Parliamentary administrative control

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Parliamentary Administrative Control (PVK) is the evaluation service of the Swiss Federal Assembly .

tasks

  • The PVK conducts studies on the legality, appropriateness and effectiveness of the activities of the federal authorities on behalf of the business audit commissions of the National Council and Council of States .
  • The PVK draws the GPK's attention to issues which, from the perspective of the parliamentary supervisory authority, require in-depth clarification.
  • On behalf of the GPK, the PVK reviews the quality of evaluations that the federal administration itself has initiated and their use in decision-making processes.
  • The PVK supports the GPK with follow-up checks on previous examinations and carries out evaluations on specific questions in this context.
  • At the request of other parliamentary commissions, the PVK can carry out evaluations of the effectiveness of federal measures.

Process of evaluations of the PVK

Evaluations are methodologically demanding, scientific investigations. In evaluations for the GPK, the PVK proceeds according to the following steps:

  1. Mission of the GPK: The GPK of both councils commission the PVK to carry out evaluations and inform the Federal Council about their issues. You determine which of your sub-commissions is responsible for an evaluation.
  2. Project outline: The PVK is familiarizing itself with the topic and making contact with the federal agencies concerned. She creates a project outline, which usually contains several research proposals. The responsible sub-commission of the GPK decides which proposal will be implemented. From this point on, the PVK works independently.
  3. Investigation concept: The PVK specifies the questions, the evaluation criteria and the scientific methodology in an internal investigation concept and draws up a detailed schedule and resource planning.
  4. Implementation: The PVK bases its implementation on the methods of empirical social research. For data collection (information, documentation, etc.), it communicates directly with the federal agencies concerned. The PVK has extensive information rights, which it can also transfer to experts commissioned by it. As a rule, the PVK informs the responsible sub-commission about the progress of the evaluation as part of an interim report.
  5. Editing of the report including consultation of the administration: The PVK summarizes the results of the evaluation in a confidential draft report, which it submits to the federal agencies concerned for comment in order to correct material errors. After the revision, the PVK informs the federal agencies concerned which correction proposals have been taken into account and presents the finished report to the responsible sub-commission of the GPK. It usually takes one to one and a half years from the project outline to the submission of the report.
  6. Publication by the GPK: The responsible sub-commission of the GPK draws the political conclusions from the evaluation of the PVK in its own report and, if necessary, formulates recommendations for the attention of the Federal Council. If there are no interests worthy of protection against a publication, the GPK publishes the PVK report together with its political conclusions and recommendations.

Use of the evaluations of the PVK

Learning and change processes

PVK evaluations do not only have an impact after they have been completed. Even the implementation of an evaluation (e.g. discussions with the administration) and the consultation of the draft reports can trigger a learning and change process in the departments involved.

Recommendations for action to the Federal Council

The GPK utilize the evaluation results of the PVK by drawing political conclusions in their own report and formulating recommendations for action to the Federal Council. The latter then comments on the recommendations. The GPK examine the opinion of the Federal Council and request further information if necessary. PVC evaluations thus form an important basis for the dialogue between the Federal Council and Parliament.

Parliamentary initiatives

In certain cases, the GPK submit parliamentary proposals (motions, postulates) on the basis of evaluations by the PVK in order to emphasize amendments to the Federal Council.

Follow-up check

Around two years after an evaluation, the GPK usually carry out a follow-up check and ask the Federal Council to inform them to what extent their recommendations have been implemented. The PVK can support the GPK with clarifications.

Revision of laws and regulations

PVK evaluations may also show that the legal basis should be adapted. Evaluation results can be incorporated into the revision of laws and ordinances via the federal administration, the relevant commissions or through parliamentary initiatives of the GPK.

Legal basis and institutional environment of the PVK

In order to strengthen parliamentary oversight, the Federal Assembly decided in 1990 to set up a professional service with the PVK, which plans and carries out evaluations on behalf of the parliamentary commissions. The majority of the PVK works on behalf of the GPK and has extensive information rights (Article 10 Parliamentary Administration Ordinance in conjunction with Articles 67, 153 and 156 Parliament Act):

  • The PVK communicates directly with all federal authorities, offices and other federal agencies and can request information and documents from them.
  • The authorities' obligation to provide information is not restricted by official secrecy. Persons in the service of the federal government are obliged to provide complete and truthful information and to name all relevant documents.
  • The PVK can commission external experts and give them the same information rights.

The PVK is part of the Parliamentary Services and administratively reports to the GPK Secretariat. It works exclusively on behalf of parliamentary commissions, but is independent in processing the orders.

The PVK is based on the evaluation standards of the Swiss Evaluation Society (SEVAL) and on the relevant scientific research in the respective subject areas of the evaluations. It coordinates its activities with the other federal supervisory bodies and maintains professional exchanges with universities, private research institutes and government evaluation bodies.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Parliamentary Services : Tasks of the PVK. Retrieved January 10, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Parliamentary Services : Process of evaluations. Retrieved January 10, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Parliamentary Services : Use of the evaluations. Retrieved January 10, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Parliamentary Ordinance . Retrieved January 8, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Parliament Act. Retrieved January 8, 2018 .
  6. ↑ SEVAL - Swiss Evaluation Society. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 9, 2018 ; accessed on January 10, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.seval.ch
  7. ↑ Parliamentary Services : Legal Basis and Institutional Environment. Retrieved January 8, 2018 .