For a Working Chamber, is the title of the report presented by a working group of MPs to Chairman Martin Bosma and the Committee on Procedure on Tuesday, April 8. The report lists a series of practical recommendations for the Chamber, standing committees, and individual MPs to improve the effectiveness of their work and strengthen the position of the Chamber as a whole.
In recent years, various reports have made recommendations to improve the work in the Chamber. This was the reason for the establishment of the working group led by Roelien Kamminga (VVD), see also the Kamminga motion. At the end of 2021, there was the report Strengthening the Functions of the House of Representatives. Also, the reports of the parliamentary inquiry committees Groningen Gas Extraction and Fraud Policy and Services focus on the functioning of the Chamber. Another example is the report of the Information Agreements Working Group, which discusses improving the provision of information to the Chamber.
Applying in Practice
Following these reports, improvements have been made in regulations, procedures, and working methods. It is important, writes the working group For a Working Chamber, that these improvements also land in practice and become routine. There are increasingly more (often smaller) factions, whose MPs on average have relatively little parliamentary experience. Against this background, the working group has started its work.
Recommendations
These are the main recommendations of the working group:
- Handle legislation carefully and set priorities;
- Bring more structure and depth to parliamentary control;
- Pay more attention to the perspective of citizens;
- Remain critical of information provision and work on contacts;
- Make use of available support and report annually on the working method;
- Learn from experiences with parliamentary inquiries.
Space on the Plenary Agenda
The recommendations are further elaborated in concrete proposals. Such as creating more space on the agenda for plenary debates. This agenda is constantly overloaded by the many debate requests, which can take months before a debate takes place. A balanced and structured plenary agenda is a joint responsibility of all MPs, writes the working group. Dare to set priorities and make choices. Create more space by limiting the extension of debate requests to once for twelve weeks, instead of twice.
Building in Time for Reflection
When the Chamber has completed the consideration of a bill, votes usually follow on the next Tuesday. Various reports have already concluded that this is very fast. The Kamminga working group now proposes to build in an extra week, to allow space for consultation, qualitative control, and reflection on the amendments. The working group also sees possibilities for a quick check on feasibility by implementing organizations.
Involvement of Citizens
The Committee for Petitions and Citizen Initiatives (CVB) has been working in recent times to better map and process letters, emails, and other signals from citizens to the Chamber committees, so that they are better addressed. The committee has proposed new working methods for this, also towards other Chamber committees. Actively engage with this, is the advice of the Kamminga working group. The working group believes that the Chamber must constantly think about ways to involve citizens signals in their work.
Follow-up
The report of the working group comes into the hands of the Committee on Procedure. This committee will decide on Tuesday, April 22, on the treatment of the report and the recommendations.
Read More
- Read the report For a Working Chamber and the accompanying letter of submission.