Attachment 1
![Parliament of Australia](d01_1.gif)
Discussion Paper
Senator the Hon Alan Ferguson
President of the Senate
An opportunity for
revitalization
August 2008
Introduction
Question
time is undoubtedly one of the most important accountability mechanisms in the
Australian Parliament. The opportunity to put questions in parliament to ministers
relating to matters for which they have responsibility plays a key role in the
successful functioning of our parliamentary democracy. It is also one of the
functions of the parliament that has the highest public profile.
However,
there may be areas where this important opportunity for scrutiny of the
executive government could be made more effective and efficient.
Issues
In the
Senate, question time is an important opportunity for opposition and minor
party senators. While no-one would take issue with the ongoing value of an
opportunity to question ministers, there are some valid criticisms that can be
made of its current form. It is worth noting that this form has taken shape
across successive governments from both major parties and is not the result of
any specific attempt to reduce its effectiveness from one side over the other.
It has evolved into a form that could now benefit from revitalization. It may
be worth examining the forms used in other comparable parliaments to see if
anything useful can be drawn to improve the way question time operates in the
Australian context.
It is worth
noting that while the standing orders of the Senate give senators the right to
ask questions of ministers and certain other senators, there is no corresponding
obligation on those questioned to give an answer. There are numerous rulings
from Senate Presidents, dating back to President Baker in 1902,
that confirm and entrench this circumstance. This means that ministers, as
long as they remain broadly relevant to the question are free to answer as they
see fit. This may take the form of simply reciting a pre-prepared brief on the
matter providing only the key points they wish to emphasize and/or using the
opportunity to comment on the policy positions of other parties.
Because
there are a significant number of ministers relative to the number of questions
available each day, most ministers will not be subject to more than a few
questions each day. This means that ministers can usually provide a reasonable
answer from the briefing material available to them, without necessarily being
familiar with the full detail of the subject matter.
The use of Dorothy Dix questions, made by government senators to ministers from their own
party, is one of the areas of question time subject to particular criticism.
This is often an opportunity to make ministerial statements or simply to
criticise one's opponents. This does not provide for an accountability check
on ministers.
Supplementary
questions are a positive feature of the Senate question time and one which,
taken in conjunction with the time limits on questions and answers, allow
senators to pose a question to elucidate an answer already given. This is an
important opportunity to drill down into the subject matter being pursued by
question. However, as only one supplementary is allowed this opportunity is
relatively limited.
A
significant amount of time and resources in government departments and agencies
are put into preparation for question time in areas that may not be required on
that day. Public servants from many departments and agencies expend a
significant amount of time preparing briefing material for their ministers on a
wide range of subjects within their areas of responsibility. Because it is not
known which minister will be subject to questions on a particular day, or which
specific area within their portfolio, the briefs try to cover every possible
area of questioning. The briefs are often quite broad in their approach,
providing the minister only enough to satisfy one or two questions. This time
and effort used to provide briefing covering such a wide range of possible
parliamentary questions could be more spent more productively and efficiently
in other areas if it was known that question time would focus in detail on a
few specific areas.
Other approaches to
question time
There are a
number of different approaches to question time in other comparable
parliaments. A paper on the operations of question time in the New Zealand, United Kingdom and Canada is attached. There are some useful
contrasts with the current practice in the Australian Senate.
Discussion proposal
Question
time is an essential feature of our parliamentary democracy and one which,
quite appropriately, attracts attention from public and from ministers and is
the focus of considerable resources in government departments and agencies. In
my observation, the New
Zealand question time
model has positive aspects that could be applied to the Australian Senate
context. In particular, the lodging of questions (that could then be followed
up by more specific supplementary questions) earlier in each sitting day would
allow government resources to be targeted on the specific areas of proposed
questioning. It would however, require the ministers to be across the subject
matter in considerably more detail than might have been necessary under the
current practice as they would be able to be asked a series of more detailed
supplementary questions.
I propose
that this discussion paper form the basis of consideration of possible reforms
to Senate question time by the Senate Procedure committee, with a view to
improving the efficiency and effectiveness of this important mechanism.
Question Time
– comparisons between the UK, New Zealand and Canada
The following information relates to the operation of Question Time (or
equivalent) in the lower house of each jurisdiction. The information covers
areas such as:
- category of questions
- the content of questions
- procedures for notice of
questions
- the timing and frequency of
Question Time
It is
interesting to note some departures from Question Time as it operates in the
Australian federal parliament:
- the use of
different types of question time such as the Prime Ministers Question Time in
the British House of Commons and the First Ministers Question Time in the Welsh
and Scottish assemblies.
- the Scottish
Assembly has Themed Question Times when questions on a similar topic/or
addressed to the same department are asked, for example a Themed Question Time
on Finance and Sustainable Growth.
- in the British
House of Commons questions are asked on a rota basis for example social
security questions might be answered on Monday 17 March but would not be
answered again until Monday 14 April –one month later.
- unlike Australia where questions can be asked
without notice, some of the jurisdictions require a period of notice for oral
questions, such as New
Zealand and the
British House of Commons requiring oral question to be lodged at least three
days before the day set down for that minister or department.
- the requirement
for answers to written questions in a specific period of time as indicated by
the Scottish Parliament requiring answers within 10 working days.
Areas of
similarity between the different jurisdictions relate:
-
the form and
content of the questions
-
requirement for
answers (particularly for written questions)
New Zealand
The primary
reference for the following information is Parliamentary Practice in New
Zealand, Third edition.
Categories
The New
Zealand Parliament has four categories of questions:
- oral questions
- urgent questions
- supplementary
questions
- written questions
Timing
At
the beginning of each sitting day the House devotes about 60 minutes to 12
questions from members to Ministers about matters within their ministerial
responsibility (the Standing Orders do not prescribe a specific period of
time). The Ministers have a few hours’ notice to prepare a reply. After the
initial reply is given, members can ask supplementary questions to test the Minister’s
answer. This process keeps Ministers and the organisations for which they are
responsible on notice that their activities can always be subject to scrutiny.
Each day’s oral questions are generally available on the Parliament’s website
after 11.30 am and uncorrected transcripts of the questions being asked and
answered are available after 5.30 pm the same day.
Questions
are usually addressed to a minister but may be addressed to other members in
certain circumstances.
Procedure
Oral
questions are lodged with the Clerk on the morning of the day they are to be
answered. Up to 12 questions may be lodged on each day. Urgent questions can be
lodged at any time up to the end of the question period but must meet stringent
criteria. In addition two copies must be prepared, one for the Clerk and one
for the appropriate Minister.
Every
question must be signed. The Clerk’s office checks for compliance with the Standing
Orders.(ss 369-379)
The
Business Committee is given power to determine the allocation and rotation of
questions, but by convention it is designed to ensure equity to all sections of
the House. The allocation of questions between parties is made on the basis
that is proportional to party membership in the House. An attempt is made to
alternate questions between the Government party members and Opposition
members.
Content
Questions
have to be concise. They should not contain statements of facts and names of
persons. It is the duty of the Member to authenticate a statement or quotation.
Unparliamentary language is not allowed. Questions may seek an expression of
opinion but may not seek legal opinion. The subject matter of a question to a
Minister must relate to his/her ministerial responsibility. Questions can be
addressed to associate or assistant minister if their areas of responsibility
are known. Questions can be transferred between ministers where appropriate.
The Prime Minister can redirect a question to a Minister. There is no specific
Prime Minister question time.
Oral and
written questions can be made to other members but must relate to the business
of the House of which the member has charge. In the case of the Speaker it is
only for a written answer and can relate only to a matter of administration for
which the Speaker is responsible.
Written
Since
February 2003 a system of electronic lodging and processing for written
questions has been applied. The members use a secure template system to
communicate with the Clerk’s office and affix an electronic signature. Members may lodge an
unlimited number of written questions of Ministers. Replies must be lodged
within six working days. All questions and answers are published on the website
at www.parliament.nz
Replies to question must be given if it can be given
consistently with the public interest. Similarly to questions it must relate to
the subject matter of the question, be concise, not contain inference or
imputation, not refer to individuals and not use unparliamentary language.
United Kingdom
Primary
source for the following information is House of Commons Information Office
Factsheet Parliamentary Questions
Question
Time is an opportunity for MPs to ask government ministers questions. These
questions are asked at the start of business in both chambers and are known as
'oral questions'. The Prime Minister answers questions in the Commons every
Wednesday.
Categories
There are
four categories of question in the House of Commons (in order of volume):
- questions for written answer
- questions for oral answer
- cross-cutting questions
- urgent questions
Written questions account for the vast majority of
parliamentary questions. For example, of the 23,552 answers printed in Commons
Hansard in the 2004-05 session, 21,176 of them were responses for written
answers.
Procedure
Before any
question can be placed on the Order of Business it must conform with rules
which have been set by the House. A parliamentary question must:
- either seek information or
press for action
- not offer or seek expressions
of opinion
- not convey information nor
advance a proposition, an argument or debate
- have a factual basis for which
the Minister is responsible
- relate to a matter for which
the Minister is responsible
- not seek an expression of
opinion on a matter of law
- not refer to a matter active in
a UK court
- not ask for information readily
available elsewhere
- not be hypothetical or
obviously about opposition policy.
The rules
are applied differently for oral and written questions:
Written |
Oral |
Can be composite |
Must be a single question not
requiring a lengthy answer |
Transfers of written between
Departments are common and painless |
Departmental responsibility is
crucial as a transfer turns it into a written question |
Can be open but not vague |
Cannot be open |
Cannot have been answered within
three months (unless a ‘moving target’) |
Cannot have been answered in last
relevant OT (unless on a ‘moving target’) |
Cannot seek information that is
readily available elsewhere |
Readily available rule not applied
strictly to enable supplementaries |
Oral questions
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.
Prime Minister’s question time
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.
Written questions
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.
Canada
Information
primarily sourced from the House of Commons Procedure and Practice Online,
Chapter 11.
Categories
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.
Timing
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.
Procedure
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.
Written questions
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 Parliamentary Secretary may simply indicate to the
House the number (or numbers) of the question(s) being answered. The text
of the full response is published in the Debates of that day or the
Parliamentary Secretary may read the reply, if an oral response has been
requested; or
- In the case of questions requiring lengthy or more
complex responses, the Government may request that the House make a
certain question an "order for return"; that is, the House may
order the Government to table a report or return which will serve as a
response to the question. The return is tabled in the House and becomes a
sessional paper.
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.
Scotland
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.
Categories
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.
Timing
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.
Content
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.
Written
Under
Standing Orders, written parliamentary questions must be answered within 10
working days (20 working days during recess).
Wales
(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.
Frequency
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.
Tabling
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.
Timings
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.
Groupings
Questions
on the same subject may be grouped for answer, at the request of the Minister,
and with the permission of the Presiding Officer.
Supplementaries
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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