Vote Parliamentary Counsel - Justice Sector - Estimates 2020/21

Vote Parliamentary Counsel#

Overview of the Vote#

The Attorney-General is responsible for appropriations in Vote Parliamentary Counsel for the 2020/21 financial year covering the following:

• a total of just over $20 million for the provision of law drafting services, which includes legislative drafting assistance to Pacific Island nations, undertaking 3-yearly programmes of statute law revision, administering legislation that the PCO is responsible for, and access to legislation in both paper and electronic form, and
• a total of just under $3 million for the purchase or development of assets by and for the use of the Parliamentary Counsel Office.

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

Details of Appropriations and Capital Injections#

Annual Appropriations and Forecast 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 Annual Appropriations and Forecast Permanent Appropriations and Multi-Year Appropriations in the Details of Appropriations and Capital Injections.

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

The prior year information in the Summary of Financial Activity table has been restated to reflect the current Vote structure.

1.3 - Analysis of Significant Trends#

The decrease in capital expenditure in 2019/20 reflects the reduced activity relating to the New Zealand Legislation System and the Access to Secondary Legislation Project.

With effect from 1 July 2020, the appropriation structures in Vote Parliamentary Counsel will change from a multi category appropriation to a single departmental output expense appropriation but this will not affect the PCO's total appropriation. This change relates to Cabinet's directive to consolidate appropriations as the first step of modernising the public finance system [CAB-19-MIN-0439.01 refers]. Parliamentary Counsel Office has worked with the Treasury to develop the new appropriation structures.

1.4 - Reconciliation of Changes in Appropriation Structure#

Establishment of a single Departmental Output Expense appropriation. This was Step 1 of the Financial Management and Accountability Changes (Appropriation Consolidation).

Explanations of the reasons for changing the appropriation structure are noted in the details of each appropriation in Parts 2-4.

Part 2 - Details of Departmental Appropriations#

2.1 - Departmental Output Expenses#

Drafting of and Access to Legislation (M5)

Scope of Appropriation

Expenses and Revenue

Comparators for Restructured Appropriation

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 and End of Year Reporting Requirements

Some performance measures above have had minor wording changes since the Estimates of Appropriations 2019/20.

Performance for this Appropriation will be assessed through the performance measures listed above. These measures will be reported on in the PCO's Annual Report for 2020/21.

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, and
• 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.

Note 3 - A 100% budget standard is not appropriate as system outages are required for planned upgrades.

Note 4 - 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, and
• 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, and
• of being made, all legislative instruments are published.

within ten working days:

• of assent, all Acts are published.

Note 5 - The measure of quantity is demand driven and will vary from year to year.

Note 6 - 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, and
• 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 7 - 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 8 - 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 section 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 deadlines.

Note 9 - 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, and
• the revision Bill does not change the effect of the law, except as authorised by section 31(2A)(a) or (b) of the Legislation Act 2012.

The timeliness standard is that:

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

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.

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 continue with the Access to Secondary Legislation Project. The main activities will include establishing a portal for agencies to lodge information about their secondary legislation with the PCO and the full text of it in a format suitable for publication on the NZ legislation website; making changes to the NZ Legislation website, supporting agencies that administer secondary legislation to adopt the portal and lodge details of all their secondary legislation for the first time, and to establish the service delivery capability in PCO to support users of the portal on an ongoing basis.

Performance will be assessed by whether the Access to Secondary Legislation 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.

Capital Injections and Movements in Departmental Net Assets

Parliamentary Counsel Office