Any committee is only as good as the most knowledgeable, determined and vigorous person on it. There must be somebody who provides the flame.
--Claudia Lady Bird Johnson
Parliamentary Committees Module: Unit 3: Procedural & Administrative Support
Learning Objectives:
What procedural and administrative support needs are common in parliament?
After studying this unit you should be able to:
Be able to outline the types and forms of procedural and administrative support required for effective parliamentary work;
Know the nature of parliamentary procedure.
Introduction
Unit 3 concentrates on the procedural and administrative support needed for effective parliamentary committee work. It looks at the types of administrative support and requirements for performing effective administrative functions. In addition it also considers the nature of parliamentary procedure. In-depth information is provided on some procedural issues, examples and best practices are also discussed.
Committee level meetings form one of the major fora where parliamentary work takes place. It is at the committee level where members of parliament deliberate on issues, debate and (dis) agree on bills and policy decisions yet to be implemented. Once the committee has taken a major decision on, for instance, a bill or a major executive policy the whole floor of the House or Assembly is now ready to give its assent or otherwise. Given that the whole House or Assembly, in most instances, have so much on their plate or little time to debate issues it tacitly goes with the position taken at the committee level. It is therefore obvious that the work carried out at the committee level is very important in the work of parliamentary democracy. At the committee level a team of support staff assists (see box 3.1) in its work and these follow some already established administrative and procedural rules and regulations.
Following is a discussion of the elements in the procedural and administrative support activities required for committee level work – administrative support, procedural support and the requirements for providing procedural support. It should be noted from the onset that certain administrative and procedural issues overlap, particularly, those governed by the rules concerning parliamentary work.
Any committee is only as good as the most knowledgeable, determined and vigorous person on it. There must be somebody who provides the flame.