APPENDIX NINE: GLOSSARY

Term	Definition in context of review of the centre
Accountability System	The systems of planning, monitoring and reporting by which the work of Public Service departments and Crown entities is specified in advance, and organisations and chief executives are held responsible for its actual delivery.
Agency	Synonym for “organisation.” A blanket term that may include departments, Crown entities, and any organisation within the State sector.
Capability	What an organisation needs (in terms of people, resources, systems, structures, culture and relationships) in order to deliver efficiently the outputs required to achieve the Government’s goals as set out in its strategy.
Central Agencies	The State Services Commission, the Treasury, and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Central Government	The legislative and executive arms of Government, i.e. Parliament, Cabinet, and the State sector. Those elected in triennial general elections and the institutions directly accountable to them, whose authority covers the entire country. As distinct from “local government.”
Centre, The	An imprecise term denoting the people, institutions and arrangements that determine the direction of the State sector, exercise control over it or monitor it. There is no single definition of “the centre” and its meaning changes depending on the context in which it is used: in discussing a single organisation, the centre might mean head office, or the senior management group; in discussing the State sector, the centre might mean the Cabinet and the central agencies. Often used as a synonym for “central government.”
Cross-cutting	Involving or affecting the work of more than one agency or sector.
Crown entity	Crown entities are separate legal organisations in which the State has a controlling ownership interest. They form part of the Crown reporting entity, but are not part of the Crown itself. Most Crown entities exist under their own governing legislation as well as the Public Finance Act. Examples of Crown entities include the Broadcasting Standards Authority, New Zealand Lotteries Commission.
Delegation	The act of a senior official conferring, usually temporarily and by means of a signed document, some of his/her powers to a subordinate, and specifying the conditions on which those powers may be exercised by the subordinate. “Delegation” is also sometimes used to denote the powers delegated, and the document in which they are described.
Department	The 39 departments that comprise the Public Service are listed in the First Schedule to the State sector Act. All except the Public Trust Office are also departments under the Public Finance Act, as are the Government Communications Security Bureau, NZ Defence Force, Office of the Clerk, Parliamentary Counsel Office, Parliamentary Service, Police, and Security Intelligence Service. The latter seven departments are also referred to as 'Non-State sector Act departments'.
Devolution	A transfer of authority from central government to local government or to a community organisation. Often refers to a community organisation taking over responsibility for making decisions on delivery of a service previously the responsibility of a central government agency.
Input	The resources (e.g. money, people, information technology) used by departments to produce outputs (e.g. goods and services), which will achieve the Government’s stated outcomes.
Local Government	Local or regional authorities elected or appointed within a specific geographical area, whose authority relates only to that geographical area, and the institutions accountable to them. As distinct from “central government.”
Outcome	In the Public Finance Act, outcomes are described as the impacts on, or the consequences for, the community of the outputs or activities of the Government.
Output	Outputs are defined in the Public Finance Act as “the goods and services that are produced by a department, Crown entity, Office of Parliament or other person or body.”
Output Plan	A proposed replacement for departmental Purchase Agreements, Output Plans would detail the outputs (both Crown funded and third party funded) to be produced by the department over the next purchase period, and the associated volumes, standards and prices, consistent with pursuit of the desired outcomes set out in the Statement of Intent.
Public Management System	A broad term encompassing the constitutional, legal, institutional and conventional arrangements by which the country is governed, and especially the means by which the policies of the Government are formulated and then implemented by State sector organisations, and the means by which those organisations are governed, managed and monitored.
Public Sector	The public sector comprises: the State sector ('central Government'); and all local authorities ('local government'), including local authoritytrading enterprises (LATEs). “Public sector” is wider than “State sector”, which is wider than “Public Service.”
Public Service	The Public Service comprises the 39 departments listed in the First Schedule to the State sector Act. Sometimes described as the first, or inner, tier of the “three tier State”, the other two tiers being Crown entities and State owned enterprises. Narrower than both “State sector” and “public sector.”
Purchase Agreement	A purchase agreement is a documented arrangement between a Vote Minister and a department or other organisation for the supply of specific Crown-funded outputs.
Results	Sometimes used as a synonym for “Outcomes”; sometimes to denote the degree to which an organisation successfully delivers its outputs; and sometimes with both meanings at once.
State sector	The State sector comprises all organisations that are included in the 'Crown reporting entity' and are referred to in s 27(3) of the Public Finance Act 1989, namely:· Public Service departments; other organisations defined as departments for the purposes of the Public Finance Act 1989; Offices of Parliament (e.g. the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment); State-owned enterprises; Crown entities; and The Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
State Services	State services are defined in the State sector Act as meaning: all instruments of the Crown, whether departments, corporations, agencies or other instruments; andincluding the Education service and the Health service; but not including: the Governor-General; any member of the Executive Council any Minister of the Crown any member of Parliament any corporation listed in the First Schedule to the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986 (i.e. any SOE); or any university, polytechnic or college of education.
Statement of Intent	A document developed after discussion between a department and its Minister(s), that identifies and explains for Parliament’s benefit the main features of a department’s strategy, capability and performance intentions in the medium term. This is in the process of being rolled out to departments over the next two years. Different in form and content from Crown entity and SOE statements of intent.
State Owned Enterprise (SOE)	SOEs are companies listed in the First Schedule of the State owned Enterprises Act 1986. SOEs operate as a commercial business but are owned by the State. They have boards of directors, appointed by shareholding Ministers to take full responsibility for running the business. They are sometimes referred to as the third or outer tier in the “three tier State.”
Whole-of-government	A term of considerable elasticity, intended to describe a subject applying to a large section, if not the entirety, of the State sector. In practice, it can mean anything from “the entire State sector” to “a lot of Public Service departments.”