Parliament's Watchdogs — New Zealand 's Officers of Parliament

Spring 2010 Parliament’s Watchdogs — NZ’s Officers of Parliament 137The officers’ budget bids are submitted to the Officers of Parliament Committee forconsideration and report. The committee hears evidence from the officersthemselves (in private) and asks Treasury for advice on the appropriateness of thebudget bids. Treasury also advises the committee on the criteria issued by theCabinet within which Budget bids are to be considered. The Officers of ParliamentCommittee reports to the House which, in turn, recommends the Estimates by wayof Address to the Governor-General. 13Performance and effectivenessIn its 1989 report the Finance and Expenditure Committee recommended that theOfficers of Parliament Committee should be responsible for holding each officeraccountable for their performance and the effectiveness of the way they dischargedtheir functions. However, in 1995 the Standing Orders Committee divided thefunctions hitherto undertaken by the committee, so that it then focused only onannual budget setting, functions relating to the appointment of auditors (of eachoffice of parliament), the creation of officers of Parliament, and the development ofcodes of practice. The reviewing of the spending and the performance of theofficers of Parliament was to be carried out by the relevant subject selectcommittees. 14Scrutiny of ReportsOfficers of Parliament have no powers to enforce their findings and therefore relyon the House to bring about the improvements or remedies sought in their reports.This mechanism ensures that an officer of Parliament cannot usurp the electedmembers of the House. The question arises, however, of whether this independenceof officers of Parliament reduces their effectiveness. A mechanism for following upofficers’ reports appears to be lacking in but desired by most Commonwealthjurisdictions.In its 1989-inquiry report the Finance and Expenditure Committee recommendedthat all reports of officers of Parliament be referred to the Officers of ParliamentCommittee for consideration and report to the House. This did not occur howeveruntil late in 2008.In 2007 New Zealand’s Officers of Parliament Committee expressed concern to theStanding Orders Committee that, upon being presented to Parliament, reports fromthe Controller and Auditor-General, the Ombudsmen, and the ParliamentaryCommissioner for the Environment did not stand referred to any particular subjectselect committee for consideration. Any select committee examination of thesereports was therefore ad hoc and, because committees had to invoke their inquiryfunction to examine an officer of Parliament report, scrutiny of them had becomeinfrequent. 15