Vote Parliamentary Counsel - Justice Sector - Estimates 2017/18

Overview of the Vote#

The Attorney-General is responsible for appropriations in Vote Parliamentary Counsel for the 2017/18 financial year covering the following:

• a total of nearly $17 million for the provision of law drafting services. This includes legislative drafting assistance to Pacific Island nations, undertaking 3-yearly programmes of statute law revision, and administering legislation that the PCO is responsible for
• a total of $3.500 million for the provision of access to legislation in both paper and electronic form, and
• a total of almost $3 million on the purchase or development of assets by and for the use of the Parliamentary Counsel Office, as authorised by section 24 (1) of the Public Finance Act 1989.

Details of these appropriations are set out in Parts 2-4.

Details of Appropriations and Capital Injections#

Annual and Permanent Appropriations#

Capital Injection Authorisations#

Supporting Information#

Part 1 - Vote as a Whole#

This part provides trend information for the vote.

1.2 - Trends in the Vote#

Summary of Financial Activity#

Note - where restructuring of the vote has occurred then, to the extent practicable, prior years information has been restated as if the restructuring had occurred before the beginning of the period covered. In this instance Total Appropriations for the Budgeted and Estimated Actual year may not equal Total Appropriations in the Details of Appropriations and Capital Injections.

Adjustments to the Summary of Financial Activity Table Due to Vote Restructuring#

There have been no restructuring adjustments to prior year information in the Summary of Financial Activity table.

1.3 - Analysis of Significant Trends#

The increase in the capital expenditure appropriation in 2017/18 is mainly due to a forecasted change in capital expenditure relating to maintenance and support of the New Zealand Legislation System, and the commencement of incurring capital expenditure costs for the Access to Subordinate Instruments Project.

Part 2 - Details of Departmental Appropriations#

2.3 - Departmental Capital Expenditure and Capital Injections#

Parliamentary Counsel Office - Capital Expenditure PLA (M5)

Scope of Appropriation

Capital Expenditure

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve investment in the renewal and replacement of life-expired assets in support of the delivery of the Parliamentary Counsel Office's services.

How Performance will be Assessed and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Expenditure is in accordance with the PCO's intention to commence the next stage of the Access to Subordinate Instruments Project. This stage is about project delivery and the main activities will include iterative development of IT systems, functional and usability testing, a phased roll out to agencies involving a pilot, all delivered with professional project and change management support, and focused on early delivery of benefits.

Performance will be assessed by whether the project delivery stage of the Access to Subordinate Instruments Project has been successfully completed and expenditure is in accordance with the PCO's strategic and business plans.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by the Parliamentary Counsel Office in its Annual Report to be presented in the House.

Reasons for Change in Appropriation

The increase in this appropriation for 2017/18 is due to:

• a forecasted change in capital expenditure relating to maintenance and support of the New Zealand Legislation System and the commencement of the project delivery stage of the Access to Subordinate Instruments Project. This is partially offset by:

• a reduction in Property, Plant and Equipment capital expenditure reflects the completion of the PCO's office refurbishment project in the 2016/17 financial year.

Capital Injections and Movements in Departmental Net Assets

Parliamentary Counsel Office

Part 4 - Details of Multi-Category Expenses and Capital Expenditure#

Multi-Category Expenses and Capital Expenditure#

Drafting and Access to Legislation (M5)

Overarching Purpose Statement

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses, Revenue and Capital Expenditure

What is Intended to be Achieved with this Appropriation

This appropriation is intended to achieve the provision of high quality legislation that is readily available to all New Zealanders.

How Performance will be Assessed for this Appropriation

Performance for this Appropriation will be assessed through the performance measures listed below. These measures will be reported on in the PCO's Annual Report for 2017/18.

Note 1

The quality standards are that:

• the electronic database of Acts (both as enacted and with their amendments incorporated), legislative instruments (both as made and with their amendments incorporated), Bills, and Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs) is up to date
• Bills, SOPs, Acts of Parliament, and legislative instruments are published to the standard required by Parliament
• Bills and legislative instruments are legally effective, clear, consistent with other legislation, the general law, and international law
• Bills and legislative instruments are consistent with the policy they implement, legal principle, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, and the Human Rights Act 1993
• advice given on matters relating to the provision of legislative drafting services, including advice on legislative drafting, parliamentary procedure, executive government process, and the law, is sound, practical, and clear.

The timeliness standard is that:

• Bills, legislative instruments, and SOPs are drafted in accordance with time frames set by, or agreed with, the Government, select committees, instructing departments and agencies.

Note 2

The quality standard is that:

• advice given on matters relating to the provision of legislative drafting services, including explaining the changes made by the revision tracked version of a Bill, is objective, accurate, and sufficient.

The timeliness standard is that:

• revision tracked documents are provided for the Select Committee in accordance with deadlines set by or negotiated with the committee.

What is Intended to be Achieved with each Category and How Performance will be Assessed

Some performance measures above have had minor wording changes since the Estimates of Appropriations 2016/17.

Note 1 - A 100% budget standard is not appropriate as system outages are required for planned upgrades.

Note 2 - The measure of quantity is demand driven and will vary from year to year.

Note 3 - The measure of timeliness is that the following will be available on the New Zealand Legislation (NZL) website within one working day:

• all new Government Bills introduced into the House
• after the printed version is made available to the House, all subsequent versions of Bills
• after they have been circulated to Members of Parliament, all SOPs
• after they are notified in the New Zealand Gazette, all legislative instruments

within five working days:

• of introduction or release, all Government Bills and SOPs are published
• of assent, all Acts are available on the NZL website
• of being made, all legislative instruments are published

within ten working days:

• of assent, all Acts are published.

Note 4 - The quality standards are that:

• the legislation produced is drafted as clearly and simply as possible
• the legislation produced is legally effective
• the instructing department or agency is satisfied with the final product
• advice on legislative drafting matters is provided in a professional, impartial, and responsive manner.

The timeliness standard is that:

• drafts of legislation are produced within agreed deadlines.

Note 5 - The quality standard is that:

• advice given on matters relating to the provision of legislative drafting services is objective, accurate, and sufficient.

The timeliness standard is that:

• legislation is provided to Pacific Island instructors in accordance with agreed deadlines.

Note 6 - The quality standards for peer reviewing are that:

• Government Bills drafted by the PCO are reviewed once prior to introduction and again before committee stages for their legal effectiveness, workability, compliance, structure and readability
• legislative instruments drafted by the PCO are reviewed once before being submitted to Cabinet for their legal effectiveness, workability, compliance, structure, and readability.

Note 7 - The performance measures and standard for peer reviewing exclude Bills drafted by the Pacific Island desk and local, private, and Members' Bills, and Bills introduced and passed through all stages under urgency that are not referred to select committees (e.g.) Appropriation and Imprest Supply Bills.

There are some instances when peer review of legislative instruments is not required. These include:

(a) single date commencement orders (if not revoking a commencement order and replacing it with a new commencement order)

(b) levies and fees if the change relates to figures only

(c) Ministerial notices that are pro forma (no choice regarding wording)

(d) Class notices.

Note 8 - The quality standards for proofreading legislation are that:

• Government Bills drafted by the PCO are proofread before introduction
• legislative instruments drafted by the PCO are proofread before being submitted to Cabinet.

Note 9 - The quality standards for the 3-yearly revision programme is that:

• all certified revision Bills and their accompanying certificates have been provided to the Attorney-General in accordance with S.33 of the Legislation Act 2012.

The timeliness standard is that:

• legislation, as outlined in the agreed 3-yearly revision programme, is drafted within agreed time frames.

Note 10 - The quality standards for the 3-yearly revision programme are that:

• the legislation produced is drafted as clearly and simply as possible
• the legislation produced is legally effective
• the revision Bill does not change the effect of the law, except as authorised by section 31(2)(i) or (j) of the Legislation Act 2012.

The timeliness standard is that:

• legislation, as outlined in the agreed 3-yearly revision programme, is drafted within agreed time frames.

End of Year Performance Reporting

Performance information for this appropriation will be reported by Parliamentary Counsel Office in its Annual Report to be presented in the House.