ISLAMABAD - In a three-year performance analysis of Parliament from citizens perspective by PILDAT shows that reforms in the budget process and passage of an effective accountability law remain unfulfilled agenda in the Parliament. It was learnt from PILDAT that transparency and access to information about the National Assembly (NA) improved with a new website but data about individual members attendance and performance is still not available. While the current political set-up is criticised the most for allegations of corruption against it, the public representatives in the Parliament of Pakistan have failed to institute an effective accountability mechanism in the country, it said. 'Lack of initiative on required reforms in the Parliament, especially on one of its most crucial powers of control over the purse strings or the countrys budget remains another major weakness of the Parliament. The budget session is considered by many MPs as a mere formality in which not much role is there for MPs to make any significant contribution. Weak oversight of the Parliament on crucial areas such as national security and foreign policy remains another area of concern, it added. Analysis of the 3rd year of the National Assemblys performance shows that in almost every sector of the legislative activity, the National Assembly witnessed a decrease in performance from that of last year. However, overall the 13th National Assembly of Pakistan has performed significantly better compared to the 12th National Assembly (2002-2007) in terms of legislation passed and the Ordinance to Bills ratio. The report further said:'The actual number of working days in the National Assembly during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parliamentary years was 97, 104 and 104 respectively. This signifies an increase of 7 per cent in the 2nd year and no change in the 3rd year. The total number of working hours of the 13th National Assembly were recorded to be 277 in the first year (2008-2009), 355 in the second year (2009-2010) and 300 during the third year which shows a decrease of 15 per cent in the actual hours the National Assembly met in its 3rd year. The National Assembly passed 3, 29 and 24 Government bills in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parliamentary year respectively, which shows an increase in the 2nd year and a decrease of 17 per cent in the 3rd year. The 13th National Assembly, which has so far passed 5 private members bills in three years (1 bill in the first year; 3 bills in the second year and 1 bill in the third year), has already surpassed the 12th National Assembly of Pakistan in which only 1 private member bill was passed during 5 years. A comparison of the legislative performance of the National Assembly with the Indian Lok Sabha for the calendar year 2010-2011 reveals that the Lok Sabha passed 60 per cent more bills than the National Assembly of Pakistan during this period. 'The number of questions asked by members has been significantly decreasing over the past 3 years in the 13th National Assembly of Pakistan. Members asked 10843 questions in the first year, 10572 questions in the second year and 8321 in the third Parliamentary year, registering a year-to-year decrease of 2 per cent in the 2nd year and 21 per cent in the 3rd year. Furthermore, the percentage of questions answered remained at 28 per cent in the 1st year, 33 per cent in the 2nd year and 28 per cent in the 3rd year. Major highlights of the performance of the National Assembly during the 3rd year were the passage of the 19th Constitutional Amendment and the Amendment to the Rules of Procedure regarding the removal of the Leader of the Opposition, it added. The Public Accounts Committees performance is also worth highlighting as the PAC held an average of 34 meetings per year during the past three years and it has cleared a backlog of audit reports for the past 09 years i.e., 1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-1992 1992-93, 1994-95, 1997-98, 2001-02, 2005-06 and 2008-09. It also presented to the House a Compliance Report 2010 on October 18, 2011, it said. 'During these three years, Special Committee on Railways chaired by Nadeem Afzal Gondal presented a bold and landmark investigative report about the alleged irregularities in the award of lease of a Railway Golf Club land in Lahore during Musharrafs time. House and Library Committee also did a good job while investigating alleged irregularities in an Employees Housing Scheme. The National Assembly has improved its website with regards to presentation of information. More information, for example the verbatim record of House Debates, is also made available on the National Assembly website, it further said. The analysis of the performance of the Senate of Pakistan reveals that the number of actual working days in the third year showed an increase of 35 per cent over the 3 years (62 in 2008-2009, 70 in 2009-2010 and 84 in 2010-2011) while the number of working hours registered an overall decrease of 15 per cent over the three Parliamentary years. The number of government bills passed showed an overall increase in the three years (2 in 2008-2009, 12 in 2009-2010 and 25 in 2010-2011).