The Folketing Administration

Support for parliamentary work is provided by the Legal and Parliamentary Department, the Committee Secretariat and the International Department. The Legal and Parliamentary Department, which is staffed by lawyers and office assistants, is responsible for planning the work of the Folketing, among other tasks, while the Committee Secretariat and the International Department provide all of the Folketing’s committees with support.

The Folketing Administration has a Communications Section and a library. The Communications Section is responsible for providing information on Danish democracy and parliamentary work. The Communications Section is involved with such areas as the Youth Parliament, the Folketing’s web site and the interactive educational role play, Politician for a Day. The Folketing Library is an internal library that is instrumental in procuring information on political work of all kinds.

Tasks of a more practical character include cleaning throughout the Folketing and the maintenance and operation of the Folketing’s buildings and furniture. The Folketing has its own cabinetmaker, for instance.

Security in the Folketing is the responsibility of the people in the Security and Service Office. Among their other tasks they supervise access to the Folketing.

The Folketing also has its own architect and engineer who are responsible for maintaining and renovating the building.

The Folketing has a General Services Office to answer questions from Members and others about everyday practical matters. Among other things, the General Services Office is responsible for booking rooms, conducted tours of the Folketing, distributing the large number of documents and schedules to the Members of the Folketing and much, much more.

The Folketing also has two information centres, primarily to serve members of the public. The EU Information Centre answers questions concerning the EU and the Folketing Information Centre answers questions about the Folketing.

PCs, telephones, fax machines, etc., are vital tools for Members of the Folketing. The Folketing therefore has an IT and Telecommunications Section. The employees there are responsible for ensuring that Members have up-to-date, useful equipment at their disposal and also operate a hot line for Members who need help with IT.

All negotiations in the Chamber of the Folketing are written down by employees of the Folketing Hansard. This ensures that everything that is said from the rostrum of the Folketing can be kept for later reference.

There are several IT systems in a parliament such as the Danish Folketing that help to manage all of the documents that the Folketing considers every day. This task is handled by the IT Development Unit, which primarily employs programmers and IT experts.

The Folketing’s budget and economy are managed by the Salaries and Financial Affairs Office. The Personnel Office administers personnel policy, many areas of in-service training for Folketing Administration employees and security policy.

The President of the Folketing and the Secretary General have a joint secretariat, the President’s and General Management Secretariat that assists the President of the Folketing, the Presidium, the Secretary General and the management in their day-to-day work.

The Folketing’s Protocol Office is responsible for planning official arrangements in the Folketing. This includes the opening of the Folketing in October or visits by the presidents of other countries’ parliaments, prime ministers and national presidents. The Protocol Office also assists the President of the Folketing and the Presidium in connection with travelling abroad.