Parliament represents and is accountable to all citizens. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

We have been debating the issue of parliamentary re­form for a long time. Our legislative branch is equally important to the judiciary and executive branches and this is precisely why we need to strengthen it, given it is established by popular mandate. We, therefore, need to ensure it has the best and updated tools and the environment that would enable it to consistently operate in the nation’s best interest, now and in the future.

In a democracy like ours, where members of the executive are also members of Parliament, this need becomes even more pronounced and assumes an even more important role to ensure that the legislative branch functions in an effective manner.

During the past legislature, mainly thanks to the Labour parliamentary group and the Speaker of the House, giant steps were made in this direction. Besides enhancing the human resources to support Parliament, mainly through the employment of skilled researchers, other important measures were also implemented. These include the strengthening of Parliament’s autonomy through relevant legislation in this respect, besides the introduction of further legislation regulating the behaviour of MPs. The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life will be appointed and, thus, the relevant legislation can be implemented in an effective manner to the satisfaction of all citizens.

Parliament previously already enjoyed a positive degree of autonomy, however, through legislation agreed upon by both sides, in the last legislature Parliament was given greater autonomy with more dedicated resources to support its critical functions.

Over the past days, the government announced that it will propose an amendment to the Public Administration Act to introduce a pre-appointment parliamentary procedure in respect of chairmen and heads of regulatory entities as well as appointment of resident ambassadors and high commissioners from outside the public service.

No doubt, this a great step forward, which successive Nationalist administrations failed or had an interest not to implement to keep all the power to themselves. It is a good start upon which we can build further and an effective good governance tool based on the UK model, precisely, on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, which, on June 3, 2015, replaced the long-standing Public Administration Select Committee that had been originally set up in June 2010.

I believe, however, there is much more to do. There is the need for further reforms.

The measure proposed by the Labour parliamentary group to convene Parliament at a time that is earlier than we were previously accustomed to is another step in the right direction. This also allows more time for each MP to dedicate to the important constituency work for which time is never enough and we, as MPs, all strive to dedicate more and more.

We should adequately plan in advance for any lengthy sittings and also, possibly, align parliamentary recess periods with the scholastic calendars to ensure MPs can enjoy a healthy family life too.

The Swedish Parliament has implemented such and other measures, which we can adopt as a model for the introduction of other initiatives that most of the time require good planning rather than expenditure, if any at all.

We need to ensure the highest institution in
the country is constantly evolving to function effectively and efficiently

There is also ongoing debate on whether MPs should be precluded (as members of the executive) from working in their respective profession or other areas in a bid to ensure they are solely dedicated to parliamentary work. In this respect, I believe the first step is for an MP to possibly be granted the option of becoming a ‘full-time’ parliamentarian and then see how such a system would function before deciding on what steps to make next.

We also need to seriously consider further family-friendly measures. The House of Representatives is located within a new and modern building. The whole project cost more than €90 million but it is disappointing to note that the possibility of having a childcare centre there was not even contemplated.

The standing orders should be amended to allow infants dependent on their parents to have access to Parliament in certain working hours. This is being done in the Australian Senate and though it was initially met with a lot of scepticism, its benefits are nowadays fully recognised.

Furthermore, it should be ensured that every MP would have the right tools to be able to conduct adequate and technical research on any topic. This will also allow for a more sophisticated level of parliamentary debate.

The availability of space where MPs can meet with their constituency inside Parliament is also important, especially when they are expected to be present in the House for whatever reason.

I am pleased to note the Opposition has presented seven proposals for parliamentary reform. While some are on the same lines as those submitted by the government, others are positive and deserve deeper analysis.

However, I must express utter disagreement with the Nationalist Party’s suggestion to have parliamentary questions specifically addressed to the Prime Minister. This idea was adopted from the British model, precisely the Constitutional Convention that allows for 30 minutes every Wednesday for MPs to address specific questions to the Prime Minister in what is known as PMQs.

This practice evolved over hundreds of years and is part of the British parliamentary system.

The system is an anachronism and is not required in today’s political scenario, mainly because the Prime Minister attends Parliament not only to answer any questions on issues specifically falling within his remit but also regularly intervenes on any issue pertaining to the government’s political direction. Besides, in today’s connected world the Prime Minister is under constant scrutiny from all over 24/7.

I do appreciate there needs to be a wider discussion to ensure we register further progress on this front. We cannot implement everything at once but we need to define a realistic plan that is adhered to.

We have registered a lot of positive progress over the past four years but we cannot rest on our laurels.

We need to keep working hard to ensure that the highest institution in the country that represents and is accountable to all our citizens is constantly evolving to ensure it functions effectively and efficiently.

Edward Zammit Lewis is a former tourism minister.