About the Parliament

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About the Parliament

The House of Parliament is where the laws of the Cayman Islands are created, debated, and amended. In addition to making legislation, Parliament is where Government spending is reviewed and approved, and where the activities of the Government are scrutinized.

The Legislative Assembly was renamed to the Parliament through the Parliament (Management) Act (2020) on 1^st January 2021, and became an independently-managed autonomous branch of the Government, and is overseen by the Parliament Management Commission.

Visitors are always welcome to visit the Parliament building (called the House of Parliament), where they can have a tour of the building, or watch live meetings of the House or certain Committees.

The Parliament is the heart of our democracy.

Enshrined in Part IV of our Constitution, the legislative body consists of 19 duly elected representatives from each constituency across the three Islands, as well as two non-elected ex-officio Members (the Hon. Deputy Governor and the Hon. Attorney General).

The legislature consists of the Government and the Opposition. The business of the Government comes to light through public Meetings of the House of Parliament, which are held in the Chamber of the Parliament building in George Town. Several Meetings of the House are held each year, in which laws are made or amended, bills are debated, Motions are considered, Parliamentary Questions are asked, annual reports are tabled, and the budget is scrutinised.

The procedures of Parliament are set out in the Constitution and the Parliament Standing Orders, but there are many laws (now called Acts) which dictate which aspects of the country’s governance and administration need to be brought to Parliament.

The House of Parliament is located in George Town, the capital of the Cayman Islands. Opened in 1972, the Parliament building was designed by Rutkowski Bradford and Partners, the architectural firm who won the international competition in 1970 for the new legislative home. For more information, download our Commemorative Book on the 50th Anniversary of the building

In late 2020, a Constitutional change took place which changed the Legislative Assembly to the Parliament of the Cayman Islands. It also established the Parliament Management Act and the Parliament Management Commission (PMC). You can learn more about these by selecting the “PMC” navigation menu item, and discover more about how Parliament is managed and administered.