Table of contents

Parliamentary and non-parliamentary papers

"Papers" is the collective term used for various documents presented to the House by Ministers or the Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 368. Papers fall into two separate groups:

• Parliamentary papers: These are papers presented to and published under the authority of the House. The printing of parliamentary papers is arranged by the organisation responsible for the paper, subject to any general requirements of the Speaker. They are published on the Parliament website and later in annual bound volumes. Parliamentary papers are assigned a shoulder number (e.g. B.7). They include the statements of intent of departments and the annual reports of departments and of some other public organisations. They also include the Budget documents and reports of the Law Commission, some committees, and commissions of inquiry.

• Non-parliamentary papers: These are papers presented to the House that are not published under the authority of the House. The agency responsible for the paper must make its own arrangements for printing and public access. The printing of non-parliamentary papers is not subject to the Speaker’s direction. They are not assigned a shoulder number and are not published on the Parliament website or in the bound volumes.

Where a reporting entity is unsure as to whether or not a new report should be presented to the House as a parliamentary paper, the criteria for deciding this can be discussed with the Office of the Clerk.

The presentation of papers is managed in the Bills Office (part of the Office of the Clerk) by the Parliamentary Officer (Papers), Kathy Chard. Kathy can be contacted by telephone: 817 9437 or e-mail: katherine.chard@parliament.govt.nz.

General requirements for parliamentary papers

Shoulder number: Each parliamentary paper must be identified by carrying the appropriate shoulder number in the top right hand corner of the cover and title page. Shoulder numbers are issued by the Office of the Clerk (Bills Office) and remain constant for the same document from year to year.

Size: Parliamentary papers must be produced in A4 size.

Number of copies: Seventy-five copies of each parliamentary paper are required to meet the requirements of the House. Should a reporting entity consider that a particular parliamentary paper will be in significant demand, extra copies should be provided after consultation with the Office of the Clerk (Bills Office). Please ensure that boxes sent to the Bills Office weigh no more than 15kgs.

Electronic copy: Reporting entities must also provide the Office of the Clerk (Bills Office) with a PDF file for each parliamentary paper for the purpose of publishing to the Parliament website. The file must be in 150 dpi and should not exceed 5.5 MB. The file should be provided in two parts or more if over 5.5MB. It may be forwarded by email or on a CD ROM. The email address is parliamentary.papers@parliament.govt.nz.

Requirements for non-parliamentary papers

Forty-five copies are to be provided, though this number may vary in particular instances. Please ensure that boxes sent to the Bills box weigh no more than 15kgs.

As non-parliamentary papers are not published under the authority of the House, they are not issued with a shoulder number, there are no format requirements and no electronic copy is required.

Printing

Reporting entities are free to choose their own printer for the printing of papers to be presented to the House. In addition to the size and shoulder number requirements for parliamentary papers, papers should carry a banner identifying the statutory obligation under which they are being presented, e.g. "Presented to the House of Representatives pursuant to section 44 of the Public Finance Act 1989".

A parliamentary paper should not carry any imprint indicating it is printed or published by authority of the House of Representatives.

Payment for parliamentary copies

The Office of the Clerk may, on request, contribute to the printing costs incurred by non-departmental reporting entities presenting parliamentary papers over 24 pages. Entities seeking reimbursement should contact the Office of the Clerk (Bills Office).

Publishing Auditor-General’s disclaimer

The Auditor-General requires that a disclaimer be published with audited financial statements that are published on websites. A copy of the disclaimer is appended to this circular. For financial statements that are ordered to be published by the House, this requirement will be met by a general disclaimer included on the Parliament website -> Parliamentary Business -> Papers and Petitions Presented -> Papers Presented. The statement should not be included in the PDF file that is required for presentation to the House.

Reporting entities that are publishing financial statements on their own websites should contact the Auditor-General’s office about meeting this requirement.

Process for presenting papers

Papers may be presented to the House by the Speaker or a Minister on any working day throughout the year. (This does not include the period from 25 December to 15 January). For presentation to be effected on a sitting day, papers must be received by the Clerk by 1.00 pm.

The presentation of papers is managed in the Office of the Clerk (Bills Office).

Formal advice of presentation

Formal advice of all papers presented is made by the Office of the Clerk to Ministers’ offices. Reporting entities may seek confirmation of the presentation of a paper from the appropriate Minister’s office or directly from the Office of the Clerk (Bills Office). All papers presented are listed in the Parliamentary Bulletin, which is published at the end of each week that the House sits. They are also listed daily on the Parliament website.

A copy of each presented parliamentary paper is posted to the Parliament website, go to www.parliament.nz select Parliamentary Business/Papers.

Errors in papers

Where, following the presentation of a paper, a substantive error is discovered in it, an erratum may be printed and presented. In the case of parliamentary papers, the erratum must meet the same format and number requirements as the original paper. Reporting entities should discuss the preparation of an erratum with the Office of the Clerk (Bills Office).

Release and distribution of papers

Generally, papers should not be released until they have been presented. As a result of a recent change to Standing Orders, the authority to publish a parliamentary paper is conferred automatically when the paper is presented. The legal protection conferred by the authority to publish a parliamentary paper applies as soon as the paper is presented, and the paper can be released at that point.

Presentation during an adjournment may be necessary when a reporting entity is under a separate statutory obligation to report publicly and the House is not sitting at the time the paper is required, or when the reporting entity must meet reporting requirements under the Public Finance Act 1989 when the House is not sitting. In these cases, the authority to publish and consequent legal protection apply as soon as the paper is presented.

On confirming that a paper has been presented, the reporting entity concerned must arrange for the distribution and sale of copies of the paper. The Office of the Clerk does not arrange for the distribution and sale of copies of papers, and any costs incurred in carrying out this duty are the responsibility of the organisation concerned. Each reporting entity is responsible for ensuring that appropriate arrangements are made for printed copies to be available to members of the public and, in particular, that there is no impediment to public access to papers.

The likely public demand for copies of a paper should always be considered and a decision made as to whether it should be available for sale or distributed by some other means.

Bound volumes of parliamentary papers

All parliamentary papers with shoulder numbers A to H presented during a calendar year are bound into annual volumes, the Parliamentary Papers, organised by shoulder number. These volumes are made available to the major libraries, the National Library of New Zealand and the Parliamentary Library. This compendium series replaces the series known as the A to Js, published as the Appendix to the Journals for each term of Parliament. Non-parliamentary papers are not published in these volumes. Select committee reports (I papers) and other papers closely related to the operation of the House (J papers) are now bound in the Appendix to the Journals by session.

Provision of public documents to the National Librarian

Reporting entities are reminded that they are responsible for ensuring that the requirements to provide copies of papers to the National Librarian under the National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) Act 2003 are complied with. Two copies of each paper presented must be delivered to the National Librarian, National Library of New Zealand, PO Box 1467, Wellington.

Enquiries

Enquiries regarding this circular should be addressed to the Office of the Clerk (Bills Office). The officer for enquiries is Kathy Chard, Parliamentary Officer (Papers), telephone: (04) 817 9437 or email: katherine.chard@parliament.govt.nz

This circular can also be accessed on the Office of the Clerk website http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Presented/Papers. Should there be any changes to these procedures they will be notified on the website.

Mary Harris

Clerk of the House of Representatives

August 2010

Important disclaimer by the Auditor-General on audited financial statements on this website

Please note that the maintenance and integrity of the financial statements in parliamentary papers on this web site is the responsibility of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

I, as Auditor-General, and my appointed auditors, accept no responsibility for any changes that may have occurred or may occur to financial statements audited by us in regard to the presentation of those financial statements on this web site.

Our audit reports refer only to those financial statements named within a particular audit report. They do not provide an opinion on any other information that may have been hyperlinked to/from those audited financial statements.

If readers of this web site are concerned about the inherent risks arising from electronic data communication, they should refer to the published hard copies of the audited financial statements to confirm the information.

Legislation in New Zealand governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.