Dimension: 1.8.4 Expert support
This dimension concerns the expert support available to MPs to enable them to effectively scrutinize the budget, and government financial management and performance. In this specialist area, parliament needs information and expertise in order to hold the executive to account for the use of public resources.
Although the executive is expected to provide detailed and transparent information to parliament about the budget, parliament needs its own sources of expertise, including to help it evaluate this official information.
Some parliaments have a well-resourced, independent parliamentary budget office with the expertise to provide parliament with independent commentary and information on the budget, including analysing current budgets and long-term budgetary trends, and evaluating budgetary outcomes. Others have budgetary analysis and scrutiny experts among committee staff, or within their research or other related services.
Parliament Parliament A national body of elected (or sometimes appointed) representatives that makes laws, debates issues and holds the government to account. should also be able to access available expertise in the community, such as academics, civil society organizations, think tanks and professional associations. Parliament Parliament A national body of elected (or sometimes appointed) representatives that makes laws, debates issues and holds the government to account. could engage with such experts through the work of parliamentary committees including the PAC, or through political parties or individual MPs who wish to pursue particular areas of interest. These outside experts can also provide valuable perspectives on how the budget impacts different groups in society such as women, youth and people with disabilities, as well as disadvantaged and minority groups.
Aspiring goal
Assess your parliament against this dimension
Assessment criteria
No 1: Internal resources
Parliament has a parliamentary budget office or other specialized support service that has sufficient funding and expertise to provide expert support and advice on budgetary matters.
No 2: External sources of expertise
Parliament routinely engages with external sources of expertise throughout the budget cycle, and seeks to gain a perspective on how the budget impacts different groups in society.
No 3: Capacity building
MPs have access to specialized training to build capacity to scrutinize the budget.
No 4: Practice
In practice, MPs are well-equipped to scrutinize the budget and have access to and engage with a wide range of internal and external sources of expertise and advice on budgetary matters.
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:
- Provisions of the constitution, other aspects of the legal framework and/or parliament’s rules of procedure establishing a parliamentary budget office or other specialized support service on budgetary matters
- Details of the resources available to the parliamentary budget office or other specialized support service on budgetary matters
- Reports of the parliamentary budget office or other specialized support service on budgetary matters
- Evidence of engagement with external sources of expertise on budgetary matters
Where relevant, provide additional comments or examples that support the assessment.
Sources and further reading
- David Beetham, Parliament Parliament A national body of elected (or sometimes appointed) representatives that makes laws, debates issues and holds the government to account. and democracy in the twenty-first century: A guide to good practice (2006).
- Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Recommended Benchmarks for Democratic Legislators, revised edition (2018).
- National Democratic Institute (NDI), Towards the Development of International Standards for Democratic Legislatures (2007).
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.
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