Editing Politics of the Netherlands (section)

===Advisory councils===
As part of the Dutch tradition of depoliticised consensus-based decision making, the government often makes use of advisory councils composed of academic specialists or representatives of stakeholders.

The most prominent advisory council is the [[Social and Economic Council]] ({{langx|nl|Sociaal Economische Raad}}, SER), which is composed of representatives of [[trade union]]s and [[Employers' organization|employers' organisations]], along with government-appointed specialists. It is consulted at an early stage in financial, economic and social policy-making. It advises government and its advice, like the advice of the [[High Council of State (Netherlands)|High Councils of State]], cannot easily be set aside. The SER heads a system of [[Publiekrechtelijke Bedrijfsorganisatie|PBOs]], self-regulating organisations that contribute to making laws for specific economic sectors.

The following organisations are represented in the Social and Economic Council, accounting for two thirds of its membership:
*the left-wing [[Federation of Dutch Trade Unions]],
*the [[Christian National Trade Union Federation]]
*the trade union for managerial staff, the [[Trade Union Federation for Professionals]],
*the [[Employers' organization|employers' organisation]] [[VNO-NCW]],
*the employers' organisation for [[small and medium-sized enterprises]] MKB-Nederland, and
*the employers' organisation for farmers LTO Nederland.

The remaining third of the members of the council are appointed by the government. These include professors of economics and related fields, as well as representatives of the [[Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis]] and [[De Nederlandsche Bank]]. In addition, representatives of environmental and consumers' organisations are represented in SER working groups.

Other prominent advisory bodies are
*the [[Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis]], which forecasts economic development,
*[[Statistics Netherlands]], which studies and reports on social and economic developments,
*[[The Netherlands Institute for Social Research]], which studies long-term social and cultural trends,
*the [[National Institute for Public Health and the Environment]], which advises the government on environmental and health issues, and
*the [[Scientific Council for Government Policy]], which advises the government on long-term social, political and [[Economic forecasting|economic trend]]s.