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The contributing outcomes are the steps being taken towards DPMC’s overall outcome – “good government, with effective public service support”. Each of the contributing outcomes provides information on why it has been chosen, how it is being achieved, the role of other agencies, and how progress is being assessed or measured.
The Prime Minister, as the head of the executive branch of government, has the task of forming and maintaining a government. The Prime Minister plays an important role in maintaining and co-ordinating the government by overseeing its general policy direction. As the chair of Cabinet, the Prime Minister approves the agenda, leads the meetings and is the final arbiter of Cabinet procedure.
Ministers work together as a collective Cabinet to take decisions on a vast range of policy and administrative issues. Individually and collectively, ministers can then publicly promote and account for those decisions to Parliament and to the community. Government, including its various agencies, is a complex and multilevel system. The DPMC and the wider public service support the Prime Minister and ministers by ensuring that they are provided with good information and advice on which they can base decisions.
The main risk in this area is that the public service generally – or in specific areas – fails to supply the necessary advice and support on time and to the required standard. Lack of adequate policy advice or co-ordination services could lead to poor-quality decision making by Cabinet.
“Good government” depends on the effective functioning of executive government decision-making processes. The DPMC has a key role to play in promoting the effective operation of the public service to ensure that the Prime Minister and Cabinet have the administrative support to carry out the government’s business in a collective, well co-ordinated and organised way.
Most of the individual business units within DPMC are involved in achieving this contributing outcome, although the main responsibility rests with the Policy Advisory Group and the Cabinet Office.
The Policy Advisory Group provides comment and assistance to ensure that final Cabinet papers provide a good basis for collective decision making by ministers. It also assists departments to make links with other agencies that are working on related issues.
The Cabinet Office administers the Cabinet decision-making system, including a range of requirements that ensure issues are presented to Cabinet in a way that supports good decision making. It records the decisions of Cabinet and communicates them to relevant ministers and departments.
The Domestic and External Security Group (DESG) provides information and advice to the Prime Minister on security, emergency management, and related issues in New Zealand and overseas. It actively promotes inter-agency co-operation for managing a broad range of risks. The External Assessments Bureau (EAB) contributes through assessments and reports to the Prime Minister on external developments that could significantly affect New Zealand’s interests. (The work of both these business units is discussed in greater detail under Contributing Outcome 4.)
DPMC needs to ensure that it has the capacity to respond in a deep, rapid and appropriate way to the Prime Minister’s needs (and those of other ministers as required). It runs the risk of becoming sidelined if its advice is not seen as relevant or adequate, including losing information flows from other departments that have been built up over time. DPMC, as part of its information systems plan for the department, is looking at upgrading its systems in the policy area.
Staff recruitment and retention remain essential. There is a risk when key staff members leave of losing institutional memory and understanding of what has gone on before. The Policy Advisory Group is aiming to have all its positions filled for at least 80 per cent of the year. It is also looking to build a stronger network of former staff who are now working elsewhere in the public service. The aim is to develop a more robust policy group that has strong information and personal networks.
The activities of the DPMC’s business units for this contributing outcome can be grouped under three strategic areas.
Aligning state-sector support for effective Cabinet decision making: the DPMC provides the Prime Minister and ministers with the information and advice needed to support good decision making. As part of this role, it works with a wide range of other agencies to support the collective decision-making processes of Cabinet government.
Key ongoing advisory services for the Policy Advisory Group in 2005/06 include:
Key ongoing co-ordination activities for the Policy Advisory Group in 2005/06 include:
Key ongoing secretariat and advisory services for the Cabinet Office in 2005/06 include:
Key ongoing co-ordination services for the Cabinet Office in 2005/06 include:
Responding to emerging policy issues: DPMC needs to maintain sufficient capability to respond rapidly at an administrative level to new policy issues that require close monitoring by senior ministers. Recent examples of this “troubleshooting” and issues-management role include the Climate Change Project and the Foreshore and Seabed group, both of which were housed in DPMC. There are no plans for similar arrangements in 2005/06.
Working with central agencies to improve state-sector performance: as a central agency, DPMC works with the Treasury and the SSC on a number of fronts to support government and provide leadership within the state sector. All three agencies have a shared interest in a high-performing, trusted and accessible state sector, delivering the right things in the right way at the right prices. This is an outcome to which all three agencies contribute, through their respective contributing outcomes.
During 2004/05 the three chief executives, John Whitehead, Mark Prebble and Maarten Wevers, made a commitment to develop better approaches to working together on shared outcome work. Initially, the focus is on building a clearer picture of each agency’s separate business and the respective contributions that each agency will expect of the others in carrying out that business. The agencies will also focus on building greater co-ordination and collaboration in their respective planning processes. For 2005/06, this will involve more collective environmental scanning to support the development of a shared central-agency understanding of the state-sector operating environment over the next five years. This should help build understanding and relationships to support improved cross-agency planning in future.
To improve state-sector performance, we are already working together in a couple of important areas, which we plan to take further during 2005/06:
As has been discussed, DPMC works closely with the other two central agencies (the Treasury and the SSC) to promote the capability and the performance of the public service in servicing this contributing outcome. On specific issues, DPMC works with a range of government departments that may be the lead agencies in terms of policy development. An example of this is in the area of sustainable development, where DPMC has a support and co-ordinating role that backs up the more specific activities and interventions of other government departments and agencies.
The assessment criteria of quality, quantity, timeliness, and cost for the department’s outputs and Statement of Forecast Service Performance will be used to measure our progress towards contributing outcome 1. The specific outputs involved are:
The Prime Minister, ministers, and other key clients within the public service provide regular feedback on their satisfaction with the services provided. Information on any external reviews or evaluations of particular services or activities will be reported on in our annual report as part of assessing the progress we are making.
CHART 2: Decision Making by the Prime Minister and Cabinet is well informed and supported
