Council leader George Finch insists "there is no hold-up" despite delaying the scheduled announcement of Warwickshire County Council's cabinet.

Appointments to the roles that see councillors take responsibility for the council's major service areas are made at the sole discretion of Cllr Finch . Although they can be decided at any time, the announcements were scheduled for directly after Thursday's county council annual general meeting (AGM).

However, at the end of the standard council business, chair Cllr Dale Keeling said: "I understand that after the meeting there was supposed to be a decision-making session on the appointment of cabinet.

"I have been informed that they are still considering cabinet positions and decisions will be made in due course."

Asked what the hold-up was, Cllr Finch told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "There is hold-up.

"There doesn't need to be one (an announcement) at the time (of the AGM). There wasn't one last year at the time. I just think we don't need to do it now, there's nothing suspicious about that at all."

Put to him that no one had said it was suspicious, Cllr Finch said: "You're implying it is by it being a question."

In a previous interview, Cllr Finch said "there will be some changes" but that he was staying tight-lipped until the AGM. Asked what had changed, he replied: "It was all in the schedule. We weren't going to do it on the day anyway.

"It wasn't done that way last year, even when I became leader it wasn't done on the same day. Even when Rob (Howard, his predecessor) became leader it wasn't the same day. Actually, we are keeping the same precedent."

When asked for a timescale, Cllr Finch anticipated news in "probably a week, not long".

Asked if anything had held it up and for an update on how far along the process is, Cllr Finch referred to the recent local elections to Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council.

Those ballots saw him win one of the 15 seats that made Reform the biggest party on that authority. Cllr Finch has since become group leader and is putting himself forward to be leader of the borough council.

"There has been some stuff I have had to look at on the borough council – it is going really well," he said.

"We have got cabinet, the meeting is probably going to be next week. Conversations have been had, (there are) more to have and I think we have done a really good job over the past year.

"All of my cabinet members have done absolutely phenomenal jobs. I don't think that people should be changing and out, they have done a really good job. They are knowledgeable, they have had their feet under the table now, they have done a cracking job."

Asked if he still anticipated making changes to his county's cabinet, Cllr Finch replied: "We will wait and see what happens.

"It is my choice, (with) the work everyone has done I cannot wait to see them grow over the next year or two or however long they want to stay on for.

"It is not me saying 'you have done bad', they have done really, really well, so if they have got other things they are doing, a new job or whatever, I don't know, but everyone is doing a really good job at the moment. If the recipe works, why change it?"

Cllr Finch had previously stated that no one had resigned or declared a wish to resign from cabinet. In the context of his answers this time, he was asked if anyone had indicated that they could no longer take on positions.

"No, not as of now. Not at all," he replied.

"As I said, everyone is doing a phenomenal job and why change the recipe if it works?"

Asked if he anticipates anything changing on that front, Cllr Finch said: "I don't know. I hope not, I think everyone has done a really good job but if someone feels that's the way they want to go, that's life."

Put to him that the language used was not as clear as it had been in his previous interview, Cllr Finch explained: "I am just stating a fact, not (about) this cabinet or the people in cabinet, just that some may want to leave because that's life, not that it is specifically what these cabinet members want to do.

"There are only two ways to reshuffle – if they want to leave or if you sack them. At this moment in time I don't want to do either, I don't want to sack them and they don't want to leave."

Put to him that he had said there would be changes, he confirmed that was still the case and insisted that "the numbers add up".

It is possible that thetweaks could be targeted at the cabinet roles themselves.

Cllr James Crocker was named as the new deputy leader last month, stepping into the shoes of Cllr Stephen Shaw who it was said would "focus exclusively" on his property and finance portfolio while balancing work commitments.

Cllr Finch has previously confirmed that Cllr Crocker will take on a portfolio. Reform currently has nine cabinet members including the leader and the council's constitution allows for up to 10, meaning the leader could retain everyone on his top team if there is movement on what one or some of them do.

Warwickshire County Council's current cabinet remains in place and continues to operate until Cllr Finch signs off any changes.