Speaker Anglu Farrugia has called for a “serious” discussion on the procedures used to ensure that Parliamentary Questions are answered.
In a ruling, the Speaker said that various previous rulings had come to the conclusion that Parliamentary Questions had an important role when it comes to scrutiny, and also reminded ministers of the importance to answer them in a reasonable time.
The Speaker said that since this aspect of parliamentary procedure is not contemplated within Maltese parliamentary regulations reference had to be made to the methods of the U.K House of Commons adopted in the Commonwealth.
The speaker noted a special Commonwealth case in Canada which introduced a regulation that should a Parliamentary Question not be answered within 25 calendar days, the question will be immediately referred to a Standing Committee chosen by the MP who made the question.
Speaker said that though he is bound to recent practices, including on the answering of Parliamentary Questions, the example of Canada not only shows that this is not a local problem, but that procedures can be introduced to address these omissions and recommended that the issue be seriously discussed by both the PN and PL.
The ruling was sought by PN MP Alex Borg after Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg did not answer a question where Borg sought a list of all the people who had been granted a Maltese diplomatic passport in the last decade.
Borg asked the question for times to no avail, and suggested that he had not received an answer “perhaps due to a name that shouldn’t have been there.”
Speaker rules he has no say on the quality of the responses to parliamentary questions
In a second ruling, the Speaker made reference to various rulings on the fact that he has no say on what is responded to a Parliamentary Questions and is only responsible for the action of the Parliamentary Question itself.
He said that there is no regulation that gives the Speaker power to interfere with the answers given to a Parliamentary Question even with regards to accuracy.
With reference to procedures in the House of Commons, the Speaker said that his responsibility must be compliant with Parliament’s Standing Orders with the responsibility for the answers “lying with the ministers.”
The ruling was handed down after a request by PN MP David Agius, who had asked the Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri for the Police Commissioner’s new contract, but received only a paper outlining his appointment, which the MP claimed was not the contract he asked for.