For seven years, OUTA’s Parliamentary Oversight Report (POR) has been the country’s independent scorecard on how Parliament holds power to account.

Born from our ParliMeter partnership with PMG and OpenUp and co-funded by the European Union, the report tracks attendance, responsiveness and follow-through across all portfolio committees - the engines of oversight that make democracy work between elections.

The 2025 edition, “7th Parliament: The review nobody escapes”, covers July 2024 to June 2025 and finds:

• Pockets of excellence - committees that investigate, follow up and deliver clear outcomes.

• Persistent weaknesses - political caution, administrative overload and uneven follow-through that blunt Parliament’s impact.

• Lost opportunities - too many investigations that end without consequence, and too few public engagement sessions that close the loop with citizens.

“The challenge is not just to speak truth to power,” says Dr Rachel Fischer, OUTA’s Parliamentary Engagement and Research Manager, “but to follow truth with action.”

The report calls for stronger follow-ups on investigations, more transparent committee work, and better systems to ensure that resolutions lead to reform.

In short: democracy depends on vigilance, not ceremony. Parliament can and must raise the bar - and OUTA will keep providing the data to help it do so.

Read the full report here