This latest edition of the World e-Parliament Report follows up on previous findings and identifies major steps forward in how parliaments are using information and communication technologies (ICT) to engage with citizens. According to the report, ICT can have a transformative effect in making parliaments more transparent and accessible, but warns that much more remains to be done and highlights that low income countries are struggling to devote sufficient resources to the task. Parliaments from 88 countries and 33 civil society organizations contributed to the report’s findings.
Download the Report: English (3.6Mb), French (3.7Mb), Spanish (3.6Mb)
Read the press release: IPU report reveals how ICT is changing parliaments
Watch the presentation of the Report
Dr. Andy Williamson, author of the Report
To watch: (Chrome and Edge browsers only) click here
Download the slides from the presentation (English - PDF)
Infographics
Strategic barriers to ICT development in parliaments (click to enlarge in English, French, Spanish)
http://www.wepc2016.org/en/wepr2016#sigFreeId55bbf74ec4
Towards greater openness in parliaments (click to enlarge in English, French, Spanish)
http://www.wepc2016.org/en/wepr2016#sigFreeId21d640eebe
Growing influence of social media in parliaments (click to enlarge in English, French, Spanish)
http://www.wepc2016.org/en/wepr2016#sigFreeId47ae3f745d
e-Parliament datasets
e-Parliament survey data
Download: CSV , XLS
The data for the e-Parliament Survey (PDF) was collected between November 2015 and January 2016. The survey was distributed to all national parliaments (subnational, regional and transnational parliaments were excluded), seeking a separate response from each parliamentary chamber. Responses were received from 114 parliamentary chambers in 88 countries.
The eight sections of the Survey amount to a total of 103 questions, distributed as follows (by section):
- About the parliament (5 questions)
- Oversight and management of ICT (14 questions)
- Infrastructure, services, applications, and training (25 questions)
- Systems and standards for creating legislative documents and information (11 questions)
- Library and research services (13 questions)
- Parliamentary websites (17 questions)
- Communication between citizens and parliament (13 questions)
- Inter-parliamentary cooperation (5 questions)
PMO survey data
Download: CSV , XLS
The PMO survey (PDF) was considerably shorter than the one for parliaments. Designed in collaboration with the National Democratic Institute (NDI),4 it consisted of 24 questions, 15 of which related to PMO activities to engage with or monitor parliamentary function and activities.
The PMO survey was carried out online between February and March 2016 and was available in English, French and Spanish. Survey participation was encouraged through the use of email lists for PMO network specialists, the social media and an article published on the NDI Opening Parliament Blog. It was also promoted by NDI through its own networks. The analysis of the PMO survey covers 33 responses from individual organizations in 31 countries.
e-Parliament Index
Download: XLS
The second World e-Parliament Report, published in 2010, included a statistical model for assessing ICT maturity within parliaments, by assigning a numerical score to six categories (matching the categories used in the survey that year and replicated here):
• oversight and management of ICT;
• infrastructure, services, applications and training;
• systems and standards for creating legislative documents and information;
• library and research services;
• parliamentary websites;
• communication between citizens and parliaments.
This index was applied again in 2012, but for 2016 the survey’s baseline was no longer appropriate, focusing as it did on the technical aspects of ICT.
As this research clearly shows, other factors are now considered important in assessing e-parliament, including how digital tools and methods are planned and managed at a strategic level and the overall strategic importance given to ICT (and key ICT staff). Therefore, while the broad categories have been retained and a majority of indicators from the 2012 index reused, the latest index adds evaluations around the strategic value of ICT and, at the other side, open data and social media. The scores generated using this index are not directly comparable with earlier scores.
The scores were assigned to each parliament based on their responses to the survey and were then totalled and a value found for each section, with a maximum of 100. The six sections were combined and an overall score was calculated, again with a maximum value of 100. The purpose of the index is not to compare one parliament against another but to determine the level of maturity and clarify trends shown in the report.
