Question time is a section of parliamentary proceedings in which government ministers respond in the parliamentary chamber to questions posed by members of their own party and opposition parties. Members of parliament (MPs) are permitted to submit questions in advance of question time and may ask supplementary questions once they have received a ministerial reply, but all questions must relate to matters for which the answering minister is responsible. The proceedings allow MPs to request information from the government, ask for further inquiries to be made on specific subjects, and call government ministers to account for actions taken by specific departments or for government policy as a whole.
The practice of question time began in the Westminster system as established in the United Kingdom, and it is most commonly found in political systems based on the Westminster model. In the British parliament, for example, each government department has a place in a fortnightly question time rotation. The prime minister has a separate question time, which takes place every Wednesday at noon for thirty minutes. Often, MPs belonging to or supporting the government will use question time to pose questions that allow the answering minister to highlight the positive aspects of government policy or attack criticism from the opposition, while opposition MPs may ask questions designed to critique ministerial actions or government policy within the minister’s portfolio.
Bibliography:
- UK House of Commons. Factsheet P1: Procedure Series—Parliamentary Questions. House of Commons Information Office, 2008. www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/p01.pdf.
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