About the Committee Archive

State Committee Archive

The State Committee Archive is a data collection containing information about Norwegian government committees, boards, and councils for the periods 1980-1997, 2002-2003, and 2004-2022. Data for the years 1998-2001 are missing.

The archive includes details about the committees and their members. Up to 2003, the archive contains information from the parliament report nr. 7. From 2004 onwards, it includes data from the Norwegian Government Security and Service Organization (DSS), which were published as open datasets until 2022. Sikt is not responsible for any errors in the sources.

Discontinuation of SRU from DSS

DSS Annual Report 2019: Expansion of the Boards, Councils, and Committees Database (SRU)

DSS was tasked with assessing what was needed to meet the demand for an expanded SRU database for three different solutions:

• Improving data quality.
• Including state-owned companies.
• Integrating with other registers.

The report was submitted to the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development (KMD) in May 2019. In addition to evaluating the alternatives outlined in the assignment letter, an additional option based on an entirely new technical solution was also explored. Regardless of the chosen solution, DSS recommended the implementation of common routines and processes within ministries for maintaining information in SRU.

DSS Annual Report 2022: Discontinuation of SRU Service

The service State Boards, Councils, and Committees (SRU) was discontinued in 2022. The lack of funding for the solution had led to a decline in the technical and functional value for the ministries. Maintenance and registration of SRU information have now been transferred to Regjeringen.no. More information can be found here: Statlige styrer, råd og utvalg - regjeringen.no

Content

The dataset includes:

• Fixed committee information – refer to details about the committee that do not change over time (e.g., committee type).
• Time-dependent committee information – includes details that vary from year to year (e.g., number of meetings).
• Time-dependent member information – pertains to annual data about the members (e.g., role type).
• Fixed personal information – includes personal details about the members (e.g., gender and date of birth).

Background

The ministry of Labor and Administration (AAD) annually presents to the parliament overviews of government committees, boards, and councils, along with their members. Until 1986, these overviews were published through white papers nr. 7. From 1987, they were released as a parliamentary report every four years, starting in 1989. In the intervening years, the overviews were published as "Overviews of Government Boards and Councils, etc."

The information in these overviews and parliamentary reports is essentially the same. Each year, Sikt receives machine-readable updates of the content from these reports, forming the basis of the Committee Archive. To enhance usability, Sikt has reviewed the parliamentary report/overviews for the years 1983, 1986, 1989 and 1993, recording information about the organizational affiliations of the members. This process will continue for future years when the parliament report nr. 7 is presented.

Data Quality

Inclusion in the Parliament report nr. 7 or the overviews depends on individual ministries reporting new committees to the Ministry of Labour and Government Administration. Not all committees are reported, resulting in some gaps in the material. Information about members' organizational affiliations can be incomplete, as it is based on self-reporting.

Usage

Public committees are often seen as a channel into the political arena. Data about the committee system are primarily of interest to social researchers to understand who gains access to the political arena through this channel. Information about members' organizational affiliations is particularly useful in this context.

Sources

• Parliament report nr. 7
• Overviews of Government Boards and Councils, etc.
• Norwegian Government Security and Service Organisation (DSS), overview of the government's boards, councils, and committees.

Historical information about the archive can be found in NSD-report no. 96: Svein Roar Hult, Harald Skeie, and John-Erik Ågotnes: Utvalgsarkivet. Codebook with documentation and example of information.