Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives

The Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives is a New Zealand Public Sector Organisation.

The Office of the Clerk is the legislature’s secretariat. It provides specialist advice on procedure and parliamentary law and secretariat services. The Office of the Clerk is a politically independent organisation, providing services to Parliament, as distinct from services to the Government, and providing services to members in their parliamentary roles rather than in their party or electorate capacities.

Although the Office of the Clerk’s primary client group is members of Parliament and its principal relationships are with the Speaker, with other presiding officers, and with committee chairs, it also deals with office holders such as the Leader of the House, party leaders, and party whips, and with members’ staff.

The Office of the Clerk carries out the functions required under section 3 of the Clerk of the House of Representatives Act 1988, which provides that: