Commissions_old
The Constitution gives the Executive Board the power to establish strategic commissions. These are designed to discharge the functions of the Executive Board in respect of particular areas of work.
As at August 2009, six commissions are in operation, being:
• Commission for the New Economy;
• Environment;
• Improvement & Efficiency;
• Health; and
• Planning & Housing
• Public Protection
A commission for Transport is also planned, but has not yet been set up.
The current intention is that each of the Commissions (except Improvement and Efficiency which consists entirely of local authority members) are (or will be) formed of a mixture of elected members and representatives from other partners, including the private sector, other public sector agencies and the voluntary sector.
Commission representatives are not there to represent specific geographical areas, political groups or sectoral interests, but to perform a role for the city region as a whole; and are appointed based on skills and experience. Consequently, the intention is that not every local authority will have a representative on each Commission (except Improvement and Efficiency). Seats are shared out amongst all the local authorities as equally as possible, with no local authority having more than one seat on each Commission. They are also allocated taking into account political balance within Greater Manchester.
