7. Advisory Roles

The following agencies have key roles in the provision of advisory services to government. This includes participating in the development, operation, application and ongoing maintenance of standards and guidelines and, in this case, the Best Practice Framework.

Archives New Zealand

Archives New Zealand is a Public Service Department whose functions are to ensure the creation, maintenance and disposal (destruction, or retention as archives) of government records.

A full and accurate record of government activity is fundamental to a well-functioning democracy since it provides the mechanism whereby the public sector can account for its decisions and actions to government and its citizens. Records also provide evidence for citizens to confirm or claim their rights and entitlements, as well as providing individual public servants with evidence to justify their decisions.

By administering the disposal provisions of the Archives Act 1957 and providing advice and assistance to agencies, Archives New Zealand ensures that there is ready access to vital evidence for both government and its citizens.

Archives New Zealand's standards, guides and other tools on a range of recordkeeping issues and activities are available on its Continuum website: http://www.archives.govt.nz/

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) is one of the three central agencies responsible for co-ordinating and managing public sector performance. The others are the State Services Commission and the Treasury.

The Department's overall area of responsibility is in helping to provide, at an administrative level, the "constitutional and institutional glue" that underlies our system of parliamentary democracy.

DPMC serves the Executive (the Governor-General, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet) through the provision of high quality impartial advice and support services that facilitate government decision-making at both strategic and operational levels.

A major role of the department is to help co-ordinate the work of the core public service departments and ministries - so that decision making takes account of all relevant viewpoints and is as coherent and complete as possible.

DPMC is the authority under which SIGS is published.

Website: http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/

E-government Unit (State Services Commission)

The State Services Commission supports the State Services Commissioner in the discharge of his statutory responsibilities, which are to:

• at the direction of the Prime Minister or request of a responsible Minister, perform the functions and exercise the powers that apply to the Public Service;
• under the various Statutes, provide consultation on, or concurrence in, the terms and conditions of employment of a chief executive.

The E-government Unit of the State Services Commission provides leadership and coordination of the electronic government programme. The Government's aim, under the E-government strategy, is to create a public sector that is structured, resourced and managed to perform in a manner that meets the needs of New Zealanders in the information age and which increasingly delivers information and services using online capabilities.

Website: http://www.e-govt.govt.nz/

Government Communications Security Bureau

The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) contributes to the security of New Zealand through the provision of timely foreign signals intelligence to Government and assisting Government departments and agencies to protect their electronic information resources and communications systems.

GCSB also operates the New Zealand Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CCIP), which is dedicated to providing advice and support to protect New Zealand's critical infrastructure from cyber threats. CCIP has three main roles:

• providing 24 hour/7 day "watch and warn" advice to owners of critical infrastructure and government departments
• analysis and investigation of cyber attacks
• to work with critical infrastructure organisations and other sectors nationally and internationally to improve awareness and communications regarding information technology security

Website: http://www.gcsb.govt.nz

Identity Services (Department of Internal Affairs)

Department of Internal Affairs, (Identity Services Business Group) is currently developing the Evidence of Identity Framework which is in the final draft/consultation phase.

For advice or information related to this area, refer to Department of Internal Affairs, Identity Services Business Group.

Website: http://www.dia.govt.nz

Officer of the Controller and Auditor-General

The Controller and Auditor-General is a statutory Officer created by Parliament in the Public Audit Act 2001. The Auditor-General is independent of executive government and is answerable to Parliament.

The Auditor-General is the auditor appointed by Parliament to audit all public entities (including the Crown Accounts, Government Departments, Crown entities, State-owned entities, Local Authorities and their subsidiaries, Statutory Boards and Other Public Bodies)

As Controller, the Auditor-General monitors and certifies whether the Government has the necessary authority from Parliament for its proposed daily expenditure. This authority - referred to as supply - has the following key elements:

• the purpose of the expenditure must be lawful;
• there must be an appropriation voted by Parliament; and
• there must be a warrant from the Governor-General.

Website: http://www.oag.govt.nz

Office of the Ombudsmen

The Ombudsmen are independent Officers of Parliament. Their primary purpose is to inquire into complaints raised against New Zealand central, regional and local government organisations or agencies. They are independent review authorities and are accountable to Parliament, not the Government of the day. There have three main roles:

• under the Ombudsmen legislation, to investigate complaints received from members of the public;
• under the official information legislation to review any decision to decline the release in part or full of official information held by a government agency; and
• under the Protected Disclosures Act 2000 (PDA) to act as the provider of information and guidance to those who have made or are considering making a protected disclosure and as an "appropriate authority" for the making of disclosures pursuant to the Act.

Website: http://www.ombudsmen.govt.nz

Office of the Privacy Commissioner

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is an independent Crown Entity established by the Privacy Act 1993. The Privacy Commissioner:

• has a number of functions including investigating complaints and promoting, by education and publicity, an understanding and acceptance of the information privacy principles;
• has a team of investigating/complaints officers led by a manager for investigations along with an enquiries team, which takes written and telephone and email enquiries;
• can issue codes of practice which may: modify the application of any of the information privacy principles; modify the application of any of the public register privacy principles; or exempt any action from the principles;
• must have regard for the protection of important human rights and social interests that compete with privacy including the general desirability of the free flow of information and the recognition of the right of government and business to achieve their objectives efficiently;
• has a watch-dog role in relation to privacy; and monitors and reports on authorised information matching programmes. The Privacy Act places controls on statutory information matching programmes implemented in the public sector.

Website: http://www.privacy.org.nz

Standards New Zealand

Standards New Zealand is the operating arm of the Standards Council, a Crown entity established under the Standards Act 1988. The Standards Council, an appointed body with representatives from all sectors of the community, oversees the development and adoption of Standards and standards-related products.

Elements of the Standards New Zealand role includes:

• facilitating the development and delivery of standards-related products by partnering with government, industry and consumer sectors;
• promoting the use of standards in the interest of the economy and community; and
• the New Zealand member body of the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electro technical Commission (IEC).

Website: http://www.standards.co.nz

Health and Disability Sector

Agencies from the Health and Disability Sector should be aware of the specific codes, guidelines and standards that may apply to them.

For these agencies, ongoing compliance with existing sector authentication standards should be a primary consideration and agencies should liaise with the Ministry of Health to obtain current information regarding specific Health and Disability Sector requirements.

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