Agenda item

Report of the Director of Legal and Democratic Services, (LDS/24/7) proposing updates to section 17 of Standing Orders of the Constitution, relating to Member Questions at Council, attached.

RESOLVED that the proposed amendments to section 17 of Standing Orders of the Constitution, as in section 5 of the Report and outlined above with additional text in red (and purple for amendments agreed at the meeting) and a strike through for deleted words, be recommended to the Council.

The Committee considered the Report of the Director of Legal and Democratic Services, (LDS/24/7) which proposed updates to section 17 of Standing Orders of the Constitution, relating to Member Questions at Council.

The Committee noted that the Governance Working Group (Membership – Councillors Saywell (Chair), Biederman, Letch, Maskell, Samuel, Scott and Whitton) had reviewed the process and benchmarked how other Authorities dealt with Member Questions at Council meetings. This did not include questions submitted by Members to meetings of the Cabinet and this process was unchanged at the current time.

The aim was to ensure Council meetings were focussed and business driven – with more time spent on debate for decisions, therefore making the process for Member questions clearer, easier to understand and strike the right balance between getting answers for residents and enabling active participation.

The group had taken into account best practice and considered the Constitution and determined that Devon’s current processes were not too far out of kilter when compared to others.

Fifteen other local authorities had been examined, which highlighted quite a variance in processes. Eight authorities had restrictions on the numbers of written questions and the majority restricted the number of questions per Member. Eleven Councils had a time limit on the total amount of time allowed which ranged from twenty minutes to one hour.

The Governance Working Group considered a large number of proposals which had included not changing the system at all, introducing limits per Member or time limits on supplementary questions, a maximum number of questions per meeting, a rota system for taking questions, tightening the scope for submitted questions, being more robust on sub questions within questions as well as increasing the time for questions and how questions were treated at the budget meeting.

Member had rejected suggestions to introduce a limit of total number of questions per meeting and imposing a time limit on supplementary questions.

A copy of the current process for Member Questions was outlined in section 2 of the Report.

The Working Group proposed that section 17 of Standing Orders of the Constitution (outlined in section 5 of the Report) and shown below, annotated by new text in red and a strikethrough for removed words. Suggestions agreed at the meeting were shown in purple text below.

17.Written Questions: Council Meetings

1) A Member of the Council may ask the Leader, appropriate Cabinet Member or Chair of any other Committee a question about any matter or subject on which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the County as a whole. They should relate to strategic, policy or operational matters rather than local issues. Questions relating to local issues will be accepted, subject to the Member demonstrating they have exhausted all other options in terms of obtaining a response on a matter of concern. A single Member may not submit more than three questions per meeting.

2) If the meeting is a special meeting, questions must relate to the matter to be discussed at that special meeting. Similarly, questions at the budget meeting must relate to the annual estimates for the year in question.

3) A question must be delivered to the Democratic Services Secretariat Chief Executive's office, in writing or by email, by the Member asking it, by 12.00 noon on the fourth working day before the meeting at which it is to be asked. Questions should be succinct (a maximum of 100 words) and should not contain a number of sub-elements or sub questions.

4) Questions will be printed in the order they were received. If a Member submits more than one question, the first question will be prioritised and subsequent questions will be placed at the end of the schedule. TheyQuestions and answers will be and circulated to Members before the Council meeting starts commences together with the answers to those questions (unless an oral answer is to be given). Copies will also be sent to Members who are not able to attend the meeting.

5) There will be no discussion about any question, so dealt with except that the Member who has submitted a question is entitled to ask one supplementary question arising from that question and answer and to receive a further answer. The response will normally be given by the Cabinet Member or Chair of the relevant Committee; however, Directors will support with factual responses where necessary. There is no time limit on asking a supplementary question, but the Chair will exercise discretion if Members make statements rather than asking their supplementary question. Provided that If a Member considers that the answer does not fully address the question, they may also ask for a full and written answer to be provided to all Members of the Council.

6) If any reply indicates that the subject matter of the question is to be considered by the Cabinet or a Committee, the Member who asked the question will be told by the Chief Cabinet of the date and time that the Cabinet or Committee will consider the question. The member will be regarded as having given notice to place that item on the agenda under standing order 23(2).

7) 'Question Time' shall not exceed thirty forty-five minutes. If however an oral answer has been given within the time limit, the member who asked the question has the right to ask a supplementary question and to receive an answer. If a question to which an oral answer was to have been given has not been reached within the time limit, a written answer will be sent by the Chief Executive to all members of the Council as soon as is practicable.

8) The Chair of the Council may rule questions or supplementary questions 'out or order' if in his/her their view they are irrelevant, frivolous or derogatory to the dignity of the Council.

9) In order to permit Members to be able to raise questions on matters of urgency that cannot reasonably be dealt with in line with the procedure and deadlines for Councillor questions at Council, they are permitted to ask that the Leader makes a statement under 'Announcement and Reports from the Leader and Cabinet Members at Council Meetings’. This must be done in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and that Member is able to ask a short, succinct question in response.  

Members commented and asked questions as follows:

·       That responses from Cabinet Members should address fully the matters raised by the question;

·       That Directors should only intervene when matter of accuracy is raised, to give factual support;

·       The process to ensure that only budget questions be asked at the budget meeting be light touch; and

·       Ensuring Members still have the opportunity to make comments.

It was MOVED by Councillor Letch, SECONDED by Councillor Hughes, and

RESOLVED that the proposed amendments to section 17 of Standing Orders of the Constitution, as in section 5 of the Report and outlined above with additional text in red (and purple for amendments agreed at the meeting) and a strike through for deleted words, be recommended to the Council.