The Commonwealth Parliamentary Research Service (CPRS) provides authoritative comparative information on Commonwealth Parliaments.  The Reference Service is uniquely placed to be an authoritative information source relevant to the needs of Branches and Members and officials.

CPRS conducts or commissions research primarily of our Members, however the CPA will consider undertaking research for partner agencies on a case by case basis.

Examples of recent research enquiries:

• Parliamentary Workplace Equality & Diversity Networks 
• Maternity leave provisions for Parliamentarians across the Commonwealth
• Number of MPs under the age of 30 across the Commonwealth
• Codes of Conduct used in UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies
• COVID-19 activities undertaken by parliaments in the Commonwealth

Use of research:

The CPA Headquarters Secretariat may reuse the data and information gathered as part of any CPRS enquiry for future use. This use might be for public consumption, such as articles, blogs, toolkits and other communication outputs, as well as for case studies for use in programmes and other training materials. The CPA Headquarters Secretariat will retain information collected for a period of one year and will utilise data collected for monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting purposes.

Scroll down to discover some of our publications that have resulted from CPRS enquiries!

Limitations on types of research conducted:

The CPA Headquarters Secretariat will not undertake research of any individuals personal information and any personal information obtained as part of research request indirectly will be disposed of in line with CPA data protection policies.

The CPA Headquarters Secretariat will not undertake research with any third parties and will not commission research which has a financial cost for the Association.