Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance has been given to local authorities on (a) the criteria for an overview and scrutiny committee call-in and (b) the number of councillor questions permitted at meetings of Full Council.

Sections 9F(2)(a) and 9F(4) of the Local Government Act 2000 set out how local authorities should make sure their respective scrutiny committees have the power to review and scrutinise decisions made by the executive, commonly referred to as ‘call-in’ procedures. Guidance on ‘call-in’ procedures was published in 2000 alongside the Act. More recent guidance funded by central government was published in 2023 by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny.

The number of councillor questions permitted at Full Council is not prescribed by statute or central government guidance and is instead determined locally through each authority’s constitutional procedure rules.