The Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) has issued a new Circular for the Public Service to follow when handling Ministerial Correspondence.
In the Circular C2021-09 Ministerial Correspondence Handling, Secretary of DPC, Timothy Reardon said Departments and other public sector Agencies were required to reply to Ministerial correspondence on behalf of the Government and/or prepare draft responses for their Minister.
“The public has a reasonable expectation that their questions and comments will be dealt with as quickly as possible, and that the service they receive from Ministers and Government Agencies are consistent and of high quality,” Mr Reardon said.
He said a set of standards were implemented in 2015 to improve policies, procedures and practices as they related to Ministerial correspondence.
He said they included that all Ministers maintain a web contact form; all Departments have a correspondence style guide; all Departments publish a correspondence handling policy on their website; and all Departments report on baseline performance in relation to correspondence handling and processing.
Mr Reardon said Departments’ correspondence handling policies should include business rules that outlined minimum standards for handling and processing.
“Including that all routine correspondence is responded to within a maximum of 30 working days of receipt by the Agency – noting that the Department of Premier and Cabinet is committed to a 20 working day response time,” he said.
Access to Circular C2021-09 can be made on the DPC website at this PS News link.
