Openness & participation

Laws on participation
	Legislation on citizen consultation and participation for instance with regard to public inquiries
	Legislation on stakeholder consultation
	Legislation or equivalent on role of social partnership (employers representatives and trade unions in policy agenda-setting, formulation and implementation

 

Laws on information access
	Legislation on the availability and access to information regarding the executive branch of government
	Legislation on the availability and access to information regarding the legislative branch of government
	Legislation on the availability and access to information regarding the judiciary branch of government
	Legislation on the availability and access to information regarding corporate actors
	Legislation on the availability and access to information regarding societal actors (like NGOs, trade-unions, etc.)
	Legislation on the availability and access to information regarding government budgets and expenditures

 

Consultation and participation standards
	Handbooks on consultation and participation
	Existence and description of mechanisms of consultation and participation
	Use of mechanisms of consultation and participation
	Number or percentage of occassions (among those for which it is required to do so) for which government agencies provide adequate notice of public hearings
	Perception of citizens with regard to having adequate information on key policy issues
	Perception of journalists with regard to having adequate information on key policy issues
	Number or percentage of well publicised government meetings open to citizens and citizen groups
	Number of major government decisions in which input from participation mechanisms was used
	Examples of decisions taken at governmental level as a consequence of pressure from civil society
	Number or percentage of regional / local governments implementing investment decisions with citizen input
	Number of joint commission meetings between government and civil society organisations
	Number of NGOs saying they experienced a valid engagement with the executive branch of government in the process of policy formulation and implementation
	Number of public hearings in Parliament open to citizens, citizen groups and the press (print and audio-visuals)
	Average number of meetings per year held by legislators in which citizens / constituents are invited or % of MPs who meet with NGOs and constituents on a regular basis (more than x times a year)
	Number of legislature committee meetings where citizens are invited to actively participate or provide input
	Scorecard of citizen access to legislative procedures: (a) do citizens have access to records of meetings; (b) are citizens able to find out who or what group is responsible for particular areas or decisions; (c) are citizens able to obtain voting records of MPs; (d) are citizens granted access to meetings of parliaments; (e) are citizens granted access to committee meetings; (f) are plenary and committee meetings open to the press?
	Content of public participation in committees at Parliament level factored into legislation and budget

 

Civilian competence and political culture
	Level of confidence in democratic processes among citizens
	Level of political knowledge and understanding of political system
	Level of ability to understand basic elements of electoral system
	Targeted citizens' abilities to discern differences in political choices
	Newspaper reading, radio and/or television listening (political programmes)
	Index of partisan or electoral activism among citizens
	Information gathering activities
	Index of political activity
	Voter turnout
	Percentage of voters who correctly link a given party with principles and key issues and who can identify candidates
	Percentage of eligible women / voters of disadvantaged groups and percentage who vote