About the parliamentary committees
Members of the Danish Parliament discuss policy in the Chamber. It is also in the Chamber that bills are passed and become law. However, the Danish Parliament’s decisions are prepared by parliamentary committees.
Each committee has its own political sphere of work, called a remit. A committee exercises parliamentary scrutiny and handles bills and motions or proposals within its remit. For example, the Social Affairs Committee handles all bills and motions related to social issues. The committee keeps a close eye on developments within its focus areas so that its members are adequately equipped to scrutinise the work of the government.
Open consultation
As a rule, committee meetings are not open to the public. However, committees do hold many open sessions that are broadcast live on ft.dk and on the Danish Parliament’s TV channel. At an open consultation, a committee invites a Minister to account for a current topic and answer committee members’ questions about that topic.
Information about the subject, time and location of, and sign-up to attend an open consultation will be published on this website. Each committee has a designated conference room at Christiansborg Palace. When Parliament is in session, most committees meet once a week (same day and time every week).
Committee members
Most of the 30 parliamentary committees have 29 members.
The remaining five committees are smaller.
These are:
- The Finance Committee – 17 members
- The Naturalization Committee – 17 members
- The Standing Orders Committee – 21 members
- The Scrutineers’ Committee – 17 members
- The Epidemics Committee – 21 members
The parties are proportionately represented
The individual parties’ parliamentary groups are essentially proportionately represented in the parliamentary committees. However, where committee membership is concerned, the parties often form electoral groups in order to secure as many seats as they possibly can.
All members of the Danish Parliament – except those who are appointed Minister – are members of at least one and most often 3-5 committees. For practical reasons, members from smaller parties often sit on more committees than members from large parties. The committee elects its committee chair and deputy chair.
In principle, each committee is assigned two Danish Parliament civil servants, namely a committee secretary and a committee assistant.
Most committee documents are public
The vast majority of documents pertaining to committee work are publicly accessible. In certain cases, documents may be confidential, e.g. if they contain personal data or are related to cases/issues of significance to public security.
Every committee corresponds to a ministry
Each committee remit is covered more or less by a ministerial sphere. For example, the Fiscal Affairs Committee’s ministry is The Ministry of Taxation. As the name suggests, the committee’s remit includes everything associated with taxation, including taxes, duties and employment market contributions. Meanwhile, the Legal Affairs Committee works with the legal system and police, and The Ministry of Justice is its corresponding ministry.
The committees’ specific tasks and responsibilities
Handling bills and motions
The committees handle all bills and motions within their remit. For bills and motions that proceed to a second reading, the committee prepares a report describing its work with the issue in question.
The report also includes:
- the parties’ recommendations regarding the bill or proposal – how the individual parties intend to vote
- political commentary (if any): the parties may substantiate why they will vote the way they intend to
- proposed amendments (if any): specific proposals for changes to the text of the bill or motion in question.
Parliamentary scrutiny
The Danish Parliament exercises parliamentary scrutiny, i.e. Parliament reviews the work of the Danish government. The Danish Parliament monitors how the government puts legislation into practice and whether government policy generally has the support of a majority in the Danish Parliament.
The Parliament exercises scrutiny in several ways, including by inviting the Government’s Ministers to consultations. The committees can table questions and request an oral or a written response. A committee’s question for an oral response is called a “consultation question” because the Minister gives this response at a consultation.