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Parliament of Samoa

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Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa (OCLA)

The office of the Clerk is Parliament’s secretariat and is mandated in both the constitution and the Standing Orders of the Parliament. They provide direct support to the Speaker and the Clerk; they provide procedural advice to Members as well as administration and management of OCLA reporting activities. It includes the Clerk and Deputy Clerk officials who work together to ensure Parliamentarians are given efficient support to effectively carry out their varied parliamentary duties.

Vision:

“The Parliament to be a dynamic, innovative, transformational and accountable institution for the benefit of Samoa”

Mission:

“To support Parliamentarians and the community with professional and inclusive services through upholding the integrity and impartiality of the Parliamentary functions”

Our Services

OCLA aims to provide a corporative, encouraging and satisfying workplace in which staff further develop their skills and knowledge as well as value their contribution. The Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly consists of various divisions, all of which have diverse but interconnecting functions and responsibilities.

Below are their duties but not limited thereto:



Parliamentary Procedure Office

1. Chamber and Procedure Office

• prepare all parliamentary meeting papers,

• distribute Papers/Bills that will be introduced in the Assembly to MP’s,

• provide Chamber administrative support,

• sell acts of Parliament.

2. Parliamentary committees Office

• provide advisory and secretariat duties to all Parliamentary committees,

• report on committee proceedings,

• co-ordinate and support committee visits;

• manage public submissions,

• prepare committee reports.

3. Research Office

• Provide research assistance to Members, Parliamentary Committees, Office of the Speaker and the Office of the Clerk,

• Provide Digests on Bills and Annual Reports referred to Committees

• Compile and publish Parliamentary Sitting Journals

• Prepare Comparison Charts for amendment Bills during Members Pre-Sitting Briefings and produce Briefing Summaries for the Palemene Website

• Compile and publish Parliamentary Sitting Summaries

Parliamentary Support Group

4. Institutional Strengthening Services Office

• develop Human Resource strategies and policies,

• responsible for recruitment,

• provide performance advice and administration,

• develop capability development and training for MP’s and staff,

• develop Annual report documents and Corporate plan.

5. Finance and Administration Office

• Prepare annual budget and budget management reports,

• Provide member allowances administration,

• Process payroll,

• Record all office assets.

6. Facilities Management Services Office

• Ensure proper maintenance o f all Parliamentary buildings and grounds,

• Provide cleaning and security services.

Parliamentary Information Group

7. Community relations services

• promote Parliament to the people by creating public communications materials, printed electronic,

• develop and deliver community programs (schools, community groups)

• host community visits to parliament,

• ensure that the public are consistently updates on Parliament & MP’s activities on Facebook, Palemene newspaper.

8. Information Management Services

• Provide information technology services to MP’s and staff,

• Manage the website,

• Inclusive under this division is the Parliamentary Library which stores all Parliament records, MP’s information and Parliament sittings.

9. Reporting and Printing Services

• produce Hansard (official report of debates of the legislative Assembly),

• transcribe and edit all proceedings for all Parliamentary sittings,

• format, produce and distribute finalized bound volumes,

• provide printing services.

10. Translation and Interpretation services

• Translate Hansard into English,

• Translate Bills and Acts into Samoan,

• Translate executive documents for tabling into either Samoan or English as required,

• Translate all Parliamentary materials into Samoan vice versa to English.