A select committee has heard that due to the increasing demands on the work of the Office of the Clerk in an environment of funding constraints, the efficiency of some key Parliament functions could suffer.
The bodies that run Parliament have effectively been crying poor for years, but are without a minister in cabinet to argue their case. However their message was clear to Parliament’s Governance & Administration Select Committee last night as they discussed the Annual Review of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and the Annual Review of the Parliamentary Service.
Clerk of the House David Wilson appearing before the Governance & Administration select committee, 4 March 2024. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The Clerk of the House, David Wilson appeared before the committee alongside the Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Service, Rafael Gonzalez-Montero and Parliament’s Speaker, Gerry Brownlee.
The staff in the politically-neutral Office of the Clerk perform a range of functions critical to the Parliament system, including facilitating the operations of the House and select committees, providing specialist advice on legislation, and producing Hansard. However cost pressures on the Office are rising. What's more, the Office falls within the Government's wide gamut of government organisations anticipating indicative spending cuts.
Stretched
As a result of recommendations following the regular Standing Orders Review in the last Parliamentary term, new mechanisms for applying scrutiny to the Executive have been introduced for this term, such as mandatory scrutiny weeks, as well as scrutiny plans and review briefings.
This creates an even larger workload for the Office of the Clerk. One of the committee’s members, National’s Cameron Brewer, asked Wilson how it would affect the Office of the Clerk’s budget.
“It does make it challenging. And there was a range of other changes to Parliamentary Process suggested at the last review of Standing Orders where we just had to say to the Committee we couldn’t afford to support those,” Wilson admitted.
“These ones, the most significant changes made, yeah they do stretch the Office of the Clerk’s resources. We’ll be alright for this [current] financial year, but it remains to be seen for future ones. We’re really in a position where we can’t take on additional functions, unless they come with funding.”
National MP Cameron Brewer in Parliament's Governance & Administration select committee, 4 March 2024 Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
While there’s increased demand for its work, the Office of the Clerk was apparently recently asked by the Finance Minister Nicola Willis to make savings of 6.5% in the next financial year.
Brewer asked Wilson if his workforce was going to be able to do the job required under the review of the Standing Orders.
“Yes we are. What may happen though, with the cost pressures, is that things might take longer. So for example Hansard may not be able to be produced as quickly or select committee reports turned around so quickly,” Wilson said.
“And really the reason that staffing has increased is there’s been a big increase in demand for services, and Parliament has asked us to do additional things which we are happy to do, but of course they take staff and money.”
The chair of Parliament's Governance & Administration select committee, Rachel Boyack, 4 March 2024 Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Brewer pointed out that in addition to the new scrutiny requirements, there’s an ongoing “ambitious legislative timetable and programme” of repeals and replacements under urgency, as well as dozens of new MPs to integrate into the Parliament system, all creating extra work of the Clerk’s Office and the Parliamentary Service. He said considering these added pressures, in his view both agencies were coping well and providing exemplary service.
Funding mechanisms
The Committee chair, Labour’s Rachel Boyack, asked whether it was time to think about using a different methodology for how the two agencies were funded. She said it was incumbent on all MPs and parties to protect the independence of the bodies that run Parliament from the Executive, and especially the parts designed to provide scrutiny on the Executive.
“I think you hit the nail on the head when you talk about the tension between the institutions of the democracy and its protection, delivery and outreach to the wider community; and the fact that it is constrained, potentially, by decisions made by the Executive, albeit that it's Parliament that passes all budgetary matters,” Brownlee responded.
“That's always the fall-back position - [to say] well that’s what parliament agreed - but we know how those things tend to work.”
Speaker Gerry Brownlee appearing before the Governance & Administration select committee, 4 March 2024 Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Brownlee noted that a proposal for Parliament rather than Cabinet to recommend appropriations for the Office of the Clerk and the Parliamentary Service, has been gathering dust for several years. Wilson elaborated on this draft bill.
“It’s an idea that has been floated around for five or more years. The Parliament Bill would effectively have the same funding mechanism for the two Parliamentary agencies that it does for the Officers of Parliament, which reflects their independence from the Executive and the need for them to support Parliament and its functions, where effectively a Parliamentary committee makes a recommendation about their budgets, with advice from Treasury, and it feeds into the cabinet budget-setting process and by convention they respect the recommendation.”
It’s up to cabinet whether to take up this proposal, which has been sitting there, ready to go since the last Parliament, however it hasn’t yet been deemed enough of priority for the draft to be advanced.
