Note: This site's content is accessible to all versions of every browser. However, this browser may not support basic Web standards, preventing the display of our site's design details. We support the mission of the Web Standards Project in the campaign encouraging users to upgrade their browsers.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s overall responsibility is to help provide, at an administrative level, the “constitutional and institutional glue” that underpins our system of parliamentary democracy. It provides a broad mix of activities – from wide-ranging assessments and policy advice to support for centre-of-government functions and public-sector leadership – that together allow the government of the day to conduct its business in pursuit of its mandated political objectives.
In this year’s Statement of Intent we seek to bring greater clarity to the various linkages between our outcomes, outputs, key interventions and activities, and the government’s goals for the public sector. For each of our contributing outcomes we describe those aspects of the department’s activities that are undertaken in support of the Prime Minister, the Governor-General, or executive government more widely. We also outline the operating environments we work in, the other agencies we collaborate with to achieve our outcomes, and the department’s key capability requirements.
The department’s fundamental purpose is to support the Prime Minister, the Governor-General and the Cabinet. This support role is clearly reflected in the outcomes we seek to achieve and the nature of our day-to-day activities. In this Statement of Intent we describe the mix of our key policy and service-delivery roles, our interaction with central agencies and other departments, and some of the ways we currently assess our performance.
We have a continuing need to identify and develop appropriate performance indicators – with the aim of better measuring the progress towards our outcomes. Appropriate research and evaluation methods will provide assurance that our systems, processes and activities are effective in achieving their purpose. The department also attaches significance to the ongoing role of internal and independent external audit, in part because the department is now receiving an additional $1 million funding a year to build capability. We will report in our annual report on the steps we have taken to that end.
Since its inception in 2003, the Statement of Intent has taken a central place in our departmental planning processes. We shall continue to develop the thinking behind our role and activities, and how we describe what the department seeks to achieve on a year-by-year basis. For the first time this year, we include reference to work on a shared outcome statement. This is a joint initiative with the Treasury and the State Services Commission (SSC), under which all three central agencies have agreed to commit themselves to the pursuit of some common objectives. We expect that in our annual report next year we will be able to demonstrate enhanced collaboration amongst the central agencies, and progress towards achievement of the shared outcome.
The department’s main outcome remains “good government, with effective public service support”. This outcome can only be achieved if DPMC works effectively across government with the entire range of public-sector agencies. A robust whole-of government approach is therefore the essential underpinning of the department’s effectiveness.
The department’s work streams are brought together through four key contributing outcomes:
This year DMPC will be focusing on the shared outcome with Treasury and the SSC: “a high-performing, trusted and accessible state sector, delivering the right things in the right way at the right price”.
Our outcomes require us to
As noted above, an innovation this year is the inclusion of an outcome shared with the two other central agencies. The central agencies have complementary roles, and the effectiveness of these roles will be improved if they are pursued in support of each other and the wider public service. From DPMC’s perspective, there is little doubt that we will become a more effective organisation by working more closely with our central-agency counterparts.
The agencies this year have agreed, for the first time, to work jointly in a number of new ways. We want to develop the areas of synergy between us. We will define areas in which our effectiveness can be enhanced by working together on particular projects. We also need to be clear about those matters that are more effectively achieved separately. As a first step, we are moving to ensure that matters such as planning are tackled in a more collaborative manner. Other steps such as shared training and development initiatives will also be taken, as part of building wider central-agency linkages.
The central agencies all have a key role to play in aligning the activities of the public service with the government’s goals and making sure that ministers receive the best possible advice before making decisions.
DPMC continues to have a leadership role in co-ordinating the Sustainable Development Programme of Action, in partnership with local government, industry, iwi, non-governmental organisations, and central government agencies.
DPMC provides a range of services that support the continuing operation of executive government – both during the term of a government and between administrations. Many of these services are delivered by the Cabinet Office, which has a key role in ensuring that constitutional processes are maintained and operate effectively in support of New Zealand’s system of government. Responsibilities that support the continuity of executive government are at the forefront of our work preparations for the coming year. In particular, there is a requirement to ensure that the processes and conventions relating to the election, and any government-formation period following the election, are understood and upheld. We have a corresponding requirement to manage the process associated with the change of Governor-General in 2006.
Many aspects of New Zealand’s constitution operate on the basis of long-standing conventions and practices. Some of our conventions remain closely linked to those we have inherited, whilst others have developed a distinct New Zealand character. It is the Cabinet Office within DPMC that is charged with ensuring that the constitutional practices and arrangements that support the continuity of executive government are conducted and upheld in accordance with our constitutional framework.
Security and risk management are increasingly prominent issues for governments worldwide. DPMC’s role is to offer the Prime Minister, and ministers, a whole-of-government view about risks and major security issues that are of interest to New Zealand. Continuing, co-ordinated effort across a significant number of government agencies is required for New Zealand to manage security risks, and keep abreast of international expectations in this field. In recent years, the focus of international security concern has broadened from its more traditional focus on international tension to include the activities of trans-national groups or movements, terrorist groups, and trans-national criminal networks. These groups and movements represent a kaleidoscope of causes and issues.
Environmental, bio-security and international health risks also pose identifiable threats to New Zealand’s wellbeing and standard of living. New Zealand’s increasing inter-connectedness with the outside world through trade, tourism and globalisation makes these risks ever present.
The department’s work in better understanding the international environment, from a New Zealand perspective, and in co-ordinating the government’s preparedness and response to security risks of many kinds remain core functions. DPMC continues to work to ensure that the government is as well informed as it can be about its external circumstances, and can respond rapidly to a wide range of security or other risks.
In last year’s annual report, we reported on the additional funding the department was appropriated in order to expand its capability in key areas. We had sought greater financial resources to allow us to better respond to immediate crises and to increase our technological capability and staff development.
In the past, because of its place at the centre of the government system, DPMC has been the home to a number of special policy units established to deal with particular issues. Recent examples include the Climate Change project team and the Foreshore and Seabed Group. These were both issues that required a whole-of-government response by government. The ability to manage policy-development challenges of this nature is something that the department must maintain.
The most important resource the department has at its disposal is its staff. It is vital that the department is able to attract and retain motivated staff of high quality, who can step up to the undoubted challenges of public service at the very core of New Zealand’s governmental system. Improvements are being implemented in our recruitment practices to ensure that we are able to continue to secure the talent we need.
The department will also undertake a review of staff training in the coming year – details on this are provided in the Capability section of this Statement of Intent. We also intend to carry out a second annual “climate” survey of staff attitudes to working in the department, as a means of defining possible areas for improvement. Our goal is a highly effective and aligned organisation in which thoroughly professional and motivated staff are able to contribute fully to the service of New Zealand’s executive government.
Maarten Wevers, CNZM
Chief Executive
9 May 2005