Question time!

We had a hum-dinger today at LCC as the Conservatives shut the door on written questions at full Council, only having verbal ones in future. This is a seriously retrograde step, as it closes doors on publically holding portfolio holders to account and flies in the face of open, transparent government. There is no guarantee that detailed information will be provided in a timely fashion other than under the Freedom of Information Act, which gives 28 days. However this does not report the answers to all members in full council. Challenging the Executive with the facts at hand in the public forum of full Council is now abolished. The leader called it an 'abuse of the system', complaining that members asked a lot of detailed questions about the service the Council provides (and challenged the Executive to do something about it!) Strange, I thought that was what we are elected for!