Dimension: 1.5.3 Expert support
This dimension concerns the expert support available to parliamentary bodies and MPs to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making. Access to relevant, impartial and timely information from the parliamentary administration enhances the ability of the MPs to verify, clarify or even dispute executive sources, helps maintain the separation of powers, and improves the effectiveness of parliaments.
Expert support is provided in different ways across parliaments, including through procedural and committee staff, research units, the parliamentary library, and parliamentary institutes.
The parliamentary administration should be able to provide expert support in various policy and practice areas, including budgeting, gender mainstreaming, parliamentary diplomacy and public participation.
Aspiring goal
Assess your parliament against this dimension
Assessment criteria
No 1: Scope and organization
Rules, service charters or guides outline the scope and organization of the expert support available to MPs. Standards of service delivery are specified and monitored through agreed quality-control procedures.
No 2: Staff
The parliamentary administration has an adequate number of professional staff providing high-quality expert support to parliament.
No 3: Non-partisan service delivery
The parliamentary administration provides expert support in a non-partisan manner to all MPs, regardless of political affiliation.
No 4: Expected levels of service
Standards of service delivery are specified and monitored through agreed quality-control procedures. Feedback from MPs is regularly sought and used to improve levels of service.
How to complete this assessment
This dimension is assessed against several criteria, each of which should be evaluated separately. For each criterion, select one of the six descriptive grades (Non-existent, Rudimentary, Basic, Good, Very good and Excellent) that best reflects the situation in your parliament, and provide details of the evidence on which this assessment is based.
The evidence for assessment of this dimension could include the following:
- Rules, service charters or guides outlining the scope and organization of the expert support available to MPs
- A documented quality control process
- Evidence that researcher, policy analyst and library roles are filled as per the service charter, as well as the associated organization chart
- Satisfaction surveys of MPs regarding the expert support they receive
- Evidence that MPs have universal access to information products
- Website usage statistics
- Staffing and oversight arrangements for library, research and analysis services
Where relevant, provide additional comments or examples that support the assessment.
Sources and further reading
- Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Guidelines for parliamentary research services (2015)
- IPU and IFLA, Guidelines for Parliamentary Libraries (2022)
Get help with this assessment
The assessment of indicators involves diagnosing and considering strengths and weaknesses, i.e. the things parliament is doing well, and the things it could do better or more effectively, taking into account established good practices that are described in the indicators.
Read the assessment guidance to find out what to consider when conducting an assessment against the Indicators. Find out how to prepare, how to set the objectives of the assessment, how to organize the process, and more. Contact the project partners for expert advice.
URL copied to clipboard