Public Question Time - 3 July 2012
Birmingham residents challenge council leaders directly at a 'Question Time' style session during the full city council meeting on 3 July 2012.
Residents who want to take part should email their question and contact details no later than 12 noon on the day before the full council meeting to admin@birminghamnewsroom.com or send them in by post to The Council Team, Room B19, the Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB. PLEASE INCLUDE CONTACT DETAILS - PARTICULARLY A TELEPHONE NUMBER
Once the question has been agreed, the individual will be contacted with the arrangements for full council and invited to attend and ask their question with a microphone from the public gallery in the council chamber.
The entire question time section of full council has been extended from half-an-hour (30 minutes) to an hour-and-a-half (90 minutes), of which the first 20 minutes is questions from the public. It is one of the first items on the agenda and the three remaining sections of the question time will be questions from councillors to a) committee chairman or lead member of a joint board; b) a cabinet member; and c) the Leader or Deputy Leader.
1. The revised city council's constitution, approved at last month's full council, details in terms of Oral Questions - Questions from Members of the Public, that:
• A member of the public may ask one oral question of any Cabinet Member or District Committee Chairman by submitting the question in writing to the Chief Executive no later than 12 noon on the day prior to the council meeting (Monday 11 June 2012)
• No question will exceed one minute and no answer to exceed two minutes.
• The question must refer to an issue which affects Birmingham or falls within the council's responsibilities.
• The question must not be substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of the council in the past six months.
• The question must not be defamatory, frivolous, vexatious or offensive.
• The question must not require the disclosure of confidential or exempt information.
• The question must not refer to individual planning or licensing matters, or any matter of a personal nature.
2. The new question time at full council is the first item on the agenda and will last for 90 minutes in total from 2.05pm to 3.35pm, broken down as follows:
• Questions from members of the public to any cabinet member or district committee chairman (20 minutes)
• Questions from any councillor to a committee chairman or lead member of a joint board (20 minutes)
• Questions from councillors other than cabinet members to a cabinet member (25 minutes)
• Questions from councillors other than cabinet members to the Leader or Deputy Leader (25 minutes)
3. The dates of full city council meetings are as follows:
12 June 2012
3 July 2012
16 October 2012
6 November 2012
4 December 2012
8 January 2013
5 February 2013
26 February 2013
9 April 2013
