Page 12 - Aanbevelingen om de integriteit

47. Parliament consists of the House of the Representatives and the Senate. The main tasks of
the former are to monitor the government’s pursuit of its policy, to determine the budget (the
budget right), draft legislation (together with the government) and to draw attention to social issues
(the agenda function). The House of Representatives may put oral and written questions to ministers
and state secretaries. Furthermore it has a right to conduct inquiries and lighter forms of
investigations and a right of interpellation (putting oral questions to and debating with ministers
and/or state secretaries), according to the Parliamentary Inquiries Act. These rights are exercised in
the context of the confidence rule. This means that governments must provide Parliament with all
the information that it needs in order to be able to perform its monitoring tasks (Article 68 of the
Constitution).

48. If Parliament believes that a particular case must be fully investigated, it can initiate an
independent parliamentary investigation, outside of the government. The most serious form of
investigation is the parliamentary inquiry, which requires a majority vote in Parliament. However,
such an inquiry is not always needed to establish the essential facts of a specific case. A normal
investigation by members of parliament sometimes suffices. The difference between an ‘ordinary’
investigation and a parliamentary inquiry is that a parliamentary commission of inquiry may hear
witnesses under oath. An investigative committee may not do that but it may conclude that a
parliamentary inquiry is desirable. The commission of inquiry (investigative commission) issues a
report to the House of Representatives. Based on such a report, the House of Representatives first
holds a debate with the commission and then with the responsible people from the government. The
ultimate aim is to learn from the past and adopt measures for the future. The following
parliamentary inquiries have been held since 2000: Fyra Train (2013); Housing Corporations (2013-
2014); Financial System (2011-2012); Srebrenica (2002-2003); Construction Industry (2002-2003).

49. The General Intelligence and Security Service conducts background checks before candidate
ministers or state secretaries take office. It checks in particular whether there is any relevant
information in its files relating to the candidates that has been gathered in connection with its duties
as specified in Article 6 of the Intelligence and Security Services Act 2002. This Act has been replaced
by the Intelligence and Security Services Act 2017 which is expected to enter into force in the course
of 2018.

50. The National Ombudsman, appointed by Parliament, is also an independent institution The
Ombudsman deals with complaints from the general public concerning public administration and
informs public-administration agencies how they can improve their services. The Ombudsman can
start an investigation upon complaints or ex officio. Everyone involved must cooperate in such an
investigation. The outcome of the investigations is a report stating whether there has been a
wrongdoing and what the authority may do to correct its procedures. The decisions of the
Ombudsman are not binding. In addition, the Ombudsman issues a report to the House of
Representatives each year.

51. The Whistleblowers Authority is an independent administrative body providing advice and
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support to those who report work-related abuse, and may conduct investigations, following
complaints. The Whistleblowers Authority has the power to request information and may issue
reports on the basis of the gathered information describing the situation of abuse. The report
contains conclusions and, if necessary, recommendations to end the situation of abuse or to prevent
repetition. The findings of the investigation and the opinion in the report are not binding. The
Whistleblowers Authority does not deal with requests concerning ministers and state secretaries
regarding integrity dilemmas as such. However, there have been some cases in the last years,
involving ministers, but they resigned eventually. Most cases did not relate to integrity issues. In one

16 A report must relate to a situation of abuse of social relevance, such as a violation of a statutory rule; danger to public
health; danger of harm to the environment; danger to the effective functioning of a public-administration agency or
company because of improper acts or omissions.

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