Parliament Terms, Sessions and Memberships

This document covers how the system models the hierarchy of Parliament Terms, Sessions, and Sittings as defined in the National Assembly Standing Orders (7th Edition), and how Members are associated to each term.

1. Definitions (S.O. 2)

Concept	Standing Order definition	System model
Parliament Term	The period from the first sitting after a General Election to dissolution	`ParliamentTerm` record
Session	Sittings from first meeting after General Election (or first meeting of regular session) to adjournment at end of calendar year or end of term	`ParliamentSession` record
Sitting	A continuous period in which the House sits without adjournment	`Sitting` record
Recess	Period during which the House stands adjourned to a day other than the next normal sitting day	`ParliamentSession.status = RECESS`

2. Data Hierarchy

ParliamentTerm
  └── ParliamentSession  (one or more per term)
        └── Sitting       (one or more per session)
              └── AgendaItem

A Sitting is automatically linked to the active ParliamentSession covering its scheduledStart date. If no sessionId is passed to POST /api/v1/sittings, the service resolves it automatically by finding the active session whose date range covers the sitting:

sessionId resolved = ParliamentSession WHERE status = ACTIVE
                      AND startDate ≤ scheduledStart
                      AND (endDate IS NULL OR endDate ≥ scheduledStart)

3. Regular Sessions (S.O. 27)

S.O. 27 — Except for the Session commencing immediately after a General Election, the National Assembly shall meet in regular sessions commencing on such dates as the House Business Committee shall determine.

The system does not auto-create sessions. The Clerk creates each ParliamentSession with:

termId — links to the parent ParliamentTerm
startDate / endDate
status — one of ACTIVE, RECESS, ADJOURNED, CLOSED, UPCOMING

4. Session Statuses

Status	Meaning
`UPCOMING`	Session scheduled but not yet started
`ACTIVE`	House is sitting in this session
`RECESS`	House adjourned to a future date (recess period)
`ADJOURNED`	House adjourned, may resume
`CLOSED`	Session permanently ended

5. Parliament Term Statuses

Status	Meaning
`UPCOMING`	Future term not yet commenced
`ACTIVE`	Current Parliament term
`ENDED`	Parliament dissolved

6. Term Memberships

Standing Orders assume Members are associated with a particular Parliament term. A Member's rights, speaking time, and floor permissions are derived from their role in the current term.

For each Member, a TermMembership record ties the user account to a specific term, along with their elected constituency or special interest seat. This correctly handles:

Re-elections — a new TermMembership is created for each term; the user account remains unchanged
By-elections — a mid-term membership is added for the new term
Roles — a Member may hold different roles across terms (e.g., backbencher in one term, Whip in another)

7. API Reference — Terms, Sessions and Memberships