OECD NETWORK MODEL: OECD Network of Parliamentary Budget Officials and Independent Fiscal Institutions

Lisa von TrappAssociation of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting:

“Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”Montreal, 17-19 June 2013

Senior Budget Officials(1980)

Parliamentary Budget

Officials & IFIs(2009)

Financial Management

Officials(2001)

Joint SBO & Health Network

(2011)

Performance & Results Officials(2004)

Pubic Private Partnerships

Officials(2008)

GLOBAL SBOs

Asia (2001)

Eastern Europe (2004)

MENA (2008)

Latin America (IADB - 2003)

Africa(CABRI – 2004)

The Senior Budget Officials (SBO) Family

• First attempt – Network of Chairs of Finance Committees 2001-2006

• Lesson – focus on officials

• Re-launched as OECD Network of Parliamentary Budget Officials (2009) and Independent Fiscal Institutions (2012)

PBO Network - origins

• OECD’s Budgeting and Public Expenditures Division serves as network Secretariat

• Minimal budget requirements

• Annual meeting, typically hosted by member country Parliament

• Future topics/annual work plan decided at annual meeting. May set up working groups on specific topics.

• Culture of mutual support, within which delegates have the confidence for frankness, disclosure, and peer review

PBO Network – modus operandi

• Open to all OECD Member countries and key partners (Brazil, South Africa, EC, IMF, WB)

• Specialised professional staff working with:

- budget/finance committees- budget research units within parliaments - independent parliamentary budget offices and fiscal councils.

• First and only network bringing together independent fiscal institutions (parliamentary budget offices and fiscal councils)

PBO Network - members

PBO Network – growing rapidly

• Timing has been critical - many new institutions means PBO network has grown rapidly.

• Examples of new institutions in past ten years:−Korea (2003)−Canada (2006) −Sweden (2007) −UK (2010) −Australia, Ireland, Portugal (2011) −France, Finland, Italy (2013) and more

coming.

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PBO Network – IFIs

Independent Fiscal

Institutions

•Fiscal councils

•Parliamentary budget offices

•Independent unit within SAI

•Provide oversight of fiscal performance

•Monitor compliance with fiscal rules/targets

•Prepare or assess macroeconomic and fiscal forecasts

•Perform budget and fiscal analyses and/or provide public advice on budget and fiscal issues

•Prepare policy costings or provide independent oversight of policy costings

Publicly funded

Non-partisan

Autonomous from govt

• Profiling new institutions and any significant changes to the mandates of older institutions (case studies).

• Sharing practical experiences on working methods.

• Identifying good practices/standards (OECD Principles for Independent Fiscal Institutions).

• Debating substantive budgeting issues.

PBO Network – discussions centred on

The PBO network and its discussions generate new research and contribute to:

- Standard setting (OECD Principles for Independent Fiscal Institutions)- Country Budget Reviews- Comparative analysis of budgeting systems across countries- International Budget Practices and Procedures Database- “Governance at a Glance”- Economic surveys

PBO Network - results

PBO network members’ relationships are demonstrated in multiple ways:

• Evidence in parliamentary hearings in other jurisdictions interested in setting up a new PBO/fiscal council

• Staff secondments and other exchanges• Sharing data across jurisdictions, collaboration

on, or peer review of, work

PBO Network – results (2)

Overview of the draft Principles

The 22 Principles are grouped under nine broad headings:

1. Local ownership (ex. taking into account local needs, capacity constraints, country’s legal framework, political system, and budgeting culture…)

2. Independence and non-partisanship (ex. appointment process…) 3. Mandate (ex. clear links to the budget process)4. Resources (ex. commensurate with mandate) 5. Relationship with the legislature (ex. mechanisms to encourage appropriate

accountability to the legislature)6. Access to information (ex. guaranteed in legislation) 7. Transparency (ex. reports and analysis published and freely available, website)8. Communications (ex. fostering informed constituencies that value fiscal

transparency and responsibility9. External evaluation (ex. review of selected pieces of work; annual evaluation

of the quality of analysis; a permanent advisory panel or board; or peer review by an IFI in another country)

For more information

OECD Network of Parliamentary Budget Officials and Independent Fiscal Institutions

• Web page: www.oecd.org/gov/budget/pbo • Contact: Lisa von Trapp at Lisa.vontrapp@oecd.org