Ask a public question

If you live or work in Herefordshire you can ask a question at any of the following public meetings of the council:

  • Full Council
  • Cabinet
  • Audit and governance committee
  • Health and wellbeing board
  • Employment panel
  • All of our scrutiny committees

View current committee meetings and agendas. You can also view and download agendas and minutes on the modern.gov app.

How and when to submit your question

You may ask one question per meeting.

To ask a question:

We must receive it at least three clear working days before the day of the meeting (not including the day of the meeting) as set out in the table below.

Meeting day Question deadline is 5pm on previous:
Monday Tuesday
Tuesday Wednesday
Wednesday Thursday
Thursday Friday
Friday Monday

Make sure you include your full name and address when you submit a question. We use this to verify that you live or work in Herefordshire.

What we will publish

Your name and a general location, for example the name of the town or village where you live or work, will be included with the list of published questions and answers.

We publish copies of accepted questions and answers on the council website before the start of the meeting, and make them available to members of the public who attend the meeting.

If you are unable to attend the meeting in person you may still submit a question and we will send you a written answer.

What you can ask

If you have asked a question, you will also be able to ask a supplementary question. All supplementary questions if not asked in attendance at the meeting must be provided 90 minutes before the start of the meeting. A supplementary question must arise directly out of the original question or the reply given.

There are some restrictions on what questions can be asked. The monitoring officer will reject a question if it is not appropriate to be asked at a public meeting. The reasons a question is rejected may include, but are not restricted to, if it:

  • Is not about a matter for which the council has a responsibility, or which affects Herefordshire
  • Requires the disclosure of confidential or exempt information
  • Relates to an identifiable individual or employee of the council
  • Is more than 140 words
  • Relates to a planning or licensing application
  • Is deemed to substantively relate to a request for data (including statistical information) under EIR or FOI rules. For these purposes, a dataset is a collection of factual, raw data that the council gathers as part of providing services and delivery of our functions as a public authority

Full details about asking questions at public meetings are in the constitution of the council. You can see questions and answers which we publish as part of the minutes of the meeting.

You can also view previously asked questions on the public question register.