Statement of Intent 1 July 2007 - 30 June 2010
Part 2: Departmental forecast report (continued)
Statement of forecast service performance - output performance statements 2007/08
The Ministry of Defence has committed to provide three outputs in 2007/08, which meet the requirements of the Vote Minister for specification, timeliness, quality and cost.
The outputs are:
Policy advice
Description
Under this output the Minister of Defence will purchase:
- advice on defence policy matters. This includes advice on:
- strategies for achieving goals and outcomes
- changes in the strategic environment with implications for defence policy
- the defence and security policies of other countries
- deployment of New Zealand Defence Force assets and personnel
- the military capabilities required to meet defence policy goals, broad resources implications and the relative merits and risks associated with proposed capability options.
- management and enhancement of bilateral and multilateral defence relations
- responses to Ministerial and Parliamentary Questions, Official Information Act enquiries and Ombudsman correspondence.
Quantity and timeliness
The Ministry will:
- undertake analysis of significant issues that have an impact on the Government’s defence policy and international defence relations including:
- developments in the international security environment, especially in the Asia-Pacific region
- changes in the defence and security policies of key countries such as Australia and the United States
- developments in regional security relations
deployments of New Zealand Defence Force assets and personnel on United Nations or other operations - the operation of the New Zealand Defence Force Mutual Assistance Programme.
- manage defence relationships with Australia and other regional countries (including key bilateral meetings between Australian and New Zealand Defence Ministers, and Senior Officials’ meetings), and participate in the regional multilateral security dialogues (including the Association of South-East Asian Nations Regional Forum and Five Power Defence Arrangements Defence Ministers’ Meeting)
- undertake capability reviews in co-operation with the New Zealand Defence Force to identify the options for achieving the Government’s defence policy goals and the Ministry of Defence’s outcomes, in particular capability reviews for projects from the Defence Long-term Development Plan
- provide on-going advice during the acquisition phase of projects from the Defence Long-term Development Plan that have been approved by the Government, such as Project Protector vessels, the upgrade of the C-130H Hercules fleet, the acquisition and modification of the second-hand Boeing 757 aircraft, the upgrade of the mission systems for the P-3 Orion fleet, the acquisition of new helicopters and the acquisition of weapons and engineering equipment for the Army
- work with the New Zealand Defence Force and civilian agencies for co-ordinated responses to defence policy and security issues. These will include: Antarctica, arms control and disarmament, maritime patrol and surveillance, oceans policy and trans-national criminal activity
- provide the following Ministerial services:
- responses to Ministerial correspondence to be actioned within 14 working days of receipt by the Ministry
- responses to Parliamentary Questions to be actioned within the timeframes set by the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives
- responses to Official Information Act requests to be actioned within statutory requirements.
Quality
Advice will meet the following quality standards:
- reports will address the issues raised by the Minister in relation to the issues listed above
- assumptions will be explicit and arguments will be logical and supported by facts
- forecasts will be supported through analysis
- a range of options will be presented where appropriate and assessed for benefits, costs, and consequences
- consultation will be undertaken with the New Zealand Defence Force and other parties, and any objections identified
- issues of implementation, technical feasibility, timing, and consistency with other policies will be considered
- reports and oral advice will be delivered within agreed or statutory timeframes, and will be based on agreed or established formats (such as those set down by the Cabinet Office)
- budgetary implications will be identified
written and oral advice tendered to the Minister of Defence will accurately reflect:- revenue and expense implications (quantified where possible)
- administrative implications and costs (quantified where possible).
The Ministry of Defence will maintain quality control procedures to support the policy advice delivered under this output.
The quality of policy advice will be assessed in terms of whether it is credible, effective, respected and contributes to the achievement of the Government’s defence and security policy objectives by:
- seeking the Minister’s views
- seeking the views of key stakeholders in policy advice
- monitoring the results of self review.
In addition, the Policy and Planning Division will implement recommendations agreed by the Ministry from audits or reviews.
Cost
This output will be provided within the appropriated sum of $3.988 million.
| Budgeted 2006/07 $000 |
Estimated actual 2006/07 $000 |
Budget 2007/08 $000 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue Crown | 3,921 | 3,921 | 3,891 |
| Revenue Other | 59 | 48 | 48 |
| Total revenue | 3,980 | 3,969 | 3,939 |
| Expenses | 3,980 | 3,969 | 3,939 |
| Surplus/(Deficit) | - | - | - |
