What your speech or question can be about

Your speech (also called a deputation) or question can be on any topic that we have the power to act on. 

Your speech or question could be refused if it’s:

  • largely the same as one made in the last 6 months 
  • defamatory, frivolous or offensive 
  • asking for confidential information 

The decision to refuse a speech or question is made by the Chief Executive or Chair of the meeting (Mayor at full council). The decision is final.

If your speech or question is about a national issue, find out how to get involved in decisions made by UK Parliament.

Who can get involved

Any resident of the city can make a speech or ask a question at any of our ordinary public meetings, including full council. 

Questions

You must ask your question at the meeting, either in person or on Microsoft Teams. If you cannot attend, you may send someone to ask the question, or contact your ward councillor to ask it on your behalf. In this case, please inform our Democratic Services team in advance, and let them know who your substitute will be.

You can ask a question if you work for the council, the only additional rule is that questions cannot relate to your personal employment.

Speeches

Your speech has to be signed by at least 5 people but no more than 12. You’ll need to identify who the lead spokesperson is. This person will speak at the meeting. 

Anyone who lives or works in the city can support a speech.

Only the lead spokesperson has to come to the meeting to present the speech. All the supporters will be invited and are welcome to come and support the spokesperson, but only the lead spokesperson will speak at the meeting.

If the spokesperson is not available to present the speech to the meeting, another of the supporters can present it instead.

Details you need to provide

You cannot submit a speech or question anonymously. 

You must provide your name and either an address or email address when submitting a question. Your name will be part of the public record of the meeting along with your question.

A speech must be presented at a meeting. Supporters will need to provide their address, but we will not publish this information in any meeting papers.

If you want to make a representation to councillors without being present at a meeting you can contact all of the city’s councillors directly.

Which meetings you can present at

There is time reserved for speeches and questions at every ordinary council meeting. 

You may not be able to make a speech or ask a question at a special meeting of a committee because these meetings are called to discuss a single matter or time sensitive matters and are held in addition to ordinary meetings. 

There are no public speeches or questions at the Budget Council meeting in February, at Licensing Panels or standards hearings.

How much notice you need to give us

You must submit your speech by 10am, 8 working days before the relevant meeting. This deadline applies to deputations to council, committees and cabinet.

Working days are Monday to Friday (not including bank holidays).

This means that deputations for a Cabinet or Council meeting on a Thursday must be received no later than 10am the Monday of the week before. 

If the Monday was a bank holiday, then the request would need to be received by 10am on the preceding Friday. 

For full council and committee meetings

You must submit your question by 10am, 8 working days before the meeting.

This means that questions for a Council meeting on a Thursday must be received no later than 10am the Monday of the week before. 

If the Monday was a bank holiday, then the request would need to be received by 10am on the preceding Friday.

For cabinet meetings

You must submit your question by midday, 4 working days before the meeting.

This means that questions for a Cabinet or Council meeting on a Thursday must be received no later than 12 midday the Friday of the week before.

If the Monday was a bank holiday, then the request would need to be received by 12 midday on the preceding Thursday. 

Public involvement is always one of the first items on the agenda so you need to attend from the beginning of the meeting. 

For scrutiny committee meetings

You must submit your question by 10am, 4 working days before the meeting.

Clarify deadlines

Contact us to clarify any deadlines. 

Questions

You must submit your full question in advance, not just the topic. This helps the chair give you a full response.

Questions to cabinet must:

  • relate to an item of business on the agenda
  • specify which item the question relates to

Speeches (deputations)

You must submit a written summary (maximum one side of A4 with font size 12) to the Chief Executive. You should do this through the committee clerk.

You’re allowed to submit 2 pages of extra information. This can include things like: 

  • photographs
  • graphs
  • statistics

After you’ve submitted your speech we’ll invite you to attend the next meeting of the committee or full council.

The committee clerk will let you know the start time of the meeting when they invite you. This is usually 4:30pm for full council, 2pm for Cabinet and 4pm for committees. The date and time will be specified in the meeting agenda when published. 

View agendas to Full Council and Committee Meetings.

If the speech is presented at a full council meeting it’ll be referred to the appropriate committee for consideration at its next meeting. The lead spokesperson will be invited to attend that meeting to hear what the committee decides.

How long you can speak

Questions

Questions can be up to 150 words long and must only contain a single question.

You can only ask one question at a meeting but there’s no limit on how many meetings you can come to, as long as you ask different questions. 

At full council meetings you can ask a follow up (supplementary) question. Your follow up question must be relevant to your original question or to the response given. It’s not a second question. 

Speeches

For speeches, you have up to 5 minutes to speak. 

You do not need to speak for the whole 5 minutes but if your speech is a lot shorter than this, you might want to think about asking a question instead of submitting a speech.

You are able to give us 2 pages of extra information when you submit your speech but unfortunately it’s not possible to show videos or presentations at the meeting.

What to expect from the response

Responses to a speech

At full council the mayor will ask councillors to note the speech. The relevant member will provide a response at the meeting.

If your question follows the guidelines, the chair will answer it at the meeting. They could answer in a few ways: 

  • give a verbal response at the meeting
  • give you a written answer if it's too long to read out
  • refer you to a publication that contains the answer to your question

If the chair is unable to answer your question or follow up question at the meeting they must provide you with a written answer within a reasonable time after the meeting.

Contact us

You must provide your submissions in writing by the relevant deadlines. Find out how much notice you need to give us.

You can: