Agenda item

Report number LDS213 of the Chairman of the Constitution Committee.    (Enclosure)

Decision:

1.1         Members’ Open Questions

            That the Constitution is amended at Article 4 – the Council, to include Open Questions at Council meetings in place of Questions by Members at Article 4.8 as shown below:

4.8       Open Questions by Members

4.8.1   i)       Open questions at Council will not be allowed at the 

                                Council budget meeting.

            ii)      Time allowed for questions will be a maximum of 45   

                      minutes.

            iii)     Questions should be addressed to: Leader, Executive Members, Chairman or Vice-chairman of PDGs and opposition Leaders.

            iv)     No questions are to be addressed to the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Development Control Committee, Licensing Committee (Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment Licensing Committee) or Governance and Audit Committee or any officer.

   v)      Questions will be on a first come, first served basis, members will join the queue through the electronic method using the speaker queuing system. (If the speaker queuing system is unavailable questions will be taken by a show of hands and this will be managed by the Chairman until the time allowed has been reached or before that if no more questions are forthcoming).

   vi)     No debate, speech or statement is to take place and members are limited to one question per meeting, no supplementary questions can be asked. Please note that questions only are to be asked and this will be managed through the Chairman.

   vii)    The response to any question that has been asked but not answered at the meeting is to be made available at the start of questions at the next full council meeting.

viii)   Questions will not be recorded verbatim in the Council minutes. Details in the minutes will consist of the Member who asked the question, a brief summary of the question and either the Leader, Executive Member, Chairman or Vice-chairman of the PDG or opposition Leader who answered the question.  Recordings of council meetings are available for those Members who wish to listen to full council meetings.

   ix)     Members must show respect to each other during the session.

            x)      A question will be rejected by the chairman:

·         if it is not about a matter for which the local authority has a responsibility or which directly affects the district; or

·         is of a defamatory, frivolous, objectionable, improper or of an offensive nature; or

·         which is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of the council in the past six months; or

·         if the answer requires disclosure of confidential or exempt information

1.2         Development Control Committee

That the Constitution be amended at Article 9 to change the composition of the Development Control Committee to 15 members

1.3         Member Training

            That the Constitution is amended at Article 2.3b) as follows:

i)             All members of the Development Control Committee, Licensing Committee (including Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment Licensing Committee) and Governance and Audit Committee are required to undergo mandatory training at the start of each term of office following an election. This mandatory training requirement relates to new Members, returning Members and substitute Members

ii)            Members of these Committees are required to attend refresher training on an annual basis for the remainder of their term in order to retain their position on the Committee

The Chairman of the Constitution Committee thanked the Members and officers with whom he had worked during his tenure as Chairman and proposed the recommendations in report number LDS213, which related to Members’ Open Questions, reducing the size of the Development Control Committee and minimum training requirements for Members who sat on those Committees where training was mandatory. These proposals were seconded.

Reference was made to the recommendation on formally adopting Members’ Open Questions and that consequential amendments to the wording would be required should the recommendations at agenda item 11b be adopted.

Each recommendation was subject to a separate vote, all of which were carried.