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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 flow from the various roles performed by the Prime Minister and the Governor-General in the New Zealand system of 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 key areas of support is for issues that are the direct responsibility of the Prime Minister; constitutional issues, including those associated with the formation of governments; and issues associated with the operation of the Cabinet system.
Secondly, continuing support is provided on current issues across the range of government business. As the political head of the government, the Prime Minister must have an overview of government activity and 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 to provide information and advice on particular issues. This provides a further imperative for DPMC to ensure that the system of public service support for the government can come together swiftly and ably to support the Prime Minister and other ministers.
Thirdly, DPMC provides administrative support to the Prime Minister. This includes services to the Prime Minister – such as preparing replies to Parliamentary questions, and dealing with Official Information Act requests and other correspondence. In many cases, this involves working directly with other departments and agencies as the Prime Minister’s role takes her across all areas of government business.
A totally separate body, the Office of the Prime Minister, also advises the Prime Minister and is the primary point for 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 is, therefore, a significant figure in the constitutional
framework, with important constitutional, ceremonial, and community roles.
A great deal of DPMC’s activities focus on facilitating government decision
making at a strategic and operational level. A major role is to help 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.