Submissions to select committees and government responses to reports
This page sets out information about the Cabinet procedures for making submissions to select committees, preparing government responses to select committee reports, and for preparing government responses to Law Commission reports.
Submissions to select committees
For detailed guidance about select committees, see paragraphs 7.97-7.111 of the Cabinet Manual and the State Services Commission guidance entitled Officials and Select Committees - Guidelines. In summary:
- Departments may not make a formal submission to a select committee on any Bill or select committee inquiry without the express approval of the Cabinet Legislation Committee (LEG).
- Departments should submit a paper to LEG, accompanied by the proposed text of the submission to the select committee and seeking approval for it. As for all Cabinet committee papers, interested departments must be consulted in the drafting of the response and the LEG paper.
- If a select committee requests written information from a department (not amounting to a formal submission), the department should clear the proposed response with their Minister.
Government responses to reports of select committees (petitions and inquiries)
If a report from a select committee to the House on an enquiry or petition includes recommendations to the government, a government response to the recommendations must be presented within 90 days of the committee's report (see Standing Order 248). Copies of all select committee reports are available from the New Zealand Parliament website: http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/SC/Reports/.
Such responses must first be approved by LEG.
When a response is required, the Cabinet Office will send the details to the relevant Minister's office. This will include a copy of the report or petition, detailed guidelines on how the response should be laid out, and the process to be followed.
The submission to LEG that accompanies the response should follow the standard format for a Cabinet paper and include comments on the recommendations.
If the select committee's report raises matters that require policy decisions to be taken by a Cabinet committee, a paper should be submitted to that committee before the final government response is submitted to LEG and Cabinet.
Government responses to Law Commission reports
Law Commission report on a project referred by the by the government
The Minister Responsible for the Law Commission (MRLC) approves an annual programme of projects for the Law Commission. Information on Law Commission projects is available on the Commission website: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz
Law Commission reports on projects referred by the government are presented to the MRLC and any relevant portfolio Minister. The MRLC is required to present all Law Commission reports to the House in accordance with section 16 of the Law Commission Act 1985. Once a report has been presented to the House, or 20 working days after an advance copy of the report has been forwarded to the MRLC and the relevant portfolio Minister, the Law Commission will publish the report.
Once a portfolio Minister has received a Law Commission report, a draft Cabinet paper will be prepared as soon as reasonably practicable reflecting the views of the Minister and all relevant agencies, and incorporating split recommendations where there is no consensus. The portfolio Minister will decide which agency prepares the Cabinet paper - the Law Commission, the relevant responsible government agency, or a paper prepared jointly. The Law Commission usually has some level of involvement in the preparation of the paper, although this is not mandatory. When the Minister is satisfied with the draft Cabinet paper, he or she will submit the paper to a Cabinet committee seeking Cabinet's approval of the recommendations in the Law Commission report to the extent that the Minister considers appropriate.
If the Law Commission's recommendations are accepted
If the recommendations contained in a Law Commission report are accepted by Cabinet, no formal government response to the report needs to be presented to the House.
When the Law Commission report recommends a new bill, approval should be sought in the paper to add the bill to the legislation programme in the usual way (see the CabGuide section on the legislation programme). If the Law Commission report does not contain a bill, the portfolio Minister, or the Law Commission, may be invited by Cabinet to issue drafting instructions to parliamentary counsel. The bill will then need to be approved by Cabinet in the usual way.
If the Law Commission's recommendations are not accepted
If Cabinet does not agree with the recommendations in the Law Commission's report, a government response must be presented to the House within 120 working days of the Commission's report being presented to the House.
The portfolio Minister must seek Cabinet approval for the text of the government response by submitting the response, with a Cabinet paper, to LEG and Cabinet.
The templates will need to be adapted to match the format of the particular Law Commission recommendations. It may be appropriate to summarise or cluster key recommendations together when drafting the government response. Once approved by Cabinet, the office of the Minister concerned must arrange the presentation of the government response by delivering it to the Clerk of the House of Representatives in the usual way.
Law Commission report following a self-initiated project
The Law Commission can also self-initiate projects under section 16 of the Law Commission Act 1985. The process for responding to Law Commission reports on such projects is similar to that for reports on government referred projects, with one key difference: the government must respond to all Law Commission reports that are self-initiated. This can be done either by way of a government response to the House (as above) or through the introduction of a bill giving effect to the Law Commission's recommendations.
If Cabinet rejects the recommendations in the Law Commission report, the government will continue to be required to respond formally, by way of a paper presented to the House within 120 working days of the presentation of the Law Commission’s report to the House.
Further information
Further information on the process for selecting Law Commission projects and responding to Law Commission reports is set out in Law Commission: Processes for Setting the Work Programme and Government Response to Reports [Cabinet Office circular CO (09) 1].
The office of the MRLC has responsibility for monitoring government responses to Law Commission reports.
