communications and Marketing
- Council Tax and Business Rates Administration and Recovery
- Democracy and Governance
- Finance
- Strategic Overview of Medway including Council Plan, Risk Management and Performance Monitoring
Service area: Deputy Leader
Portfolio Holder: Teresa Murray
Areas of responsibility:
- Adults' Mental Health and Disability Services (including Learning and Physical Disabilities)
- Adults' Partnership Commissioning (25+) and Better Care Fund
- Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP)
- Carers
- Community Care
- External inspections
- Financial Assessments, Adult Social Care Income and Debt
- Health and Health Partnerships
- Kyndi
- Older people
- Public Health - Lead Member, including Health and Wellbeing Board
- Residential Care
- Shared Lives
- Voluntary Sector
Service area: Business Management
Portfolio Holder: Zoe Van Dyke
Areas of responsibility:
- Bereavement and Registration Services
- Complaints Policy and Management
- Customer and Business Support (CABS)
- HR
- Internal Audit and Counter Fraud
- Legal
- Property
Service area: Children's Services (including statutory responsibility - see Note 1)
Portfolio Holder: Adam Price
Areas of responsibility:
- Alternative Provision
- Care Leavers
- Child Friendly Medway Champion (including Medway Youth Council and Medway Youth Mayor)
- Children in Care (including care arrangements)
- Children's Partnership Commissioning
- Children's Provider Services (including Adoption and Fostering)
- Children's Social Care (including Children’s Social Work and 0-25)
- Corporate Parenting
- Early Help and Targeted Support
- External Inspections
- Inclusion
- Medway Virtual School
- Quality Assurance, including Independent Reviewing Officer Service
- Safeguarding including Children’s Safeguarding Partnership
- Youth Offending Team (YOT)
- Youth Service
Service area: Climate Change and Strategic Regeneration
Portfolio Holder: Simon Curry
Areas of responsibility:
- Climate Change
- Community Centres
- Emergency Planning
- Flooding
- Greenspaces
- Local Plan
- Medway Norse
- Public Rights of Way
- Public Transport
- River Strategy
- South Thames Gateway Building Control Partnership
- Strategic Regeneration and Planning policy
- Street Cleaning and Waste Collection / Recycling / Waste Disposal
Service area: Community Safety, Highways and Enforcement (See Note 2)
Portfolio Holder: Alex Paterson
Areas of responsibility:
- All Wardens
- CCTV
- Community Safety Partnership
- Digital Services (including Medway 2.0)
- Enforcement Hubs
- Highways
- Licensing (Executive Functions Only)
- Parking Enforcement
- Parking Strategy
- Regulation – Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Enforcement (Executive Functions Only)
- Road Safety
- Street Lighting
- Traffic Management
- Transport Strategy
Service area: Economic and Social Regeneration and Inward Investment
Portfolio Holder: Harinder Mahil
Areas of responsibility:
- Economic Regeneration
- Employment
- Inward Investment
- Labour Market Planning and Strategic Skills Development
- Markets
- Small Business
- Tourism
- Town Centres
Service area: Education
Portfolio Holder: Tracy Coombs
Areas of responsibility:
- Adult Learning and Skills
- Attendance
- Children missing education
- Early Careers Teachers
- Early Years
- Education Safeguarding
- Elective Home Education
- Further Education
- Liaison between Higher Education and Schools
- Mainstream School Sufficiency
- Mainstream School Transport
- Post 16 participation (including children not in education, employment and training)
- Quality of Education: Mainstream Primary and Secondary Education
- School Organisation and Capital Projects
- School Services (including Admissions and Medway Test)
- Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), including SEND Transport
Service area: Heritage, Culture and Leisure
Portfolio Holder: Nina Gurung
Areas of responsibility:
- Archives
- Events and Festivals
- Heritage
- Leisure and Sport Services
- Libraries and Community Hubs
- Theatres and Arts
Service area: Housing and Homelessness (See Note 3)
Portfolio Holder: Louwella Prenter
Areas of responsibility:
- All Housing Services, including Housing Revenue Account (HRA)
- Homelessness and Housing Options
- Medway Development Company
- Private Sector Housing
- Travellers
The roles and responsibilities of the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services are set out in statutory guidance “The roles and responsibilities of the Lead Member for Children’s Services and the Director of Children’s Services”, under sections 18(7) (Director of Children’s Services) and 19(2) (Lead Member for Children’s Services) of the Children Act 2004 including, for example, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and SEND transport.
The following services will fall within the remit of the Community Safety and Enforcement Portfolio, in relation to the Community Safety Partnership:
- Tobacco control, excluding smoking cessation services
- Community safety aspects of alcohol and drug misuse
- Public health aspects of promotion of community safety, violence prevention and response
The Leader and Full Council have delegated the Council’s building control functions to the South Thames Gateway Building Control Joint Committee. The Terms of Reference of the South Thames Gateway Building Control Joint Committee are set out within the Council’s Constitution and include executive and non-executive functions. Councillor Curry is appointed to sit on the South Thames Gateway Building Control Joint Committee.