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Written |
Oral |
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Can be composite |
Must be a single question not requiring a lengthy answer |
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Transfers of written between Departments are common and painless |
Departmental responsibility is crucial as a transfer turns it into a written question |
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Can be open but not vague |
Cannot be open |
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Cannot have been answered within three months (unless a ‘moving target’) |
Cannot have been answered in last relevant OT (unless on a ‘moving target’) |
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Cannot seek information that is readily available elsewhere |
Readily available rule not applied strictly to enable supplementaries |
Under Standing Orders Question Time takes place for an hour Monday to Thursday after prayers. The Departments, Ministers and other members answer questions according to a rota called the Order of Oral Questions. Departments and others who answer questions appear once in a four week cycle. By convention some Departments have a hour (Treasury, Foreign and Home offices, Defence and Health) and others split the available hour if different ways. The questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the government department concerned.
Oral questions are tabled by MPs at least three days in advance of Question Time for that department or minister. The exception is questions for the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales which require four days notice.
A member must hand in all oral questions personally at the Table Office and be signed by the Member. The questions are then printed in the Commons Questions Book. The order in which the questions are asked is determined randomly by a computer.
MPs who are called by the Speaker to ask their question do not read it out, but simply call out its number. When the government minister has replied, the MP can ask another question (known as a supplementary) and other MPs may also be called to ask supplementary questions. The Minister must reply to each in turn. Supplementary questions must be on the same subject as the original question.
The last 15 minutes (for those departments with a 60 minute question time) or 10 minutes (for those departments with a 40 minute question time) of question time is reserved for 'topical questions'.
During the 'topical questions' slot, MPs can ask supplementary questions on any subject relating to the department's responsibilities.
Members are limited to two questions on any given day; with only one question able to be put to one Minister on any day.
The Prime Minister answers questions from MPs in the Commons for half an hour every Wednesday from 12pm.
The session usually starts with a routine question from an MP about the Prime Minister's engagements. This is known as an 'open question' and means that the MP can then ask a supplementary question on any subject.
Following the answer, the MP then raises a particular issue, often one of current political significance. The Leader of the Opposition then follows up on this or another topic. He and the Liberal Democrat leader are the only MPs allowed to come back with further questions.
Most MPs will table the same question about engagements and if they do, only their names will appear on the question book. After the first engagements question has been asked, any other MPs who have tabled the same question are simply called to ask a supplementary question. This means, in theory, that the Prime Minister will not know what questions will be asked of him. However, the Prime Minister will be extensively briefed by government departments in anticipation of likely subjects he could be asked about.
In the House of Commons 'ordinary' questions do not have to be answered on a specific date. An MP will date a written question for two days after they have tabled it (ie, submitted it for answer via the Table Office).
The convention is that the MP can expect it to be answered within seven days of the question being tabled. However, there is no parliamentary rule that states ordinary written questions have to be answered by a certain date.
'Named day' questions only occur in the House of Commons. The MP tabling the question specifies the date on which they should receive an answer. The MP must give a minimum of two days' notice for these types of question. MPs may not table more than five named day questions on a single day.
Questions originally tabled for oral answer that do not get answered at oral question time are submitted to the government department as named day questions.
Information primarily sourced from the House of Commons Procedure and Practice Online, Chapter 11.
Members may ask questions orally without notice during Question Period, or they may be submitted in writing with sufficient notice.
A Member who is not satisfied with the answer to an oral question may pursue the matter at greater length during the Adjournment Proceedings, a short question and answer period held at the end of each sitting day, except Fridays. The matter of a written question that has not received a response from the Government within 45 days is automatically referred to a standing committee, unless a Member elects to raise it during Adjournment Proceedings.
Each sitting day, time is set aside for the purpose of asking oral questions. "Oral Questions", more commonly known as “Question Period”, follows "Statements by Members" and lasts a maximum of 45 minutes.
The Standing Orders specify that each question should be addressed to a Minister or to a designated spokesperson of the Board of Internal Economy. Members may also put questions concerning committees to the respective committee chairs.
A question asked by a Member must be brief, seek information, and direct the question to an important matter of some urgency that is within the administrative responsibility of the Government or of the Minister addressed. Members can ask supplementary questions.
Questions seeking information about the schedules and agendas of committees may be directed to the appropriate Chair of a committee. Questions on legislation or on subjects that are before committees are directed to the Ministry and, when appropriately cast, are normally permitted as long as the questioning neither interferes with the committees’ work nor anticipates a report of a committee.
If a
question intended to obtain information from the Ministry involves a lengthy,
detailed or technical response, a written question must be placed on the Order
Paper. A Member must give 48 hours' written notice of his or her intention
to submit such a question. Each Member may have a maximum of four questions on
the Order Paper at any one time. Certain restrictions exist on the form
and content of written questions. These are based on the Standing Orders and on
practice.
The Member giving notice of a written question may request an answer within 45 days and may also ask that oral answers be provided to no more than three of his or her questions on the Order Paper. Such questions are identified with an asterisk in the Order Paper.
Responses to written questions are provided during Routine Proceedings under the rubric “Questions on the Order Paper”. When "Questions on the Order Paper" is called, a Parliamentary Secretary rises in his or her place to announce which question(s) the Government intends to answer on that particular day.
The Government may answer written questions in one of two ways:
The failure of the Government to respond to a written question within 45 days is automatically referred to a standing committee. Within five sitting days of the referral, the Chair of the committee must call a meeting of the committee to consider the Government’s failure to respond. The Member in question may submit one further question to the Order Paper for each question referred to a committee.
Alternatively, the Member who placed the question on the Order Paper may rise in the House under "Questions on the Order Paper" and give notice of his or her intention to transfer the question and raise the subject matter during the Adjournment Proceedings. The order referring the matter to committee is then dropped.
A Member who wishes to receive more information on a response given to his or her question during Question Period, or whose written question has not been responded to within 45 days, may give notice of his or her intention to raise the subject matter of the question during the Adjournment Proceedings, also referred to as the “late show”.
At the
commencement of this 30-minute period, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00
p.m. Monday through
Thursday (there are no Adjournment Proceedings on Friday), a motion to adjourn
the House is deemed moved and seconded. After debate, the motion to adjourn is
deemed carried and the House adjourns.
The adjournment debate, divided into a maximum of three periods of no more than 10 minutes each, is used as a vehicle for brief exchanges (questions from Members and responses from Ministers or Parliamentary Secretaries). Several topics may be debated during each occurrence of the Adjournment Proceedings.
Question time is covered in Standing Orders Chapter 13. Every member is eligible to lodge questions with the Clerk. The question has to specify whether they want a written or oral answer.
There are two types of question: written and oral. Written questions are the most common type of question. Oral questions are answered on one day each week (except during recesses) and can be lodged for answer either at Question Time or at First Minister’s Question Time. Emergency oral questions provide an opportunity for Members to lodge an oral question to the Scottish Executive on a matter of such importance and urgency that it merits being answered on the day it is lodged.
An oral question is a question that is lodged for answer by the Scottish Executive at General or Themed Question Time, or by the First Minister at First Minister’s Question Time. General Question Time, First Minister’s Question Time and Themed Question Time normally take place on a Thursday in the chamber. General Question Time takes place between 11.40 am and 12 noon, First Minister’s Question Time between 12 noon and 12.30 pm and Themed Question Time between 2.15 and 2.55 pm. If they are to be held at different times or on a different day, an announcement about arrangements will be made in the Business Bulletin.
A question shall-
(a) be brief, clearly worded, and address specific points;
(b) relate to a matter for which the First Minister, the Scottish Ministers or the Scottish Law Officers have general responsibility;
(c) be in English;
(d) be prefaced by the name of the member asking it;
(e) not contain offensive language;
(f) not express a point of view;
(g) not breach any enactment or rule of law or be contrary to the public interest; and
(h) not refer to matters relating to any legal proceedings.
Parliamentary questions provide a means for Members to obtain factual and statistical information from the Scottish Executive or the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body. Although they are one of the ways in which individual Members can hold the Executive to account, they should not be used to make political statements. Of course, questions that seek to obtain information can have other purposes as well. For example, if a Member wishes to press the Executive to act in a particular way, a question asking for information in the format “To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take action [to achieve the objective desired by the Member]” could be lodged.
It is for individual Members to take responsibility for the quantity, quality and relevance of their questions and to take account of the availability of all other sources of information so that the system is used in the most efficient, effective and appropriate manner.
Questions should be concise, unambiguous and, for transparency, ‘capable of being understood by those who are not specialists in the subject matter of the question’. The Standing Orders set out a range of admissibility criteria.
Under Standing Orders, written parliamentary questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess).
(Information supplied by the Welsh Assembly)
The Plenary sessions are each Tuesday and Wednesday that the Assembly is sitting. Question time is based entirely around questions tabled in advance (although supplementaries are allowed) so the issues are less directed by the media, and the structure of the Welsh chamber also makes for a different environment.
Oral questions may be tabled to the First Minister, other Ministers and the Counsel General. If a question falls within a Deputy Minister’s responsibilities, they may answer that question.
Questions may also be tabled to a representative of the Assembly Commission.
First Minister – answers questions for a maximum of 45 minutes (outlined in Standing Orders, but in practice approximately an hour) in each week the Assembly is sitting (The Assembly sits approx 36 weeks a year).
Other Ministers and Counsel General – answer questions for a maximum of 30 minutes (in practice approximately 45 minutes) every 4 weeks the Assembly meets in Plenary.
Commission Questions – allocated 30 minutes in accordance with Standing Orders but, in practice very few questions are tabled. Questions are answered once every 4 weeks the Assembly meets in Plenary.
Questions must be tabled at least five, but no more than ten working days before they are due to be answered. Questions are selected randomly. The first 15 questions are included on the Order paper.
Members may table no more than 2 questions for answer in one Question session.
Each question is allocated 4 minutes (but in practice, this is flexible). The First Minister would normally answer approximately 10 questions in one session. Other Ministers would normally answer 7-8 questions.
Questions on the same subject may be grouped for answer, at the request of the Minister, and with the permission of the Presiding Officer.
The Member asking the question is called to ask a supplementary oral question and then other Members are called to ask related supplementary oral questions.
Opposition Party Leaders are allowed an additional supplementary question (sometimes two) during questions to the First Minister.
Party spokespersons are also allowed an additional supplementary to other Ministers on areas in which they have responsibilities.
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