GLOSSARY TERMS

ACC: Accident Compensation Corporation. The ACC is a crown entity administering New Zealand's compulsory accident compensation scheme. This scheme provides insurance cover for work- and non-work-related personal injuries stemming from an accident. Levies are paid to ensure an individual is covered. Employers are required to pay ACC levies on behalf of their employees and self-employed people are required to pay their own levies to ensure coverage.

Act: A law made by Parliament

Advertisement: Any form of communication made to the public, or a section of the public, for the purpose of promoting the supply of goods or services.

Agency: Synonym for "organisation". A blanket term that may include Government Departments, Crown entities, Offices of Parliament or the Reserve Bank.

Average Wage: The before tax average ordinary time weekly wage (all sectors, male and female combined) as specified in the latest Quarterly Employment Survey published by Statistics New Zealand.

Bandwidth: The transmission capacity of an electronic line such as a communications network or computer bus. It can be expressed in bits per second, bytes per second or in Hertz (cycles per second).

Beehive: Executive Wing to the Parliament House; houses Ministers' offices, known as the Beehive because of its shape.

Beneficiary: A person who has been granted a benefit; and includes a person in respect of whom a benefit or part of a benefit has been granted.

Benefit: A monetary benefit payable under Part 1 of the Social Security Act 1964 and includes:

• An unemployment Benefit
• A Sickness Benefit
• New Zealand Superannuation
• Veteran's Pension
• Transitional Retirement Benefit
• Living Alone Payment
• Accommodation Supplement
• A Child Disability Allowance
• A rent rebate certified under the Social Security Act 1964
• A Disability Allowance
• A Transition to Work Allowance
• A Tenure Protection Allowance

Best Practice: The most efficient, yet effective way, to implement systems and procedures to manage an organisation's health and safety. Best practice has often already successfully been implemented in other companies.

Bill: A proposed law.

Broadband: High-speed transmission internet. The term is commonly used to refer to communications lines or services at T1 rates (1.544 Mbps) and above.

Browser (or web browser): A computer application that provides access to the World Wide Web (for example, Netscape).

Census: A survey of all New Zealanders, which is conducted every five years by Statistics New Zealand. The census is used to determine population characteristics such as the number of people in New Zealand, their age, level of education, occupation and earnings.

Central Agency: A term for the State Services Commission, The Treasury or the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, in their co-ordination roles. The central agencies act as the "corporate office" of the Government.

Central Government: The legislative and executive arms of Government, i.e. Parliament and its offices, Cabinet, and the State Services. Those elected in triennial general elections and the institutions directly accountable to them, whose authority covers the entire country. As distinct from 'local government'.

Coalition Government: A government formed from more than one party.

Collaborating Agencies: Central government organisations that share a role in the original development of the New Zealand Work portal. They are the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), Department of Labour (DoL), Career Services (CS), Ministry of Social Development (MSD), New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), E-government Unit of the State Services Commission (SSC), the Ministry of Education (MoE) Inland Revenue (IRD) and Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).

Compliance Order: An OSH inspector can apply for a compliance to fix a breach of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.

Contractor: A person engaged by any person (otherwise than as an employee) to do any work for gain or reward. Contractors are often referred to as independent contractors.

Crown Entity: Crown entities are organisations in which the State has a controlling ownership interest. Crown entities form part of the Crown reporting entity, but are not part of the Crown itself. Crown entities do not include State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Most Crown entities exist under their own government legislation as well as being listed in the 4th schedule of the Public Finance Act. Examples of Crown entities include the Broadcasting Standards Authority, New Zealand Lotteries Commission and Crown Research Institutes.

Department: A generic term for a diverse range of agencies that serve as instruments of the Executive Government of New Zealand, as well as some agencies in the legislative branch of government (i.e. the Parliamentary Service and the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives) and that, together with all Ministers of the Crown and the Sovereign, legally constitute the "Crown". See also Public Service and Non Public Service department.

Digital Divide: Digital Divide: The term 'digital divide' has been coined to describe the gap between those who can access information and communication technology and those who cannot.

DoL: Department of Labour. The Department of Labour works throughout New Zealand to help people achieve high-quality working lives in thriving and inclusive communities. Their role is to ensure people are safe and treated fairly at work, to develop community employment, and manage immigration and settlement for the good of New Zealand. Department of Labour's responsibilities link social and economic issues across the labour market, and include delivering services to communities and business, providing policy advice and analysis to Government and managing New Zealand's international labour relationships.

e-Commerce: E-commerce is the term used for any business activity that takes place electronically, which covers a broad range of processes.

E-government: Government agencies working together to use information and communications technology as that they can better provide individuals and businesses with government services and information.

e-Learning: Learning that takes place in the context of using the Internet and associated web-based applications as the delivery medium for the learning experience.

Election: The process of selecting (voting for) members of Parliament.

ERS: Employment Relations Service. The Employment Relations Serviceis one of the service units of the Department of Labour. The role of the Employment Relations Service is to promote and support fair and productive employment relationships. The service operates regional offices throughout New Zealand and can provide guidance and assistance with legal and employment advice.

Education Provider: An organisation that has been approved by the Tertiary Education Commission to run their courses and may be a secondary school, private training establishment, university, polytechnic, college of education of Te Wananga. (as defined by Studylink, a service of the Ministry of Social Development)

eLearn: Tertiary e-Learning Portal

Eliminate the Hazard: A hazard is considered to have been eliminated when the source of the hazard has been completely removed from the place of work. It is serious enough that the hazard cannot be isolated.

Employee: A person of any age employed by an employer to do any work for hire or reward under a contract of service. This includes part-time staff or anyone that you have employed even for a short time (they all need to know about safety in the workplace).

Employer: An employer is someone who employs other people to do work for them. An employer generally pays the tax on an employee's salary or wages.

Employment: Number of people in the working-age population who work for one hour or more per week.

Employment rate: Proportion of the working-age population that is employed.

Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO): An Equal Employment Opportunities programme is defined in the State Sector Act "as a programme that is aimed at the identification and elimination of all aspects of policies, procedures and other institutional barriers that cause or perpetuate inequality in respect to the employment of any person or group of persons". Chief executives are responsible for implementing EEO policies within Public Service departments, while the Commission is responsible for promoting, developing and monitoring EEO policies and programmes for Public Service. EEO requirements vary in agencies in the wider State sector, depending on their particular legislation.

Ethnic Group: A social group with which people identify because of common origins, history, language, or some other form of solidarity. Ethnicity is self-reported by people in surveys, and so reflects an element of self-identification, rather than just biological ancestry.

Extended Leave: Unpaid parental leave that can be taken by the parent assuming the full-time care of a new child. The maximum period is 52 weeks including any maternity leave taken.

Financial Year: A financial year is a 12 month period used for calculating annual (yearly) financial statements for a business or organisation. The New Zealand Government's financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June.

Full-time/Part-time Employment: Full-time workers usually work 30 hours or more per week and part-time workers usually work less than 30 hours per week.

General Election: The election held, usually every three years, to elect members of Parliament.

Good Employer: A good employer is defined in the State Sector Act as "an employer who operates a personnel policy containing provisions generally accepted as necessary for the fair and proper treatment of employees in all aspects of their employment." All chief executives of Public Service departments are required to operate personnel policies that comply with good employer principles (listed in s. 56 of the State Sector Act 1988). The State Services Commission is responsible for promoting personnel policies and standards, and monitors their achievement in the Public Service.

GST: Goods and Services Tax. While income tax is charged on income, GST is charged on most expenditure - on the goods that are bought and the services that are paid for. When you buy something from a shop or get a quote for a service, the GST should already be included in the price unless specifically stated otherwise. The current rate of GST is 12.5%.

Heartland Services: Heartland Services is an across government initiative which improves access to Government services for people in provincial and rural New Zealand. You can access various government agencies, including Inland Revenue, Housing New Zealand Corporation, Maori Land Court and Work and Income, as well as have access to government websites and 0800 numbers. Some centres also house local community and voluntary groups.

Household Labour Force Survey: The Household Labour Force Survey is the official measure of employment and unemployment in New Zealand. Every three months it surveys the working-age people in about 15,000 households around New Zealand about their labour market status.

Immigration New Zealand: Part of the Department of Labour, Immigration New Zealand manages the flow of migrants and visitors to New Zealand. We assess applications from people who wish to visit, work, study, or live permanently here. We monitor travellers arriving in New Zealand without the required documents, enforce breaches of immigration law, and ensure that people who are not allowed to remain in New Zealand leave when they are supposed to. We help migrants to settle into their new lives here and manage the New Zealand refugee programme. We decide whether people can be recognised as refugees under the United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees.

ICT: Information and Communications Technology.

ICT Branch: The Information and Communications Technology branch of the SSC (State Services Commission). The ICT branch has people with technical IT, policy and strategy development, relationship management and project management skills. The branch is headed by the Deputy Commissioner whose role is to manage the delivery of the e-government programme. The Deputy Commissioner also works closely with chief executives and senior managers in the government agencies to ensure wide acceptance of the programme objectives.

Industry Training Organisation (ITO): Organisations recognised by the Tertiary Education Commission to arrange the provision of industry training.

Intellectual Property: Legal term used to describe the patents, licences, copyrights, trademarks and designs owned by a company.

IRD: Inland Revenue is New Zealand's tax department and aims to maximise compliance with New Zealand's tax and social policy legislation through education, quality service and appropriate enforcement. Inland Revenue works within the Inland Revenue Acts and other relevant laws to collect the bulk of the revenue needed by government to fund its programmes. This revenue is used according to government priorities and funds many of the services that the New Zealand community wants and needs.

Iwi: a tribe who has particular geographical boundaries outlining the region in which they have mana whenua status.

Job Description: A description of the types of tasks and duties you would be expected to carry out when you are employed for a particular job or position.

Jobless: The sum of the unemployed and those who are either actively seeking work but not available for it at the moment (e.g. students nearing the completion of a qualification) or available for work but not actively seeking it. This is a broader definition of those without work than official unemployment.

Kindergarten: An early childhood institution which provides sessional programmes from mainly three and four-year old children.

KiwiSaver: KiwiSaver is a voluntary, work-based savings initiative to help with long-term saving for retirement. It's designed to be hassle-free so it's easy to maintain a regular savings pattern.

Koha: The concept of koha is related to manaakitanga and the appropriate acknowledgement of sharing hospitality and/or information. Koha may take the form of food, gifts or more recently money.

Labour Force: Number of people who are either in work or are available and actively seeking work (that is, employed or unemployed as defined below).

Labour Force Participation Rate: Proportion of the working-age population that is in the labour force.

LMPG: Labour Market Policy Group, a disestablished service unit of the Department of Labour.

Local Government: Local government in New Zealand consists of local authorities, regional councils, andterritorial authorities (city councils, district councils, and the Chatham Islands Council). Each local authority is autonomous and is accountable to the community it serves. As distinct from 'central government'.

Mainstream: A two-year, subsidised employment programme for people with significant disabilities. The programme is provided by the State Services Commission and aims to assist participants into meaningful, long-term employment within selected State sector organisations.

Maternity Leave: Female employees about to have or adopt a child are entitled to a total of 14 weeks unpaid leave, beginning a maximum of six weeks before the expected delivery or adoption date. Maternity leave taken is deducted from the 52-week 'parental leave' entitlement.

Maximum Earnings: This is the maximum amount earners are required to pay ACC levies on. This amount is set by regulation each year.

Member of Parliament: A person who is elected to the House of Representatives, and may be an elected representative of an electorate or a member of a party chosen from the party list.

Minimum Earnings: It is the minimum amount full-time self-employed people are required to pay ACC levies on. This amount is set by regulation on an annual basis.

Minister: A member of Parliament who is part of the Executive and who is usually in charge of one or more government departments or ministries.

Mission: A short statement that describes the main purpose of the business.

MSD: Ministry of Social Development. MSD was established on 1 October 2001 to provide strategic social policy advice to the New Zealand Government and deliver income support and employment services to more than 1 million New Zealanders. The Ministry is also responsible for maintaining the Information Technology for Work and Income and the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services.

NCEA: National Certificate of Educational Achievement. This is New Zealand's main national qualification for secondary school students. NCEA is made up of national qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework based on credits from all unit and achievement standards; NCEAs are registered between Levels 1 and 3, and are open to anyone assessed through an accredited provider.

Not in the Labour Force: The number of people who are not in work and are either not available or not actively seeking work (that is, they are not employed and not unemployed). This includes for example, retired people, students and people at home with children.

NZDS: New Zealand Disability Strategy, this is a framework that will enable the Government to begin removing the barriers which prevent people with disabilities from participating fully in society.

NZIS: New Zealand Immigration Service, the former unit name of the immigration service of the Department of Labour.

NZQA: New Zealand Qualifications Authority. NZQA co-ordinates qualifications in secondary schools and in post-secondary education and training, maintains national standards, recognises overseas qualifications and administers national secondary and tertiary examinations.

NZTE: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. NZTE is the New Zealand government's national economic development agency. Through its network of 48 offices worldwide, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise aims to grow New Zealand’s economy by boosting the capability of businesses and regions and facilitating their sustained and profitable participation in overseas markets.

On-Line Learning: What occurs when education and training are delivered and supported by networks such as the internet. Learners are able to learn any time and any place.

OSH: The Occupational Safety and Health Service. OSH works to prevent injuries, illness and accidents in the workplace by guiding employers and others to actively manage safety and health in their workplaces, as set out in the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.

Parental leave: Also known as Maternity Leave, Parental Leave includes paid or unpaid leave that can be available for both parents. The Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 provides for unpaid leave from work for birth mothers and their partner/spouses either on the birth of a child, or the adoption of a child under 5. Eligible employees may be entitled to paid parental leave, which is taxpayer funded.

Parliament: The Sovereign and the House of Representatives.

Permanent and long-term migration: Arrivals of New Zealanders who return to New Zealand after a year or more overseas, and overseas residents who intend to stay in New Zealand for a year or more; and departures of New Zealanders who intend to be away for more than a year, or overseas residents who are leaving New Zealand after more than a year's stay in New Zealand. This measure is based on the self-declared intentions of people arriving and departing and doesn't take account of residency status e.g. whether they were students, tourists, work permit holders or approved permanent residents.

Playcentre: An early childhood institution that is collectively supervised and managed by parents for children ages between 0 and 5 years.

Portal: A website that acts as a 'doorway' to the Internet or a portion of the Internet, matching a person's needs to available offerings.

PTE: Private Training Establishment. A PTE is a privately owned education organisation, registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), that provides education, training or assessment services.

Public Sector: A broad term that refers collectively to the State sector and local government. See also Local Government and State sector.

Public Sector employee: A public sector employee is the chief executive or an employee of a State sector organisation or local authority.

Public servant: Everyone who is a chief executive of, or a statutory officer or employee in, a Department in the Public Service is a public servant. Contractors in a Department who are not employees are not public servants. For the purposes of the Electoral Act, "public servant" is defined more broadly, notably including a person employed in the Education Service as defined in the State Sector Act.

Public Service: The Public Service comprises the Departments listed in the First Schedule to the State Sector Act. The number has varied between 36 and 39 in the last year. Sometimes described as the first, or inner, tier of the "three tier State", the other two tiers being Crown entities and State owned enterprises; Narrower than both "State sector" and "Public sector".

Public Sector Training Organisation (PSTO): The Public Sector Training Organisation (PSTO) serves as an industry Training Organisation for the e State sector. Its mission is to promote improvements in the quality of training and development of employees in the sector. The State Services Commission hosts PSTO, and its staff are Commission employees.

Public Servant: A public servant (or Public Service employee) is the chief executive or an employee of a Public Service Department.

Public Sector: The Public Service comprises the Departments listed in the First Schedule to the State Sector Act. The number has varied between 36 and 39 in the last year. Sometimes described as the first, or inner, tier of the "three tier State", the other two tiers being Crown entities and State owned enterprises; Narrower than both "State sector" and 'Public sector".

Search Engine: A program which searches through all the web pages to match the keywords on which you are searching.

Site Map: A hierarchical visual model of the pages of a web site. Site maps help users navigate through a web site that has more than one page by showing the user a diagram of the entire site's contents. Similar to a book's table of contents, the site map makes it easier for a user to find information on a site without having to navigate through the site's many pages.

Sovereign: The Queen or King.

SSC: State Services Commission. The State Services Commission is the Government's lead advisor on New Zealand’s public management system and works with government agencies to support the delivery of quality services to New Zealanders.The State Services Commission's role is broad and varied. It works with Public Service departments, Crown entities and other State sector organisations to ensure the New Zealand government operates efficiently and effectively.

TEC: Tertiary Education Commission. The TEC is responsible for funding all post-compulsory education and training offered by universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, wānanga, private training establishments, foundation education agencies, industry training organisations and adult and community education providers.The TEC will also oversee the implementation of the Tertiary Education Strategy and associated set of priorities.

Te Kohanga Reo: An early childhood institution administered by the Te Kohanga Reo Trust. The programmes are based on the total immersion of children from birth to school age in Maori language, culture and values.

TeD: Tertiary Education Portal.

Tertiary Education: Tertiary education comprises all involvement in post-school learning activities and includes industry training and Adult and Community Education.

Tertiary Education Providers: Tertiary education providers are all the institutions and organisations that provide tertiary education. These include public tertiary education institutions (TEIs), private training establishments (PTEs), other tertiary education providers (OTEPs) and government training establishments (GTEs).

TPK: Te Puni Kokiri. Te Puni Kokiri contributes to accelerating Maori Development in four specific areas: Providing high quality advice to Government; Working with Maori to establish development targets and build capacity; Monitoring and auditing programmes delivered by Maori and mainstream agencies; Working with other Government departments and agencies to improve outcomes for Maori.

Unemployment: Number of people who are not in work, but who are available for and actively seeking work.

Unemployment Rate: Proportion of the labour force that is unemployed.

Universities: Universities are state owned autonomous institutions characterised by their engagement in a wide diversity of teaching and research, especially at a higher level. Under the Education Act 1989, universities are required to have all the following characteristics:

• To be primarily concerned with more advanced learning, the principal aim being to develop intellectual independence
• To undertake research and teaching that are closely interdependent, with most teaching done by persons active in advancing knowledge
• To meet international standards of research and teaching
• To be a repository of knowledge and expertise
• To accept a role as critic and conscience of society

url: Uniform Resource Locator - the unique address of a web page or website (for example, http://www.cwa.co.nz) that tells your computer where to look.

Wage Subsidies: A wage subsidy is a financial contribution that Work and Income can provide for you to help you employ someone who has been unemployed for a period of time.

Wananga: As defined in the Education Amendment Act 1990, Section S162 (b)IV, wananga are characterised by teaching and research that maintains, advances, disseminates and assists the application of knowledge regarding ahua Maori according to tikanga Maori.

Whanau: Family.

Whole-of-government: A term of considerable elasticity, intended to describe a subject applying to a large section, if not the entirety, of the State sector. In practice, it can mean anything from "the entire State sector" to 'a lot of Public Service departments'.

WINZ: Work and Income. Work and Income is a service of the Ministry of Social Development. Work and Income helps job seekers to find work and training opportunities and pays income support on behalf of the Government. This includes a range of benefits and support subsidies such as superannuation, disability allowance, wage subsidies and the Community Services Card.

Working-age Population: Those people aged 15 years and over who normally live in New Zealand (and who aren't in institutions e.g. prison, or in the defence forces).

Working for Families: Working for Families Tax Credits (previously called family assistance) is an entitlement for families with dependent children aged 18 or younger. It includes four different types of payments (tax credits) and may be paid by Inland Revenue or Work and Income.

WorkTrack: Work Track is a three week early intervention employment focused programme aimed at reducing at risk clients of Work and Income (WINZ) from becoming long-term unemployed.

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