About the council

How the council is structured

Political structure

We have 57 councillors (also known as members) who are elected across 22 wards. Your councillors are responsible for making sure that the services that the council provides meet the needs of residents and those who work in Brent. They do this by setting the overall policies and strategies for the council and by monitoring the way in which these are implemented.

The people who stand for election as councillors may belong to one of the national political parties or to a local political party, or they may be completely independent of a political party.

The current political make-up of Brent is as follows:

Labour: 49 Councillors
Conservatives: 5 Councillors
Liberal Democrat: 3 Councillors

The political structure of The London Borough of Brent following the May 2022 Local Elections

The breakdown of the wards in Brent following the May 2022 Local Elections.

The council has a Leader who comes from the majority party.

The Leader is responsible for forming a Cabinet which is responsible for implementing the council's policies.

The Full Council is responsible for agreeing the main policies and priorities for all services, including the council's budget. They meet eight times a year and meetings are open to the public.

Each year, the members also choose a Mayor for Brent, who promotes Brent locally, nationally and internationally.

Council structure

The council is led by the Chief Executive and supported by six Corporate Directors, who lead the council's departments.

The corporate departments are:

Adult Social Care and Health: delivers excellent adult social care and public health services, the department leads the work across the council and with health partners to improve health and well-being outcomes for all our residents.

Children and Young People Department: works with children, parents and carers, schools and settings, Family Wellbeing Centres and a wide range of partners to improve the life chances of children and young people, particularly the most vulnerable.

Communities and Regeneration: focuses on delivering projects related to levelling up, violence and vulnerability, tackling poverty and discrimination and promoting equality. It also ensures that community engagement forms our regeneration, planning, skills, and employment work.

Finance and Resources: provides efficient financial management and controls necessary to support the Council in all of its activities. It also covers the internal audit service, which reviews and improves risk management, the IT shared technology service, which works across multiple councils and Property and Assets.

Resident services: is responsible for the council’s Customer Access, Environment, Leisure and Housing Services. Its role is to make all of our services easier to access and that support is available for those residents who are most in need.

Governance: provides specialist support and ensures good governance and high standards in relation to procurement, management of human resources, provision of legal support and the operation of the council’s democratic processes.

View the council structure chart (updated February 2023). You can request an accessible version of this document by contacting us.

Senior Management team

The Chief Executive and Council Management Team are responsible for ensuring that services are delivered in accordance with strategies and policies agreed by Council and in the best interests of the community.

They also play a fundamental role in determining the strategic direction of the council and to ensure we reach our goals.

Chief Executive

Carolyn Downs Chief Executive of Brent Council

Carolyn Downs is Brent Council’s Chief Executive, having taken up the position in September 2015.

Prior to her appointment, Carolyn was Chief Executive at the Local Government Association and has also previously served as chief executive of the Legal Services Commission, chief executive of Shropshire County Council and as deputy permanent secretary and director general at the Ministry of Justice.

At Brent, she is the principal policy advisor to the council and the senior manager with responsibility for running the council on a day-to-day basis, including overseeing the council's gross annual expenditure of around £1 billion.

Carolyn works closely with elected councillors to deliver leadership and strategic direction to the whole organisation.

She is also responsible for leading and developing strong partnerships with a wide range of national, regional and local agencies.

You can contact the Chief Executive by:

Writing to:

Chief Executive
Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley
HA9 0FJ

Email:

chief.executive@brent.gov.uk

Corporate Director - Adult Social Care and Health

Phil Porter

Phil Porter is the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health, and took on these wider responsibilities in January 2015, after being appointed to the previous position of Strategic Director, Adult Social Care in March 2013. Prior to that, he was the head of Reablement and Safeguarding in Adult Social Services.

The Department comprises adult social care, public health as well as the Council’s leadership of the Integrated Care Partnership. It contributes to improving health and well-being outcomes for our residents, particularly better targeting resources towards support for vulnerable people.

Corporate Director - Communities and Regeneration

The position of Corporate Director for Communities and Regeneration is currently vacant but will be recruited to in the coming months.

The Department focus is on delivering projects related to levelling up, violence and vulnerability, tackling poverty and discrimination and promoting equality.

It creates and leads partnerships with businesses, the community, faith, voluntary and community sectors to ensure they co-design all our future initiatives. It ensures that planning and regeneration facilitate the provision of new housing and job opportunities, and improves the urban environment for all.

Corporate Director - Children and Young People

Image of NigelChapman - Corporate Director - Children and Young People

Nigel is a qualified social worker with nearly 25 years’ experience in both statutory and voluntary sector children’s services roles in the UK and overseas. Nigel first joined Brent Council in 2013 as Head of Fostering, Adoption and Looked After Children.

In 2016, Nigel was appointed as the Operational Director, Integration and Improved Outcomes, with overall operational responsibility for the delivery of statutory social work services, early help, youth offending and support to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who are at risk of school exclusion. During this time, Brent has significantly improved outcomes for children. This progress was recognised by Ofsted, who judged the council’s children’s social care services to be good with outstanding features for the first time in 2018.

In 2019, the Youth Offending Service was judged to be ‘good’, and in the same year services for children with SEND in the local area received a positive inspection outcome. With a wealth of front-line experience and strategic expertise, Nigel assumed the role of Corporate Director, Children and Young People from September 2022.

Corporate Director – Resident Services

Peter Gadsdon

Before taking the role as Corporate Director for Resident Services, Peter Gadsdon had worked at Brent for eight years, firstly as the Assistant Chief Executive and then as the Strategic Director for Customer and Digital Services. Peter also has three company directorships in Council owned private companies.

As Brent’s Corporate Director Resident Services, Peter has the lead role in ensuring the council delivers customer focused services. In addition, as the Council’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) Peter has a solid understanding of technology and how this can be deployed to improve services and outcomes for residents whilst increasing productivity and delivering cost efficiencies through implementing the Council’s Digital Strategy.

Corporate Director – Finance and Resources

Minesh Pattel - Corporate Director – Finance and Resources

Minesh Patel is the Corporate Director for Finance and Resources. He began his career in Local Government when he joined the council in 2002. In his time at Brent, he has held multiple positions across the full breadth of Finance functions.

Minesh is the council’s statutory Section 151 officer (Chief Finance Officer) ensuring that there are proper arrangements in place to administer the Council’s financial affairs.

The Finance and Resources department is responsible for the financial administration of the council, Audit and Investigations, Property and Assets and the Councils ICT Shared Technology Service.

Corporate Director – Governance

Debra Norman - Corporate Director – Governance

Debra Norman is the Corporate Director of Governance. Debra is by background a lawyer, although she has managed a range of governance related services for a number of years.

The Governance Department brings together a number of services providing specialist support in the achievement of council objectives, while ensuring good governance and high standards in relation to procurement, management of human resources, provision of legal support and the operation of the council’s democratic processes.