Questions by elected members
10.1 Questions about recent decisions of Council Committees
- i) An Elected Member of the Council may ask a Chair of a Committee about a decision published and approved for implementation in the period since the last ordinary meeting of Full Council. Questions under this rule may be asked without notice. However, the questioner must identify the Committee making the decision and the title of the decision taken by the Committee.
- ii) Once the question has been responded to by the Chair of the Committee, at the Chair of Council’s discretion, Full Council may debate the matter or move that the issue be referred to a Committee if so moved, seconded and agreed by Council.
- iii) An Elected Member asking a question will have a maximum of one minute to ask his/her question at the meeting. A Chair of a Committee responding to a question will have a maximum of five minutes to respond to the question.
10.2 Questions on notice at full Council
- i) An Elected Member of the Council may ask the Chair of any Committee or Forum a question on
- any matter in relation to which the Authority has powers or duties or
- which affects the Borough of Hartlepool
provided s/he has given notice by delivering it in writing or by electronic mail to the Chief Executive no later than noon on the Thursday of the week before the meeting. In the case of a meeting held otherwise than on a Thursday, on the expiry of the fifth clear working day before the meeting. If the question relates to urgent matters, and the consent of the Elected Member to whom the question is to be addressed has been given, notice may be given to the Chief Executive not later than 1 hour before the time of commencement of the meeting.
An Elected Member who submits more than one question shall place the questions in a numbered order of priority and shall indicate whether, in the event that the question is not asked at the meeting of Full Council for which it is submitted, s/he wishes that the question be asked at the next ordinary meeting of Full Council or be answered in writing.
- ii) An Elected Member may, if a notice in writing has been given to the Chief Executive no later than noon on the Thursday of the week before the meeting (or in the case of a meeting held otherwise than on a Thursday, on the expiry of the fifth clear working day before the meeting) and such notice is signed by an Elected Member before the commencement of the meeting ask:-
- a Member of the Police and Crime Panel any question on any matter in relation to the discharge by the Panel of its functions; or
- a Member of the Cleveland Fire Authority any question on any matter in relation to the discharge by the Fire Authority of its functions.
An Elected Member who submits more than one question shall place the questions in a numbered order of priority
- iii) Questions of which notice has been given under (i) or (ii) above shall be asked in the order in which notice of the questions was given save that all questions of one priority shall be dealt with before questions of the next priority.
- iv) Elected Members may, at the discretion of the Chair of Council, make comment upon and discuss the issue raised by the questioner under (i) or (ii) above and/or move that that the issue is referred to a Committee if so moved, seconded and agreed by Council.
- (a) An Elected Member asking a question will have a maximum of one minute to put his/her question at the meeting. The relevant Elected Member responding to a question will have a maximum of five minutes to provide their response.
- (b) Not more than 30 minutes shall be allocated at a meeting of Full Council to the answering of questions under this rule provided that the Chair of Council may at his/her discretion extend the time. Any questions remaining unanswered shall (unless the Elected Member who gave notice of the question has indicated that the question should be answered in writing) be dealt with at the next ordinary meeting of Full Council. The first unanswered question of each Elected Member being accorded priority no 1 and subsequent questions accorded priority in the sequence allocated by the Elected Member.
10.3 Scope of Questions
The Chief Executive in consultation with the Chair of the Council, may reject a question if:
- i) it is not about a matter for which the Authority has a responsibility or which affects the Borough; or
- ii) it is defamatory, frivolous or offensive; or
- iii) it is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of Full Council in the past six months and since when there has been no change of circumstances justifying the resubmission of the question; or
- iv) it requires the disclosure of confidential or exempt information; or
- v) it is unreasonably excessive because of its length or its number of parts;
10.4 Response in Writing
An answer under Rules 10.1 and 10.2 may take the form of:
- i) a direct oral answer which will be open to further debate in Council;
- ii) where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer will be circulated to all Elected Members. At the discretion of the Chair of Council, the questioner may ask an additional question in accordance with Rule 10.2 at the next ordinary meeting of Full Council about issues raised in the written answer.