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The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s overall area of responsibility is in helping to provide, at an administrative level, the "constitutional and institutional glue" that underlies our system of executive government in our parliamentary democracy.
This year the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
(DPMC) is producing its first-ever Statement of Intent, which
supersedes the annual Departmental Forecast Reports that have
been produced since 1995. The Statement of Intent describes the
link between good government and the results that the Government
wants to achieve, and so it marks an important step forward in accountability
and priority setting. It outlines the DPMC’s strategic direction and what it
intends to do for the next three years; against
which, in turn, it will report its achievements and the progress it has
made in the annual report tabled in Parliament.
The main outcome the DPMC seeks to report against is simply “Good government with effective public service support” – which recognises the department’s contribution, along with other agencies, to achieving this outcome. Four contributing outcomes have also been adopted to reflect the key streams of work coming from DPMC.
These are:
Within the three-year time horizon that the Statement of Intent
covers, it outlines the reasons for identifying these outcomes rather
than others, how the department contributes to the achievement of
these outcomes, how it proposes to measure its achievements, and
how it intends to maintain organisational capability. Some of these
themes are discussed briefly below, as they will have an important
influence on DPMC’s work and performance over the next three
years.
Much of our political system operates on an agreed set of
conventions and practices, and DPMC provides the services that
support the operation of executive government. During the period
covered by this Statement of Intent, these responsibilities will again
be put to the test through the need to provide support for the
government-formation process after the next general election and for
the Governor-General appointment process.
The Review of the Centre report is leading to a refocusing of many governmental services and functions. The emphasis is on results and outcomes rather than “business as usual”: important new directions to emerge are the building of partnerships, both inside and outside the State sector, and the decentralisation of services and decision making. There will be increasing emphasis on whole-of-government responses and the co-ordination of central-government activities – tasks for which the department has a specific mandate.
Work is already being advanced on some of these issues, with agreed outcome statements currently being developed by DPMC, the Treasury and the State Services Commission. The first DPMC Statement of Intent now means that all three central agencies are producing these planning documents that extend beyond a singleyear focus. One of the challenges facing DPMC and other central agencies over the next three years will be to preserve the present system’s strong emphasis on accountability within the more flexible environment emerging from the Review of the Centre process.
Another factor influencing the policy environment is New Zealand’s
orientation towards a pathway of sustainable development, which
will require both leadership and the development of partnerships
with local government, industry, iwi, and non-governmental organisations.
DPMC, along with other central agencies, will play a key role
in co-ordinating the public service’s activities in this area.
Security and risk management are increasingly prominent issues.
The shadow cast by international terrorism and events following
September 11 extends to New Zealand – with seemingly no country
being immune. Environmental and bio-security risks, however, also
pose very real threats to New Zealand’s well-being and standard of
living. Because of the grave importance to the nation of a serious
threat to its security, DPMC’s work in co-ordinating government’s
response to security risks of any kind remains a core function.
Achieving DPMC’s overall goal of “Good Government with effective Public Service support” is necessarily dependent on meeting its four contributing outcomes and their more specific work programmes. Over the three-year period of 2003 to 2006, DPMC needs to maintain and enhance its overall capacity. Capacity risk – not having the right mix or quantum of technological and personnel resources – inevitably leads to performance risk and the possibility of not achieving the department’s outcomes.
This Statement of Intent overviews these capacity and performance
issues and sets out the DPMC’s response. In particular, the
department is committed to making more effective use of its staff
resources and knowledge across all areas of its work. It will also
continue its policy of actively encouraging secondments to the
department from inside and outside the public service. In the
emerging public-service environment, this type of interchange will
be increasingly vital if DPMC and the public service as a whole are to
achieve better results for the citizens of New Zealand.
Mark Prebble
Chief Executive
15 May 2003