The Cabinet Office has the principal role in the provision of advice, on a daily basis, to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on a wide range of complex issues that confront the Government, particularly its policy priorities. The Office plays a central role in coordinating and leading the work of government Ministries and agencies, and other entities as appropriate, to ensure that decision-making takes account of all relevant viewpoints and that advice is as coherent and complete as possible.

The Cabinet Office is also responsible for supporting the strategic role of Cabinet in defining the medium term priorities of the Government and supporting and tracking implementation of those priorities and other decisions of the Cabinet, and reporting to Cabinet on the progress in implementing its decisions. Working closely with the Ministry of Finance, the Cabinet Office is the center of excellence for policy development and corporate planning, providing guidelines, templates and training for Ministry staff.

Specific strategy and policy functions of the Cabinet Office include:

a) advising the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on the Government’s Medium Term Agenda, including review of development plans and political statements, coordinating input from the Ministry of Finance and other Ministries, risk analysis and preparation of drafts;

b) reviewing the content of draft Cabinet submissions to ensure compliance with Cabinet rules on the use of evidence, analysis of options and implementation plans, as well as consultation with other Ministries;

c) where necessary assisting Ministries to prepare specific policy submissions and providing policy advice to the Prime Minister on submissions;

d) coordinating the content for Cabinet Retreats; and

e) supporting Ministries to undertake corporate planning consistent with the Government’s national priorities (such as those highlighted in the Government’s Medium Term Agenda).

The Cabinet Office is also responsible for development and supervision of a monitoring system to support and track the implementation of the Medium Term Agenda and other national planning decisions. This includes developing performance indicators on policy implementation, specifying formats for reporting implementation of decisions and national priorities, collecting performance data from Ministries, arranging surveys of users and potential beneficiaries, compiling and analyzing implementation reports and dashboards for Cabinet, the Parliament and the public, commissioning major evaluations and providing guidelines and training for Ministries on monitoring and evaluation.

In performing these monitoring functions, the Cabinet Office’s role is not just to track and report on Ministry performance, but also to provide pro-active support to Ministries to develop effective policies and to implement the decisions of the Cabinet. The Office works cooperatively with Ministries to support the Cabinet’s priorities, in some cases by convening committees or task forces established by the Cabinet to coordinate the development of complex policy proposals or to coordinate implementation and/or implementation where necessary to achieve effective coordination of complex policies. The Cabinet Office also has responsibility for the following functions:

a) Leadership development and management for the leadership level of the Public Service;

b) Succession planning;

c) Digital Transformation Agenda; and

d) Centers of Government co-ordination.