Statement of Intent 1 July 2007 - 30 June 2010
Part 1: Strategic framework (continued)
High-level and intermediate outcomes
The Ministry of Defence's high-level security outcome is:
- 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 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, the New Zealand Defence Force undertakes military deployments, not the Ministry. The Ministry's advice and action must be credible, and other agencies must be prepared to act on it. The Ministry, therefore, responds to security challenges by working 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 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 June 2000 Defence Policy Framework (noted in the Structure and Role Section above).
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 monitor the implementation by the Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force of 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 2007/08.
Figure 2 shows how the Ministry's output expenses and interventions combine to achieve the Ministry's intermediate and 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 2007/08.
While the Ministry and the New Zealand Defence Force are separate organisations with their own statutory functions they must work very closely together. Given the closeness of the relationship the high-level outcomes of the two organisations are closely related.
The New Zealand Defence Force's main outcome is:
- New Zealand secure and protected from external threats now and in the future.
The New Zealand Defence Force's intermediate outcomes are:
- secure New Zealand, including its people, land, territorial waters, exclusive economic zone, natural resources and critical infrastructure.
The Ministry contributes to these New Zealand Defence Force outcomes through all its outputs; in particular, the Ministry acquires major items of equipment contributing to military capability.
- Reduced risks to New Zealand from regional and global insecurity.
The Ministry contributes to this New Zealand Defence Force outcome through its policy and planning output; in particular, advice on changes in the strategic environment and management of bilateral and multilateral defence relations.
- New Zealand values and interests advanced through participation in regional and international security systems.
The Ministry directly contributes to this New Zealand Defence Force outcome primarily through its policy and planning output, for example management of multilateral and bilateral defence relations.
- New Zealand is able to meet future national security challenges.
The Ministry contributes to this New Zealand Defence Force outcome 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.
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 & 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
