Cabinet Manual

Public service

3.2 "Public service" is the term used to describe all public service departments listed in the First Schedule to the State Sector Act 1988. The public service is part of the executive branch of government.

State services

3.3 "State services" is the term used to refer to the broad range of organisations that serve as instruments of the Crown. The state services consist of:

  1. all public service departments;
  2. other departments in the executive branch of government that are not part of the public service (the New Zealand Police, the New Zealand Security and Intelligence Service, the New Zealand Defence Force, and the Parliamentary Counsel Office);
  3. four of the five categories of Crown entities:
    • statutory entities, which comprise Crown agents, autonomous Crown entities, and independent Crown entities;
    • Crown entity companies;
    • school boards of trustees;
    • Crown entity subsidiaries;
  4. a variety of organisations included in the government's annual financial statements by virtue of being listed in the Fourth Schedule to the Public Finance Act 1989, such as reserves boards, fish and game councils, and the Asia New Zealand Foundation; and
  5. the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

State sector

3.4 "State sector" is the common term for the organisations whose financial position and performance are reported in the annual financial statements of the government. The state sector is broader than the state services. The state sector includes:

  1. all the state services;
  2. departments that are part of the legislative branch of government, but not part of the state services, such as the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Parliamentary Service;
  3. the fifth category of Crown entities - tertiary education institutions and their Crown entity subsidiaries;
  4. offices of Parliament; and
  5. state-owned enterprises, which are listed in the First and Second Schedules of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986.