Editing Politics of the Netherlands (section)

===High Councils of State===
The Dutch political system has five so-called [[High Council of State (Netherlands)|High Councils of State]], which are explicitly regarded as independent by the Constitution. Apart from the two Houses of Parliament and the Council of State, these are the [[Court of Audit (Netherlands)|Court of Audit]] and the [[National Ombudsman]].

The Court of Audit investigates whether public funds are collected and spent legitimately and effectively. The National Ombudsman investigates complaints about the functioning and practices of government. As with the advice of the Council of State, the reports from these organisations are not easily put aside and often play a role in public and political debate.