Councillors have outlined plans for changes to how public questions submitted to full council meetings will be dealt with.

Hartlepool Borough Council chiefs said the changes will include a supplementary question, for clarification purposes only, being allowed by who submitted the question.

It will also include the removal of debate from councillors at full council on the topic of the public question.

Finally it will include an option for the council chief executive, in consultation with the chair of council, to refer a question to a dedicated policy committee for answering, instead of being answered at a full council meeting.

The proposals were drawn up through the council Constitution Committee, and councillors were supportive of the planned changes.

Council leader Coun Shane Moore said it would allow questions to be answered more quickly.

He said: “The theory behind a question to council being potentially diverted to committees was because council doesn’t meet every month, there are far more committee meetings than actual council meetings.

“Therefore if people are putting questions to council that are going to be answered by committee chairs it seems very valid that there is an opportunity to send those questions straight to committees to get an answer much more quickly.”

Coun Marjorie James gave her support for the idea, adding it would mean only the ‘real nitty-gritty’ questions would go to full council.

She said: “I think by utilising the policy committees in that way we’ll give a better answer.

“It also means that all of the committee concerned will be aware of the question and the answer given to it and will potentially have input to it.

“You would only be sending to full council those questions which require a full council response. It would only be a real nitty-gritty question that would go to full council, which I think is appropriate.”

Councillors also said they would look to provide residents who are not able to attend policy committee meetings, which are held during the day, another avenue to ask a supplementary question for clarification if desired.

Currently half an hour is dedicated at Full Council meetings to public questions which are submitted and answered, and debate is also allowed by councillors on the issues within that 30 minutes, with no supplementary questions allowed from members of the public.

The proposals will now be referred to the next full meeting of Hartlepool Borough Council for approval.