(Trinidad Guardian) Parliament is expected to be delinked from the Public Service Commission (PSC) by the end of the current term in 2015. This is contained in a report submitted to the Parliament by consultant Anthony Staddon. The report was one of the major discussion points at a parliamentary workshop for all MPs and senators at the Magdalena Grand Beach Resort, Tobago, last Saturday. The delinking will allow the Parliament to hire and fire staff. Under the current arrangements that is done by the commission. The document also said the Parliament’s Standing Orders are being reviewed and one of the major changes expected relates to “deferral or postponement of answers to questions to ensure they are answered in a timely fashion.”
Under the existing arrangements there are no provisions to compel the Government to answer questions. The Presiding Officer can only ask the Government to do so in a timely manner. That exercise is expected to be completed in a year. Moves are also afoot to make the Parliament more autonomous. Speaking with reporters at the conclusion of Saturday’s workshop, Speaker Wade Mark said there was a weakness in the existing arrangements for parliamentary oversight of the budgetary process. He said at the conclusion of the process it was hoped that the MPs would have a greater influence over the monitoring of budgets. He said: “It cannot and should not be business as usual. We want, as a Parliament, to have greater levels of accountability, transparency and openness as it relates to the expenditure and spending of public resources.”
