Issue - meetings

To consider the recommendations of the Constitution Committee. 

The Constitution Committee  at its meeting on 22^nd September 2011 had considered proposed changes to the arrangements for questions at Council meetings.

The Officers had received a number of comments from Members about the current arrangements for questions at Council meetings: that question time took too long; there were to many questions being asked; that some questions could be asked of Officers or Portfolio Holders; and that primary questions sometimes contained a number of subsidiary questions.

A number of potential amendments to the question time provisions had been circulated to the Committee for consideration as set out in Appendix B to the Committee’s report. The Committee had approved the proposals for recommendation to Council subject to the following amendments:

§         a maximum period of 30 minutes be allocated for Members’ questions at Council;

§         questions be selected by the Mayor in accordance with the criteria as amended;

§         those Members submitting more than one question may indicate the priority of importance of each question;

§         criterion 2(a) be deleted;

§         criterion 2(e) be amended to include reference to executive business;

§         paragraphs 3, 5 and 10 be deleted;

§         written answers to accepted questions which cannot be dealt with at the meeting be copied to all Members of the Council and not just the questioner;

§         the current deadline of 3 clear working days for the submission of questions be retained.

The Committee had also agreed to review the arrangements after 12 months.

A revised version of Appendix B incorporating the amendments agreed by the Constitution Committee had been submitted to Council.

In moving the Committee’s recommendations, the Chairman, Councillor A Martin, proposed that the revised arrangements be reviewed after 6 months instead of 12.

The motion as set out in the resolution below was moved and seconded.

A requisition for a named vote was submitted and duly supported, in accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 15.2.

The motion was put to the meeting with the following results:

The motion was declared carried, with 39 votes for, 23 against and no abstentions.

RESOLVED

That

(1)   the revised arrangements for questions at Council meetings as set out in the revised version of Appendix B to the report to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54