What do council committees do? Council committees of The Hague municipal government

Municipal council members represent their political party in a council committee when discussing specific subjects, such as employment, spatial planning, sport, welfare or traffic.

The Hague Municipal Council has 5 council committees: Governance (Bestuur), Living Environment (Leefomgeving), Space (Ruimte) and Society (Samenleving). There is also an Accounts Committee (Rekeningencommissie).

What does a council committee do?

A council committee advises the council on decisions to be taken by the municipal council. Committee members also discuss the policy of the municipal executive and how it will be implemented. No voting takes place in the committee. Voting takes place in the council. The position taken by a party in the committee often determines how it will vote in the council.

During committee meetings council members can ask technical and factual questions in order to get information. The actual political debate takes place during the council meeting.

Number of members in a council committee

A committee has 35 members on average. Council members can serve on several committees. A maximum of 5 council members from the same political party are allowed to serve on 1 committee. This applies to political parties with 5 or more members. Political parties with fewer than 5 members may have a maximum of 4 members on 1 committee.

How does a council committee work?

The chair of the committee drafts a provisional agenda for a public meeting of the committee. The members of the committee can suggest subjects, such as initiative and council proposals, letters from aldermen, letters from residents, policy documents and current social issues. An item will be placed on the agenda only if a clear reason is given by the political parties and if the committee agrees to it. The committee can invite aldermen or the mayor to a meeting to explain proposals by the municipal executive or to answer questions.

Attend a committee meeting

The meetings of the council committees are open to the public. In exceptional cases this part of the meeting will be made private. For example if the affairs of individual citizens are being discussed.

In addition to a public meeting a committee can also meet in order to discuss progress or hold hearings. The meeting dates can be found in the Begin external link: meeting schedule of the Council and Committees(External link), end external link.. Here you also will find the complete agendas and the supporting documents.