Agenda item

RECOMMENDED:     That the following be recommended to Council and incorporated into standing orders in the appropriate way:

Standing Order 11.2a

1.    That the total time given for questions to Cabinet members except the leader be 50minutes, and 15 minutes of the Leader.

2.    That no question and answer exceed 10 minutes

3.    There is no right to a supplementary question

4.    That the cabinet members reports be presented “en bloc” and questions asked as follows with that order to be rotated at each meeting:

Major opposition group

2^nd opposition group

Non aligned councillors

Administration group

5.    That the suggestion be put to the chairs of panels, that to further facilitate the scrutiny of cabinet, panels consider having on their agendas a time limited question and answer session of cabinet members as appropriate to the work of the panel.

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Cabinet was reminded that at the 14 January 2021 Council meeting it was agreed to refer back to Cabinet for further consideration the Cabinet Members recommendation to introduce a new SO 11.2A, as set out below:

“Draft amendment to Standing Order 11.2 referred back to Cabinet for further consideration and final decision by Council.

11.2A The procedure for putting questions under Standing Order 11.2.1 shall be as follows:

11.2A.1 The period of time for putting questions and receiving responses shall not exceed 30 minutes for all Cabinet Members, excluding the Leader.

11.2A.2 The period of time for putting questions and receiving responses to the Leader shall  not exceed 15 minutes.

11.2A.3 The order of putting questions shall commence with one Member from the largest opposition group, proceeding in descending order to the smallest opposition group, followed by a Member from the ruling group. This order shall repeat until the time for questions has elapsed or there are no more questions to be put.”

In proposing the following for inclusion as the standing order, Councillor Long confirmed he had spoken to group leaders about them. Councillor Nockolds seconded the proposals.

Standing Order 11.2a

1.    That the total time given for questions to Cabinet members except the leader be 50 minutes, and 15 minutes of the Leader.

2.    That no question and answer exceed 10 minutes

3.    There is no right to a supplementary question

4.    That the cabinet members reports be presented “en bloc” and questions asked as follows with that order to be rotated at each meeting:

Major opposition group

2^nd opposition group

Non aligned councillors

Administration group

5.    That the suggestion be put to the chairs of panels, that to further facilitate the scrutiny of cabinet, panels consider having on their agendas a time limited question and answer session of cabinet members as appropriate to the work of the panel.

Cabinet discussed the proposals and the suggestion that the Panels have a question and answer session for Cabinet members was welcomed.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Rust asked that where questions were put to Cabinet members in advance they were responded to.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Morley felt Cabinet member questions at Panels would be a positive step with possibly longer than the 10minutes suggested, and the timeframe proposed for council was fair but preferred opposition questions only.  He suggested that Chairs should be from opposition groups.

Councillor Long confirmed the timeframes would be for a Panel to decide.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Dickinson stated that as Chair of Audit Committee she would also welcome a cabinet member question and answer session at her Committee.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Parish indicated he did not have an issue with the timings for questions except he felt the 10 minutes for each question was too long.  He indicated he had encouraged members of his Group to submit questions in advance and asked for Cabinet Members to respond to them.

It was confirmed that the review of standing orders would be carried out in due course as required.

Under standing order 34 Councillor Ryves hoped to receive written answers from Cabinet members, and suggested question for Panels be put in advance in writing.

Councillor Long commented that who and how long questions were held would be up to the panel in accordance with the appropriateness of their agenda.  He hoped long questions would be dealt with outside of meetings.

RECOMMENDED:     That the following be recommended to Council and incorporated into standing orders in the appropriate way:

Standing Order 11.2a

6.    That the total time given for questions to Cabinet members except the leader be 50minutes, and 15 minutes of the Leader.

7.    That no question and answer exceed 10 minutes

8.    There is no right to a supplementary question

9.    That the cabinet members reports be presented “en bloc” and questions asked as follows with that order to be rotated at each meeting:

Major opposition group

2^nd opposition group

Non aligned councillors

Administration group

10.  That the suggestion be put to the chairs of panels, that to further facilitate the scrutiny of cabinet, panels consider having on their agendas a time limited question and answer session of cabinet members as appropriate to the work of the panel.