Meeting attendance for all members of parliament
Parliament should create and maintain a data pipeline that results in an up-to-date, well defined and well documented database of plenary and committee meeting attendance for all members of parliament.
User stories
As a citizen, I would like to be able to review recent and past attendance records to see how the party I voted for, or am thinking about voting for, prioritizes the committees and issues I care about.
As an MP, I would like to be able to review my attendance and ensure that the official record reflects what I know about my attendance. If it does not, I would like to be able to easily update the record.
As a journalist, I would like to be able to quickly conduct research into the attendance of specific parties, committees or members to verify their claims and write stories that are backed up by official parliamentary da.
Why this is important
Attendance is one of the foundational metrics with which to assess an MPs performance. Not having an official, easy to access source for this data makes efficient and reputable oversight very difficult.
How things currently stand
There is currently no official, publicly accessible database containing official parliamentary attendance records. The only public source for attendance of parliamentary meetings is PMG.
What this recommendation will enable
- Huge improvements to public and internal oversight of MP attendance.
- The ability to more easily measure the impact of parliamentary initiatives and interventions on attendance of meetings.
- Improved MP compliance with parliamentary rules around attendance in order to maintain an upstanding public record.
- The ability to link official attendance with other metrics to tell a more complete picture of the challenges and successes that face parliamentarians.
- Increased innovation in the parliamentary technology space.
Progress made so far
ParliMeter has reached out to the Secretary to Parliament (Mr. Xolile George) and the division manager of parliaments Knowledge and Information Services (Dr. Leon Gabriel), to push for collaboration on this work. No progress has been made on establishing whether this data is collected or stored by parliament.
Have your say
If you have any questions about this recommendation or if you have information you feel could contribute towards its progress, please submit your comment here.
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Every recommendation starts with a question
This list is always evolving to reflect the expressed needs of ParliMeter's users. If you have a question or an idea that you think requires intervention to implement, please tell us about it!
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