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nches/Offices perform as under:

LEGISLATION
As a Legislative Organ of the State the primary function of Parliament is to deal with the passage of all categories of bills ranging from constitutional amendment bills to money bill as well as other government bills and the private members bills. The legislation branch of the Secretariat deals with all matters relating to such bills starting from their receipt and examination to their consideration and passage by the respective Houses and final assent by the President
The legislation branch also handle the work relating to the summoning and prorogation of the National Assembly, and the oath, roll and seating of members. Further, they also perform the other general business in the manner given below:
• The election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker and their removal by the National Assembly.
• Ascertainment of the member commanding confidence of the majority of members, and the resolutions for the votes of confidence and no confidence against the Prime Minister by the National Assembly alone.
• Compilation and issuance of the Orders of the day, maintenance of the attendance registers and grant of the leave of absence by the House.
• The summoning, conduct and prorogation of the joint sittings of the Parliament and President’s address to both the Houses assembled together is organized by the National Assembly Secretariat, while discussion on the President’s address takes place in each House separately.
• The daily proceedings of each House and the summary of business transacted in each session are prepared by the respective legislation branches. QUESTION
An effective monitoring tool for the members of the Parliament is by asking questions as to, and discussing the propriety of the measures of the Executive Government. The Question Branch perform the following functions:
• The processing of the questions and issue notices of their receipt and admission to the Ministers concerned.
• To regulate the number of questions to be answered and to determine their order for putting on the list of questions
• To allot with the approval of the Speaker, time available on different days in rotation, for answering the question by different Divisions of the Government.
• To arrange printing of the questions and their placement on the table of the respective Houses each morning at the start of the sitting.
• To maintain record of the questions asked and answered as well as a progressive statement.
• To process notices given by the members regarding discussion on matters of public importance. MOTIONS
The Motions Branch deals with the Privilege Motions, Adjournment Motions and Motions regarding policy, situation or statement and the Calling Attention Notices in the following manner:
• To receive notice of the question of the privilege, examine its admissibility and bring up to the House for its consideration.
• To examine the notices of Adjournment Motions and if admitted by the Speaker with the leave of the House, bring them up for two hours discussion in the House.
• To receive notice of a Motion that any policy, situation, statement or any other matter may be taken into consideration and process for discussion in the House.
• To process the Calling Attention Notices received with the previous permission of the Speaker and call upon the Minister concern to make a statement. PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES
The Standing Committees of the House, in addition to examining the legislation referred to them play an important role in monitoring and overseeing the working of the relevant Ministries of the Government. In the Parliamentary democracies, they are regarded as eyes, ears, hands and even brain of the Parliament. The National Assembly Rules of Procedure contain special provisions empowering the Committees to examine the expenditures, administration, delegated legislations, public petitions and policies of the ministry concerned and its associated public bodies. Apart from a separate Committee for each Ministry, there are Committees on Rules of Procedure and Privileges, House and Library Committees, Government Assurances Committees and Business Advisory Committee and a Public Account Committee for the National Assembly. The Committee Branch of the House perform the following functions:
• To arrange elections of the Chairman on the constitution of new Committees on the formation of the National Assembly.
• To convene the meetings of the Committees and maintain the records of the proceedings of each meeting.
• To pursue follow up action on the decisions taken by the Committees.
• To provide technical and administrative support to the Chairman and members of the Committees. FOR LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT
The power to legislate is one of the principle responsibilities of the legislature however this cannot be done without quality support from Reporting Cell, Editing, Translation and Interpretation departments. These departments must have qualified and trained staff to ensure smooth and flawless support to the members. Reporters Cell
• To record and transcribe the proceedings of National Assembly Sessions and record the Verbatim reporting of the proceedings of the house within 24 hours.
• Ensure proper verbatim reporting of the proceedings of the various committees of the House such as the Finance Committee, Public Accounts Committee and all the Standing Committees. Editing
• Editing of the debates of the house for final printing
• Indexing and cataloguing of these debates. Translation Branch
All translation jobs pertaining to business of the House and Secretariat are handled by this Branch they include Orders of the day, Questions and their replies, Resolutions, Adjournment Motions, Call Attention Notices and other motions, admitted lists of Questions etc including the following:
• Translation from Urdu to English and vice versa of all papers connected with the day to day business of the House and supply of the translated papers to the members, who so desire, well in advance.
• Translation of the speeches delivered by the Speaker/Deputy Speaker inside and outside the country.
• Typing, copying and comparison of copies with scripts. Interpretation
• Simultaneous interpretation of the proceedings of the house and the committees meetings from English into Urdu and vice versa is the main responsibility of this cell.
• It also assists in interpretation from English to Urdu and vice versa during visits of foreign delegations when required. Notice Office
• Receives from Members notices of Motions, Resolution, Bills, Questions, Adjournment Motions, Short Notice Questions and their immediate distribution to the concerned.
• Performs all the work connected with Notice Division in the House etc., allotment of Division Numbers, maintenance of Division list etc.
• Maintains the attendance register of members and ensures proper seating arrangement in the House and notes absence of members during session and grant leave under the Rules of Procedure.
• Printing of name cards of members of the National Assembly and seating charts for the sessions of the National Assembly.
• Preparation of summary of attendance on the prorogation of each session. Printing Branch
This is an important function of the legislative support, important enough for this function to be in sourced. Bulk printing particularly the daily printing is done through the Printing Corporation and it deals with various aspects of printing for the Parliament. It handles the following responsibilities:
• Printing of Debates in English/Urdu for National Assembly/Parliament of Pakistan, including the Printing of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly and the decisions of the Chair and other miscellaneous jobs.
• It is also responsible for the Distribution of National Assembly debates amongst Ministries/ Members of the National Assembly, Officers and other Institutions.
• Submission of Manuscripts of various jobs to P*P Press, afterwards its proof checking and pursuance of the said jobs up till its final printing. ALLIED SERVICES

Library and Research
Legislature requires a comprehensive library and research cell to support its work across legislation, committees, questions and motion. This is by far one of the most important functions that support the committee members who are heavily dependant on written material/research on various subjects in connection with the business of the House and of Committees. Professional support from the staff of library and research for a more meaningful and elaborate role is always helpful. A democratic disposition implies meaningful participation by people’s representatives in legislation. This can only be made possible when full information on the subject matter is available to the members in shortest possible time. The Library Committee of the National Assembly was established under relevant rules of procedures and is mainly responsible to develop and ensure the ready availability of books, periodicals, legal documents to invite suggestions and advise on the selection of books etc apart from the following functions:
• To provide members with research papers background / legislative history on significant policies
• Provide classification, cataloguing and accession of books. Clipping of newspapers / articles for Research services.
• Providing / issuance of reference books, materials etc. to: -
Speaker, Deputy Speaker and presiding officers. Standing committees of the House. Secretary and Officers of the Secretariat.
• Arrangements for the supply of newspapers / magazines to the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Secretary, and Senior Officers of the National Assembly.
• Management of specialized news clippings, archives and articles by the research staff for ready reference and appropriate use of members
• Liaison with relevant government departments and extend agencies with regard to information on request of Honorable Members as well as catering to information needs on relevant matters as verbally requested by Honorable Members.
• Provision of support material/research input within specific timeline for parliamentary delegations visiting abroad. Automation
Information technology and automation is core to the transitioning of the parliament secretariat in to a state of the art modern set up geared to take on the upcoming global challenges. Presently major functions of the automation department are to:
• Analyze, design, develop and implement new software for different branches of the National Assembly Secretariat.
• Design, develop and implement the network infrastructure.
• Maintain the local area network of computers.
• Advise management on the information technology and computer security.
• Maintain the inventory of computer hardware and software.
• Support in the capacity of network administrator.
• Provide database administration and support it.
• Maintain backup of data stored on the servers.
• Provide training to the secretariat and interested members of the parliament in use of computers, data processing, local area network and different software.
• To provide the facility of bilingual (Urdu and English) software for the creation, composing and printing of house debate to the users.
• Maintain the National Assembly website.
• Provide Internet facility to the different users in the secretariat and ensure its smooth running.
• Technical control of close circuit TV system installed in the National Assembly hall for video recording of the house debates.
• Provide video records of speeches made by the members of the parliament after approval of the Speaker.
• Selection and procurement of new hardware and software.
• Take preventive measures against the virus attacks and provide guidance to the user on how to avoid
• Coordinate IT activities with ministry of IT and of all parliamentary institutions of Pakistan. Public Relations
Public relations is a very important function, it is the face of the parliament to the world. Its main purpose is to project a positive image of the parliament by projecting and calling attention to its aims, policies and services rendered as a legislature and symbol of sovereignty to the country. For this purpose it constantly establishes liaison with the Parliamentary correspondents representing both the electronic and print media. The Public Relations seeks support from the Public Relations branch, Media Branch, Inter Parliamentary Relations branch, International Relations branch and Protocol. Its main functions are:
• Issuance of policy statements/contradictions as and when required.
• Monitoring/scanning of major dailies to ensure they capture events of significance, reporting and projection of the House proceedings and meetings of Committees.
• Publish directories of the Members’ Curriculum Vitae and similar information about the House and Committees

Media
• This function is responsible for monitoring the press and public opinion with a view to provide prompt and comprehensive feedback to leaders of the parliament and the secretariat.
• Media projection of the Speaker/Deputy Speaker through issuance of press releases of their meetings, courtesy calls, Parliamentary visits and banquets held in honor of the visiting dignitaries within and outside the parliament house and within and outside the country as well.
• Ensuring media coverage and issuance of press releases for various committees of the parliament.
• Handling of speeches for the Speaker/Deputy Speaker. Inter Parliamentary Relations
This Branch is responsible for all matters relating to Inter Parliamentary Relations, some important functions carried out by this branch are as under:
• It deals with all matters relating to bilateral visits of incoming/outgoing delegations.
• Arrangements regarding call of different high dignitaries, visiting Pakistan, on the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Secretary National Assembly of Pakistan.
• Preparation/arranging of brief through Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Issue of invitations on the occasions of the address of the President to Joint Sitting of the Parliament and other occasions.
• Felicitation/condolence messages from Speaker to the presiding officers of foreign parliaments.
• Arrangements for dinner/lunch etc for the Speaker/Deputy Speaker and confirmation thereof.
• Formation/revival of friendship groups in National Assembly and vice versa.
• Collects and updates the bio-data of members of National Assembly. International Relations
This is an extremely important function dealing with Bilateral and Multilateral Parliamentary Relations established with other Parliaments at Regional and International levels. The sensitivity of this function requires very experienced and knowledgeable staff to handle this function.
• At the multilateral level the National Assembly is member of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and S.A.A.R.C. Speaker’s Conference.
• Deals with all workshops and seminars held in foreign countries under the umbrella of CPA, IPU and PUOICM. Protocol
• Protocol covers areas such as accompanying Speaker/Deputy Speaker to Diplomatic and Public Functions.
• Preparations of official passports for Speaker/Deputy Speaker and the Members of the parliament.
• Ensure proper protocol arrangements which include preparation /issuance of invitation cards, seating arrangements, confirmations etc for inaugural sessions of the Assembly of Pakistan and Joint sittings on the occasion of visits by foreign dignitaries.
• Organize official visits abroad of Parliamentary delegations and ensures proper protocol facilities which include quick check in and checkouts from airports, hotels and arranging meetings with dignitaries.
• Regular liaisons with diplomatic corps around the country.
• Receiving and seeing off dignitaries such as ambassadors.
• Making arrangements for various groups visiting parliament to view the proceedings of the house. Administration
Article 87 of the Constitution provides separate Secretariats for both Houses in order to ensure necessary support services to the Parliament. The Administration wing is an extremely important wing as it deals with matters related to the general administration of the parliament house, members and staff supporting the house with activities ranging from implementation of policies and procedures to hiring, promotion, training of officer and official staff, monitoring and payouts of salary, benefits and perquisites to members and staff across the Parliament. The spectrum of activities under Administration range from sophisticated and strategic involvement in financial expenditure, Policy matters relating to the status and re-organization of the National Assembly to very routine matters such as supply of stationery, allotment of official residential accommodation to Speaker, Deputy Speaker and officers of the staff, managing security of staff, members, VIPs and VVIP’s. This is too wide a range of responsibilities and therefore often keeps the senior officers involved in non-value added administrative activities rather than the strategic partnership required on the legislation and policy making. These functions should be divided into “Strategic” and “ Non Strategic” activities and modern concepts and processes like Quality and Control, Process Re-engineering, Reward and Recognition Programs be introduced to strengthen the secretariat support. Some of the major responsibilities of Administration wing are as under:

Establishment Branch
Establishment deals with all HR activities including Hiring, Promotion, Training, Payroll, Benefits and perquisites for Gazetted (Officers) and Non-gazetted (Officials) of the House. Gazetted
• This set up deals with the policy matters relating to the status and re-organization of the two Secretariats, creation/abolition of posts, postings, specify recruitment rules for appointment against various posts, promotions, retirements and appointments of officers.
• It is responsible for holding departmental Promotion Committee and Recruitment/Selection Committee meetings as well as ensures enforcement of Conduct and Discipline, Office Procedures, Rules of Business, Secretariat Instructions.
• Manages and maintains granting of Leave, Annual Confidential Reports / Performance Management, move over and qualification and sends officers abroad for training.
• Maintains the submission of periodical returns and Declaration of Assets.
• Implementation of the decisions, directions etc. of the Finance Committee relating to the service matters.
• Borrowing of services of officers from other departments and vice versa to carry out urgent business.
• Issue sanctions regarding discretionary grants in respect of Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Leader of Opposition and grant of honorarium/remuneration to the employees of the secretariat for doing extra and laborious duties and payments to others for service rendered.
• Have record of classified and accountable documents/seal brass kept with various officers and to furnish periodicals certificates to the cabinet/interior divisions regarding the said documents/seals.
• Triennial Census of Federal Government employees. Non-Gazetted
This set up carries out functions very similar to the set up above with the major difference being that they handle officials rather than officers. Some of the functions of this department are as under:
• It is responsible for creation and abolition of posts, cadres, temporary/permanent posts .It undertakes the process of Recruitment / Promotion and Confirmations, Conduct and Discipline, Re-employment, retirement etc.
• Hold departmental promotion/recruitment committees meetings for making recommendations for appointments against various posts.
• Implementation of the decisions, directions of the finance committee relating to the service matter of officials.
• Maintains the Annual Confidential Reports / Performance Management, posting and transfer of staff as well as supervises the training of Staff
• Oversees the Loan and borrowing of services of staff.
• Ensures that Office Procedure, Rules of Business, Secretariat Instructions are followed by the staff.
• Submission of periodical returns and Declaration of Assets of officials.
• Court cases and other miscellaneous work pertaining to the services matter of the officials. Security
Security is a sensitive issue in context of the Parliament and requires vigilance and spur of the moment decisions in line with the situation. Some of the key responsibilities of this function are:
• Maintenance of security at all gates and other important points of staff entry control in the galleries.
• Controls entry into the Parliament House of members.
• Checks Operation of walks through baggage X-ray Machine and named challis where necessary.
• Is responsible for ensuring the security of VIPs while they are in the Assembly Hall with the active assistance of Special Branch Police.
• Performs technical sweeping of Chambers with the assistance of other concerned agencies. Transport Cell
This is a setup responsible for purchase, maintenance and repair of all vehicles and providing transport for members and staff. This is an extremely time consuming and cumbersome activity which has been outsourced in most organizations. Some of the main responsibilities of this cell include:
• Purchasing of Government vehicles and ensuring their maintenance and repair.
• Providing Transport for the officers and Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, Chairman Standing Committees and staff of the Secretariat.
• Maintaining petrol accounts/calculation of monthly average of P.O.L. consumed by each vehicle plus overtime bills of drivers and maintenance of log books of vehicles.
2.4.4. Finance and Accounts Branch
Major functions attached with the finance and accounts branch are:
• Maintenance of service books of non-gazetted staff.
• Pay fixation / protection of officials of BPS 1-15.
• Give replies to audit.
• Pension contribution.
• Maintenance and advance payment of general provident fund of retired officers/officials.
• Long term advances i.e. house building advance/motor car advances.
• Allotment of and provide advances from general provident fund.
• Opening of interest free accounts. Cash And Accounts Branch
Cash and accounts branch deals with Fixation of pay of Staff (Non-gazetted) and looks after and maintains the cashbook and the cheque register. This branch also looks after the session allowance bills in respect of officers and staff. Some of its main functions are:
• Preparation of pays and allowances in respect of Speaker/Deputy Speaker, officers and staff of the National Assembly
• Preparation and pursuing of manual bills in respect of all the officers and staff and submission of all the officers and staff bills to the AGPR.
• Receive bills from AGPR and delivery of those cheques to all the officers.
• Preparation of computer change statements and submission of those changes to AGPR before the 8th of every month.
• Checking the proof and making correction in the payroll of AGPR before the 21st and 26th of every month.
• Prepares and grants session allowance bills, conveyance/diet charges bills.
• Preparation of TA/DA bills including regular, transfer and retirement TA/DA bills.
• Grant and preparation of charges of house rent allowance to the non-gazetted staff.
• Fixation of pay in respect of non-gazetted staff.
• Prepares house building advance bills, motorcar, motorcycle, cycle and General provident Fund advance bills.
• Making recovery of long-term advances and General Provident Fund.
• Preparation of monthly expenditure statements.
• Preparation of budget estimates/revised statements relating to heads of accounts dealt with in this branch.
• Maintenance of token register, cheque register and cash book.
• Preparation of contingent bills and leaves encashment bills.
• Issuance of Last Pay Certificates and No Demand Certificates.
• Implication of all the financial notifications orders issued by the finance division and establishment division.
• Implication of financial/service orders and sanctions issued by the establishment branch, administration branch, budget branch, and finance and accounts branch.
• Preparation of all the bills according to the sanction letters issued for incoming/outgoing delegations conducted by the IR and IPR branches.
• Ensures proper assessment and preparation of Income Tax Returns in respect of all the officers and staff and forwarding those statements to AGPR and to the income tax office.
• Collect books from the services book club and distribution of those books to the subscribers of that club. Budget and Accounts Branch
This branch mainly deals with the salaries and expenditures of the Members of the National Assembly. Some of the main duties and responsibilities of this branch are:
• To ensure timely preparation of salary bills and regular allowances and TA/DA bills of Members of the National Assembly and issuance of these cheques to the MNA accounts.
• Preparation of Budget Estimates and Revised Estimates in respect of the Members of the National Assembly, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and their staff, leader of the opposition and of the secretariat.
• Preparation of monthly expenditure statement for information to the Secretary and submission of the same to the finance division.
• Reconciliation of expenditure with AGPR on monthly basis.
• Preparation of agenda, holding meetings of the finance committee of the National Assembly and monitoring of follow up actions.
• Preparation of gratuity, pension, benevolent find, group insurance papers of the employees of the National Assembly Secretariat.
• Preparation of appropriation accounts relating to the National Assembly Secretariat and departmental replies to the points bought out by audit and its submission to Public Accounts Committee.
• Preparation of agenda, holding meetings of departmental accounts committee and follow up actions.
• Internal audit of the National Assembly Secretariat. Administration Branch
The administration branch looks after the day-to-day office management requirements and provides the necessary logistics support to other branches. The administration wing deals with matters related to the general administration of the two houses. It heads the notice branch, communication branch, record branch, receipt & issue branch and service branch. Some of its major responsibilities are
• Looks after the financial aspect of the parliament workings.
• Maintains the Parliament House through C.D.A.
• Supplies stationary, Forms, Letter Heads, printing of forms and secretariat letterhead as well as issues Identification Cards to the officers and staff.
• Issues circular regarding public holidays in the office and Supplies information for the preparation of telephone directories of T&T Department and Ministries/Divisions.
• Purchase, hire, repairs, maintenance and all other matters relating to furniture, typewriters, duplicating machines, plain paper copies, public address equipment (microphones, earphones, etc.), bicycles, tape recorders, electric devices or other new office machinery, equipment.
• Uniforms for the Sergeant Staff, Staff Chauffeurs, Dispatch Riders, Qasids and Chamber Attendants.
• Ensures proper arrangement of lunches/dinners hosted by Speaker/Deputy Speaker. Service Branch
• Provides residential accommodation for parliamentarians and looks after the medical facilities and claims.
• Arrangements of Banking, Postal and telegraphic facilities to members.
• Opening of reservation counters of Airline/Railway in the Parliament House (Ground Floor) during the session period.
• Ensures proper security arrangements in the Parliament House and purchase of security equipments.
• Holds Conferences in connection with the arrangements for the sessions of the National Assembly. Communication Unit
• Provides an efficient maintenance/operation of SIS/AVC system.
• Carries out repairs to keep the system in perfect running condition.
• Carries out periodic checking of the installation.
• Keeps the installation in perfect working condition at all times.
• Maintain the “Spools Tape Library” for keeping an audible record of the proceeding of the National Assembly Sessions and Committee Meetings. Receipt And Issue Branch
• Maintains a diary of all incoming and outgoing mails and ensures timely distribution of the mail.
• Does all the cyclostyling work.
• Maintains the Late/night duty rotations.
• Dispatches official documents by diplomatic bag. National Assembly Service Center
• Provide local telephone call facility.
• Provides photocopy facilities to the Members of the National Assembly.
• Maintains computer facilities for the Members of the National Assembly in the center.
• During session days provides them with light refreshments.
• Provides them with secretarial facilities. Estate Branch
• Hiring of residential accommodation for the employees for the National Assembly Secretariat.
• Hiring of office space for the National Assembly, when required.
• Forwarding of applications of the employees of the National Assembly Secretariat to the Estate office for allotment of government accommodation and keeping record of the allotment.
• Making payment to the concerned on account of hiring residential/office accommodation.