Article 12 Establishment of Cabinet Office and Cabinet Secretary

After section 40, insert—

“Cabinet Office and Cabinet Secretary

40A

(1)

There shall be—

(a)

a Cabinet Office, which shall be an office in the Government; and

(b)

a Cabinet Secretary, whose office shall be a public office.

(2)

The Cabinet Secretary shall have charge of the Cabinet Office.

(3)

The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary are—

(a)

providing frank and politically neutral advice to the Governor, the Cabinet and the Premier on matters of policy;

(b)

monitoring and coordinating the implementation of policy between departments and ministerial portfolios and across the wider Government sector to ensure that Government policy is developed coherently;

(c)

providing for administrative and secretarial support for the Cabinet and the Premier in order to facilitate high-quality and effective government;

(d)

arranging the business for, and keeping the minutes of, the meetings of the Cabinet or any Cabinet committee and conveying the conclusions reached at the meetings to the appropriate person or authority; and

(e)

such other functions as the Governor, acting after consultation with the Premier, may from time to time direct.

(4)

The Cabinet Secretary shall—

(a)

transmit copies of all papers submitted for consideration by the Cabinet or any Cabinet committee to the Governor and all other members of the Cabinet;

(b)

inform the Governor and all other members of the Cabinet of the summoning of any meeting of the Cabinet or any Cabinet committee and of the matters to be discussed at any meeting of the Cabinet or any Cabinet committee; and

(c)

furnish the Governor and all other members of the Cabinet, as soon as practicable after each meeting of the Cabinet or any Cabinet committee, with a copy of the confirmed minutes of that meeting showing the matters discussed and the conclusions reached at the meeting.

(5)

The functions conferred on the Cabinet Secretary by subsection (4) may be exercised by the Cabinet Secretary in person or by officers subordinate to him or her acting under and in accordance with his or her general or special instructions.”.