Data dictionary

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Basic information

About parliament

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Law-making

Oversight

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Specialized bodies

Select a field

Parliament/chamber has power to carry out inquiries

Entity: Chamber

Field Id
is_carry_out_inquiries
Field name
Parliament/chamber has power to carry out inquiries
Label
Parliament/chamber has power to carry out inquiries
Short description
The power of a parliament to carry out inquiries and the way in which they are done varies across parliaments. The aims and objectives of parliamentary inquiries cover a large spectrum: from a general examination of an issue of public interest to an investigative inquiry into a specific topic, the results of which may have penal implications.
Long description
The power of a parliament to carry out inquiries and the way in which they are done varies across parliaments. The aims and objectives of parliamentary inquiries cover a large spectrum: from a general examination of an issue of public interest to an investigative inquiry into a specific topic, the results of which may have penal implications. In lieu of a specific definition, please see an excerpt from an IPU publication on "Tools for Parliamentary Oversight" which covers parliamentary inquiries/investigations. "Committees of inquiry can be established to examine the positive and negative aspects of particular policies and to pursue the responsibility of the officials in charge....Committees of inquiry are usually equipped with more powers than ordinary permanent committees. In addition to overseeing government departments through permanent committees, parliament can launch inquiries about specific issues. It can choose to refer inquiries to existing committees or establish ad hoc committees of inquiry. Committees of inquiry collect information about specific events and their causes; they can also examine the financial and technical administration of public services. The work of committees of inquiry is supplementary to the oversight work performed by permanent committees." Page 39 of the publication, which can be found here, provides more detailed information and examples of parliamentary inquiries/investigations. Examples: DENMARK: 66 (2019), 43 (2018), 58 (2017) etc. According to the Constitutional Act of Denmark, the Parliament may set up parliamentary commissions consisting of MPs to investigate important issues. However, this option is rarely used. Instead, when a matter needs to be investigated, the Government and the Parliament frequently set up a commission of inquiry headed by a judge. NETHERLANDS: 5 (2020), 1 (2015), 2 (2013) etc. Inquiries usually take more than one year and data reflects the starting year of an inquiry which may go on for several years, e.g. an inquiry on housing prices took place between 2012-2014 and the Breed welvaartsbegrip inquiry took place between 2015-2016.

Field properties

Data type
Boolean (Y/N) (Boolean)
Translated
true
Multiple values
false
Cardinality
0
Mandatory
false
Maximum length
0
Default value
Unit
Precision
Grouping of values
Calculated field
false
Calculation notes

Historical (timeseries) data

Type
unrestricted
Update frequency
periodically
Data collected since
2013
Number of years data is displayed
0

Visibility

Parliament pages
true
Compare page
true [piechart | map]
Searchable
true
Explorer
true
Hide if zero
false
Hide if empty
false
Hide if false
false
Annotation notes are private
false
Annotation sources are private
false
Annotations (notes and sources) are not time series
true
Render notes

Related fields

Calculation dependents