Question 137

During the legislative deliberations on the annual budget (pre-budget or approval stages), which of the following key topics does the legislature’s (or relevant legislative budget committee) engagement with citizens cover? For the purpose of this question, key topics are considered to be: 1. Macroeconomic issues; 2. Revenue forecasts, policies, and administration; 3. Social spending policies; 4. Deficit and debt levels; 5. Public investment projects; 6. Public services


 * a. The legislature seeks input on all six topics
 * b. The legislature seeks input on at least three (but less than six) of the above-mentioned topics
 * c. The legislature seeks input on at least one (but less than three) of the above-mentioned topics
 * d. The requirements for a “c” response or above are not met.
 * e. Not applicable (please comment).

OBS Guidelines
This question reflects the GIFT principles of “Transparency” and “Timeliness”. Please consider the range of mechanisms currently used by the legislature to promote public participation during legislative deliberations on the annual budget.

Please note that while the public engagement can/may cover other topics, for the purpose of answering this question, “key topics” are considered to be only the ones listed above. If the legislature’s engagement with the public covers topics other than the six listed above, please specify these topics in the comments.

Note also that this question assesses only the coverage of public engagement (i.e., “what issues is the public invited to engage on?”) and issues related to the depth of engagement or selectivity of engaged are not dealt with by this question.

If written materials about the public engagement, such as an invitation, do not specify the coverage of the public engagement, but the researcher has personally participated in the engagement, s/he may respond to this question based on firsthand experience of the coverage of the public engagement.

Answer “d” applies if the requirements for a “c” response or above are not met or if the legislature does not use public participation mechanisms during its deliberations on the annual budget.

(1) What should we do in cases where the scope of the consultation does not specify the topics to be covered?
This situation was frequently encountered in OBS 2017. If researchers have attended the consultation, they can speak to which topics were covered and score accordingly; score the indicator based on the researchers written submission for the budget consultations; score the indicator based on the “Invite” or summary reports of the consultations, if any. However, if there is no evidence of which topics were covered, we could consistently opt for answer choice “c”. (Suad's sense is that if the executive identifies topics it wants to engage the citizens on, it is more likely that they are seeking concrete inputs, hoping for an outcome, thereby making the engagement somewhat more meaningful.)