Part 3 Administration and management of the public sector
Division 1 The Council on the Cost of Government
A Council on the Cost of Government is established.
44 Composition and procedure of Council
(1) The Council is to consist of 7 members, as follows:(a) 3 Department Heads, being the Director-General of the Premier’s Department, the Director-General of the Cabinet Office and the Secretary of the Treasury,(b) 4 persons appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the Minister, being persons who are not public sector employees (as defined in subsection (3)).(2) The Minister may from time to time nominate some other Department Head in place of any of the Department Heads specified in subsection (1).(3) A public sector employee is a person who is an officer or temporary employee under this Act, or an employee or member of staff of a declared authority.(4) One of the members appointed by the Governor is, by the instrument of appointment as a member or by another instrument executed by the Governor, to be appointed as Chairperson of the Council.(5) Schedule 8 has effect with respect to the members and procedure of the Council.
The Council has the following functions and is to exercise those functions with a view to achieving a cost effective and world class public sector:(a) reviewing management and operational effectiveness and efficiency in the public sector, including reporting and making recommendations to the Government on its reviews,(b) advising the Government on any changes that are necessary to ensure that the public sector provides “value for money” and quality services to its customers and the community within the framework of the Government’s policies,(c) developing and overseeing the implementation of reform initiatives for the achievement in the longer term of improvements in performance in the public sector and reduction in its costs and of such other public sector initiatives as the Minister may direct,(d) advising the Government on recommendations made by the Public Accounts Committee or the Auditor-General, including advice as to whether and how any such recommendations should be implemented, and monitoring the implementation of any of those recommendations that are to be implemented,(e) such other functions with respect to the review of matters concerning the public sector as the Minister may direct, including advising and reporting and making recommendations to the Government on the results of any such review and developing and overseeing the implementation of reform initiatives,(f) such other functions as are conferred or imposed on it by or under this Act or any other law.
The Council is subject to the control and direction of the Minister, except in relation to the contents of any report or recommendation made by it.
47 Requests to Departments and declared authorities for information etc
(1) For the purpose of the exercise of the Council’s functions under this Act, a member of the Council authorised by the Council or an officer authorised by the Council may request a Department Head or declared authority:(a) to produce any document in the custody of any member of staff of the Department or declared authority, or(b) to provide any information, or(c) to provide a report into such matters as are specified in the request.(2) If the Department Head or declared authority does not comply with the request, the Minister may require the Department Head or declared authority to comply with the request or with any other direction regarding the subject matter of the request.
47A Requests to Auditor-General for information
(1) For the purpose of the exercise of the Council’s functions under this Act, a member of the Council authorised by the Council or an officer authorised by the Council may request the Auditor-General to provide any information.(2) The Auditor-General may provide such information despite the provisions of section 38 (Secrecy) of the Public Finance and Audit Act 1983.
47B Management assistance and advice
The Council may provide a Department or declared authority or the Police Service with such assistance and advice as will foster improvement in the efficiency or management and organisational performance of the Department or declared authority or the Police Service.
47C Arrangements for use of staff of others
The Director-General of the Premier’s Department may arrange for the use by the Council of the services of any staff (by secondment or otherwise) or facilities of a Department or declared authority.
(1) The Council is to prepare and forward to the Minister a report of the Council’s work and activities for each consecutive period of 6 months commencing on the commencement of this section. The report for a period is to be prepared and forwarded to the Minister within 2 months after the end of the period.(2) The Minister is to lay each such report or cause it to be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as practicable after receiving the report.
(1) The Council is dissolved on 1 May 1999.(2) On the dissolution of the Council, a person who held office as a member of the Council immediately before that dissolution:(a) ceases to hold office as such a member, and(b) is not entitled to any remuneration or compensation because of the loss of that office.
48, 49 (Repealed)
Division 2A Public Employment Office
(1) There is constituted by this Act a body corporate with the corporate name of the Public Employment Office.(2) The Public Employment Office is, for the purposes of any Act, a statutory body representing the Crown.
49B Commissioner for Public Employment
(1) The affairs of the Public Employment Office are to be managed by the Commissioner for Public Employment.(2) Any act, matter or thing done in the name of, or on behalf of, the Public Employment Office by the Commissioner, or with the authority of the Commissioner, is taken to have been done by the Public Employment Office.(3) In this section, Commissioner for Public Employment means the Commissioner for Public Employment holding office as such under Part 2 of this Act.
The Public Employment Office is subject to the control and direction of the Minister, except in relation to the following:(a) salaries, wages or other remuneration, and other conditions of employment,(b) a dispute relating to an industrial matter.
49D Principal functions of the Public Employment Office
The Public Employment Office has the following functions:(a) advising the Government on appropriate policies in relation to personnel management and industrial relations in the public sector and, in particular, appropriate policies in relation to the use of consultants by the public sector, standards of conduct for public sector employees and management-staff consultation,(b) monitoring the implementation of Government policies in those areas and assisting the implementation of those policies (including the issuing of implementation guidelines),(c) monitoring recruitment, appointment and promotion practices in the public sector and, in particular, compliance with requirements relating to appointment and promotion on merit,(d) co-ordinating and assisting in the redeployment of excess staff in the public sector,(e) advising the Minister on the creation, classification and grading of chief and senior executive officer positions within the public sector,(f) assisting in the recruitment, deployment and redeployment of executive officers within the public sector,(g) advising the Government on appropriate policies and practices in relation to such other public sector matters as the Minister may direct from time to time, and monitoring, co-ordinating and assisting the implementation of Government policies and practices in such other areas as the Minister may direct from time to time,(h) such other functions as are conferred or imposed on it by or under this Act or any other law.
49E Reports on personnel practices and policies
(1) The Public Employment Office may require the appropriate Department Head or declared authority to provide the Public Employment Office with a report on such matters relating to the personnel policies and practices of a Department or declared authority as the Public Employment Office requires.(2) In particular, the Public Employment Office may require inclusion in the report of information of a kind specified by the Public Employment Office as to:(a) the personnel policies and practices concerning the recruitment, selection, appointment, transfer, promotion or discipline of the staff of the Department or declared authority and the means by which the job satisfaction and opportunities for personal development of the staff are promoted, and(b) the application of any such policies and practices to different groups of members of the staff.(3) The Department Head or declared authority concerned must comply with a requirement under this section within such time and in such manner as the Public Employment Office directs.(4) This section applies to the Police Service in the same way it applies to a Department, and for that purpose a reference to the Department Head is to be taken to be a reference to the Commissioner of Police.
49F Delegation by Public Employment Office
(1) The Public Employment Office may delegate to a Department Head or any other officer of a Department any of the functions of the Public Employment Office, other than this power of delegation.(2) Any delegation of a function with respect to the making of a determination fixing salaries, wages or other remuneration of officers or temporary employees is subject to the condition that any such determination must be at a level that is lower than the lowest amount of the remuneration packages for executive officers determined for the time being under the Statutory and Other Offices Remuneration Act 1975.(3) In this section:(a) a reference to the functions of the Public Employment Office includes a reference to any functions delegated to the Public Employment Office under this Act, and(b) a reference to an officer of a Department includes a reference to a person holding an appointment to or in the Department and a reference to a temporary employee, and (where the Department is the group of staff attached to, but not comprising, a body, organisation or group specified in Schedule 1) a reference to a person holding an appointment to or in that body, organisation or group.
49G Regulations relating to functions of Public Employment Office
(1) The regulations may make provision for or with respect to the principles, practices and procedures to be observed in connection with the exercise of the functions of the Public Employment Office.(2) In particular, the regulations may:(a) prescribe the circumstances in which an approval by the Public Employment Office under this or any other Act may be regarded as having been given, or(b) prescribe the procedure for obtaining any such approval.
49H Approvals or directions given by the Public Employment Office
An approval or direction given by the Public Employment Office under this Act may be given so as to apply to a particular case, or to all cases within a class of cases or generally.
Division 3 Miscellaneous matters relating to administration and management of the Public Service
50 Transfers within Department or between Departments
(1979 Act, s 112)
(1) If the Department Head considers it to be in the interests of the Department to do so, the Department Head may direct the transfer of an officer from one position in the Department to another position in the Department at the officer’s existing salary, provided the officer possesses the qualifications required for the other position and the work assigned to the other position is appropriate to that salary.(2) If the appropriate Department Head considers it to be in the interests of the Public Service to do so, that Department Head may, with the approval of the Department Head of the other Department concerned, transfer an officer from a position in the Department to a position in another Department at the officer’s existing salary, provided the officer has the qualifications required for the other position and the work assigned to the other position is appropriate to that salary.
(1979 Act, s 113)
(1) If the Minister, after consideration of the report of a relevant management review or special inquiry, is satisfied that the number of persons who are employed in a Department exceeds the number that appears to be necessary for the effective, efficient and economical management of its functions and activities, then, subject to subsection (3), the appropriate Department Head, as directed by the Minister shall take such steps as are practicable to secure the transfer of the excess persons to vacant positions in other Departments at their existing salaries.(2) If the appropriate Department Head is satisfied that the number of persons who are employed in the Department exceeds the number that appears to be necessary for the effective, efficient and economical management of its functions and activities, then, subject to subsection (3), that Department Head shall take such steps as are practicable to secure the transfer of the excess persons to vacant positions in other Departments at their existing salaries.(3) If any such excess person cannot be usefully employed in any other Department in accordance with this section, the Governor may, on the recommendation of the appropriate Department Head made with the approval of the Public Employment Office, dispense with the person’s services.(4) A transfer of a person under this section may be made only by the appropriate Department Head with the approval of the Department Head of the Department to which the person is being transferred.
(1979 Act, s 114)
(1) If:(a) the Minister, after consideration of the report of a relevant management review or special inquiry, or(b) the appropriate Department Head,is satisfied that an officer employed in a Department is in receipt of a greater salary than the maximum fairly appropriate to the work performed by the officer, then, subject to subsection (2), the Department Head shall take such steps as are practicable to assign the officer work of a class appropriate to the officer’s salary.(2) If:(a) the officer cannot be assigned sufficient work of the kind referred to in subsection (1), or(b) the officer is unfitted for or incapable of performing work appropriate to the officer’s salary,the appropriate Department Head shall take such steps as are practicable to secure the officer’s transfer to a vacant position in any other Department at the officer’s existing salary.(3) If a transfer cannot be made in accordance with subsection (2) or the officer is unfitted for or incapable of performing the work attached to a position referred to in that subsection, the appropriate Department Head, with the approval of the Public Employment Office:(a) shall reduce the officer’s salary to the maximum determined by that Department Head to be appropriate to the work performed by the officer, and(b) may take such steps as are practicable to secure the officer’s transfer to a vacant position in the Department to which the officer belongs or in any other Department at that salary.(4) If a reduction of salary of an officer under this section is certified by the appropriate Department Head to have been made on the ground only that appropriate work or an appropriate position is not available, the officer:(a) remains eligible for promotion as if the officer’s salary had not been reduced, and(b) is entitled to employment in the class of work to which the officer’s previous salary was appropriate, or transfer to a position to which that class of work is attached, as soon as the appropriate work or an appropriate position becomes available, in preference to any other officer whose salary has not been reduced.(5) A transfer of an officer under this section may be made only by the appropriate Department Head with the approval of the Department Head of the Department to which the officer is being transferred.
(1979 Act, s 115 (2))
(1) If an officer refuses a transfer under section 50, 51, 52 or 100A, the Governor may, on the recommendation of the appropriate Department Head made with the approval of the Public Employment Office, dismiss the officer from the Public Service, but only if that Department Head has certified that the officer had no valid reason for so refusing.(2) If the appropriate Department Head considers that an officer had a valid reason for refusing the transfer, the Department Head may allow the officer to decline the transfer without prejudice to any rights that the officer would, if the transfer had not been declined, have had to any future promotion or appointment.
53A Provisions applying to senior executive officers in the Public Service
(1) Sections 50–53 do not apply to senior executive officers in the Public Service.(2) If the Department Head considers it to be in the interests of the Department to do so, the Department Head may transfer a senior executive officer from one position in the Department to another position in the Department at the officer’s existing level of remuneration.(3) If the appropriate Department Head considers it to be in the interests of the Public Service to do so, the Department Head may, with the approval of the Public Employment Office and the Department Head of the other Department concerned, transfer a senior executive officer from a position in the Department to a position in another Department at the officer’s existing level of remuneration.(4) A transfer under this section may be made only if the senior executive officer possesses the qualifications required for the other position.(5) However, a senior executive officer may be transferred under this section to a position (whether or not an executive position within the meaning of Part 2A) at a level of remuneration that is lower than the officer’s existing level of remuneration, with the consent of the officer.
54 Right of the Crown to dispense with an officer’s services not affected by the Act
(1979 Act, s 118)
The right or power of the Crown to dispense with the services of any person employed in the Public Service, as it existed immediately before the commencement of this section, is not abrogated or restricted by any of the provisions of this Act.
55 No compensation to be paid where officer’s services dispensed with or salary reduced
(1979 Act, s 119)
An officer or temporary employee is not, except as provided by this or any other Act, entitled to any compensation as a result of the officer’s services being dispensed with or the officer’s salary being reduced.