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Councillor M Howells asked: In light of the frustration of members at the last council meeting of not being able to ask questions of the deputy leader along with the frustration of some members at the previous council meeting in November when time ran out in asking questions to the leader before getting around all group leaders, will the chair consider urgently taking forward work to review the standing orders of Council meetings and make a recommendation to council, if appropriate, for change? The Police superintendent answers open questions for 30 mins whilst the leader only 15 mins and cabinet members only 10 mins. In light of the fact, we now have 3 formal political groups in opposition as well as two other political parties solely represented and a further independent member, it seems to me that the previous standing orders need reviewing in order that democracy can be properly achieved by extending those times to allow full and proper debate of issues affecting our residents. Councillor D Fouweather responded: May I thank Councillor Howells for his question to me as the Chair of the Democratic Services Committee. I can confirm to Councillor Howells that his ward colleague Councillor Sterry has requested that this topic on leader’s question time be referred to the committee. The committee has taken the decision to place this topic on the work programme as part of the review of standing orders and will be discussed in the near future. Any recommendations that come forward from the committee will of course be referred to full council.
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