Cabinet committee minutes

Committee decisions are written up as minutes, and are distributed on green paper 1 - 2 days after the meeting. If further work is required in a short timeframe, the committee secretary will advise the relevant Minister's office immediately after the meeting (link only available to people with access to the Public Service Intranet).

The minute is copied to all Ministers and (via Ministers' offices) all departments that received the paper. The Minister and chief executive may need to consider conveying the substance of a decision to Crown agencies within the Minister's portfolio where they have a close interest or involvement in implementing the decision.

All committee decisions must be confirmed by Cabinet before they are implemented. Committee decisions are considered at the first Cabinet meeting following the committee meeting. Ministers and departments must therefore wait until Cabinet confirms or amends a decision before implementing it.

There are two exceptions to waiting for a Cabinet minute before taking action:

• when a committee has been granted "power to act" by Cabinet before the committee meets, the committee's decisions can be implemented immediately;
• when a committee requests further work (such as further consultation or research) to be carried out before the next Cabinet or committee meeting, that work should be actioned immediately or in accordance with the committee's direction.