Ex-post evaluation in surveyed parliaments

• Author: Anglmayer, Irmgard
• Pages: 32-53

Bette r Regulation prac tices in natio nal parliaments

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3. Ex-post evaluation in surveyed parliaments

Key finding s

Ex-post evaluation examines how po licies and legislation are implemented and whet her the

initial policy objectives have been a chieved. The evaluation process generates knowledge that

helps policy -makers decide wheth er and in what way the policies/legislation sh ould be revised.

Ideally, the design of the amending initiat ive take s the ev aluation fin dings int o accoun t and thus

closes the policy cy cle.

Policy learning is an important function of evaluations in general – this a pplies equ ally for the

executive and the legislative branch. If a parliament takes evaluation findings further and

initia tes ( or aim s to trigger) a policy revis ion, the pa rliamentar y evalu ation relates to par liaments'

legislative function (see Griglio, p. 118, and Bättig/Schwab, pp. 3 ff.)

Another important motivation for parliaments to engage in ex-post evaluation is to hold the

executive accountable for the implementation of policies and legislation. In this respect,

parliamentary ex-post evalu ation falls in th e remit o f the oversight that parliaments exercise over

the e xecutive . Accou nta bility is at least as important for parliaments as policy learning.

The s pectrum of activities par liaments under take in evaluation wor k encompasses active and

passive t ypes of scrutiny. They range from in-de pth s crut iny of g ove rnment ev alu ations to the

undertaking of parliaments' own evaluation reports (or studies). Overall, parliaments are 'n ot big

producers of evaluations' (Jacob/Speer/Furubo, p. 19).

Of the 3 8 surveyed parliam ents, 1 7 (12 EU-27 parliamen ts and 5 thi rd-country parl iaments )

engage in ex-post evaluati on beyon d class ical par liame ntar y scr utiny, alb eit in dif feren t ways

and to gr eatly var ying extent.

Of thes e 17 parl iaments, 1 2 activel y condu ct their own ex-po st evaluations or reviews:

8 EU-27 parlia ments: Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland and

Sweden;

and 4 third-country parliaments: Canada, Moldova, Switzerland and the UK; in the

three latt er cases go vernment follow-up is ma nd ator y.

In some of these twelve parliaments, evaluations have generated a certain degree of

institutionalisation, while others perform them sparingly and ad hoc. A few have set up

dedicated evaluation capacities (within the administrat ion or at the political level), whereas

others rely on parliamentary research services, entrust evaluation activities to standing

committees or control committees, or use a combination of political bodies and administrative

services.

In addition, the parliaments of Austria, Portugal and Spain have mechanisms in place to carry out

evaluation analysis relating mainly to budgetary and economic matters, while Ireland has

developed a framework for in-depth post-enactment scrutiny. Finally, the Albanian and

Montenegrin parliaments have paved the way for evaluations through amendments to th eir

rules of pr ocedure.

A total of 15 parliaments across the EU -27 and 6 of the surveyed th ird-country parli aments

indicat ed that they do not engage in any s pecific ex-post evaluation wor k bey ond class ical

parliamenta ry scrutiny in the fram ework of exercising parliamentary control over the executive.

EPRS | European Parli amentary Re search Service

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3.1. Level of engagement in parliamentary ex-post evaluation

Table 3 – EU-27 par liaments and the Europ ean Parliament: level of engagement in ex-post

evaluation

COUNT RY

no evaluation

beyond classical

commi ttee

sc ru ti ny

smaller-scale

evaluation work

(e.g . in-d ept h

sc ru ti ny)

parliaments' own

evaluation work

Aust ria

Belgi um

Bulgaria

Croat ia

Cyprus

Czec hia

Denmar k

Estoni a

Finland

France

Ger many

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Ital y

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxemburg

Malt a

Nether lands

Polan d

Port ugal

Romani a

Slovak ia

Slove ni a

Spain

Sweden

Europe an Parl iame nt