Defining Parliamentary Oversight

The purpose of governmental oversight is to ensure responsible administration of resources, a culture of accountability and transparency, and improved program performance. From a broad context, parliamentary oversight means the ability to contribute to the achievement of the democratic principles of transparent and accountable government. Parliamentary oversight should be distinguished from legislative functions such as approving or amending laws and monitoring the implementation of laws and policies. When exercising oversight, parliaments monitor how and to what extent the executive is exercising its authority, for example whether the stated objectives are being met and how responsive they are to the needs of the people.  The political structure of a country, the formal oversight powers of parliament, and access to budget information will all influence the practice of oversight. 

In practicing oversight, parliament needs to ensure both quantitative and qualitative accountability, for example ‘how many of the expected results is the government meeting?’ and ‘how is the government meetings its goals, and what is the impact?’. Parliamentary oversight should therefore comprise of a “comprehensive examination of pre-determined goals or objectives, detailed implementation plans, delivery on those plans, measuring of the extent to which those plans have been implemented and of whether the outputs achieved the stated objectives.” (Parliaments, Politics and AIDS, 2006)