Ben Bradley given county council cabinet role

The former leader of Nottinghamshire County Council has been given a position in his successor's cabinet.

Ben Bradley announced he was stepping down as the Conservative-run authority's leader last month and was replaced by Sam Smith.

Bradley has now been appointed as cabinet member for education and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the same role Smith carried out before becoming leader.

Smith said: "I am delighted that Councillor Bradley has accepted the education and SEND brief as it is one of the key areas this administration is prioritising."

"We're committed to making sure every young person in the county attends a good or outstanding school, maintaining our school building and maintenance programme, achieving the national target for SEND improvements and robustly monitoring school places provision," he added.

A 2023 investigation found "widespread failings" in the county's SEND services.

Smith previously said he was confident Nottinghamshire would be in line with the national average for issuing education health and care plans by the end of the current academic year.

Bradley lost the East Midlands mayoral election in May, before losing his seat in Parliament at July's general election.

He also recently missed out on becoming the Conservative candidate to be the Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.

All other cabinet positions at the county council have remained the same, with Bruce Laughton keeping his position as deputy leader.

It means Richard Jackson and Neil Clarke, who both stood against Smith for the leadership, have also kept their places as cabinet members for finance and transport respectively.

Local elections for all Nottinghamshire County Council seats will be held in May next year.

Bradley has already said he does not intend to stand for re-election.

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