Agenda item

Councillor Ockelton will propose and Councillor Jordan will second:

That Council Procedure Rule No. 13.2 which currently reads:

‘A Councillor at a Council meeting may ask a written question of the Leader of the Council or relevant Lead Member. All questions must relate to a matter which concerns the Council’s powers or duties or affects the Borough.

The question must be submitted in writing to the Borough Solicitor by not later than 10.00am on the working day immediately preceding the date of the meeting.

The questions to be asked, and the replies to be given, will be printed and circulated to all Councillors at least 30 minutes before the start of the Council meeting.  The Minutes of the meeting will incorporate the questions and answers and any supplementary questions and answers.

At the meeting, the Mayor will announce each question in turn.

The question and answer will be taken as read without discussion, but the questioner will be allowed to ask one supplementary question arising directly from the question or from the reply.  A Councillor to whom a question has been put may, with the permission of the Mayor, ask someone else to answer it.’

be amended as follows:

‘A Councillor at a Council meeting may ask a written question of the Leader of the Council or relevant Lead Member. All questions must relate to a matter which concerns the Council’s powers or duties or affects the Borough.

The questions must be submitted in writing to the Borough Solicitor by no later than seven days clear working days prior to the date of the meeting.

The questions asked, and the replies to be given, will be emailed/printed and circulated to all Councillors at least twenty four hours before the start of the Council meeting.  The Minutes of the meeting will incorporate the questions and answers and any supplementary questions and answers.

At the meeting, the Mayor will announce each question in turn.

The question and answer will be taken as read without discussion, but the questioner will be allowed to ask one supplementary question arising directly from the question or from the reply.  A Councillor to whom a question has been put may, with the permission of the Mayor, ask someone else to answer it.’

76.1           The Worshipful the Mayor referred to the Notice of Motion set out on the Agenda and indicated that, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, it was necessary for the Council firstly to decide whether it wished to debate and determine the Motion at this evening’s meeting, or whether it wished to refer the Motion, without debate, to a Committee for consideration with authority either to make a decision on the matter or to bring a recommendation back to Council. Upon being put to the vote it was agreed that the Motion would be considered at the current meeting.

76.2           The Motion, as set out on the Agenda, was proposed and seconded:

‘That Council Procedure Rule No. 13.2 which currently reads:

A Councillor at a Council meeting may ask a written question of the Leader of the Council or relevant Lead Member. All questions must relate to a matter which concerns the Council’s powers or duties or affects the Borough.

The question must be submitted in writing to the Borough Solicitor by not later than 10.00am on the working day immediately preceding the date of the meeting.

The questions to be asked, and the replies to be given, will be printed and circulated to all Councillors at least 30 minutes before the start of the Council meeting.  The Minutes of the meeting will incorporate the questions and answers and any supplementary questions and answers.

At the meeting, the Mayor will announce each question in turn.

The question and answer will be taken as read without discussion, but the questioner will be allowed to ask one supplementary question arising directly from the question or from the reply.  A Councillor to whom a question has been put may, with the permission of the Mayor, ask someone else to answer it.’

be amended as follows:

‘A Councillor at a Council meeting may ask a written question of the Leader of the Council or relevant Lead Member. All questions must relate to a matter which concerns the Council’s powers or duties or affects the Borough.

The questions must be submitted in writing to the Borough Solicitor by no later than seven days clear working days prior to the date of the meeting.

The questions asked, and the replies to be given, will be emailed/printed and circulated to all Councillors at least twenty four hours before the start of the Council meeting.  The Minutes of the meeting will incorporate the questions and answers and any supplementary questions and answers.

At the meeting, the Mayor will announce each question in turn.

                  The question and answer will be taken as read without discussion, but the questioner will be allowed to ask one supplementary question arising directly from the question or from the reply.  A Councillor to whom a question has been put may, with the permission of the Mayor, ask someone else to answer it.

76.3           During the discussion which ensued, a Member advised that he fully supported questions being asked and answers being provided prior to the Council meeting and understood the sentiment that the answers should be available to Members twenty four hours prior to the Council meeting; however, he was of the view that it was unnecessary, and counter-productive, to ask Members to give seven clear working days’ notice of their question. He proposed an amendment to the Motion to change that to three clear working days’ notice as this meant the Agenda would have been published and Members would have time to consider their questions before the deadline for submission. The amendment was accepted by the proposer and seconder and accordingly the Mayor opened debate on the amended Motion.

76.4           A Member expressed the view that there was no need to change the Council’s longstanding practice in terms of questions from Councillors and that the Council’s Constitution should be amended in a properly considered way rather than in this ad-hoc manner. The proposer of the Motion indicated that, for reasons of openness, accountability and transparency, he felt Members needed time to fully prepare for questions to Council so that any supplementary questions were meaningful and well thought out and the Motion he had put forward would enable that.

76.5           Some Members expressed agreement that it would be helpful to have longer to consider the answers to questions and felt 24 hours would be a reasonable amount of time, whereas others felt the idea of formal questions to Council was outdated and unnecessary when Councillors could ask questions of Officers at any time. In summing up, the proposer of the Motion indicated that, whilst he agreed that the receipt of information from Officers was usually easy, the Questions to Council Rule of Procedure was the forum for asking questions that made Councillors accountable to the electorate, as such, he continued to believe it was a very important tool.

76.6           Upon the amended Motion being put to the vote, the Motion was lost and it was

RESOLVED          That the Motion not be agreed.