KEY POINTS:
Parliamentary Services says public money can be used to pay for work done by political consultants and advisers - as long as it is aimed at making MPs better at their jobs rather than electioneering.
The issue of public funding for political parties' consultants has been under scrutiny
after author Nicky Hager revealed National was using controversial Australian strategists and market researchers Crosby Textor.
Hager also revealed it was likely National was using its parliamentary budget to cover at least some of Crosby Textor's bill.
Labour has confirmed it uses public funds to pay for some of its voter research, although it is not known whether public funding also pays for other advisers contracted to the party.
A spokesman for Parliamentary Services said if MPs employed advisers or undertook research whose advice helped them do their job better it would be included as long as that person was not paid for electioneering.
"The [MPs] would have to be able to put their hands on their heart and say 'this is advice that enables me to perform my parliamentary service in a better way'. They would have to be confident it would withstand scrutiny."
Under Parliament's funding rules, public money allocated to different parties can only be used for "parliamentary purposes", a definition which includes advising voters of policies and seeking their input.
It cannot be used directly for electioneering - such as seeking votes, membership or donations - or work directly related to the administration or management of a political party.
Beyond this, however, parties in Parliament have wide discretion in how they use their funding, including employing staff and advisers and in "developing, researching, critiquing and communicating policy".
Although the Speakers' directions require parties to be "transparent" about their spending, it is not opened to public scrutiny because Parliamentary Services is exempt from the Official Information Act.
The spokesman said the service had a thorough process for checking spending and any that seemed questionable was raised with the party.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Helen Clark said research work was legitimate use of public funds.
Labour uses market research company UMR Insight to do polling for it as well as run focus groups, which the spokesman said gave the party "a better understanding of New Zealanders' feelings about the issues of the day, what their concerns are, and what their perceptions are of party policies and politicians."
He said the Prime Minister had been upfront about which consultants she used, unlike Mr Key, who has refused to say whether he received media training or had taken Crosby Textor on.
A spokesman for National Party leader John Key said Mr Key would not discuss the use of particular consultants. He said National used public money "within the rules" and used its Parliamentary Services funding for legitimate activities, not campaign purposes.
Parties can also split payments for services which are a mix of party activity and parliamentary help.
Many parties share the costs of running their websites between party and public funding to allow for the mix of political and parliamentary material on them and enable them to use the sites for recruiting members or seeking donations.
