Ministerial Support Services

This output involves providing ministerial support services to assist the Minister of Māori Affairs meet the various responsibilities and obligations to Parliament associated with being a Minister. The support services are listed in the table below and include the provision of advisory support to the Minister in Cabinet committees, select committees and general administrative support as required.

Ministerial Servicing Performance

Responses to Ministerial Correspondence Parliamentary Questions Briefings Speech Notes Official Information Act Requests Cabinet Submissions Ombudsman Complaints Reports to the Māori Affairs Committee

Outputs	Delivery Timeframes
	Within one month
	Individually agreed
	Individually agreed
	Individually agreed
	Within 20 working days
	Individually agreed
	Within 20 working days
	Individually agreed

Te Puni Kōkiri aims to provide responses on time in 95% or more cases. This performance must achieve a ministerial satisfaction rating of “good”, “very good”, or “excellent” in the quarterly Survey of Ministerial Satisfaction. The possible values are “poor”, “adequate”, “satisfactory”, “good”, “very good”, and “excellent”.

Schedule of Quality Standards

Te Puni Kōkiri will seek every quarter, a written response from the Minister on its performance against the quality standards outlined on the page opposite.

All policy advice produced will be in accordance with the Te Puni Kōkiri Quality Assurance Handbook. Cabinet papers will comply with the Cabinet Manual.

In addition to the Minister’s satisfaction survey, the completion and referral of high quality policy advice (as defined by the quality characteristics) will be assessed throughout the year by an independent expert in Public Sector policy.

All specified reporting deadlines will be met and assessed by comparison against deadlines set in the output plan.

Quality Standards

The quality characteristics are as follows:

Characteristic	Criteria
Purpose	The aims of any papers/briefings Te Puni Kōkiri is responsible for have been clearly stated and all the issues addressed.
Logic	The assumptions behind the advice/briefings provided are explicit, and the arguments are logical and supported by facts.
Accuracy	The facts in the papers/briefings prepared by Te Puni Kōkiri are accurate and all material facts have been included.
Options	An adequate range of options have been presented and each option is assessed for benefits, costs and consequences to the Government and the community.
Consultation	There is evidence of adequate consultation with interested parties and possible objections to the proposals have been identified where appropriate.
Practicality	Problems of implementation, technical feasibility, timing and consistency with other policies have been considered.
Presentation	The format meets Cabinet Office standards or other relevant requirements. The material is effectively and concisely summarised, has short sentences in plain English and is free of spelling and grammatical errors.
Timeliness	Papers are completed and presented within specified deadlines.