The public can ask questions at Council, Committee, and most panel meetings. Questions are either answered by the Portfolio Holder, the Chair of the Committee, or are posted in writing. Most meetings are recorded and published online. Recordings are available for six months. You can view recordings on our meetings page or on our virtual meetings page.
What happens at the meetings?
- Questions to the Chair or Portfolio Holder will be asked in the order they are received.
- The person asked may arrange for another councillor to answer.
- You will be invited by the Chair to read your question at the meeting. The councillor may reply or provide a written response after the meeting.
- You may ask one follow-up question about the answer to your written question.
- Questions not dealt with during public question time, due to a lack of time, will be answered in writing. Answers to questions not reached at a meeting will also be posted online.
- Questions and answers are recorded.
- Recordings are uploaded online as soon as possible after the meeting.
Any Harrow resident or representative of a local organisation may ask a question at a meeting. They may also ask one follow-up question on the reply received. Questions should be submitted in writing by 3pm at least two clear working days before the meeting. You can email your questions to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk.
After you submit a question
- An officer will confirm they received your question.
- A day after the deadline for questions, they will tell the questioner whether the question was accepted.
- If we reject the question, we will explain why.
- A question may be rejected if it is significantly like a question asked at any meeting in the last six months.
Question submission guidance
- Questions can also be submitted in writing. Send them to: The Monitoring Officer, Democratic Services, Harrow Council, PO Box 1358, Harrow, HA3 3QN. Questions must be received by the deadline given.
- Each question must be submitted by the questioner. It must identify their name, address, and email address. The questioner must also name the Portfolio Holder or Chair to whom the question is to be put.
- Only one question per questioner is allowed.
- Where reports are published after the agenda for a meeting, the deadline for questions is one working day before the meeting.
- Questions must relate to the meeting's terms of reference. The council's constitution can be accessed online.
- Public questions cannot be put to officers of the council. If you wish to raise issues with officers there are other ways of doing this. If you need any help, please email democratic.services@harrow.gov.uk.
We take no responsibility for questions that fail to reach the correct email or postal address.