Do:
- Identify a key relationship manager between the public entity and department.
- Think purposefully about the role of the department and the public entity to identify opportunities to collaborate.
- Prioritise building an effective and open working relationship with the public entity.
- Learn about the public entity’s specific legislated governance and functions.
- Identify and regularly review public entity risks.
- Identify and monitor any relevant performance frameworks for oversight of cohorts of public entities.
- Communicate regularly with public entities, including about any whole of government requirements.
- Support the public entity with public administration and governance matters.
- Determine the regularity/frequency of meetings according to the public entity’s risk rating and legislated functions.
- Formalise key interactions while ensuring that processes are not unduly complex.
- Transfer knowledge between staff to ensure the relationship with the public entity is maintained.
- Ensure the public entity’s relationship manager is aware of all information requests to the public entity.
- Provide support for smaller public entities to implement new obligations.
- Ensure contact details are available to relevant staff.
- Share information that can inform the entity in its role as early as possible – ‘no surprises’.
Don’t:
- Expect the public entity to navigate across all branches of the department.
- Revise public entity advice to government without the knowledge and approval of the public entity.
- In general, advise the minister on issues relating to the public entity without considering the operational and/or policy perspective of the public entity.
- In most cases, direct public entity staff in relation to legislated functions.
- Rely solely on communicating with the public entity as issues arise.
- Treat all public entities as the same, without understanding the differences between public entities that impact on governance.
- Try to control how public entities perform their functions (except in limited circumstances).
- Expect the entity to share all its relevant information if the department doesn’t demonstrate it will do the same.