Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Under the direction of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the Strategic Plan Oversight Committee (SPOC) met on Friday to review the targets of the National Assembly Strategic Plan (NASP) to make Parliament of Pakistan more efficient and more effective.

The meeting was chaired by Strategic Plan Oversight Committee (SPOC) Convener Marriyam Aurangzeb in the SDGs Secretariat of the National Assembly.

Speaking on the occasion, Marriyam suggested that the SPOC should be converted into a parliamentary committee. She said that the NASP will be the living document of the NA Secretariat which will guide the parliamentarians and the secretariat’s staff for the institutional development. While discussing the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), she stressed the provincial legislatures to take lead in addressing the issues related to the development as National Assembly has highlighted the issue of malnutrition and brought all the stakeholders on the table in the first parliamentary ‘Meet on Malnutrition’ organised by the SDGs Task Force of the National Assembly.

While briefing the committee, the joint secretary of the NA Programme Management said that the National Assembly Secretariat has established the Legislative Drafting Counsel (LDC), and the counsel has already commenced the training course, as the second course of the LDC is in developmental stages. It was told that the human resource has been increased in the Research and Library Wing of the National Assembly Secretariat. Moreover, it was stressed that research wing of the National Assembly has to be equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities and research tools in order to provide quality research for the parliamentarians.

The committee was briefed that the capacity building workshops and training sessions has been conducted by the IP3 including the sessions on PSDP and financial management of the members and the secretariat. The committee appreciated the on job daily capacity building classes of the NA Secretariat and Committee staff for capacity building.
It was shared that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) project of the National Assembly is in progress and NA hall is now equipped with large LED screens for the convenience of the parliamentarians – it is the first step towards the paperless parliament. It was told that NA website will also be revamped.

The committee was also briefed that the three successful batches of the Young Parliamentary Associates (YPAs) and now PIPS has taken the lead to provide the research support to the parliamentarians. It was also shared that Parliamentary Studies Programme will be launched soon in the different universities in order to provide young people to support the institute in the future and to educate youth about the parliamentary functions.

The NA secretary reaffirmed the commitment for provide all-out support to implement the NASP with its true spirit. He suggested that the SPOC should meet at least once in a month to review the progress.