The Deputy Clerk is the second principal permanent officer of the House and deputy chief executive of the Office. The role includes leading major strategic developments within the Office, and responsibility for the Inter-parliamentary Relations Secretariat and for parliamentary education. The Deputy Clerk is also responsible for the scrutiny of questions for oral answer.
Inter-parliamentary Relations Secretariat
This secretariat manages Parliament’s official participation in inter-parliamentary organisations and its contacts with Parliaments overseas. It prepares an annual inter-parliamentary travel programme for each financial year for approval by the Speaker, and develops individual visit programmes for delegations of members and guests of Parliament. Staff also provide advice on inter-parliamentary relations and members’ travel entitlements, and provide secretariat services for the executive committee of the New Zealand branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the New Zealand group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The secretariat also provides the regional secretary for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Pacific region.
Parliamentary Research and Education
The Deputy Clerk leads a small procedural research and policy development group that supports strategies for a central repository of procedural information, procedural capability building, and parliamentary education. The group services the Standing Orders Committee.
Since 2005 the Standing Orders of the House have required members to make annual returns of their pecuniary interests for publication in a register, and the group is responsible for providing support to the Registrar of Pecuniary Interests of Members of Parliament.
In addition the group supports the Clerk’s statutory functions with regard to citizens initiated referenda. Also, applications from persons adversely affected by references to them in the House to have their responses incorporated in the parliamentary record are processed by the group and, where approved by the Speaker, published.
Parliamentary education services for adults are coordinated by the group. These services include producing material to assist members in their role as participants in the parliamentary process, and facilitating access to information about the proceedings of the House. Seminars and presentations are provided to groups such as public servants and the media, so they can gain a better understanding of parliamentary procedures and enhance their relationships with members and the House. Staff also coordinate the production and publishing of parliamentary information resources.
