Post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) clinic: Public consultation and participation
The fourth clinic of the Post-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS) Community of Practice will focus on public consultation and participation.
Conducting a stakeholder consultation is a key moment in post-legislative scrutiny activities. Consultation allows experts, interested stakeholders and the public to provide information on how the legislation works out in practice. Consultation enables MPs to determine the measures required to upscale the impact of a piece of legislation and/or the work of government institutions in implementing legislation. It is good practice to notify stakeholders of the key questions on which the parliamentary Committee invites their feedback.
There are many ways to consult and collect information as part of PLS, such as public hearings, calls for written and oral evidence, expert meetings, field visits, focus groups, virtual chats, etc. A committee conducting PLS activities can employ a combination of these mechanisms that will allow the collection of the information and data required to answer the questions raised by PLS.
Through consultation, young people, underrepresented or disadvantaged groups can be accessed and motivated to express their views. Technology, social media, digital tools offer new opportunities to boost interaction with the community, communicate with groups that were previously out of reach, or connect with people in a context of conflict and war.
Parliamentary experiences on these topics will be shared by three distinguished speakers:
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Dr Johnson Okoth Okello, Director of the Legislative Service of the Senate of Kenya;
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Hannah Johnson, knowledge exchange lead in the Welsh Parliament / Senedd Cymru;
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Danylo Bondar, Deputy Chair of the Secretariat to the Committee on Social Policy and Veterans' Rights in the Parliament of Ukraine.
The PLS Clinic will be chaired by Kakha Kuchava, former Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia.
PLS is the practice of monitoring the implementation and evaluating the impact of laws. The aim is to ensure that laws benefit citizens in the way originally intended by lawmakers.
We look forward to the opportunity to share and discuss with all participants joining the event.