Summary of the Unit
- During the 13th session, nine ‘Government Question Hours’ were held — in total, MPs and ministers spent more than 11 hours asking and answering questions.
- Most questions from MPs concerned the functioning of the state’s energy infrastructure and social policy.
- MPs terminated the activities of three temporary commissions and established eight temporary commissions. All three terminated commissions were re-established.
- During the 13th session, MPs submitted 303 enquiries, the largest number since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, although this figure still does not reach the pre-24 February 2022 level.
The exercise of parliamentary oversight is a direct constitutional power This monitoring does not analyse indirect parliamentary oversight, i.e. oversight exercised by other bodies and officials (the Accounting Chamber and the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights). of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. A large part of the powers within parliamentary oversight relates to the activities of the Government, as the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is accountable and reportable to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This part of the monitoring report provides a brief overview of the exercise of the oversight function by Parliament and the changes that took place during the 13th session.
Government Question Hour
The ‘Government Question Hour’ is a parliamentary oversight instrument that allows MPs to put questions to members of the Cabinet of Ministers on a specified topic and receive answers. Proposals for determining the topic of the ‘Government Question Hour’ are submitted to the Conciliation Council by parliamentary factions (parliamentary groups). During the ‘Government Question Hour’, only issues related to the specified topic may be raised. Normally, the minister responsible for the relevant area responds from the rostrum, although questions may also be addressed to the Prime Minister and other ministers.
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the holding of the ‘Government Question Hour’ in the Verkhovna Rada was suspended for security reasons. The first full ‘Government Question Hour’ after 24 February 2022 was held by the Verkhovna Rada during the 10th session. The return of the ‘Government Question Hour’ on a regular basis took place from May 2024, during the 11th session.
Government Question Hours Held
During the 13th session, nine Government Question Hours were held — in total, MPs and ministers spent more than 11 hours asking questions and receiving answers MPs may often yield the floor to another MP during the Government Question Hour to ask a question. Therefore, remarks by MPs lasting less than 10 seconds were removed from the data, as these were most likely such transfers of the floor. .
MPs may put several questions during one speech, and ministers may answer several questions, or several ministers may answer one question. Given these particularities of the Government Question Hour, the data illustrate MPs’ interest in specific topics or even in particular ministers.
MPs’ Speeches by Factions and Groups
Most frequently during the 13th session, questions from MPs were answered by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine — Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksii Kuleba, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Oksen Lisovyi, and Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Oksana Zholnovych. This distribution is logical, given the role of the Prime Minister in coordinating the activities of the Cabinet of Ministers, and the fact that the listed ministers acted as lead speakers during the Government Question Hours (Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba spoke twice).
List of Government Question Hour Topics during the 13th Session
Temporary Investigative and Special Commissions
The Verkhovna Rada may establish temporary bodies: temporary special commissions and temporary investigative commissions. The task of temporary investigative commissions is to exercise parliamentary oversight by conducting investigations on matters of public interest. Temporary special commissions are established for the preparation and preliminary consideration of issues, as well as for the preparation and revision of draft laws and other acts of the Verkhovna Rada. An MP may simultaneously be a member of no more than two temporary investigative commissions and one temporary special commission. Temporary investigative and temporary special commissions are established for a term of no more than one year.
During the 13th session, Parliament voted to establish eight temporary commissions (five temporary investigative and three temporary special) and terminated the work of three temporary commissions (two of them temporary special commissions). Their list is provided in Annexe 7.
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Annexe 7. Temporary Commissions Established during the 13th Session
Temporary commissions that terminated their activities
Commission Date of termination Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Monitoring the Receipt and Use of International Material and Technical Assistance 18.06.2025 Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Protection of Investors’ Rights 29.04.2025 Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Investigating Possible Unlawful Actions by Officials of State Authorities, Other State Bodies and State-Owned Enterprises that Could Have Harmed Ukraine’s Economic Security 12.03.2025
In this convocation, a practice has also emerged of renewing the activities of temporary commissions. Of the three commissions that terminated their work during the 13th session, all three were re-established on the same day they were dissolved. In the case of the Temporary Special Commission on Monitoring the Receipt and Use of International Material and Technical Assistance, this was done by a single resolution, which simultaneously terminated the previous commission and immediately established an identical commission with the same membership.
Temporary commissions by sessions
MPs’ Enquiries and Appeals
MPs have the right to submit MPs’ enquiries and MPs’ appeals Since MPs’ appeals do not require announcement at a plenary sitting and there is no information about their registration, which complicates data collection, they are not the subject of this monitoring. . The former are a demand by an MP for an official response on matters within the competence of a body or institution, while the latter are a proposal to provide an official explanation or state a position on matters within the competence of a body or institution.
During the 13th session, MPs submitted 303 enquiries, the largest number since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, although this figure still does not reach the pre-24 February 2022 level.
MPs’ Enquiries
One feature of post-full-scale invasion MPs’ enquiries is the growing number of enquiries to the President regarding the awarding of servicemembers and other persons (most often with the title of Hero of Ukraine). This situation is understandable given the ongoing hostilities and the fact that the conferral of titles and state awards falls within the powers of the President. The MPs’ enquiry has thus become one of the instruments for recognising the contribution of servicemembers, alongside citizens’ appeals or electronic petitions.
