Offices working directly under the Minister

The Foreign Minister’s task is to guide Ministry policies. He formulates the programmes and objectives to be implemented on the basis of the general guidelines laid down by the government.

Offices working directly under the Minister

The offices working directly under the Minister provide support for the policy guidance unit and liaise between this unit and the Ministry, in accordance with Articles 4 and 14.2 of Legislative Decree 165/2001. They collaborate on drawing up objectives and formulating public policy, and evaluating the same, with special regard to legislative impact assessments, cost-benefit analyses and ensuring that results are consistent with objectives.

The offices working directly under the Minister are:

• the Private Staff; 
• The Minister’s Private Office; 
• the Legal Affairs Office; 
• the Office for Relations with Parliament; 
• the Independent Performance Assessment Body; 
• the secretariats of the Secretaries of State.

The Minister is also assisted in his tasks by his Advisors.

The Private Staff:
Chief of the Private Staff coordinates all the work carried out by the offices working directly under the Minister. The Private Staff helps the Chief in his or her duties and those delegated by the Minister.

Head of the Minister’s Private Office
Pietro Benassi

Tel:  06 3691 2012

Email: gabinetto@esteri.it

The Minister’s Private Office: is immediately subordinate to the Minister and is directed and coordinated by the Head of the Minister’s Private Office, who attends to the minister’s agenda and correspondence, in addition to his personal relations in matters pertaining to his post. 

Telephone 06 3691 2002

The Legal Affairs Office: formulation of legislative and regulatory provisions promoted by the MFA, with due attention to the quality of the legal language; feasibility analyses of provisions introduced and the simplification and streamlining of legislative provisions; procedures for the approval and issuing of provisions; scrutiny of provisions submitted to the Council of Ministers and preparation of related documentation; scrutiny of parliamentary provisions and legislative and regulatory provisions drawn up by other Government Departments; legal advice on domestic legal issues; all other functions envisaged by law.

Tel: 06 3691 5868

Office for Relations with Parliament: assists the Foreign Minister and the Secretaries of State in their parliamentary activities; monitors parliamentary control and policy guidance proceedings of interest to the Ministry; coordinates responses to supervisory inspections; monitors the passage through Parliament of legislative and regulatory provisions promoted by or of interest to the MFA; oversees arrangements for contacts with Members of Parliament.

Tel: 06 3691 2134

Independent Performance Assessment Body: operates in accordance with decree no. 150 of 27 October  2009, implemented by law no. 15/2009 on optimization of productivity in the public service and efficiency and transparency in the public administration . The Body replaces the former Internal Control Service, set up in accordance with legislative decree no. 286 of 30 July 1999. It also performs, strategic oversight activities in accordance with art. 6, paragraph 1, of the abovementioned Law no. 286/1999 and, in that regard, answers directly to the political-administrative body.

Telefono 06 3691 2861-4083

The Independent Performance Assessment Body performs the following tasks: 

• monitors the overall workings of the system of assessment, transparency and integrity of internal controls and issues an annual status report; communicates problems discovered in a timely way to the authorised internal government and administrative bodies and to the Court of Auditors, the Public Administration Inspectorate and the Commission, pursuant to art. 13 of legislative decree no. 150/2009.
• validates performance reports in accordance with art. 10 of law no. 150/2009 and ensures that their publication on the institutional website; 
• ensures proper assessment and measurement practices with regard to assessment of merit and professional expertise and the use of rewards as per Title III according to the present decree, national collective contracts, supplementary contracts, regulations within the administration; 
• submits the annual assessment of upper management to the political-administrative body on the basis of the system cited in art. 7 of 150/2009, and makes proposals on the assignment of rewards in accordance with Title III; 
• implements the correct application of guidelines, methodologies and instruments issued by the Commission as per art. 13 of the same decree 150/2009;
• fosters and checks compliance with obligations regarding transparency and integrity;
• verifies results and best practices in the promotion of equal opportunity.