This chapter analyses the use of policy advice of the federal Chamber of Representatives (Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers/Chambre des représentants) as well as two regional assemblies, the Flemish Parliament (Vlaams Parlement) and the Walloon Parliament (Parlement wallon). Their main duties are to co-legislate and scrutinise their respective executives. This chapter analyses the role of parliaments in shaping public policy as well as its tools to feed the evidence base of political debates about policy choices. The chapter begins with some methodological remarks. It sketches the role of parliamentary committees and MPs and the constraints and political factors that influence the effectiveness of MPs and parliaments as agents of public policy within the context of partitocratic governance. As to the instruments that are developed to gain relevant expertise, the chapter analyses the functioning of parliamentary committees and hearings in the garnering and use of policy expertise, as well as the in-house resources MPs have at their disposal, individually and collectively, to increase the research and evidence base of their interventions. In-house resources comprise individual collaborators of MPs, legislative research staff, the administration of parliament and para-parliamentary agencies. The chapter also touches on the external expertise provided to MPs by the study units of political parties and ministerial cabinets, but these are discussed in more detail in Chapters Three and Eight.

Conceptual and methodological remarks

The interviewees in our study were given a general definition of policy analysis relevant to parliament: all information (based on facts, research, expertise/expert opinions, stakeholder opinions, media reporting, and so on) relevant to the legislative and oversight role of Belgian parliaments, produced for/by individual MPs, parliamentary groups, and parliament as a whole.

Case selection and period

Even though there are seven legislative assemblies at the federal and regional/community level, the study focuses on policy analysis from 1995 to 2015 in three legislative assemblies only, that is, the most important federal, Flemish and French-speaking administrations. At the federal level, it analyses the Chamber of Representatives, but not the Senate, given the fact that the latter has been deprived of considerable power and influence since 1995, and in 2014 lost all political significance. At the regional level, it considers the Flemish parliament, that is, the merged assembly of the Flemish Region and Flemish Community.