A report that examines the relationship between citizens and parliaments has been released by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the global association for parliaments to which 162 parliaments currently belong.

The report, jointly commissioned by the IPU and the UNDP, examines how citizens’ expectations of parliament are changing and how parliaments, politicians and parliamentary staff are responding.

Three specific challenges are identified in the report:

• Reforms need to reinforce the role of the representative and improve public understanding of what MPs do, inside and outside parliament;
• Reforms designed to improve public understanding and political accountability need to ensure that they strengthen the role of parliament rather than undermine it; and
• Parliaments need to collaborate more fully with external organisations to strengthen links with the public.

The full report is available from the IPU website