The Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives is a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
public sector organisation.
Purpose
The Office of the Clerk is the
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
’s secretariat. It provides specialist advice on procedure and parliamentary law and secretariat services to the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
. The Office of the Clerk is a politically independent organisation, providing services to
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, as distinct from services to the
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
, and providing services to members in their parliamentary roles rather than in their
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
or
electorate
Electorate may refer to:
* The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate''
* The dominion of a Prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, ...
capacities.
Although the Office of the Clerk’s primary client group is
members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
and its principal relationships are with the
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
, with other presiding officers, and with committee chairs, it also deals with office holders such as the Leader of the House, party leaders, and party
whips
A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally ...
, and with members’ staff.
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Legislative provision
The Office of the Clerk carries out the functions required under section 3 of the Clerk of the House of Representatives Act 1988, which provides that:
:“The functions of the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall be—
::(a) to note all proceedings of the House of Representatives and of any committee of the House:
::(b) to carry out such duties and exercise such powers as may be conferred on the Clerk of the House of Representatives by law or by the Standing Orders and practice of the House of Representatives:
::(c) to act as the principal officer of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives and, in that capacity, to manage that office efficiently, effectively, and economically:
::(d) to ensure that staff of the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives carry out their duties (including duties imposed on them by law or by the Standing Orders or practice of the House of Representatives) and maintain—
:::(i) proper standards of integrity and conduct; and
:::(ii) concern for the public interest:
::(e) to be responsible, under the direction of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, for the official reporting of the proceedings of the House of Representatives and its committees.”
References
External links
Official webpages
Government agencies of New Zealand
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