Croydon Council is set to reform its oral question time procedures in a bid to improve efficiency, transparency, and inclusivity during council meetings. The changes are also designed to future-proof the council's constitution, which is currently based on a two-party system, to effectively handle council business regardless of the upcoming local election outcomes.
The General Purposes Committee has approved significant revisions to the Council Procedure Rules (CPRs), which will introduce written questions for the Executive Mayor and Cabinet, and a new structure for allocating speaking time for oral questions. These reforms aim to address issues such as flab in the Constitution where there was a lot of repetition and we weren't moving discussion along,
and to sharpen up debate and give more opportunities both for the public over the course of the year and to council, particularly backbenchers to contribute.
Under the new rules, councillors will be able to submit one written question per meeting, with a total of 35 written questions to be considered each session. These questions must be submitted 15 working days in advance, allowing for written responses to be published with the agenda. Members can then choose to ask a supplementary question based on the written response or pose a new question.
While initially a 'first-come, first-served' basis was considered for written questions, the committee opted for a politically proportionate allocation to ensure fairness across different political groups. The allocation of these questions will be based on the political proportionate size of the groups and non-group members,
similar to how oral question time is currently apportioned.
A review of the written question system, including its impact on officer time, will be conducted within six months of its implementation. The meeting information states that the impact on officer time would be a key question for a future constitution working group to examine, though specific metrics for this assessment were not detailed.
To improve time management during oral question sessions, the total time allocated for questions to the Executive Mayor and Cabinet will remain between 75-77 minutes. This time will be divided into 10-minute slots for each political group, aiming to give more councillors the opportunity to ask questions. The chair will have discretion to manage time, including potentially reducing a group's allocation if they overrun. Supplementary questions will no longer be a right but will be at the discretion of the group, a change intended to help the council get through more questions. The meeting also noted that a group could allocate a member two questions if they wished to ask a supplement.
Councillor Sean Fitzsimons, Chair of the General Purposes Committee, stated that the changes aim to enhance efficiency, transparency, and inclusivity.
He added that the reforms are partly in preparation for potential shifts in the council's political makeup following the upcoming local elections.
The revised Council Procedure Rules will undergo a formal review after two ordinary council meetings to assess their effectiveness. The full details of the revised rules can be found in Appendix B - Draft Council Procedure Rules Clean Copy Appendix B - Draft Council Procedure Rules Clean Copy.
