Select committees and staff

Select committees carry out the most intensive work of the House, whether it is of a legislative, financial, scrutiny, or investigatory nature. Whereas debate in the House is confined to members of Parliament, select committees directly involve the public in their work. This interchange between parliamentarians and the public, particularly as part of the legislative process, is a distinctive feature of New Zealand’s parliamentary system.

A number of committees dedicated to specific subject areas are serviced by the Select Committee Office. Other permanent select committees and ad hoc committees are serviced as required. The Select Committee Office provides a clerk for each select committee. The clerk of a committee represents the Clerk of the House and is responsible, under the direction of the committee, for the management of the committee’s workload. A select committee’s most visible work is its reports to the House; report writers are provided to carry out this work under the direction of the clerk of the committee. The clerk also makes arrangements for the presentation of committee reports to the House.

The Select Committee Office provides procedural, report-writing, and administrative support to each select committee. Staff prepare meeting papers, record proceedings, research and analyse information, and prepare committee reports. Staff also provide advice to committee chairpersons and other committee members on the rules, conventions, and practices of parliamentary procedure.

Staff also provide advice on select committee procedures to witnesses and advisers appearing before select committees, and to members of the public making submissions. Occasionally committees require the assistance of a specialist adviser, and this is arranged by engaging an adviser under contract to the Office of the Clerk.

Select Committee Office contact details can be found from the Who we are link in the ‘Related documents’ panel.