About The Prime Minister's Office

The Office serves as secretariat to the Prime Minister and assists the Minister in his role as head of government by providing political, operational and administrative services.

Cabinet meetings chaired by the Prime Minister are held twice a week at the Prime Minister's Office while the Parliament is in session, but usually once a week between the termination of the spring session and the commencement of the fall session (June to September).

The PMO supports the Prime Minister in administrating the division of responsibilities between other ministries and has a role - formal and informal - in co-ordinating government policies on convergent issue-areas. It organizes committees which are appointed by the Prime Minister to work on selected issues and enforces and monitors the implementation of government decisions.

As the highest authority of the executive branch, the PMO regularly reports to Parliament on the execution of parliamentary resolutions.

The PMO is headed by a permanent secretary who heads an inter-departmental committee of other ministries.The permanent secretary is also secretary to the Council of State.

A member of staff of the PMO serves as Secretary to the Cabinet. The PMO is staffed by permanent civil servants and is a non-political body. The Prime Minister, as other ministers, politically appoints a personal assistants. The personal assistants work in the PMO and leaves office by the end of term.

We refer to the site of the Government Offices in Iceland for general information regarding material available in English about the government and other ministries.