Cabinet Secretariat Overview

THE CABINET OFFICE

The Cabinet Office is central to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). It is therefore critical to the role of the Prime Minister in his dual capacity as Head of the Government and Chairman of the Cabinet. The Office is also critical to the role of the Secretary to the Cabinet in her dual capacity as Secretary and as Head of the Public Service.

Several legislations provide the legislative backdrop for the operations of the Cabinet Office. These include the Grenada Constitution Order 1973 (in particular Sections 57 – 68), Public Finance Management Act 2015, Integrity in Public Life Act, Ombudsman Act, et al. They are supported by relevant policy documents inclusive of the Government of Grenada Policy Handbook 2007, Annual Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, among others.

The operations of the Cabinet Office are guided by its Mission Statement as well as it's Vision. Both are outlined below:

Mission Statement

To facilitate the Cabinet of Ministers to execute its responsibilities as stated in the Constitution and to ensure that the Public Service performs optimally and with due ethics to improve the lives of the people of Grenada.”

Vision Statement

To be a centre of excellence for the development of policy, an enabler of Cabinet Systems and processes and a strategic partner to Public Service Managers in building a high-performance Public Service.”

HISTORY OF THE CABINET OFFICE

The Government of Grenada adopted the model of a Cabinet Office as part of its executive government from as far back as the days of Associated Statehood in March 3, 1967 until Independence was granted on February 7, 1974. Although the functions evolved over the years, there are three core areas of responsibility:

Formulating the agenda of Cabinet meetings;
Recording decisions made on the Submission and Mentions; and
Communicating the decisions to the appropriate Head of Department in the form of Cabinet Conclusions.

The role of the Secretary to the Cabinet serves is established in Section 68 of The Constitution of Grenada (1973) which states:

1. There shall be a Secretary to the Cabinet whose office shall be a public office.

2. The Secretary to the Cabinet, who shall have charge of the Cabinet Office, shall be responsible, in accordance with such instructions as may be given to him by the Prime Minister, for arranging the business for, and keeping the minutes of, the Cabinet and for conveying the decisions of the Cabinet to the appropriate person or authority and shall have such other functions as the Prime Minister may direct.

The respective duties are:

• Managing Cabinet Agenda and developing Cabinet’s forward agenda;

• Initiating meetings leading up to the formulation of policy on strategic matters;

• Providing an independent perspective on departmental proposals as the principal adviser to the Prime Minister;

• Controlling the quality and content of information reaching Cabinet and Cabinet Committees by reviewing all materials in advance;

• Briefing the Prime Minister on his/her role as Chairman of Cabinet;

• Briefing Chairpersons of Cabinet Committees on the role of the Committee with respect to tasks delegated by Cabinet;

• Recording and disseminating Cabinet Decisions.

The Secretary to the Cabinet serves also as the Head of the Public Service with the following roles:

• Chairing the meetings of the Senior Managers’ Board comprising of Permanent Secretaries and Head of Non-ministerial Departments;

• Interfacing with the Public Service Commission on senior appointments within the Public Service;

• Setting the strategic agenda and standards for the effective performance and management of the Public Service;

• Coordinating performance evaluation of Senior Managers in the Public Service;

• Leading and directing on administrative reforms;

• Reporting on the performance of the Public Service to the Prime Minister;

• Providing professional guidance to leaders and managers of the Public Service.

Administration
Cabinet Secretariat
Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit (PMEU)

Administration provides support to the internal Cabinet Office staff

To manage and coordinate all procedural, operational and logistical services supporting Cabinet and it related functions, including Cabinet committees.
To provide administrative policy research and analysis, operational and other support for the Prime Minister, Cabinet and Cabinet Committees.
To manage the Human, Financial and Material resources of the Cabinet Office.

The Cabinet Secretariat provides logistical support to Cabinet and Cabinet Committees to ensure that the Government’s business is conducted in a timely and efficient manner:

Providing administrative support to the Cabinet.
Ensuring timely dispatch of Cabinet Submissions and Mentions to Ministers of Government.
Ensuring timely dispatch of Cabinet Conclusions to Ministries and Departments.
Maintaining the records of Cabinet documents.
Facilitating other administrative functions such as signage of the Government of Grenada contracts and issuing of Marriage and Aliens Land Holding License.

The PMEU provided the Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Support to the Public Service through:

coordination of the development of a corporate plan for government as a whole that will interpret the priorities and support the monitoring of performance across government;
supporting the interpretation of national sustainable development goals into a single corporate plan for the government as a whole, and into the corporate and operational plans of departments and agencies;
capacity-building to develop corporate and operational planning processes and systems in departments and agencies;
monitoring the performance of government at both the level of individual departments and agencies and on a cross-sectoral basis.
establishing guidelines for the development of performance indicators and subsequently reviewing the relevance and robustness of performance indicators proposed by departments and agencies;
undertaking regular follow-up of all departments and agencies to ensure that performance information is being gathered by their internal systems on an ongoing basis;
gathering performance data on a quarterly basis from departments and agencies against plans and performance indicators;
collating and analysing performance data received from all government departments and agencies and producing appropriate summary and synthesis reports for key stakeholders.

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