Frequently asked questions

In principle, all meetings of the House of Representatives are open to the public. Anyone may attend House meetings. You do not need to make reservations in advance, but please take into account that the vragenuur (question time), the general debate and emergency debates generally draw a large audience. 

• More information on visiting the House of Representatives

Members of Parliament receive an allowance for expenses for their work. This is called compensation (schadeloosstelling). The amount of the compensation is € 6,949.86 a month. Furthermore, MP's receive a monthly holiday allowance of 8% as well as an end of the year allowance in December.

The President of the House receives an additional 34%. Chairmen of parliamentary parties receive a minimum of 1% extra (for a parliamentary party consisting of 1 member) to a maximum of 11.5% extra (for parliamentary parties of 35 members and more).

Members of Parliament pay income taxes and social insurances are deducted over the gross salary. The fee for paid additional functions is deducted from the compensation to a maximum of 35%. 

When the membership of the Dutch Parliament ends, the compensation stops immediately. 

Plenary sessions are meetings of all 150 members of the Dutch House of Representatives. These sessions take place in the Chamber of the House (the Plenaire Zaal). A plenary debate is often the conclusion of a proposal that has already been discussed in a committee or is a debate about major issues, such as the Parliamentary Debate on the Queen’s Speech. The House of Representatives can only vote on bills in a plenary session.

In a committee, those party members who are active in a certain field or subject meet to discuss that subject. The members who are active in education meet in the standing committee for Education, Culture and Science; those who deal with justice meet in the standing committee for Justice. In principle, there is a standing committee for every ministry, with the exception of the Prime Minister's Ministry of General Affairs. There is also a standing committee that deals with the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Ministers and State Secretaries often address the committee meetings regarding policy and bills. 

Plenary
Word-for-word reports are made for all plenary sessions. These are called the Handelingen  (Proceedings), or the stenogram if they have not yet been officially adopted. Members of Parliament and officials whose words are recorded in the report have the right to edit the text, but may only change what has not been accurately recorded.

Committee
Word-for-word reports are only made of committee meetings if the committee is discussing a bill or a memo from the government. In all other cases, lists of the decisions taken are published on the day of the meeting, or a report of the main items of discussion is published a few weeks after the meeting. 

Bills submitted by the government or Members of Parliament are initially in a 'pending' status, which means that the House of Representatives will deal with them in a committee or in plenary session. 

All reports and documents dealing with a subject that the House of Representatives has discussed - such as a bill - have the same House document number. This number enables people to follow the progress of the bill in Parlando (Dutch language only). All documents with the House document number (such as motions and amendments) and the plenary debate (if it has occurred) can be seen here.

Once the House of Representatives has finished debating a subject, the MP's vote on the issue in a plenary session. The voting list shows if a bill has been adopted, rejected, repealed, delayed or lapsed. This also applies to any amendments and motions. The committees draw up decision lists of the conclusions and further actions they have decided upon, per subject. 

The House of Representatives deals with a great variety of issues. Members of Parliament do not know all about every issue. They decide which MP from their party will be the spokesperson for the various subjects. Usually, the spokesperson is a member of the committee dealing with that subject as well. For example, a member who is his or her party's representative in the Committee for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality might be the spokesperson for forestry. Each party announces who will be their spokespersons in advance for plenary sessions, and the speaker lists are drawn up using this information. For more information about spokespersons, please consult the parties.

Letters and e-mail
You can always call or write to Members of Parliament, House Committees and parties. There is no need for complicated language or guardedly polite formalities. Members are addressed as Mr. and Ms., just like everyone else. You can address messages to Members directly via e-mail or letters. If you wish to contact more than one member about the same subject, you may wish to contact a committee or a party. 

Send your letter to: Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, attn: [name of committee, party, member], Postbus 20018, 2500 EA The Hague, The Netherlands.

Petition
You have the option of submitting a petition to a committee of the House of Representatives or to the President of the House. Petitions to the House can only be made as part of a national project. Petition submissions may be requested via a letter explaining the purpose and the organisers of the petition. The House decides whether to accept the petition based on this letter.

Citizens' initiative
A citizens' initiative is a proposal to improve some aspect of policy, such as the environment, education or public transportation, or to simplify a regulation. A citizens' initiative requests the House of Representatives to discuss your proposal and to make a decision. An initiative requires at least 40,000 signatures by registered voters for the House to consider it.

Appeal
If someone has a personal complaint about the actions of the national government and an official objection is not an option, that person may appeal directly to the Senate or the House of Representatives. Both have an Appeals Committee that deal with complaints received.

Recesses in 2009/2010:

• Autumn recess 2009: Friday 16 October to Monday 26 October 2009
• Christmas recess 2009/2010: Friday 18 December 2009 to Monday 11 January 2010
• Spring recess 2010: Friday 19 February 2010 to Monday 1 March 2010
• May recess 2010: Friday 23 april 2010 to Monday 10 May 2010 
• Summer recess 2010: Friday 2 July to Monday 6 September 2010 

Recesses in 2010/2011:

• Autumn recess 2010: Friday 15 October to Monday 25 October 2010 
• Christmass recess 2010: Friday 17 December 2010 to Monday 10 January 2011 
• Crocus recess 2011: Friday 18 February 2011 to Monday 28 February 2011 
• May recess 2011: Friday 29 April to Monday 16 May 2011 

• Summer recess 2011: Friday 1 July to Monday 5 September 2011  

The Honour Roll is a memorial for those who gave their lives for the Netherlands in the Second World War. The Honour Roll is located on an altar and lists approximately 17,500 names from the following groups of people who fought and died for the country: members of the Armed Forces, the Merchant Marine, the Resistance in the Netherlands and an Indonesian group. Each day, a page of the Honour Roll with 24 names is turned. The Honour Roll of the Fallen is placed in the entrance hall of Binnenhof 1a.