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The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) was established in January 1990 to provide impartial high-quality advice and support to the Executive (the Prime Minister, the Governor-General, and the Cabinet). The services provided by DPMC are tailored to the various roles performed by the Prime Minister and the Governor-General in the New Zealand system of democratic parliamentary government.
DPMC supports the Prime Minister’s twin roles as leader of the government and chair of Cabinet, and has explicit responsibility for promoting co-ordination across the public service. DPMC provides three kinds of direct support to the Prime Minister.
The first of these is support for dealing with issues that are the direct responsibility of the Prime Minister. This includes advice on constitutional matters, such as those associated with the formation of a government, and support over leadership and management of the Cabinet system.
The second is policy advice provided across the range of issues that arise in the conduct of government business. As the political head of the government, the Prime Minister requires a comprehensive overview of emerging policy issues and ongoing government activity, as well as access to information on any and all issues that arise. DPMC cannot provide this overview and information on its own; it must work with other government agencies and external entities to provide information and advice. The need for comprehensive understanding of issues and well-founded advice requires DPMC to ensure that support for the government can come together swiftly and seamlessly across the entire public service.
Thirdly, DPMC provides administrative support to the Prime Minister. This includes preparing replies to Parliamentary questions, and dealing with Official Information Act requests and other correspondence. In many cases, these support services are provided in collaboration with other departments and agencies, and the Prime Minister’s Office. (The Prime Minister’s Office, which also advises the Prime Minister, is a separate entity that provides a range of administrative and logistical services, media and political advice, and coalition management.)
DPMC also supports the Governor-General in carrying out her functions.
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy. This means that the Queen is New Zealand’s head of state; but her powers and those of her representative, the Governor-General, are exercised generally only on the advice of ministers and the government. The Governor-General undertakes a range of significant constitutional, ceremonial, and community roles and responsibilities.
A great deal of DPMC’s activities focus on facilitating government decision making at a strategic and operational level. A major role is to align and co-ordinate the work of the core public service departments and ministries, so that decision making takes account of all relevant viewpoints and is as coherent and complete as possible.