Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Back to top anchor
Home Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)
Page url
  • Events
  • Media
  • Contact us
  • Home
Open search Close search
  • Contact us
    • How to make an Official Information Act request
      • Tips for requesting information
      • Guidance on how we will respond
  • About DPMC
    • Who we are
      • Our purpose
      • Our strategic intentions
      • How we deliver
    • Our work
      • Supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet
      • Supporting the Governor-General
      • Other roles and responsibilities
    • Our history
      • Business units and programmes
    • Careers
  • Our business units
    • Cabinet Office
      • Roles and responsibilities
        • Statutory and formal responsibilities
      • Supporting the work of the Cabinet
        • Cabinet Committees
        • Elections
        • Cabinet Manual
          • Publication information
          • Foreword
          • Preface
          • Introduction
          • 1. Sovereign, Governor-General, and Executive Council
            • Introduction
            • Sovereign of New Zealand
            • Governor-General
            • Executive Council
            • Clerk of the Executive Council
            • Meetings of Executive Council
            • Gazetting and entry into force
            • Announcement
            • New Zealand Royal Honours System
            • Heraldry
            • Order of Precedence
            • Related Information
          • 2. Ministers of the Crown: Appointment, Role, and Conduct
            • Introduction
            • Prime Minister
            • Deputy Prime Minister
            • Ministers
            • Parliamentary Under-Secretaries
            • Parliamentary Private Secretaries
            • Conduct, public duty, and personal interests
            • Interactions with representatives from non-government or commercial organisations
            • Personal email accounts and phone numbers
            • Gifts and awards
            • Speaking engagements, endorsements, and non-ministerial activities
            • Government advertising and publicity guidelines
            • Ministerial travel
            • Related Information
          • 3. Ministers of the Crown and the Public Sector
            • Introduction
            • The public service and the public sector
            • Ministers and the public service
            • Ministers and Crown entities
            • Ministers and companies in the public sector
            • Integrity and conduct throughout the public sector
            • Related Information
          • 4. Ministers, the Law, and Inquiries
            • Introduction
            • Attorney-General
            • Comment by Ministers on judicial decisions
            • Crown legal business
            • Litigation involving Ministers
            • Legal advice and legal professional privilege
            • Inquiries
            • Related Information
          • 5. Cabinet Decision-making
            • Introduction
            • Cabinet
            • Cabinet committees
            • Principles of Cabinet decision-making
            • Cabinet and Cabinet committee procedures
            • Secretary of the Cabinet and the Cabinet Office
            • Related Information
          • 6. Elections, Transitions, and Government Formation
            • Introduction
            • The electoral cycle
            • Transitions following an election
            • Caretaker convention
            • Government formation
            • Mid-term transitions
            • Early election
            • Provision of information by the state sector during transitions
            • Related Information
          • 7. The Executive, Legislation, and the House
            • Introduction
            • Speech from the Throne
            • Prime Minister's statement
            • Government legislation programme
            • Revision Bills
            • Law Commission work programme
            • Development and approval of bills
            • Secondary legislation
            • Ministers and the House
            • Ministers and select committees
            • Parliamentary treaty examination
            • Crown's financial veto
            • Citizens initiated referenda
            • Declarations of inconsistency
            • Related information
            • Related information
          • 8. Official Information and Public Records
            • Introduction
            • Information held by government
            • Official Information Act 1982
            • Privacy Act 1993
            • Ombudsmen Act 1975
            • Providing information to select committees
            • Production or discovery of official documents
            • Requests for parliamentary information
            • Ministers and Public Records
            • Disclosure and use of official information by former Ministers
            • Convention on access to Cabinet records of a previous administration
            • Related Information
          • Appendix A: The Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi
          • Appendix B: Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor-General of New Zealand 1983
          • Index
        • History of the Cabinet Manual
      • Ministers and their portfolios
        • Ministerial List
        • Ministerial portfolios
          • Briefings to incoming ministers (BIMs)
          • Directory of Ministerial portfolios
        • Register of Assigned Legislation
        • Delegations
        • Ministers' interests
          • Ministers' interests 2020-2021
          • Ministers' Interests 2019-2020
          • Ministers' Interests 2018-2019
          • Ministers' interests 2017-2018
          • Ministers' interests 2016-2017
          • Ministers' interests 2015-2016
          • Ministers' interests 2014-2015
          • Ministers' interests 2013-2014
          • Ministers' interests 2012-2013
      • Executive Council
      • The Honours Unit
    • National Security Group
      • National Security Systems
      • National Assessments Bureau
        • Working for the National Assessments Bureau
      • National Security Policy
        • National Cyber Policy Office
      • National Intelligence and Risk Coordination
      • National Security Workforce
    • Policy Advisory Group
      • Roles and responsibilities
    • Implementation Unit
      • Latest news and updates
    • Strategy, Governance and Engagement Group
    • Child Wellbeing and Poverty Reduction Group
    • COVID-19 Group
    • Government House
  • Departmental agency
    • NEMA
      • Hurunui/Kaikōura Earthquakes Recovery Act 2016
      • Ministerial Review: Better Responses to Natural Disasters and Other Emergencies in New Zealand
  • Our programmes
    • New Zealand Royal Honours
      • Make a nomination
        • Nominations for Honours
        • New Zealand Royal Honours nomination guidelines
        • Nomination Form and Guide to making Nominations
        • Bravery Award Nominations
        • The New Zealand Antarctic Medal: Nomination Guidelines
      • Honours lists and recipients
        • Honours lists
          • Current Members of the Order of New Zealand
          • Knights and Dames of the New Zealand Order of Merit
          • Knights and Dames of the Orders of Chivalry
          • The New Zealand Gallantry Awards
          • The New Zealand Bravery Awards
          • The New Zealand Antarctic Medal
          • The Privy Council
        • Titles and styles of knights and dames
        • Wearing of insignia
          • Order of wear: orders, decorations and medals in New Zealand
          • Method of mounting insignia
      • The New Zealand Royal Honours system
        • Overview of the New Zealand Royal Honours system
        • Forfeiture of Honours
        • History
        • Components of the New Zealand Royal Honours system
          • The Order of New Zealand
          • The New Zealand Order of Merit
          • The Queen's Service Order
          • Gallantry and Bravery Awards
            • New Zealand Gallantry Awards
            • New Zealand Bravery Awards
          • The New Zealand Antarctic Medal
          • The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration
          • Other distinctive New Zealand Honours
          • "The Right Honourable"
            • The Right Honourable in New Zealand
          • "The Honourable"
            • Roll of The Honourables
          • Privy Council
        • Order of Wear
        • Rules relating to the acceptance and wearing of Foreign Honours
        • New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary
      • New Zealand Royal Honours Image Gallery
      • New Zealand Royal Honours FAQs
    • The Policy Project
      • About the Policy Project
      • How the Policy Project can help you
      • Policy improvement frameworks
        • Policy quality
        • Policy skills
          • Development Pathways
            • Use the tool
            • How we developed the Tool
        • Policy capability
      • Policy Methods Toolbox
        • Start Right
          • Commissioning Conversations
          • Exploration
          • Green Light
        • Design thinking
          • Journey mapping
          • Role play
          • Prototyping
          • Experience interviews
          • Personas
        • Behavioural insights
          • Behavioural Change Models
        • Community engagement
          • Citizen juries
        • Futures thinking
          • Mythbusters
          • Horizon Scanning
          • Assumption Testing
          • Futures Wheel
          • Scenarios
          • Wind Tunnelling
          • Backcasting
        • Treaty of Waitangi analysis
      • Long-term Insights Briefings
      • Policy advice themes
        • Commissioning a policy project
        • Communicating policy advice
        • Engagement
        • Evidence and evaluation
        • Free and frank advice
        • Innovation
        • Policy and law
        • Stewardship
      • Case studies
        • Inland Revenue Case Study
        • Ministry of Transport Case Study
        • Land Information New Zealand Case Study
      • Policy community
        • Policy system leadership
          • Head of the Policy Profession
          • The Policy Profession Board
          • Tier 2 Policy Leaders' Network
          • Policy capability leads
        • Policy managers
        • Policy practitioners
        • Ways to connect to the policy community
          • The New Zealand community
          • The international community
        • Open Government Partnership
      • Progress and performance
      • Publications
      • Policy community events
      • Blog
      • Navigator
    • Greater Christchurch recovery and regeneration
      • Greater Christchurch Group
        • Roles and responsibilities
          • Disestablishment of CERA
        • External websites
      • The Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act 2016
      • Our regeneration partners
      • Global Settlement Agreement with Christchurch City Council
      • Recovery and regeneration plans
        • Cranford Regeneration Plan
        • Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan
        • Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan
        • Residential Red Zone Offer Recovery Plan
        • Land Use Recovery Plan
        • Christchurch Central Recovery Plan
      • Section 71 proposals
        • Commercial film or video production facilities in Christchurch – Section 71 Proposal
        • Hagley Oval
        • Lyttelton Commercial Zone Parking
        • Yaldhurst Recreation and Sports Facility
        • Residential Unit Overlay District Plan Changes
        • Redcliffs School relocation
      • Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Project
      • Past Orders in Council
    • National security
      • New Zealand’s national security system
        • National security objectives
        • National security principles
        • Coordination across government
        • DPMC’s role
        • Role of central government
        • National Security Systems Handbook
        • National security governance structure
          • ODESC governance boards
          • Working Groups and committees
          • Lead and support agencies
        • National security system during a crisis
          • ODESC
          • Watch Groups
          • Inter-agency Working Groups and Specialist Groups
      • National Risk Approach
        • New Zealand's Nationally Significant Risks
      • National Security Intelligence Priorities
      • Counter-terrorism
        • He Whenua Taurikura
          • He Whenua Taurikura Governance Board
          • He Whenua Taurikura Hui
            • He Whenua Taurikura Hui 2021
            • He Whenua Taurikura Hui 2022
          • Master’s Scholarship
            • Master's Scholarship 2021/2022
            • Master's Scholarship FAQs
          • He Whenua Taurikura Co-Directors
        • New Zealand's Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism Strategy
        • Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Strategic Framework
        • Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Fund
        • Terrorist and National Security Event Media Protocols
      • Countering foreign interference
      • Cyber Security Strategy
        • Cyber ransom advice
        • United Nations Cybercrime Treaty
          • We asked, you said, we did
      • Intelligence and Security Act 2017
        • 2022 Review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017
        • Why did we need new legislation?
        • What is intelligence?
        • Defining national security
        • Bringing the agencies further into the public service
        • Powers and warrants
          • Activities allowed under intelligence warrants
          • The authorisation framework
          • Protections for New Zealanders
        • Strengthening oversight of NZSIS and GCSB
        • Whistleblowing and protecting classified information
        • Cover and immunities
          • Cover and assumed identity arrangements
          • Immunities from legal liabilities
        • Sharing information
          • Domestic information sharing
          • Arrangements with foreign partners
        • The National Assessments Bureau
        • Case studies
          • Counter-terrorism
          • Investigating a suspected terrorist
          • Counter-espionage
          • Cyber security in action
        • Resources
      • Strengthening resilience to disinformation
      • Aotearoa's National Security Strategy
      • National Security Long-term Insights Briefing
        • LTIB Topic Consultation Summary
        • 2022 National Security Survey Report
      • Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain
        • The Government’s Response
        • Working with Communities - get involved
          • Kāpuia - Ministerial Advisory Group Nominations
        • Response Steering Group
        • Response Progress
        • Measuring Success
        • Improving Community Engagement
        • Key Documents
        • Get in touch
      • Five Country Ministerial
    • Child and youth wellbeing strategy
      • Publications and resources
    • Reducing child poverty
      • Formal gazetting of targets for reducing child poverty
    • Special programmes
      • Kāpuia – Ministerial Advisory Group
        • Advice from Kāpuia
        • Kāpuia Pānui
      • Severe Weather Events Recovery Review Panel releases
      • Health and Disability Review Transition Unit
      • COVID-19 Proactive Releases
      • Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor archives
        • Archive
          • Professor Sir Peter Gluckman 2009-2011
          • Professor Sir Peter Gluckman 2011-2013
          • Professor Sir Peter Gluckman 2013-2015
          • Professor Sir Peter Gluckman 2015-2018
          • Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard 2018-2021
      • Historical Programmes
        • Inquiry into the EQC
        • Connect Smart
        • Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Learning and Legacy Programme
        • Ministerial Committee on Poverty
        • Flag consideration project
        • Christ Church Cathedral Working Group
        • Tackling methamphetamine
  • Publications
  • Browse all sections
  • Publications
  • News and notices
  • Annual reports
  • CabGuide
  • Cabinet Manual
  • Contact us
    • How to make an Official Information Act request
      • Tips for requesting information
      • Guidance on how we will respond
  • About DPMC
    • Who we are
      • Our purpose
      • Our strategic intentions
      • How we deliver
    • Our work
      • Supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet
      • Supporting the Governor-General
      • Other roles and responsibilities
    • Our history
      • Business units and programmes
    • Careers
  • Our business units
    • Cabinet Office
      • Roles and responsibilities
        • Statutory and formal responsibilities
      • Supporting the work of the Cabinet
        • Cabinet Committees
        • Elections
        • Cabinet Manual
        • History of the Cabinet Manual
      • Ministers and their portfolios
        • Ministerial List
        • Ministerial portfolios
        • Register of Assigned Legislation
        • Delegations
        • Ministers' interests
      • Executive Council
      • The Honours Unit
    • National Security Group
      • National Security Systems
      • National Assessments Bureau
        • Working for the National Assessments Bureau
      • National Security Policy
        • National Cyber Policy Office
      • National Intelligence and Risk Coordination
      • National Security Workforce
    • Policy Advisory Group
      • Roles and responsibilities
    • Implementation Unit
      • Latest news and updates
    • Strategy, Governance and Engagement Group
    • Child Wellbeing and Poverty Reduction Group
    • COVID-19 Group
    • Government House
  • Departmental agency
    • NEMA
      • Hurunui/Kaikōura Earthquakes Recovery Act 2016
      • Ministerial Review: Better Responses to Natural Disasters and Other Emergencies in New Zealand
  • Our programmes
    • New Zealand Royal Honours
      • Make a nomination
        • Nominations for Honours
        • New Zealand Royal Honours nomination guidelines
        • Nomination Form and Guide to making Nominations
        • Bravery Award Nominations
        • The New Zealand Antarctic Medal: Nomination Guidelines
      • Honours lists and recipients
        • Honours lists
        • Titles and styles of knights and dames
        • Wearing of insignia
      • The New Zealand Royal Honours system
        • Overview of the New Zealand Royal Honours system
        • Forfeiture of Honours
        • History
        • Components of the New Zealand Royal Honours system
        • Order of Wear
        • Rules relating to the acceptance and wearing of Foreign Honours
        • New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary
      • New Zealand Royal Honours Image Gallery
      • New Zealand Royal Honours FAQs
    • The Policy Project
      • About the Policy Project
      • How the Policy Project can help you
      • Policy improvement frameworks
        • Policy quality
        • Policy skills
        • Policy capability
      • Policy Methods Toolbox
        • Start Right
        • Design thinking
        • Behavioural insights
        • Community engagement
        • Futures thinking
        • Treaty of Waitangi analysis
      • Long-term Insights Briefings
      • Policy advice themes
        • Commissioning a policy project
        • Communicating policy advice
        • Engagement
        • Evidence and evaluation
        • Free and frank advice
        • Innovation
        • Policy and law
        • Stewardship
      • Case studies
        • Inland Revenue Case Study
        • Ministry of Transport Case Study
        • Land Information New Zealand Case Study
      • Policy community
        • Policy system leadership
        • Policy managers
        • Policy practitioners
        • Ways to connect to the policy community
        • Open Government Partnership
      • Progress and performance
      • Publications
      • Policy community events
      • Blog
      • Navigator
    • Greater Christchurch recovery and regeneration
      • Greater Christchurch Group
        • Roles and responsibilities
        • External websites
      • The Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act 2016
      • Our regeneration partners
      • Global Settlement Agreement with Christchurch City Council
      • Recovery and regeneration plans
        • Cranford Regeneration Plan
        • Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan
        • Lyttelton Port Recovery Plan
        • Residential Red Zone Offer Recovery Plan
        • Land Use Recovery Plan
        • Christchurch Central Recovery Plan
      • Section 71 proposals
        • Commercial film or video production facilities in Christchurch – Section 71 Proposal
        • Hagley Oval
        • Lyttelton Commercial Zone Parking
        • Yaldhurst Recreation and Sports Facility
        • Residential Unit Overlay District Plan Changes
        • Redcliffs School relocation
      • Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Project
      • Past Orders in Council
    • National security
      • New Zealand’s national security system
        • National security objectives
        • National security principles
        • Coordination across government
        • DPMC’s role
        • Role of central government
        • National Security Systems Handbook
        • National security governance structure
        • National security system during a crisis
      • National Risk Approach
        • New Zealand's Nationally Significant Risks
      • National Security Intelligence Priorities
      • Counter-terrorism
        • He Whenua Taurikura
        • New Zealand's Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism Strategy
        • Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Strategic Framework
        • Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Fund
        • Terrorist and National Security Event Media Protocols
      • Countering foreign interference
      • Cyber Security Strategy
        • Cyber ransom advice
        • United Nations Cybercrime Treaty
      • Intelligence and Security Act 2017
        • 2022 Review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017
        • Why did we need new legislation?
        • What is intelligence?
        • Defining national security
        • Bringing the agencies further into the public service
        • Powers and warrants
        • Strengthening oversight of NZSIS and GCSB
        • Whistleblowing and protecting classified information
        • Cover and immunities
        • Sharing information
        • The National Assessments Bureau
        • Case studies
        • Resources
      • Strengthening resilience to disinformation
      • Aotearoa's National Security Strategy
      • National Security Long-term Insights Briefing
        • LTIB Topic Consultation Summary
        • 2022 National Security Survey Report
      • Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain
        • The Government’s Response
        • Working with Communities - get involved
        • Response Steering Group
        • Response Progress
        • Measuring Success
        • Improving Community Engagement
        • Key Documents
        • Get in touch
      • Five Country Ministerial
    • Child and youth wellbeing strategy
      • Publications and resources
    • Reducing child poverty
      • Formal gazetting of targets for reducing child poverty
    • Special programmes
      • Kāpuia – Ministerial Advisory Group
        • Advice from Kāpuia
        • Kāpuia Pānui
      • Severe Weather Events Recovery Review Panel releases
      • Health and Disability Review Transition Unit
      • COVID-19 Proactive Releases
      • Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor archives
        • Archive
      • Historical Programmes
        • Inquiry into the EQC
        • Connect Smart
        • Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Learning and Legacy Programme
        • Ministerial Committee on Poverty
        • Flag consideration project
        • Christ Church Cathedral Working Group
        • Tackling methamphetamine
  • Publications
  • Browse all sections
  1. Home
  2. Publications
  3. CO (13) 3: Disclosure Requirements for Government Legislation
Cabinet Office circular

CO (13) 3: Disclosure Requirements for Government Legislation

Publication type:
Cabinet Office circular
Published by:
Cabinet Office
Part of:
Supporting Cabinet decision-making
Issue status:
Current
Issue date:
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Version note:

Intended for:

  • All Ministers
  • All Chief Executives
  • Chief Parliamentary Counsel
  • Clerk of the House of Representatives
  • All Senior Private Secretaries
  • All Private Secretaries
  • All officials involved in the preparation of legislation
Additional details
Publication category:
Guidance,
Cabinet Office circular
Last updated:
Monday, 8 July 2013
Copyright:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY)

Formats

  • CO (13) 3: Disclosure Requirements for Government Legislation
    PDF
    63.69 KB

Introduction#

1 Cabinet has agreed to legislate (with additional admininistrative enhancements) to require the government to disclose key features of all legislation (with limited exemptions), substantive Supplementary Order Papers (SOP) (where a change affects the original disclosure), and disallowable instruments that are produced by the government.

2 The information to be disclosed relates to existing government expectations for the development of legislation and to significant or unusual features of legislation that are expected to be used with care.  Disclosure is intended to reinforce these expectations and facilitate better scrutiny of legislation, in order to support the production of legislation that is robust and consistent with good legislative practice.

3 Disclosure is ultimately intended to be a legislative requirement. However, while legislation is being developed for this purpose, Cabinet has directed the Treasury to administratively implement the requirement for disclosure as soon as possible.

4 This circular outlines what disclosure will be required during the initial administrative period. Ministers and Chief Executives should ensure that all staff involved in the preparation of legislation are familiar with the advice in this circular.

The key elements of the disclosure requirements#

5 From the week beginning 29 July 2013, all Cabinet or Cabinet committee papers seeking approval to introduce a qualifying government Bill or government SOP must have a disclosure statement attached that reflects the final content of the associated Bill or SOP.

6 Subsequently, when the Bill is introduced or SOP is tabled in the House, the finalised disclosure statement is to be published on a central website managed by the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO). A hyperlink to the disclosure statement is to be included in the explanatory note of the published Bill or SOP, and hard copies of the statement are to be made available to MPs through the Bills Office.

7 The disclosure statement is a departmental document, not a Ministerial document. It should reflect the knowledge and understanding of the department(s) responsible for the preparation of the Bill or SOP. It must, however, address all the matters specified in the appropriate template.

8 The matters for disclosure can be grouped into four parts:

8.1 Part One: General Policy Statement: a statement about the objectives that the legislation seeks to achieve, and how it goes about trying to meet those objectives.

8.2 Part Two: Background Material and Policy Information: important background material and policy analysis that can throw further light on the underlying policy issues addressed by the legislation.

8.3 Part Three: Testing of Legislative Content: information about the quality assurance work undertaken to test the content of the legislation.

8.4 Part Four: Significant Legislative Features: information about significant or unusual provisions that the legislation may contain.

9 Disclosure statements are intended for publication. If there is a very good reason why certain information requested in the template should not to be publicly released, then it should not be included in the statement.

Disclosure for government Bills#

10A disclosure statement is required for all government Bills except:

10.1Imprest Supply and Appropriation Bills;

10.2Statutes Amendment Bills;

10.3Regulatory Reform (Repeal) Bills;

10.4Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bills; and

10.5Revision Bills.

11 The disclosure statement template for Bills requires disclosure in each of the four areas outlined in paragraph 8. The disclosure takes the form of a series of ‘primary questions’ which must all be answered. Most questions also require further information to be disclosed, and on occasion require subsidiary questions to be answered, if the response to a primary question is affirmative.

12 Disclosure must be completed using the disclosure statement template provided. The template is intended to ensure a consistent product and is formatted to meet the Parliamentary Counsel Office’s needs for publishing disclosure statements online. Disclosure Statements for Government Legislation: Technical Guide for Departments has also been prepared by the Treasury; it seeks to assist departments in properly interpreting each of the questions and to explain the nature of the further information sought. The template and detailed guide can be downloaded from the Treasury’s website.

Disclosure for shared or omnibus bills

13 Only one disclosure statement may be provided for a Bill. For Bills in which two or more departments have policy responsibilities, the complete disclosure statement should generally be provided either by the lead department or as a collective effort under joint names, even where multiple Acts may be amended.

14 There may, however, be limited instances where an omnibus Bill includes changes to different Acts that have been worked on completely independently by different departments (e.g. a Regulatory Reform Bill which collates different initiatives with the broad purpose of reducing business compliance costs). Where this occurs, and a collective disclosure statement is not practical, separate disclosures may be prepared for the separate parts of the Bill and then collated by the lead department into a single multi-part document for the complete Bill. The lead department should, however, consult with the PCO Prepublication Unit and the Treasury’s Regulatory Quality Team before pursuing this option.

Disclosure for government supplementary order papers#

15 Disclosure is also required for “substantive” government amendments to Bills (other than exempt Bills) that are introduced as a supplementary order paper. “Substantive” amendments will fall into two categories:

15.1 those involving material changes to the policy being given effect by the Bill; and

15.2 those that may not involve material policy changes, but nonetheless would require an affirmative answer to at least one of the questions about matters relating to offences, penalties and court jurisdictions (in Part Three), to privacy issues (also in Part Three) or to any significant legislative feature covered in Part Four of the disclosure statement template for Bills.

16 If the SOP meets neither of these criteria, it is not a substantive amendment and no disclosure statement is required.

Amendments involving material policy changes

17 What constitutes a material change to a Bill's policy will be a matter of judgement. Indicators that a policy change is material include:

17.1 material changes to the nature or size of the potential costs or benefits of the policy;

17.2 the need for further policy approvals from Cabinet;

17.3 the need for an updated or supplementary regulatory impact statement; or

17.4 external consultation on the proposed amendments ahead of tabling the SOP, or a recommendation to refer the resulting SOP back to select committee.

18 Where material policy changes are proposed, the department should provide a disclosure statement for the amended Bill (that is, the Bill as it would be with the SOP changes incorporated). This is intended to help the reader consider the changes in the context of the Bill and its development process as a whole.

19Departments can either provide an updated version of the original disclosure statement (likely to be most suited to extensive and multi-faceted policy changes), or a supplement to the original disclosure statement (likely to be most suited to policy additions or relatively contained policy changes), depending on which is likely to be most helpful for the reader. The disclosure must, however, be completed using the approved disclosure statement template for amendments.

20 A consequence of producing disclosures for the Bill as amended is that it will also pick up any relevant changes made at the select committee stage. These select committee changes should be noted; further departmental explanation or justification is not required.

Amendments affecting disclosure for Parts Three or Four

21 Where the policy changes are not material, but the amendments have features that would require an affirmative answer to at least one of the questions about matters relating to offences, penalties and court jurisdictions (in Part Three), to privacy issues (also in Part Three) or to any significant legislative feature covered in Part Four, the department can provide a short-form disclosure statement for the SOP alone. The short-form disclosure statement would be limited to answering that set of questions. Again, departments must use the approved short-form disclosure template for amendments.

Amendments to a Bill with no original disclosure statement

22 If there was no original disclosure statement (because the Bill was introduced before the disclosure requirements came into force), but a disclosure is required for a SOP (as outlined above), there are two options to complete disclosure:

22.1if the SOP is to be referred back to a select committee, the department should provide a complete disclosure statement for the amended Bill;

22.2 otherwise, the department should provide a short-form disclosure statement as outlined in paragraph 21 of this circular.

23 Disclosure Statements for Government Legislation: Technical Guide for Departments prepared by the Treasury will contain more information about completing disclosure statements for government amendments to Bills. The Guide and the two disclosure statement templates for amendments will also be available on the Treasury’s website.

Timing of disclosure preparation and Cabinet consideration#

24 From the week beginning 29 July 2013, Cabinet and Cabinet committee papers that seek approval to introduce a Bill or SOP must attach a disclosure statement if the disclosure requirements apply. The disclosure statement provided must reflect the final content of the legislation that is to be submitted to Cabinet for approval.

25 The compliance section of the Cabinet paper should indicate that a disclosure statement has been prepared and is attached to the paper. Departments should also use this section to highlight any issues in the disclosure statement that may be of interest to Ministers.

26 As a matter of good practice, disclosure statements should be provided to the PCO’s Prepublication Unit, and copied to the drafter, at the same time that it is provided to the Minister with the Cabinet paper. This will allow PCO to check that the disclosure statement is in the correct format for publication, and possibly also identify other obvious errors or missing information. If any formatting issues are identified, there will still be sufficient time for the disclosure statement to be returned to the department to address these before publication. All responsibility for ensuring the disclosure statement is accurate, complete and in the right format, however, rests with the department.

Disclosure statement and explanatory notes#

27The explanatory note of all Bills and SOPs will include a standard section on legislative disclosure (provided by PCO). If a disclosure statement is not required, standard wording will be provided to that effect. If a disclosure statement is required, the section will include:

27.1a hyperlink to a specific page on the website managed by PCO, and

27.2 standard wording explaining that a disclosure statement can be expected to be found on the landing page of the hyperlink.

28 If a disclosure statement is required but has not been provided, a statement to this effect will be included on the landing page of the hyperlink, together with a note to contact the responsible agency regarding any queries.

29 PCO will also provide the Bill reference number for the introductory material of the disclosure statement and complete this section when preparing the disclosure statement for publication.

Publication#

30 The disclosure statement must be confirmed to PCO as final (or an updated version provided) no later than two working days prior to the intended introduction date of the legislation. If the statement is in the correct template format PCO will then publish the content provided by the department online at the same time that it publishes the Bill or SOP. This will include both HTML and PDF versions of the disclosure statement.

31 PCO will publish disclosure statements and maintain a central online repository of all disclosure statements produced. Publication will be arranged electronically by PCO when it publishes the related legislation on the New Zealand Legislation website. Apart from the hard copies for MPs provided by the department to the Bills Office, disclosure statements will only be published electronically.

32 Disclosure statements should be sent to PCO by email to the address [email protected] and copied to the PCO drafter.

Circulation of the disclosure statement

33Hard copies of the disclosure statement must be provided with all legislation provided to the Bills Office. Departments are responsible for ensuring that 40 hard copies of the disclosure statement are delivered within half a working day after the date on which the PCO orders the printing of introduction copies of the Bill. The Bills Office will then associate the hard copies with the introduction copies of the Bill. This aligns with the current requirement for the supply of regulatory impact statements to the Bills Office, which will also continue.

Future coverage of the disclosure statement#

34 During the initial administrative period disclosure is only required for government Bills and supplementary order papers as outlined in this circular. Following the passage of legislation the requirement for disclosure will also be extended to those disallowable instruments drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel Office (within the meaning of section 38 of the Legislation Act 2012). Disclosure will only be required for a subset of the matters required to be disclosed for Bills.

35 Further guidance on this area will be provided closer to the time.

Monitoring#

36The Treasury will monitor the production of disclosure statements during the initial administrative period. The purpose of this is to inform the passage of the legislation making disclosure a legislative requirement, and to allow refinements to be made to the administrative disclosure requirements if necessary. This may include asking departments to provide feedback on their experience in completing a disclosure statement.

Further information#

37Templates for completing a disclosure statement and Disclosure Statements for Government Legislation: Technical Guide for Departments can be found on the Treasury's website (http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/guidance/regulatory/disclosurestatements

38If you require further advice or information on the process for completing regulatory disclosure you can contact the Regulatory Quality Team in the Treasury by emailing [email protected].

39If you require further advice or information about the process for publishing disclosure statements you can contact the Prepublication Unit in the Parliamentary Counsel Office by emailing [email protected].

40The contents of this circular will also be included in the CabGuide (available on the Cabinet Office website at http://cabguide.cabinetoffice.govt.nz) in due course. If you require further advice or information about Cabinet procedures, please contact the relevant Cabinet committee secretary.

Rebecca Kitteridge
Secretary of the Cabinet

Enquiries:#

Regulatory Quality Team, the Treasury ([email protected])

  • Previous
  • Next
Sidebar anchor

Related publications

CO (23) 3: 2023 Legislation Programme: Reassessment of Bids

Cabinet Office circular
3 Apr 2023

CO (23) 2: Cabinet Committees: Terms of Reference and Membership

Cabinet Office circular
10 Feb 2023

CO (23) 1: Government Decisions and Actions in the Pre-election Period

Cabinet Office circular
27 Jan 2023

CO (22) 4: Statutes Amendment Bill for 2023

Cabinet Office circular
9 Dec 2022

CO (22) 3: 2023 Legislation Programme: Requirements for Submitting Bids

Cabinet Office circular
12 Oct 2022

CO (22) 2 - Revised Fees Framework for members appointed to bodies in which the Crown has an interest

Cabinet Office circular
6 Oct 2022
View all publications

Content wrapper

Help us improve DPMC

Your feedback is very important in helping us improve the DPMC website.


More menu anchor
Home Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)
Page url

Back to top

About DPMC
  • Who we are
  • Our work
  • Our history
  • Careers
Our business units
  • Cabinet Office
  • National Security Group
  • Policy Advisory Group
  • Implementation Unit
  • Strategy, Governance and Engagement Group
  • Child Wellbeing and Poverty Reduction Group
  • COVID-19 Group
  • Government House
Departmental agency
  • NEMA
Our programmes
  • New Zealand Royal Honours
  • The Policy Project
  • Greater Christchurch recovery and regeneration
  • National security
  • Child and youth wellbeing strategy
  • Reducing child poverty
  • Special programmes
Publications
  • Publications
  • News and notices
  • Annual reports
  • CabGuide
  • Cabinet Manual
  • Contact us
  • Copyright and licensing
  • Privacy
  • About this site
  • Disclaimer
  • Site map
Visit the Homepage | New Zealand Government Visit the Homepage | New Zealand Government

© Copyright 2023 Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

New Zealand Government