From December 2014 to November 2015, Civil Network OPORA monitored the parliamentary committees. In particular, the organization analyzed attendance at committee meetings and made a transparency rating for parliamentary committees.

34 MPs were present at all meetings of committees to which membership they belong. In particular, 14 of them belong to the People's Front faction, 13 – Petro Poroshenko Bloc, 4 – Samopomich, 2 – Radical Party faction, and 1 – AUU Batkivshchyna. 4 MPs were absent from all meetings of committees to which membership they belong. Another 6 MPs visited only one meeting. In general, women attend committee meetings more often than men. MPs who had declared from 500 thousand to 1 million UAH income in 2014 have the best attendance at meetings of parliamentary committees, and those who had declared over 1 million income for 2014 have the worst attendance.

Most of parliamentary committees publish minutes and verbatim records of committee meetings, but only some of them do this within the established time constraints. Only some committees publish audio recordings of meetings on their websites. Only 9 parliamentary committees publish more than a half of socially important information about their activities. 

Attendance of MPs at committee meetings

According to the minutes, the Committee on Science and Education has the best attendance percentage for the period from December 2014 to November 2015 – 89.61%. The Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy is on the second place – 85.81% attendance, the Committee on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure and Support to Work of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is on the third with 82.83% attendance. The least disciplined during this period were MPs from the National Security and Defense Committee (61.11% attendance), Committee on Judicial Policy and Justice (66.34%) and Committee on Culture and Spirituality (66.67%).

Table 1. Attendance of MPs on meetings of VRU Committees of VIII convocation (from December 2014 to November 2015)

Attendance of faction and MP groups representatives at meetings of committees

Each MP is obliged to attend meetings of committees, according to Article 24(4) of the Law of Ukraine on the Status of National Deputies, "each MP shall personally attend and participate in meetings of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and its bodies which membership he holds". Besides that, Article 24(9) of this Law specifies that each MP shall attend meetings of committee and sub-committee which membership he holds, and participate in their work.

On 4 December 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has created 27 committees and a Special Control Commission on Privatization. For the first year of the Parliament of VIII convocation, MPs of the Samopomich Union show the best attendance at meetings of VRU committees – 88.21%. The People's Front has 86.26% attendance; Petro Poroshenko Bloc – 80%; AUU Batkivshchyna faction – 76.09%; Radical Party – 74.77%; Volia Narodu group – 54.84%; Revival group – 47.77%; Opposition Bloc – 47.38%; and non-faction MPs – 62.39%.

Table 2. Attendance at meetings of parliamentary committees per factions and groups (December 2014 – November 2015)

Attendance of faction and MP group leaders at committee meetings

Table 3. Attendance of leaders of parliamentary factions (groups) at committee meetings in December 2014 - November 2014

Now, let's analyze how leaders of deputy factions and groups attend meetings of committees, who, according to the Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine on Committees of the Verkhovna, cannot hold positions of committee heads, first deputy and deputy heads, as well as secretaries of committees:

• Head of the People's Front faction Maksym Burbak attended 19 of 21 meetings of the Committee on Affairs of Veterans, Combatants, ATO Participants and Disabled People (according to Protocols #1-19 of Committee meetings). The MP has 90.48% attendance.
• Leader of the Samopomich faction Oleh Bereziuk was present on 18 of 22 meetings of the Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government (according to Minutes #1-22 of Committee meetings). The MP has 81.82% attendance.
• Leader of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc Yurii Lutsenko was present on 14 of 28 meetings of the Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement (according to Minutes #1-28 of Committee meetings). The MP has 50% attendance.
• Leader of the Volia Narodu group Yaroslav Moskalenko attended 10 of 23 meetings of the Committee on Environmental Policy, Use of Natural Resources and Chornobyl Aftermath Mitigation (according to Minutes #1-9 of Committee meetings). The MP has 43.48% attendance.
• Co-head of the Revival group Vitalii Khomutynnik was present on 12 of 30 meetings of the Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy (according to Minutes #1-30 of Committee meetings). The MP has 40% attendance.
• Leader of the Radical Party Oleh Liashko became member of the Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy on 11 December 2014. The Committee has already held two meetings before this date. Thus, from 11 December 2014 to March 2015, Oleh Liashko was present on 11 of 28 meetings of the Committee (according to Minutes #1-30 of Committee meetings). The MP has 39.28% attendance.
• Co-head of the Revival group Viktor Bondar was present on 11 of 33 meetings of the Committee on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure and Support to Work of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (according to Minutes #1-33 of Committee meetings). The MP has 33% attendance.
• Co-head of the Revival group Valerii Pysarenko was present on 6 of 37 meetings of the Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy (according to Minutes #1-37 of Committee meetings). The MP has 16.22% attendance.
• Leader of the AUU Batkivshchyna faction Yuliia Tymoshenko was member of the Committee on European Integration, but later changed it to the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations. From 5 December 2014 to 15 January 2015, Yuliia Tymoshenko was present on 2 of 7 meetings of the Committee on European Integration. From 15 January 2015 to November 2015, Yuliia Tymoshenko was present on 1 of 14 meetings of the Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations. As for committees, her total attendance percentage is 14.2%.
• Head of the Opposition Bloc faction Yurii Boiko missed all 21 meetings of the Committee on Affairs of Veterans, Combatants, ATO Participants and Disabled People (according to Protocols #1-21 of Committee meetings). The MP has 0% attendance.

Top shirkers on Committee meetings

Besides MP from the AUU Batkivshchyna Nadiia Savchenko, who is a member of the Committee on National Security and Defense, and is being illegally imprisoned in Russia for over a year, the following four MPs have missed all meetings of their committees: These MPs are:

• Oleksandr Presman from the Revival deputy group, who missed all 33 meetings of the Committee on Budget (according to Minutes #1-33 of Committee meetings);
• Mykhailo Dobkin from the Opposition Bloc faction, who missed 22 meetings of the Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government (according to Minutes #1-22 of Committee meetings).
• Yurii Boiko from the Opposition Bloc missed 21 meetings of the Committee on Affairs of Veterans, Combatants, ATO Participants and Disabled People (according to Minutes #1-21 of Committee meetings).
• Viacheslav Bohuslaiev from the Volia Narodu group missed all meetings of the Committee on National Security and Defense according to Minutes #1-34 of Committee meetings).

It should be mentioned, that 34 MPs were present at all meetings of committees to which membership they belong. In particular, 14 of them belong to the People's Front faction, 13 – Petro Poroshenko Bloc, 4 – Samopomich, 2 – Radical Party faction, and 1 – AUU Batkivshchyna.

Attendance of MPs at committee meetings, gender analysis

According to the results of 2014 Parliamentary elections, 422 MPs were elected, including 371 men and 51 women. Petro Poroshenko Bloc has the largest number of women MPs – 16; People's Front – 12; Samopomich Union – 8; AUU Batkivshchyna – 5; Radical Party and Opposition Bloc have three women MPs each. Vidrodzhennia and Volia Narodu groups don't have any women MPs in their membership. Four women MPs are non-faction (Oksana Syroid, Iryna Suslova, Hanna Hopko ta Viktoriia Ptashnyk).

The Samopomich faction has the largest percentage of women MPs from the total membership – 30%. AUU Batkivshchyna has 26% of women, Radical Party – 14%, People's Front – 12%, Petro Poroshenko Bloc – 11%, Opposition Bloc – 7%, non-faction – 8%.

Besides that, 6 of 27 committees are chaired by women MPs. Committee on European Integration – Iryna Herashchenko (PPB); Committee on Foreign Affairs – Hanna Hopko (non-faction); Committee on Science and Education – Liliia Hrynevych (PF); Committee on Health Care – Olha Bohomolets (PPB); Committee on Social Policy, Employment and Pension Provision – Liudmyla Denysova (PF); and Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy – Viktoriia Siumar (PF).

Women MPs have proven to be better disciplined than men MPS when it comes to attendance on meetings of committees. The average attendance of women MPs is 81.9%; men – 74%. In 13 of 19 committees, which have women in their membership, women MPs demonstrate better attendance, in 6 committees – men; and in the Committee on Health Care the attendance percentage is equal. As of November 2015, 7 women MPs (14%) were present on all meetings of committees, while only 27 (7.4%) men MPs didn't miss any meeting.

Table 4. Gender analysis of attendance in VRU Committeed of VIII convocation (for December 2014 – November 2015).

Transparency of parliamentary committees

In general, OPORA has analyzed websites of Committees and checked their conformity to 36 criteria. Sites received 1 point for publication of information in every category, 0.5 point for partial publication or link to the other resource, and 0 points if the information is absent.