Appendix 3: Roles of lead agency
The essential roles of each lead agency that we audited are outlined below, in no particular order.
Te Puni Kōkiri
Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK) was set up in 1992 by the Ministry of Māori Development Act 1991. TPK focuses on providing policy advice to the Government and other agencies. TPK’s broad responsibilities are:
- promoting increases in levels of achievement attained by Māori with respect to education, training and employment, health, and economic resource development; and
- monitoring and liaising with each department and agency that provides, or has a responsibility to provide, services to or for Māori, to ensure the adequacy of those services.
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori – the Māori Language Commission
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (Te Taura Whiri) is an autonomous Crown entity, set up under the Māori Language Act 1987 to promote the use of Māori as a living language and as an ordinary means of communication. Te Taura Whiri has 20 staff and a budget of $3.3 million in the 2006/07 year.
Te Māngai Pāho – the Māori Broadcasting Funding Agency
Te Māngai Pāho is an autonomous Crown entity created in 1993. Te Māngai Pāho's statutory role is to "promote Māori language and Māori culture by making funds available … for broadcasting and the production of programmes to be broadcast". Te Māngai Pāho describes itself as "first and foremost, a Māori language sector agency". It employs 11 staff and manages just over $50 million in funding contracts between the agency and various programme makers and broadcasters.
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage was set up in 2000 by merging the Ministry for Cultural Affairs with the history and heritage functions of the Department of Internal Affairs. The Ministry provides advice to the Government on culture and heritage matters, and assists it to provide and manage cultural resources for the benefit of all New Zealanders.
The Ministry of Education
The purpose of the Ministry of Education is to provide policy advice to the Government on all aspects of education, from early childhood to tertiary, including employment-related education and training. The Ministry oversees the implementation of approved policies, and administers education legislation, such as the Education Act 1989. It is responsible for developing national guidelines for all aspects of education, including early childhood education and schooling curricula, and strategies to meet sector and populations’ needs.
The National Library of New Zealand
The National Library was set up by the National Library Act 1965. Under its current governing legislation (the National Library of New Zealand Act 2003), the National Library’s purpose is to enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations by:
- collecting, preserving, and protecting documents, particularly those relating to New Zealand, and making them accessible for all the people of New Zealand in a manner consistent with their status as documentary heritage and taonga;
- supplementing and furthering the work of other libraries in New Zealand; and
- working collaboratively with other institutions with similar purposes, including those forming part of the international library community.