Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives

Transcription

1 A.8. SOI (2017) Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives Strategic Intentions Presented to the House of Representatives pursuant to section 39 of the Public Finance Act 1989

2 Copyright This copyright work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. In essence, you are free to copy, distribute and adapt the work as long as you attribute the work to the Clerk of the House of Representatives and abide by the other licence terms. Please note that the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives logo and the House of Representatives crest may not be used in any way that infringes any provision of the Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act Attribution to the Clerk of the House of Representatives should be in written form and not by reproduction of any logo or crest. To view a copy of the text to be used for attribution, please visit Office of the Clerk Private Bag Parliament Buildings Wellington 6160 Phone: (04)

3 Contents Page Introduction from the Clerk of the House of Representatives... 7 Chief executive s statement of responsibility Overview of the Office of the Clerk s strategic framework... 9 Context 9 Strategic framework 9 2 Strategic intentions Promoting a more strategic approach to enhance parliamentary effectiveness.. 13 Ongoing updating of Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand 13 Building networks prioritise connectedness to the core public service 13 Summit on future issues for Parliament Delivering excellent services to support parliamentary scrutiny Support for legislative scrutiny in select committees enhances legislative quality 14 Support for financial scrutiny in the House and by select committees 14 Ongoing development of the online committee system 14 Review of Hansard processes 14 Review of Te Reo Māori interpretation and translation services Building a stronger Parliament sector through the development of the joint sector outcomes and related work programme (with the Parliamentary Service) Parliament sector and relationship with Parliamentary Service Increase public awareness of the role of Parliament and members, and public participation in the work of Parliament Communicating Parliament public engagement 16 Baseline data and key performance indicators 16 Informed and active citizens 16 Civics education 16 epetitions 17 Future broadcasting model Parliament TV Developing and implementing an inter parliamentary relations strategy that is fit for purpose Implement inter parliamentary relations strategy members learning Creating a work culture that is innovative and focussed on continuous improvement Long term planning 19 Governance and management of ICT services 19 3

4 2.7 Creating an engaging workplace of choice, with a workforce that is aligned to our purpose and performance challenges Adjusting performance workforce strategy 20 Talent management investment in leadership capability 20 Succession planning 22 A great place to work understudy roles and secondment opportunities 22 Equal employment opportunities diversity and inclusion 22 4

5 Foreword from the Speaker of the House of Representatives The Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives is an important organisation at the core of our system of representative parliamentary democracy. The Office provides secretariat support to the day to day functioning of the House and select committees and is the authoritative source of advice on parliamentary practice in New Zealand. The general election in 2017 will bring a number of new members to Parliament. For both recently elected and experienced members, an authoritative source of advice on parliamentary practice is of critical importance. I support the Clerk s intention to enhance the ability of members to carry out their dayto day work and the more aspirational intention to engage more citizens with Parliament and their elected representatives. The projects that have been signalled in these Strategic Intentions, such as the Office s engagement for improving parliamentary effectiveness, support for enhanced legislative scrutiny, communicating Parliament, and the ongoing implementation of the programme to improve its various publishing systems will ensure that these intentions become a reality. An ongoing major expectation for the Office is the effective and efficient delivery of its outputs in line with the Government s priority for Better Public Services. This includes working collaboratively with the Parliamentary Service to achieve better outcomes for the institution of Parliament and to ensure that our Parliament is accessible, relevant and respected by both the citizens of New Zealand and the wider parliamentary community. I endorse the Office s Strategic Intentions and consider that the direction of the Office is consistent with my expectations. Rt Hon David Carter Speaker of the House of Representatives 5

6 Ministerial statement of responsibility I am satisfied that the information on strategic intentions prepared by the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives is consistent with the policies and performance expectations of the responsible Minister. Rt Hon David Carter Speaker of the House of Representatives 28 June

7 Introduction from the Clerk of the House of Representatives I am pleased to present my Office s Strategic Intentions for 2017 to The intentions outlined in this document are based on the premise that Parliament is an evolving institution rather than a static one. Supporting the effective functioning of the House and committees is a strength of the Office and must remain a priority. However, increasingly we must also focus on ensuring all New Zealanders value and understand the importance of contributing to our representative parliamentary democracy. In 2014, the Office underwent an external review of its organisational performance. The review applied the Performance Improvement Framework (PIF) and included the development of a four year excellence horizon to inform our future direction. Since 2014, the Office has promoted and implemented considerable organisational and cultural change, which has produced positive results in a number of areas. The Office is now better placed than it was in 2014 to deliver its potential. Three years on, I decided to undertake a self review or health check of the Office to see how it had performed since the 2014 PIF review and what needed to be done to achieve excellence. I did this by finding out what our staff and stakeholders are saying to us about our progress and direction, and used the PIF lines of enquiry as a reference for our performance analysis. While the findings of the self review have informed the development of these Strategic Intentions, in the course of the review, I was heartened by the many positive comments received about improvements in the Office s performance since Many stakeholders affirmed the professionalism and efficiency with which the Office conducts its core business. They noted the Office s ability to influence and promote innovations in the way the House and its committees function. Looking ahead, I intend to build on this strong platform of credibility and improved stakeholder relationships to continue to develop our strategic thinking about future business challenges the Parliament faces. The Office and the Parliamentary Service support the Parliament sector and share a vision of a robust representative parliamentary democracy strengthened by working together to develop better outcomes for Parliament, including promoting a Parliament that is accessible to all New Zealanders. The aim for the Office (and the Service) is to get maximum value from this arrangement by developing this relationship and at the same time balancing the need to be both a client and partner. Closer ties will also be actively developed where our strategies align and it is cost effective to do so. The leadership team and I are committed to the ongoing development of our people. The Office has a small, highly capable workforce committed to championing representative parliamentary democracy. I am confident therefore that the Office is well placed to achieve the goals set out in these Strategic Intentions over the next four years. David Wilson Clerk of the House of Representatives 7

8 Chief executive s statement of responsibility In signing this information, I acknowledge that I am responsible for the information on strategic intentions for the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. This information has been prepared in accordance with section 38 and section 40 of the Public Finance Act David Wilson Clerk of the House of Representatives 28 June

9 1 Overview of the Office of the Clerk s strategic framework Context The Office of the Clerk is established under section 14 of the Clerk of the House of Representatives Act Its core business is to provide secretariat support to the dayto day functioning of the House and select committees. The Office aligns its strategy with the priorities of Parliament and focuses its outputs on enabling and supporting an open, transparent and accessible Parliament. Strategic framework The Office s organisational structure is shown on the next page. The Office is organised into three business groups, which deliver services under the Office s two departmental output expenses: Secretariat Services for the House of Representatives, and Interparliamentary Relations. 9

10 Clerk of the House Executive Assistant Clerk Assistant (House) Services to the House (Table and Bills Offices and Chamber Operations) Hansard Ngā Ratonga Reo Māori Parliamentary law and practice Broadcasting Business continuity planning Deputy Clerk and Senior Manager (Select Committees and Parliamentary Engagement) Services to select committees Inter parliamentary Relations Education Public engagement Senior Manager (Corporate Services) People Finance Organisational support Risk management Planning IST services relationship management Information management (including records) The Office continually reviews its operating processes to adapt to changes in its operating environment, generate efficiencies through the smart use of technology and to ensure its people are deployed most effectively. The Office does not envisage major change to the broad organisational structure over the next four years. The Office s purpose is to be: New Zealand s champions of representative parliamentary democracy This purpose reflects the Office s aim to balance the professional support it provides for the running of the House and its committees with a more proactive role, in conjunction with other agencies, in ensuring all New Zealanders value and understand the importance of contributing to, and guarding, a well performing representative parliamentary democracy. 10

11 The Office s greatest strategic challenge is: Each year, more citizens engage with Parliament and their elected members The Office intends to achieve its purpose and greatest challenge mainly by continually improving the delivery of its five core functions: Provision of services to the House and its committees Advocacy for Parliament through independent advice Capturing, synthesising and communicating parliamentary information Building parliamentary capability and connections Connecting the public to Parliament and its Members Customer focus Customer focus While the Office s core services are delivered to the Speaker of the House, other presiding officers, members of Parliament and select committees, the Office also focuses on meeting the information needs of the public. The Office believes there are opportunities for enhanced engagement with Parliament through providing all of its customers with better access to information about what Parliament is doing to enable them to participate in the proceedings of Parliament. 11

12 Achieving the challenge of significantly raising the level of public interest in and engagement with Parliament over the next four years will require the Office to focus its efforts through Seven Strategic Performance Challenges lead by the Clerk and the Senior Leadership Team: Promoting a more strategic approach to enhance parliamentary effectiveness Building a stronger Parliament sector through the development of joint sector outcomes and related work programme (with the Parliamentary Service) Developing and implementing an inter parliamentary relations strategy that is fit for purpose Creating an engaging workplace of choice that is aligned to our purpose and performance challenges Delivering excellent services to support parliamentary scrutiny Increasing public awareness of the role of Parliament and members, and public participation in the work of Parliament Creating a work culture that is innovative and focussed on continuous improvement The organisational values that guide how every person works at the Office of the Clerk are: Impartiality We take pride in treating everyone equally, with respect and without bias. Impartiality is at the core of everything we do and every piece of advice we give. We leave our personal views at the door and do our work with complete discretion. That s how we earn the respect of all the people we interact with. Trustworthiness We deliver; always. Our customers and colleagues have confidence in us because we consistently deliver excellent service. We do this by building relationships on a foundation of trust, supporting each other, and doing a job we can all be proud of. We follow through, no matter what. Openness Sharing, listening and learning. Transparency and honest communication are at the heart of our success. We are approachable and up front. We know that the way to become smarter and stronger is by valuing people s ideas, experiences, and differences. We encourage open conversation about possibilities and opportunities, celebrating what works and freely recognising what should change. Innovation How we stay ahead. Our social, political and work environment is constantly changing; we are open to that. We work hard to adapt to change and to always add value by carefully introducing new ideas and by reassessing and refining existing ones. Our willingness to question the status quo and our constant drive for excellence is not just healthy; it is what keeps us relevant. Courage Doing what is best. While we always strive to meet the needs of our customers, we also know we cannot always say 'yes'. We value good judgement and sound decision making, and we are brave enough to have difficult conversations and to explore new approaches. This empowers us to always seek out the best, if not necessarily the easiest, solutions to our challenges. 12

13 2 Strategic intentions The Office has identified priority activities to achieve its seven strategic performance challenges. 2.1 Promoting a more strategic approach to enhance parliamentary effectiveness Ongoing updating of Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand The Office has revised Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand (PPNZ) and published the fourth edition. PPNZ is the authoritative text on New Zealand parliamentary practice and procedure. Current and accurate information about Parliament is essential for people supporting and interacting with Parliament. The Office therefore intends to develop a process to ensure essential significant developments in procedure and practice are captured accurately and promptly by the Office, and communicated so that new editions of the whole PPNZ text are published on a regular cycle. Building networks prioritise connectedness to the core public service The 2014 PIF review of the Office recommended developing greater connectedness to parliamentary and executive agencies. Over the next two years, the Office intends to be more proactive in building its network of people interested in Parliament and leveraging off existing work in the core public service. Summit on future issues for Parliament During the period of these strategic intentions, the Office intends to host and lead a summit on future issues for the New Zealand Parliament. This idea emerged from recent discussions with our key stakeholders. The Office believes that such an event could be a springboard for longer term planning and could include Officers of Parliament, academics, and constituency groups, and would be consistent with the Clerk s advocacy role. 13

14 2.2 Delivering excellent services to support parliamentary scrutiny Support for legislative scrutiny in select committees enhances legislative quality Bills and the policy they seek to deliver mostly receive rigorous parliamentary scrutiny through the public submission process undertaken by select committees. The Office is ambitious for more to be done to support and encourage the robust scrutiny of legislation in select committees, particularly in terms of consistency with the rights and freedoms contained in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and other relevant legislation. To achieve this objective, the Office is focussed on continuing to build staff capability to support select committees in scrutinising constitutional and administrative law issues. Support for financial scrutiny in the House and by select committees A highlight for the Office recently was supporting the introduction of new financial scrutiny procedures in the House, which led to a more focussed and engaging debate in the House. The Office intends to continue to seek opportunities to enhance support of the House s financial scrutiny functions by working with the Office of the Auditor General and the Parliamentary Library to improve support and advice provided to select committees for the detailed scrutiny of entity performance and achievement of the Government s Better Public Service outcomes. Ongoing development of the online committee system The redevelopment and upgrade of the online select committee system in 2014 resulted in a modern, intuitive, online interface for members mobile access to the information they need to participate fully in the work of select committees. Over the next two years the Office intends to make further enhancements to the online committee system to improve its functionality. In making it easier for members to use, the Office hopes to enhance members uptake of the online committee system s functions. Review of Hansard processes The Office has upgraded the Hansard publishing systems and now intends to continue to review its Hansard editing and publishing processes to make them more efficient, including investigating the use of captions text in the production of Hansard. The Office s provision of live, closed captioning of Parliament s proceedings in the Chamber commenced in August The captions text, which is verbatim, and a best effort, instantaneous output, is provided to the Office by an external provider. The Office is considering the utilising of this text in the production of the reports of the House s proceedings. The Hansard review will also focus on making Hansard more accessible through improvements to how it is indexed. Review of Te Reo Māori interpretation and translation services The Office will conduct a review of the delivery of Parliament s Te Reo Māori interpretation and translation services. With demand for Parliament s Te Reo Māori interpretation and translation services rapidly increasing and likely to continue growing, the Office will consider sustainable delivery options while ensuring that high quality standards are maintained. 14

15 2.3 Building a stronger Parliament sector through the development of the joint sector outcomes and related work programme (with the Parliamentary Service) Parliament sector and relationship with Parliamentary Service The agencies that support the Parliament sector are the Office of the Clerk and the Parliamentary Service. Both agencies share a vision of a robust representative parliamentary democracy strengthened by working together to develop better outcomes for Parliament. This includes promoting a Parliament that is accessible to all New Zealanders. The existing joint sector work programme, including work areas such as parliamentary education, communications, and accessibility provides the foundation for progress. While the direction for each work area would be set by the two leadership teams, it is envisaged that they would be supported by external experts in a particular subject area who could challenge thinking and share best practice. 15

16 2.4 Increase public awareness of the role of Parliament and members, and public participation in the work of Parliament Communicating Parliament public engagement Disaster recovery solution The Parliament website is an important tool for communicating with the public. In the event of a natural disaster it would play a crucial role in informing people about emergency measures taken by the House and may need to be used to communicate with members. In 2017 the Office will implement a resilient, cloud based disaster recovery solution for the Parliament website. Publishing systems The Office will undertake the replacement of the aging systems that support sittings of the House through the production and publishing of the Oral Questions, Written Questions and Journals of the House. esubmissions The Office will replace the esubmissions platform to make it easier for the public to make submissions to select committees online and to increase the speed with which submissions can be made available to members. Improvements to Parliament website Further improvements to the website are also planned, including a version of the website for mobile devices and the ability to download on demand Parliament TV footage. Baseline data and key performance indicators The Office s public engagement team will develop baseline data and key performance indicators on current levels and types of public engagement. This will allow the Office to identify priority actions and determine its effectiveness in engaging more citizens with the work of Parliament. Informed and active citizens The Office intends to focus on exploring ways to reach the widest possible audience and connect with people through new channels, within existing resources. In addition to broadcasting all the proceedings of the House, the Office provides live captioning across all of its broadcasting platforms. The Office is active on social media, including Twitter and Facebook and regularly uses these vehicles to highlight things that are happening in and around Parliament. Civics education The Office is also very supportive of any initiative that promotes civics education in New Zealand and intends to look for opportunities to partner with other organisations to ensure that all New Zealanders have access to the information they need to actively participate in their democracy. 16

17 epetitions Parliament s current petitions system is paper based only. To reflect the evolving expectations of the public and of members, the Office is currently working to establish an electronic system to mirror the paper based system. This project will make it easier for members of the public to engage with Parliament, and will also make it easier for petitioners to meet the standards required by the Standing Orders. Future broadcasting model Parliament TV Currently, all the proceedings of the House are broadcast live on the Freeview, Igloo, Sky and Vodafone digital TV platforms and on the AM radio network. They are also web streamed on the Parliament website and made available via the Virtual House Application. The Parliament TV broadcasting equipment and studio space is currently owned by the Parliamentary Service and operated by contractors engaged by the Office. Factors that influence the future production of the broadcasting feed for Parliament TV include the age of the existing equipment and the lease on premises housing the production studio. The timing of both these factors coincides so that replacement will be required in late The Office s preferred solution is to outsource the provision of this service. This approach has the best strategic alignment, operating benefits and value for money, but is still expected to require a degree of capital investment for the replacement of the cameras in the Debating Chamber. Leading up to implementation in 2018, assessment will continue of the Office s capacity to fund the increased ongoing operating costs of an outsourced approach from within its baseline. Further, given the general shift to online information and services, the Office is undertaking work to analyse and propose future broadcasting options. The results of this work will shape the Office s future broadcasting model. 17

18 2.5 Developing and implementing an inter parliamentary relations strategy that is fit for purpose Implement inter parliamentary relations strategy members learning The New Zealand Parliament s Inter Parliamentary Relations Strategy 2015 to 2019 entitled Global Connections, a Better Parliament builds on the current high quality international engagement to provide a more member centric inter parliamentary relations programme. It supports members learning and development by providing them with international opportunities to enhance their knowledge through engagement with, and participation in, programmes run by inter parliamentary and international organisations as well as other parliaments. The Office is committed to delivering the new and improved activities outlined in the IPR strategy and taking advantage of the opportunities the strategy provides to build the Office s internal parliamentary relations capability. Fully implementing the breadth of services and opportunities for members envisaged in the IPR strategy will be the Office s focus during the next two years. 18

19 2.6 Creating a work culture that is innovative and focussed on continuous improvement The Office s social, political and work environment is not static; it is constantly changing. Over the past year, as part of the Office s drive for excellence, the Office has focussed on embedding a continuous improvement approach into the way it does things. The Office s work (or organisational) culture includes innovation as one of its organisational values that underpin how every person works at the Office. Long term planning Since 2014, the Office has implemented a portfolio management approach to performance and planning. A key aspect of this is the use of 90 day planning to provide momentum to initiatives and allow for effective oversight of planned work. At the same time, the Office has set a clear strategic path through the establishment of its greatest performance challenge and related seven top challenges. Over the next four years the Office intends to strengthen its long term strategic planning, by building stronger connections between its 90 day planning and its strategic goals in order to have a clearer sense of what it intends to do year by year over the next four years and why. This is necessary to better sequence and prioritise projects, engage its strategic partner (Parliamentary Service), reflect shared strategic thinking with key stakeholders and ensure that there are proper linkages between the various strategies in place across the Office. Governance and management of ICT services The Office recognises its ICT capability as a critical enabler of the performance and development of its core services for Parliament. Although there have been a number of improvements to better manage the Office s ICT systems and projects, the Office intends over the next two years to invest in strengthening its approach to ICT management in two key areas: Structured governance of its ICT relationship with the Parliamentary Service 1 Internal capability. The Office s intention to have a more fully developed long term strategic plan, which will include a rolling three to four year ICT plan for the Office, will provide greater clarity about the business changes the Office is prioritising, and the service risks that are critical to its performance. This will enable the Service to better shape its ICT service role in a more focussed way around what the Office needs to better serve the House, its committees and customers members and the public. At the operational level, the Office and the Service intend to focus on being mutually clear about the services and service risks that are critical for day to day delivery of the Office s core functions. The Office will also invest in building technical capability among staff who are business owners of ICT systems, so they are better equipped to manage the development and enhancement of the Office s ICT services. 1 The Parliamentary Service is the main service provider of ICT services to the Office. 19

20 2.7 Creating an engaging workplace of choice, with a workforce that is aligned to our purpose and performance challenges Adjusting performance workforce strategy In striving to create an engaging workplace of choice, the Office intends to drive change and adjust its organisational performance through implementation of an ambitious workforce strategy. A key aspect of this strategy has been to have a smaller, higher capability workforce providing a higher level of services to Parliament and to the public on behalf of Parliament. The key elements of the Office s workforce strategy are shown in the graphic on the next page. To be successful, the workforce strategy will require robust and focussed implementation. This means that specific actions in the implementation plan will be scheduled and reported on to the Senior Leadership Team and the implementation plan will consider how to keep the strategy visible for all people in the organisation, and refreshed and connected to the Office s long term planning. Talent management investment in leadership capability The Office is acutely aware of the vital role that leaders must play in inspiring and modelling the desired vision, values and culture outlined in the workforce strategy. The Office has implemented a dual stream approach to leadership. Staff now have the ability to progress into a variety of new principal or senior adviser roles, in which they are expected to provide professional technical leadership and mentoring to more junior staff, without having responsibility for setting performance expectations and managing performance. Over the next four years the Office intends to continue to invest in developing its leadership capabilities, including building the capability of its operational managers in core management disciplines and making clear the expectations for both people leaders and principal roles. Capability of operational managers The Office intends to continue investing in building the capability of its operational managers in core management disciplines. As well as demonstrating strong people leadership, managers need to enhance other core management skills, such as managing change, and stakeholder relationship, financial, and ICT management. This will ensure they are developing as well rounded leaders. Role of the Principals The establishment in 2014 of Principal roles represented a significant shift for the Office. It is a key initiative for building organisational capability by providing professional leadership, developing the procedural and subject specialist knowledge of staff, and providing an alternative to the peopleleadership development path. Principals are well placed to be strong representatives of the Office s values of innovation and courage. There is considerable potential for the Principals to build on what they have already achieved in order to fully realise their technical leadership role. To do this, the Office intends to develop clear expectations for Principals, and continue to ensure they are well supported and encouraged to innovate and problem solve. 20

21 21 OFFICE OF THE CLERK STRATEGIC INTENTIONS

22 Succession planning The Office has a highly qualified, professional workforce, and a number of its people have parliamentary knowledge, skills and understanding that have been honed over considerable years experience in the unique environment of the New Zealand Parliament. A priority for the Office is to retain people with this specialist expertise and develop successors who will ensure the efficient and effective delivery of services to Parliament, and to the public on behalf of Parliament, well into the future. A great place to work understudy roles and secondment opportunities The Office intends to attract and retain excellent staff by being a great place to work. This includes ensuring that the Office has a safe and healthy work environment, meaningful jobs with opportunities for growth and development, and appropriate recognition and reward systems. To this end, over the next four years the Office will continue to create understudy roles within the organisation, as well as developing secondment opportunities internally and with other agencies and parliaments. Equal employment opportunities diversity and inclusion The Office is committed to building its leadership and workforce to increasingly reflect a diverse range of perspectives and backgrounds. While the Office has robust remuneration processes to ensure that its employees are paid equitably based on experience and performance and regardless of gender, ethnicity and other such factors, the Office intends to implement initiatives focussing on diversity and inclusion. These initiatives include unconscious bias training for decision makers and fostering the development of a diversity committee within the Office. 22

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