| Output 4.1 Cabinet Secretariat | Performance indicators |
| Coordination of Cabinet and Executive Council business. | Quality: Degree of satisfaction of the Prime Minister, the Secretary, the Secretary to Cabinet and the Governor-General with the services provided by the Cabinet Secretariat and the Executive Council Secretariat. Timeliness: Submissions or memoranda are distributed as soon as practicable after clearance by Cabinet Secretariat. Cabinet minutes are circulated within 24 hours of Cabinet meetings. Papers and schedules are delivered to Government House two working days prior to an Executive Council meeting. Quantity:65 meetings of the Cabinet and its committees were organised and coordinated. 31 meetings of the Executive Council were organised and coordinated. Cost of Outputs – $2.5m |
Qualitative assessment
Methodology
Assessment of the Cabinet Secretariat’s performance in carrying out its role of providing programming and support services to Cabinet and its committees is provided both formally and informally by the Secretary to Cabinet and the departmental Executive. The quality of our work is also assessed by monitoring the timeliness of the flow of papers to the Prime Minister, via the Cabinet Policy Unit, Cabinet and Committee Ministers.
The Federal Executive Council Secretariat’s performance is similarly assessed, with additional feedback and interaction from the Official Secretary to the Governor-General.
Feedback
The Secretary to Cabinet and the Official Secretary to the Governor-General expressed satisfaction with the support services we provided to the Cabinet and the Executive Council during the past 12 months.
Key results
Timeliness
Between 1 July 2001 and 30 June 2002 over 95 per cent of minutes from meetings of Cabinet and its committees were settled and circulated within 24 hours of the meeting from which they arose.
Support for meetings
From 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2002 the Cabinet Secretariat supported a total of 27 meetings of Cabinet and 38 meetings of Cabinet committees.
Seven interstate Cabinet and committee meetings were organised in Sydney, as well as four in Melbourne and three in Adelaide.
New Cabinet arrangements
The Cabinet Secretariat assisted in the introduction, from April 2002, of new Cabinet arrangements designed to reinforce the leadership role of Cabinet in the development and oversight of the Government’s strategic direction, by providing a more strategic focus for Cabinet discussions. The changes streamlined the Cabinet’s handling of some submissions, while providing the Cabinet with greater opportunities for strategic discussion.
Under the new arrangements, the Prime Minister identifies submissions requiring detailed consideration and discussion in Cabinet. Submissions not identified as requiring detailed consideration and discussion in Cabinet are made available for consideration by Ministers for a period of 10 calendar days. Following the expiration of the 10-day period, and provided that any issues raised by Ministers during that period have been resolved, a draft minute based on the recommendations of the submission may be scheduled for consideration and final endorsement at the next available Cabinet meeting. In addition, the specific allocation of time in the Cabinet programme for strategic discussion is now made on a more structured basis.
The Cabinet Secretariat provided training and related support for the new arrangements. Further information on the new arrangements can be found in the Cabinet Handbook, which is available on the department’s website.
Ministerial changes
Following the ministerial changes which resulted from the 2001 federal election, the Cabinet Secretariat provided extensive advice and training on the handling of Cabinet documents to staff in the offices of new and retiring Ministers.
Executive Council
The Executive Council Secretariat, a small unit within the Cabinet Secretariat, continued to provide high-quality and timely advice, briefing and administrative support to the Federal Executive Council.
Thirty-one meetings of the Executive Council were held in the year to 30 June 2002, with 567 papers considered. Of the papers considered, only 65 were not available at least two days before. These were accepted by the Executive Council for consideration on the basis of exceptional circumstances explained in writing by a senior executive of the relevant department or senior member of the relevant Minister’s office.
Access to Cabinet records
The Cabinet Secretariat assisted the National Archives of Australia in preparing for the public release of Cabinet documents from 1971 (covering the Gorton and McMahon ministries). The Cabinet Secretariat also assisted the National Archives of Australia to conduct the second release of Cabinet notebooks, which involved notebooks dating from January 1951, during the Menzies Government. The Archives Act 1983 provides that Cabinet notebooks can be released only after 50 years, rather than the 30-year period that applies to most Commonwealth records, including other Cabinet documents. Cabinet notebooks are used by officials of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to record discussions in Cabinet as an aide-mémoire for the preparation of formal Cabinet minutes.
Promoting awareness and providing advice
The Cabinet Secretariat hosted briefing sessions for Cabinet officials from the Republic of South Africa and from the Kingdom of Thailand in May and June 2002 respectively.
The visit by the officials from South Africa was organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat to assist the South African federal and provincial cabinet offices to develop their cabinet processes. The briefings not only focused on Australian Cabinet processes, but also included sessions on policy development and the secure document management system used by the Cabinet Secretariat.
The visit by the officials from Thailand was organised as part of a joint Thailand–Australia capacity building facility programme to assist the Thai cabinet secretariat with its reform plans.
| Contents | Secretary's Review | Portfolio and Departmental Overview
|
| Report on Performance
| Corporate Governance |
| Coolum
CHOGM | Appendixes | Financial Statements |
| Glossary | Subject Index
|
(c) Commonwealth of Australia 2002
