Statement of Intent 1 July 2006 - 30 June 2009
Part 1: Strategic framework (continued)
High-level and intermediate outcomes
The Ministry of Defence has developed a high-level security outcome that guides work in every area:
- Supporting New Zealand's security objectives and contributing to the security of other countries.
A secure New Zealand is a critical precondition to economic growth and social well-being. New Zealanders need to live free from physical threat from external parties to be able to achieve their aspirations. New Zealand's security is directly affected by the security of other countries, so the Ministry must also contribute to international security. The high-level outcome contains both these elements: New Zealand's security and its contribution to international security.
The Ministry has also developed intermediate outcomes that will allow progress towards the high-level security outcome to be measured.
- The Ministry's intermediate outcomes are:
- developing sound advice on how the Government's defence and security policies can best be advanced
- the Ministry's advice and actions are credible, effective and respected.
The intermediate outcomes reflect the fact that the Ministry achieves the high-level outcome through the actions of other agencies based on the advice of the Ministry. For example, military deployments are undertaken by the New Zealand Defence Force, not the Ministry. The Ministry's advice and action must be credible, and other agencies must be prepared to act on it. The Ministry cannot work in a vacuum to respond to security challenges, so it works closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the intelligence agencies, New Zealand Police and others. The Ministry is also a member of the Officials' Committee for Domestic and External Security Co-ordination.
The Ministry is focused on contributing to the specific outcomes sought by the Government, as expressed in its defence policy objectives. These policy objectives are set out in The Government's Defence Policy Framework, issued in June 2000. The Framework sets out five objectives for New Zealand's defence policy:
- to defend New Zealand and to protect its people, land, territorial waters, Exclusive Economic Zone, natural resources and critical infrastructure
- to meet New Zealand's alliance commitments to Australia by maintaining a close defence partnership in pursuit of common security interests
- to assist in the maintenance of security in the South Pacific and to provide assistance to New Zealand's Pacific neighbours
- to play an appropriate role in the maintenance of security in the Asia-Pacific region, including meeting New Zealand's obligations as a member of the Five Power Defence Arrangements
- to contribute to global security and peacekeeping through participation in the full range of United Nations and other appropriate multilateral peace support and humanitarian relief operations.
To work towards these objectives:
- The Ministry, in consultation with the New Zealand Defence Force, will:
- identify and incorporate changes in the strategic environment, and their implications, into the development of New Zealand's defence and security policy
- meet defence policy objectives through the implementation of the Defence Long-term Development Plan
- maintain effective bilateral and multilateral defence relationships.
- The Ministry will acquire significant military equipment in a transparent and fair way, and in accordance with government procurement policies. 'Significant' usually means equipment that will cost more than NZ$7 million. The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing competitive local (Australian, New Zealand, and Singaporean) industries with the opportunity to support defence, and to ensuring that the Government and the taxpayer get value for money.
- The Ministry's Evaluation Division will audit and assess the New Zealand Defence Force, and the Ministry. The audits and assessments will be independent, strategic, and risk-based. The Defence Evaluation Board will assess the Evaluation Division's advice and actions, and ensure that the Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force make the recommended improvements in performance and accountability.
The Ministry will seek the views of the Minister of Defence, the New Zealand Defence Force, and other related government agencies to measure and assess progress towards the intermediate outcomes. The effectiveness of the Ministry's policy advice will be assessed by the frequency of its acceptance by related agencies and the degree to which these agencies seek the Ministry's guidance. This will be monitored on a quarterly basis.
The Ministry will also review the way it measures progress. This measurement of progress is set out later in this document under Statement of forecast service performance - output performance statements 2006/07.
Figure 2 shows how the Ministry's output expenses, interventions, and intermediate and high-level outcomes work together.
It shows that our interventions can achieve the intermediate outcomes because our policy advice, acquisition actions, and audits and assessments contribute directly to those outcomes. The intermediate outcomes will impact on the major outcomes.
The Ministry will gather information about the effectiveness of its policy advice to measure progress over time. The way policy advice is measured is set out later in this document under Statement of forecast service performance - output performance statements 2006/07.
The Ministry works closely with the New Zealand Defence Force, and the two organisations' high-level outcomes are closely related. Part of the New Zealand Defence Force's outcome framework is reproduced here, showing how the Ministry contributes to New Zealand Defence Force outcomes. (Figure 3)
The Ministry and the New Zealand Defence Force are separate organisations with their own statutory functions. They must, however, work closely together.
The relationship between the Ministry and the New Zealand Defence Force is governed through a concept of sole, prime and shared responsibilities. To facilitate the relationship, a notional 'joint strategic office', led by the Vice Chief of Defence Force and Deputy Secretary Policy and Planning, supports the provision of joint military and civilian strategic advice and the prime and shared responsibilities of the Chief of Defence Force and the Secretary. The following table shows the Secretary of Defence's high-level sole, prime and shared responsibilities.
| Sole | Prime | Shared |
|---|---|---|
Formulating advice on defence and international defence relations policy and strategies at the governmental level Purchase advice on New Zealand Defence Force outputs policy effects Equipment purchasing Ministry of Defence resource management Evaluation of and accounting for Ministry of Defence outputs |
Developing security scenarios and planning guidelines from defence policy strategy Preparing business cases for acquisition proposals Evaluating defence organisation outputs and contributions to national security outcomes |
Conducting analyses of the strategic environment Analysing and setting military capability requirements Defining a joint future capability vision Drafting long-term development and medium-term output plans for the defence organisation |
Figure 2: Outcome Framework
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Figure 3: New Zealand Defence Force Outcome Framework
Intermediate Outcome1: Secure New Zealand
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The Ministry contributes through all its outputs; in particular, the Ministry acquires major items of equipment contributing to military capability.
Intermediate Outcome 2: Reduced risks from regional and global insecurity
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The Ministry contributes through its policy and planning output; in particular, advice on changes in the strategic environment and management of bilateral and multilateral defence relations.
Intermediate Outcome 3: New Zealand security values and security interests advanced
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The Ministry directly contributes mostly through its policy and planning output, for example management of multilateral and bilateral defence relations.
Intermediate Outcome 4: New Zealand is able to meet future national security challenges
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The Ministry contributes mostly through its policy and planning and acquisition outputs. Monitoring of changes in the strategic environment and analysis of military capabilities required to meet defence policy goals results in the acquisition of major items of military equipment.
