Officials' attendance at Cabinet committee meetings

Departments that have a portfolio interest in a paper should have an official available to attend the Cabinet committee meeting at which it is considered (except meetings of the Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee (APH), which officials do not attend).

Attendance should be restricted to two officials per department. These officials should be knowledgeable about the subject matter and be able to answer questions, explain the Minister's/department's position and advise Ministers on the implications of various options.

Officials should be present on the 8th floor of the Beehive in time for the start of the meeting. Officials need to be there from the beginning of the meeting, as the items are not always taken in the order that they appear on the agenda. Officials should have with them the relevant papers, including the committee agenda and the Cabinet Office version of the paper. It is important to have the Cabinet Office version, as that is what Ministers work from.

On arrival on the 8th floor, officials should fill in the attendance register in the waiting area with their name, department, and the number of the item(s) on the agenda that they are there for. Officials then wait in the central waiting area until a member of the Cabinet Office comes out of the meeting and calls officials in for a particular item, if required. The committee may not always need to talk to officials about a particular item and items may, therefore, be handled without officials being called. Cabinet Office staff will advise when this is the case so that those officials may leave.

On being called, officials should go promptly down corridor 8.4 and turn right, into the committee room. Officials need take only their relevant papers into the room. Leave bags and coats in the waiting area.

Cellphones, personal electronic devices (such as Blackberrys) and laptops must not be taken into the Cabinet committee room.  They must be switched off and left in the waiting area or in the container located outside the Cabinet committee room.

Once in the room, officials should quickly take a seat and listen to the discussion. Officials from lead agencies (that is, those who prepared the paper) sit at the table; others sit in the chairs around the walls. Officials are there to answer questions asked by Ministers. If asked a question, officials should start by stating their name and department.

Officials should not take any notes at the meeting as a general rule, except where the committee specifically asks officials for further information or to do further work. Any notes about this instruction must be kept confidential, and destroyed as soon as practicable after the meeting.

When the discussion of the item with officials has finished, officials should leave the room quickly and quietly, to allow Ministerial discussion to continue.

In cases where a Minister or department wishes somebody who is not a core government department official to attend (for example, a representative of a Crown entity, state-owned enterprise or government appointed taskforce), the Minister's office should seek permission from the committee chair through the committee secretary. This should be done at least the day before the meeting.

Any officials whose personal circumstances require additional physical assistance or support should contact the Cabinet Office the day before the Cabinet committee meeting. Arrangements can be made to seat those with a hearing impairment in the best position to communicate with Ministers, and to ensure that there is clear access for a wheelchair or walking supports.

The Cabinet Office is happy to talk to departments about any difficulties or uncertainties they have about attendance at Cabinet committees. Contact should, in the first instance, be with the committee secretary concerned (link only available to people with access to the Public Sector Intranet).

Members of associated officials' committees may also attend Cabinet committee meetings.  For more information about this, see the CabGuide section on officials' committees that support Cabinet committees.