As part of a series exploring the factors affecting design and delivery of effective parliamentary strengthening projects, this report outlines how parliamentary administrations can support parliamentarians with accessing information and expertise.

Providing parliamentarians with access to sources of expertise and analysis can improve both the understanding of issues and the implementation of effective legislation to resolve issues. It can also help to redress the imbalance of access to information between the parliament and the executive.

A key service of the parliamentary research units is to present the synthesis of evidence in a way that is readily accessible and understandable to parliamentarians. Such synthesis can be provided as proactive briefings, including supporting upcoming legislative work, or responding to specific requests for information from parliamentarians.

The report also highlights that parliamentary research services can facilitate connections between parliament and civil society through acting as a mediator. Additionally, parliamentary research services can inform the wider debate by publishing non-confidential research products.      

To read more, please follow this link to download the full report.

If you use the information detailed in the report, please cite as follows:

Global Partners Governance. (2017) ‘Paper 7: Information and Expertise for Parliaments’. London: Global Partners Governance

Global Partners Governance: Global Partners Governance (GPG) is a social purpose company working to strengthen political institutions and improve the quality of political representation in countries around the world. To find out more about the work of GPG, please follow this link.