The platform streamlines the entire process, from intake to ministerial sign-off, with centralised tracking, real-time dashboards, and automated alerts to keep everything on track.
Designed for New Zealand’s legislative environment, it aligns with Standing Orders, Archives NZ standards, and the real-world pressures of ministerial service. Built on Microsoft technology, the platform integrates seamlessly with your existing systems.
Add AI-powered drafting to speed up responses. It surfaces similar past replies and supporting content from your documents, with clear source, date, and version details and human oversight at every step.
Who it’s for
- Ministerial Services teams
- Policy advisors and comms teams
- Government departments and Crown entities
- Agencies supporting Ministers in the House
- Departmental and agency executives
- Communications and media teams
- Policy, legal, and governance advisors
- Audit, risk, and compliance leads
- Cross-agency programme teams responding to central government
How it works. Key Features
Streamlines all Government Requests to be more accurate and efficient.
Question Management
- Centralises all Parliamentary Questions in one secure, searchable register
- Automatically ingests new questions from Parliamentary Services
- Tracks deadlines based on NZ House Standing Orders with built-in alerts and escalation
- Assigns questions with clear ownership
- Coordinates multi-part or cross-agency responses
- Identifies overlapping or multi-part requests and assigns clearly to avoid duplication
- Provides real-time dashboards showing workload, progress, and bottlenecks
Streamlined Workflows
- Manages complete workflow from drafting to ministerial sign-off
- Automates intake, routing, and deadline tracking.
- Auto-populates fields with information from previous requests and connected internal systems
- Automated reminders and escalation of overdue items
- Exports responses in formats ready for tabling in the House
Collaboration
- Balances workload automatically to prevent bottlenecks.
- Enables real-time collaboration across policy teams, ministerial services, and contributing agencies
- Builds structured, searchable library of past responses for consistency across future requests
- Real-time dashboards showing workload, progress, and bottlenecks
Compliance & Reporting
- Configurable security and permission controls aligned with government standards and information management policies
- Maintains full audit trail including every edit, comment, and approval step
- Captures required metadata for Archives NZ and Public Records Act compliance
- Maintains a complete, searchable record of all activity
Optional Add-ons
- Public-facing portal for tracking publicly released answers
- Smart privacy and sensitivity review tools with risk flagging and redaction workflows
AI-Powered Drafting
- Identifies similar or repeated questions and surfaces content from previous responses
- Pulls relevant information from internal systems like SharePoint and trusted public sources
- Highlights source, version, and relevance of suggested content for accuracy and privacy review
- Supports AI-assisted drafting to reduce workload and improve consistency
The Voco Difference
We don’t just build software; we understand the machinery of government. Our Parliamentary Questions Manager was shaped through hands-on work with New Zealand agencies and ministerial teams. It’s designed to reduce pressure, not add to it. With a configurable setup, local support, and deep knowledge of compliance, we help you respond with confidence and consistency.
Let’s talk
Ready to streamline your Parliamentary Question process? Get in touch for a demo or discovery session.
Frequently asked questions
The system automatically flags urgent questions based on timing rules and allows manual priority settings. Urgent items trigger immediate alerts and can bypass standard workflow steps when needed.
The platform handles oral questions alongside written ones, with processes tailored to how they’re resolved. If a question isn’t answered in the House, it enters the workflow with a shorter response timeframe. If it is addressed verbally, the response is logged for reporting and stored in the database, helping build institutional knowledge and reduce duplication.
Yes - ministers and their offices can be given secure access to view progress, provide input, and approve responses through the platform's role-based permissions.
Every edit, comment, and approval step is tracked with timestamps and user details. You can see exactly what changed, when, and by whom throughout the entire process.
The system provides multiple escalation alerts before deadlines. If a deadline is missed, it's flagged in reporting and dashboards, with automatic notifications to relevant managers.
Yes - the platform identifies recurring themes, similar questions, and trending topics across different portfolios, helping anticipate future questions and improve consistency.
Built on Microsoft's enterprise security framework with role-based access, audit trails, and compliance with New Zealand government security standards including the Government ICT Security Manual.
We provide comprehensive onboarding tailored to different user roles - from basic users entering questions to administrators managing workflows and reporting.
Yes - responses can be exported in formats ready for tabling, and the system generates compliance reports for Parliamentary Services, internal governance, or public release.
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