Conduct at Meetings  

The Rules for how Members conduct themselves at meetings, particularly in respect of debates is set out in the Council's Constitution. However, basically, the rules are as follows:-

• The Chairman will call on Members to speak in the order in which they indicate their wish to speak
• At Council, Members can usually speak only once on a particular proposition, but may speak more than once, within reason, at other meetings
• At Council meetings, there is generally a time limit for Members of three minutes in which to speak. There is no time limit (other than what is reasonable) for other meetings
• The ruling of the Chairman on any interpretation of the Council's Standing Orders is final
• There are two special facilities available to Members which enable them to intervene in a debate, known as 'points of order' and 'points of personal explanation'. Points of Order can be raised when a Member feels that Standing Orders are not being followed properly or they are in doubt as to the correctness of the procedure being followed. Points of Personal Explanation can be raised if a Member feels something they said during a speech has been misunderstood and they would like to clarify the situation. However, these facilities can only be used in the right circumstances.