Principles of parliamentary post-legislative scrutiny

“Principles of parliamentary post-legislative scrutiny” is a policy document to support parliaments interested in introducing or strengthening post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) practices. It summarizes the content of PLS practices based on the experience of the UK parliament as well as the Westminster Foundation for Democracy's (WFD) partner parliaments.

The “Principles” analyses the PLS mandate (why?), its scope (what?), participants (who?), processes (how?), and timing (when?).

The document was worked out by MPs, parliament’s secretariat staff, MPs’ political counselors, and experts on parliamentary control strengthening. It can be used by parliaments willing to: strengthen supervision over policy implementation and consolidate the country's legislative cycle; review the parliamentary rules of procedures to determine its PLS function; manage the implementation of the PLS pilot project in the parliament; identify the structures and resources necessary for the creation of the PLS function in the parliament.

The 15 principles are set forth in a summary, followed by an explanatory paragraph for each principle. These principles are not exhaustive or exclusive. They can be used by the leadership during the implementation of realistic post-legislative practices according to legislative and procedural acts particular to each of the parliaments. These principles, as far as possible, implement the PLS function on the current systems and procedures.

All rights in this survey, including copyright, belong to WFD and are protected by international and UK laws. The publication was prepared by Franklin De Vrieze, Head of Practice (Accountability), WFD.

The translation of this publication into Ukrainian and the Ukrainian edition was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and conducted within the framework of the USAID RADA: Next Generation Program, a five-year initiative (2021–2026) implemented by Internews-Ukraine. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the US Government.