Mick Henry
Leader of the Council

Leader's Secretary
0191 433 2002

Councillor Mick Henry is the Leader of Gateshead Council. He chairs the Council's Cabinet and takes overall responsibility for its decisions. His Cabinet portfolio is Corporate Vitality and Sustainable Communities.

The full Council, consisting of Gateshead's 66 local ward Councillors, chooses a Leader and Cabinet.

The Cabinet members are:

• Mick Henry — Portfolio holder for: Corporate Vitality and Sustainable Communities
• Martin Gannon — Portfolio holder for: Environment
• Linda Green — Portfolio holder for: Sustainable Communities: Central ,   Culture
• Malcolm Graham — Portfolio holder for: Sustainable Communities: East ,   Economic Development
• Peter Mole MBE — Portfolio holder for: Sustainable Communities: Inner West ,   Community Safety
• John McElroy — Portfolio holder for: Sustainable Communities: West ,   Transport
• Catherine Donovan — Portfolio holder for: Sustainable Communities: South ,   Children and Young People
• Michael McNestry — Portfolio holder for: Adult Social Care
• Mary Foy — Portfolio holder for: Health
• Angela Douglas — Portfolio holder for: Housing

The Cabinet operates on the basis of collective responsibility and decision making. However each Cabinet member has areas of special interest — known as portfolios — which are allocated to them by the Leader of The Council.

Portfolios are based on the policies and principles outlines in Vision 2030, the Local Area Agreement (LAA) and the Corporate Plan and cover everything that the Council does.

From May 2007, the portfolios have been reconfigures in line with the Council's neighbourhood engagement policy. Five portfolios relate to specific policy themes within the LAA, such as Children and Young People, while the other five portfolios relate to the five geographical areas of the Borough — Central, East, South, Inner West and West.

Consequently, each area has a Cabinet member with direct responsibility for what happens in the area, giving local communities a direct link into the Cabinet.

Cabinet members lead the process of policy development on behalf of the Council and make recommendations for change to the full Council. They are the public face of the Council on their areas of special interest. The area portfolio holders also chair the Area Forum for their area.

All Cabinet Members work collectively with other members in the Council in carrying out this role and ask advice from the Council's Advisory Groups on policy development. They also receive reports from the Overview and Scrutiny Committees on policy reviews and performance management.