1. Attending meetings
2.
Questions at committee
meetings
3. Questions to full
Council meetings
4. Filming, recording
and broadcasting meetings.
Islington Council is committed to being open and transparent in the way it conducts its business. The majority of the important decisions the council makes are made at meetings of the Executive, full Council or one of the council's committees. The meetings are held in public and members of the public are very welcome to attend. If there are confidential or exempt matters to be discussed, part of the meeting may be in private, but this is very rare..
The Meetings Calendar shows which meetings are taking place each month, or you can view the list of meetings for an individual committee under the Committees tab. The individual committee pages also lists the members, includes a brief description of the committee's role and the contact details of the committee clerk who can assist with any enquiries.
The meeting agenda and all non-exempt papers are publically
accessible documents and these are available five working days
before each meeting. Papers can be downloaded either via the
Meetings Calendar or the list of meetings
under the Committees tab or if you prefer, hard copies are
available on request from the Democratic Services Team.
The council welcomes active participation by members of the public. The procedures followed at some meetings, such as Planning and Licensing committees, are governed by legislation, but it is usually possible for members of the public to speak either for or against an application. At other meetings, such as full Council, it is possible for members of the public to ask councillors questions and present petitions, and members of the public frequently give evidence at the council's scrutiny committees.
If you would like to know more about attending a particular meeting, please contact the Democratic Services team at democracy@islington.gov.uk .
The council has tried to ensure that there are opportunities for members of the public to ask questions and get involved in decision making in the borough. There are standing items on all scrutiny committee agendas for members of the public to ask questions about any item on the agenda and when the Executive are considering a recommended course of action, the Chair will ask the members of the public present if they have any questions on the item before the Executive reaches a final decision, but the main opportunity for members of the public to ask questions is at an ordinary meeting of full Council.
At scrutiny committees members of the public may ask one question relating to any subject on the meeting agenda and one supplementary question, arising directly out of the original question or the councillor's reply.
A question may be rejected if it:
(a) is not about a matter for which the Council has a
responsibility or which affects the area;
(b) is defamatory, frivolous or offensive;
(c) is substantially the same as a question asked within the last
six months;
(d) requests the disclosure of information which is confidential or
exempt; or
(e) names, or clearly identifies, a member of staff or any other
individual.
An answer will not be given during the meeting if the questioner is not present or time allowed for questions has run out. In these cases, a written reply will be sent to the questioner, providing contact information has been supplied.
At ordinary meetings of full Council, except the meeting at which the Budget is agreed, questions may be asked of the Leader, another member of the Executive or the Chair of any scrutiny committee. Members of the public may ask one question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the borough. The time set aside for questions from members of the public is 30 minutes.
