What are the rules allowing parish councillors to speak at committees of which they are not members?

Question

My parish council - like other councils I have known - has always allowed councillors who are not members of a particular committee to attend that committee and to speak on any item BUT they are not allowed to propose a motion or to vote on any issue. 

The Clerk has recently advised that councillors who are not members of a committee can only speak at that committee at the beginning of the meeting within the time allocated for members of the public to address it. The Clerk's advice appears to be based on the council's Standing Orders relating to ''substitute'  councillors but, can this rule also apply to councillors who are not acting as 'substitutes' - ie when a committee has its full set of councillors and an 'additional' councillor attends and wishes to speak?   

I can find no reference in the council's Standing Orders; the LGA 1972; or James Arnold Baker to explain the circumstances when councillors who are not members of a committee and not 'substitute' members can speak at that committee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

speak at any 

Answer 1

Broadly speaking, the clerk is right.  A councillor who is not a member of a committee has no rights other than as a citizen.

It can be argued that the restriction on public comments to a period at the start of a meeting is nowadays too constraining.  Standing orders can be changed, and a possible change is to allow public comments at any time in a meeting, subject to the chairman's discretion.  Clearly the chairman has to exercise sensible control to allow business to be transacted effectively, but usually public contributions are helpful and give people more involvement in council affairs.

Many councils have been in the practice of adjourning the meeting or "suspending" standing orders if they wish to allow non-members to speak.  But this leaves a situation where there are no rules.  Having standing orders that remain in force but allow discretion to the chairman avoids that issue.

This approach may be impractical for a very large council, but for many smaller councils it is perfectly feasible.

A possibly related matter is that under typical standing orders, a council can appoint new members to a committee or dissolve a committee without prior notice and without needing an agenda item.