Transitional Support for Former Members of Parliament: Benchmarks for ‘Professional Parliaments’

IF 1.3 3区社会学 Q2 POLITICAL SCIENCE

Parliamentary Affairs Pub Date : 2023-09-09 DOI:10.1093/pa/gsad017

Peter Ferguson, Amy Nethery, Zim Nwokora

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract Leaving parliament is often a time of significant financial, employment and emotional difficulty for MPs. However, few studies have examined the support provided by parliaments to departing and former members. Consequently, parliaments lack access to best-practice case studies to improve the transitional experience for MPs. This article develops five benchmarks for supporting former MPs, covering transitional financial assistance; retirement income; career, financial, life transitions and redundancy counselling; mental health and medical services; and social and networking opportunities. These benchmarks are used to assess the support provided to former members by 22 selected ‘professional parliaments’. Although most of these parliaments offer adequate retirement income, none currently provide sufficient transitional financial assistance for MPs who depart before pensionable age. In all cases, improvements are also required to mental health and other counselling services. Most parliaments provide adequate social and networking opportunities. Implementing and extending these measures will improve the transitional experience of former MPs and enhance democratic rotation by reducing impediments to high-quality candidates from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds from seeking political office, while easing the exit of MPs who are ready to leave.

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前国会议员的过渡性支持:“专业议会”的基准

对于国会议员来说，离开议会往往是经济、就业和情感上遇到重大困难的时候。然而，很少有研究调查议会对离任和前议员提供的支持。因此，议会无法获得最佳实践案例研究，以改善议员的过渡经验。本文提出了支持前国会议员的五个基准，包括过渡性财政援助;退休收入;职业、财务、生活转型和裁员咨询;心理健康和医疗服务;以及社交和网络机会。这些基准用于评估22个选定的“专业议会”向前议员提供的支持。虽然这些议会大多数都提供足够的退休收入，但目前没有一个议会为在领取养老金年龄之前离职的议员提供足够的过渡性财政援助。在所有情况下，还需要改善心理健康和其他咨询服务。大多数议会提供充分的社交和联网机会。实施和扩大这些措施将改善前议员的过渡经验，并通过减少来自不同社会经济和文化背景的高质量候选人寻求政治职位的障碍，加强民主轮换，同时放宽准备离开的议员的退出。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Parliamentary Affairs POLITICAL SCIENCE-

CiteScore

3.00

自引率

8.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Parliamentary Affairs is an established, peer-reviewed academic quarterly covering all the aspects of government and politics directly or indirectly connected with Parliament and parliamentary systems in Britain and throughout the world. The journal is published in partnership with the Hansard Society. The Society was created to promote parliamentary democracy throughout the world, a theme which is reflected in the pages of Parliamentary Affairs.