NORWAY

Stortinget

a) The status of the parliamentary administration: is it part of the civil service (or equivalent), or an independent and special administration, with its own rules on salaries, pensions, career development?

The administration of the Norwegian Parliament is an independent body; not considered to be a part of the civil service. Agreements and legislation that apply to the civil service, e.g. about salaries and working conditions, must be explicitly adopted for the Parliament’s administration.

The Storting’s administration is organized in four departments and a Constitutional Office. The Secretary General is secretary to the Presidium of the Storting and administering senior official.

There are approximately 350 employees altogether in the administration. Around 50 of these are subjects to the Constitutional Office which provides support for the Standing Committees and the parliamentary proceedings. The four other departments are the General Services Department, Administrative Affairs Department, Information and Documentation Department and International Department.

The Parliament is independent in its recruitment-policy. It is however not unusual that the parliamentary staff is recruited from the civil service as they possess working experience which is useful to the Parliament. For a few special positions there is precedence for recruiting members of staff from specific categories of civil servants although this is not formally required. This applies e.g. to the permanent secretary of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs who is recruited from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Other staff members may have different backgrounds, e.g. from organizations or private enterprises, and can be recruited at both lower and executive level.

The courts have full jurisdiction over internal labour relations; and the working conditions in the Parliament in relation to pay, pensions and working hours are quite similar to those of the civil service. The parliamentary sessions do however influence on the working hours as there are considerable variations in the workload throughout the year, and the parliamentary staff has about 2 weeks longer vacation than employees in the civil service.

b) Relations between the political bodies and the parliamentary administration

The main features of the parliamentary administration have been formally approved by the Parliament in plenary session, and any proposal concerning changes of significance in the organization must be presented to the Presidium for approval. The Presidium is chaired by the Speaker, and consists of the six Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the Storting and the two legislative chambers – the Odelsting and the Lagting. The Presidium is also involved in structuring the administration by being responsible for the Parliament’s own budget proposal. In this respect the Presidium has to approve proposals that have budgetary implications of any importance. The budget proposal is adopted by the Parliament in plenary session.

The Presidium presents proposals – usually prepared by the administration -concerning amendments in the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. Amendments have to be adopted by the Parliament. These amendments may have administrative consequences which in turn are implemented by the administration.

The Secretary General is appointed by the Parliament based on a recommendation from the Presidium for a period of six years, and may be reappointed for new periods. The heads of the departments are appointed by the Presidium, but on ordinary terms, i.e. on a permanent basis. The secretaries of the Standing Committees are also appointed by the Presidium based on a recommendation from the administration which in turn is based on a procedure where the Committee has substantial influence on the decision. Other executive officers are employed by the administration.

The administration complies with the same regulations on dismissal and replacement as the civil service in accordance with the Civil Service Act. In addition, the general rules on dismissal and replacement in the Working Environment Act apply to the Parliament’s administration as to any other employer in Norway.

The Presidium’s priorities and views on how the staff should support the political bodies determine the way the administrative staff provides this support. The administration will seek to meet the demands by adjusting its structure and services within the limits set by resources available.

c) Does the Secretary General have the chief responsibility and accountability for the administration or are these shared with other senior officers?

The Secretary General is accountable to the Presidium on behalf of the administration, and has the chief responsibility for the decisions made by the administration. In actual fact many day-to-day decisions are made by the executive officers. The Secretary General is nevertheless formally responsible. Matters of some significance are normally discussed at a weekly meeting between the Secretary General and the heads of departments and the Constitutional Office before decided upon.

The staff of the Standing Committees is administratively subject to the Constitutional Office, and in that respect they report to the head of the Office – the Deputy Secretary General. Their work is however executed very independently, and the administration of the Committee is carried out in close cooperation with the Chair of the Committee. Even though the staff of the Committees has to relate to, and take instructions from both the Chair of the Committee and the Deputy Secretary General, the closest cooperation in their daily work will be with the Chair.

There is a large degree of coordination and interaction between the different offices of the administration at all levels, and the employees cooperate closely across department borders. Middle grade executive staff also inter-operates autonomously to a large extent, and the priority is to get a smoothly and flexibly working organization. This practice requires an open and direct communication both between the departments and between the executive and the lower levels of the administration. Being a relatively small administration, it is however possible for the heads of departments and the Secretary General to be informed of, and involved in, any administrative matter of some importance.

d) The parliamentary workload (numbers from session 2002-2003).

- The number of representatives: 165 (169 from the next election)

- The duration of the parliamentary sessions in the course of the year: From early October until the third Friday in June.

- The number of sittings: 156 (both plenary sessions and sittings in the two legislative chambers – the Odelsting and the Lagting). The sittings are normally completed within the time of ordinary day-sessions which last from 10 am to 15 pm. 30 of the sittings lasted longer, and the meetings were then set again at 18 pm and continued until the debate on the matters scheduled for the day had finished.

- The number of formal votes in the Storting (plenary session) was 987, and in the Odelsting (legislative chamber) 577. A total of 1001 of these were electronic votes.

- The number of bills examined by the House in one year: 138

- The Committees meet regularly on average twice a week, and more often in certain particularly busy periods of the year, e.g. when the budget is handled. The Committees travel rather frequently (fact-finding trips), both related to specific bills or proposals, and to study general issues within their field of responsibility. Such trips have to be approved by the Presidium. The Committees also arrange hearings – mostly public hearings – regarding bills or other proposals which are handled by the Committees. There were arranged 66 public hearings during the spring session this year.

In the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure there are statutes concerning the Committees’ procedures in some areas, e.g. the election of the Chair and Deputy Chairs, regulations on quorum and statutes drawing up the framework of procedures used when the Committees prepare their recommendations. These formal statutes do not however present a complete regulation of the Committees’ internal procedures. In actual fact, the Committees work rather independently when preparing their recommendations. The Rules of Procedure have more detailed regulations on the arrangement of public hearings. There are few formalized routines where the Presidium controls the regularity of the procedures adopted by the Committees' Chairs. The Committees are however obligated to seek the Presidium’s consent if they find that they will not be able to finish a recommendation within the initial set time limit.

Assistance provided by the administration to parliamentary bodies is versatile and consists among other things of making summary records of bills and other proposals handled by the Committees, secretarial work, advice on procedural matters and technical advice on legislative matters, producing documentation at the request of the MP’s or the Committees on different issues, library service, preparing travel arrangements and preparing and assisting the Presidium during debates and voting.

e) Relations between the parliamentary administration and the legislative process

The Parliament does to a large extent rely on assistance from the Ministries both in regard to providing basic documentation, technical legislative assistance needed in connection with amendments of bills, and in regard to gathering additional information on matters handled by the Committees. An important part of the relation between the Parliament and the Government is based on the duty the Government has to provide the Parliament with all relevant information connected to a bill or another proposal. A failure to do so could result in a vote of no confidence from the Parliament, and the Government would have to step down. Having a long and solid tradition of working with governments based on this parliamentary principle, the need of extensive, additional legislative assessments in the Parliament has proven limited. The Legal Department in the Ministry of Justice has a general responsibility for technical legislative control, and international legislative cooperation on a material level is to a large extent carried out by the Ministries when preparing bills.

The parliamentary administration provides advice on parliamentary procedure and organises relations with the Government and other external bodies and authorities. To some extent the administration provides information on issues connected with draft legislation. The administration has limited recourses and consequently limited capacity when it comes to providing expert advice that demands in-depth knowledge of a specific area. The Research Section in the Information and Documentation Department can however on request offer expert assistance to MPs, Standing Committees and party secretariats. Additional information or expert advice may also be obtained from independent experts, e.g. the universities, and this is sometimes done – usually at the request of a party group.

The Constitutional Office may draft technical notes on problems connected with ensuring statutory consistency and constitutionality when requested by the Standing Committees, individual parliamentarians, party groups or the Presidium. Such service may also be rendered by the Ministries.

f) Latest changes in parliamentary administration

Securing compliance and adjustment of domestic legislation to EU-legislation which is relevant to the EEA-agreement, is first and foremost the responsibility for the Government as the Government is expected to take the necessary legislative initiatives when needed.

Computerisation and the use of Internet have become increasingly important to the administration both as a working tool and as a medium for external information. The Internet is becoming the most important source of direct information from the Parliament to the public, and increased recourses have been allocated to improve the Parliament’s website. The Committees’ reports and the resolutions adopted by the Parliament are immediately published on the Internet. The daily work in the administration very much involves developing electronic communication systems and moving towards a “paperless” Parliament.

In regard to security issues following 11 September 2001, the Parliament has taken some steps to improve security, and has among other things strengthened the control of visitors to the Parliament.

How can parliamentary administrations better cooperate to respond to the on going challenges and to their most complex duties, without wasting their resources and avoiding duplication?

Just very briefly a couple of elements, presuming one main focus of the parliamentary cooperation should be on issues such as legislation/practice concerning the parliamentary proceedings, working methods and working conditions for the MP’s:

The increased opportunity of electronic communication - represented by the Internet - may provide one of the most important instruments for further development of the existing cooperation between the Parliaments. Some Parliaments have excellent websites which contain information about legislation, administrative routines and organizational issues. Such information has proven very valuable to our work, e.g. last session when the Parliament was evaluating regulations concerning MP’s salaries and working conditions. Cooperation between Parliaments as to what kind of information should be presented on the Internet, may improve communication further.

The Nordic countries have a long tradition of cooperation both at an executive and parliamentary level. The departments in the Nordic Parliaments meet on a regular basis every year or every other year to exchange information on issues of mutual interest. Our experience is that such regional meetings are highly beneficial and most recommendable. One also arranges short fact-finding trips or get in touch on an informal level with other Parliaments when needed.

Furthermore, we have noticed that the possibility to forward questions through the ECPRD is much used and should be continued.