Health Canada Access to Information Act Annual Report 2014-2015

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • I. Access to Information Act
  • II. About Health Canada
• Access to Information Infrastructure
  • I. The Access to Information and Privacy Operations Division
  • II. Reading Room
• Delegation of Authority
• Requests under the Access to Information Act - Statistical Figures, Interpretation and Explanation
  • I. Statistical Report
  • II. Number of Access Requests and Case Load
  • III. Disposition of Requests Completed
  • IV. Exemptions Invoked
  • V. Exclusions Cited
  • VI. Disposition and Completion Time
  • VII. Extensions
  • VIII. Translations
  • IX. Format of Information Released
  • X. Fees
  • XI. Costs
• Training and Awareness
• New and/or Revised Institution Specific Access to Information Related Policies, Guidelines and Procedures
  • I. ATIP Operations Division
• Complaints and Court Applications for Reviews
  • I. Complaints to the Information Commissioner
  • II. Types of Complaints and their Disposition Completed in 2014-2015
  • III. Applications/Appeals Submitted to the Federal Court / Federal Court of Appeal
  • IV. Responses to Recommendations raised by other Agents of Parliament
• Appendix A: Access to Information Act and Privacy Act - Delegation Order
• Appendix B: Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

Introduction

I. Access to Information Act

The Access to Information Act (the Act) gives the Canadian public a right to access information contained in federal government records, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions.

The Act requires the head of every federal government institution to submit an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Act following the close of each fiscal year. This annual report is prepared and is being tabled before each House of Parliament in accordance with section 72 of the Act. This report summarizes how Health Canada has fulfilled its access to information responsibilities during the fiscal year 2014-2015.

II. About Health Canada

Health Canada (HC) is the federal department responsible for helping the people of Canada maintain and improve their health.

HC is committed to improving the lives of all of Canada's people and to making this country's population among the healthiest in the world as measured by longevity, lifestyle and effective use of the public health care system.

By working with others in a manner that fosters the trust of Canadians, HC strives to:

• Prevent and reduce risks to individual health and the overall environment;
• Promote healthier lifestyles;
• Ensure high quality health services that are efficient and accessible;
• Integrate renewal of the health care system with longer term plans in the areas of prevention, health promotion and protection;
• Reduce health inequalities in Canadian society; and
• Provide health information to help Canadians make informed decisions.

HC has regional offices in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic and Northern Regions.

For more information about Health Canada, please visit our website.

Access to Information Infrastructure

I. The Access to Information and Privacy Operations Division

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Operations Division is housed in the Planning, Integration and Management Services Directorate of the Corporate Services Branch at Health Canada (HC).

The ATIP Coordinator is accountable for the development, coordination and implementation of effective policies, guidelines, systems and procedures in order to enable efficient processing of requests under the Act. The Coordinator is also responsible for the implementation of relevant government-wide policies, systems and procedures. The division is responsible for all Access to Information (ATI) legislative requirements pursuant to the Act such as:

• Responding to access to information requests within the statutory time frame as well as meeting the duty to assist requesters;
• Providing advice and guidance to departmental employees on the application of the Act and Treasury Board of Canada policies and directives;
• Developing corporate-wide access to information protocols and practices to guide the ATI process;
• Promoting awareness and providing training on the Act;
• Preparing annual reports to Parliament;
  and
• Liaising with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC), Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), other federal departments and agencies, provincial ministries of health and other key stakeholders.

In 2014-2015, the Act was administered by 29.44 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees with the support of consultant services (10.4 FTE) and some part-time and casual employees (0.16 FTE) for a total complement of 40 FTEs.

II. Reading Room

Section 71 of the Act requires government institutions to provide facilities where members of the public may inspect any manuals used by employees of the institution in administering or carrying out programs or activities of the institution that affect the public. HC has a reading room available where members of the public may make arrangements to review materials.

The following HC location in Ottawa has been designated as a public reading room:

Access to Information and Privacy Division
1600 Scott Street, Holland Cross,
Tower B, 7th Floor, Suite 700
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9

Delegation of Authority

On July 11, 2013, a delegation order for the Access to Information Act was signed by the Minister of Health. The delegation order extends the delegation of authorities beyond the Coordinator to the Assistant Deputy Minister and Director General levels within HC's Corporate Services Branch. Select authorities have also been delegated to ATIP managers and analysts in order to more effectively manage the volume of access to information requests received. This revised approach was adopted to maximize operational efficiency while continuing to minimize risks.

The Delegation Order is attached as Appendix A.

Requests under the Access to Information Act - Statistical Figures, Interpretation and Explanation

I. Statistical Report

This section of the report includes an interpretation and explanation of the data contained in HC's statistical report which summarizes ATI-related activity for the period between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015 (Appendix B).

II. Number of Access Requests and Case Load

Number of Access Requests

The number of requests received in 2014-2015 remained steady (1,569, compared with 1,563 in 2013-2014). However, HC has seen an overall increase of approximately 35% in the number of requests received since 2008-2009.

Source of Requests: Trends

Of the 1,569 ATI requests received by HC in 2014-2015, 836 were from the business sector, representing 53% of all new requests.

As with past years, the majority of the requests received by HC are from businesses seeking information related to pharmaceuticals, medical devices and natural health products. A significant number of the requests processed by HC require several complex third party consultations to identify confidential business information requiring protection. These records often involve large volumes of technical and scientific information, which can take additional time to review.

The number of requests from organizations, public, and media sectors remained similar in fiscal year 2014-2015 as compared with 2013-2014, and are depicted in the table below:

New this year, the option of "Decline to Identify" as a source of request was added to the existing options for requestors and represented 2% of the total number of requests.

Informal Requests

Whenever feasible to do so, HC processes requests informally as "access informal". There was a slight decrease in the use of this processing method, which includes records previously released under the ATI Act. In 2014-2015, HC processed 314 requests as "access informal" compared to 395 requests in 2013-2014. In the past, HC reported separately on 'access informals' and 'treated informally' however, these previous categories are now combined into one.

Posting of Completed ATI Requests

HC met TBS requirement to proactively post on its web site monthly summaries of completed ATI requests, which assists in facilitating Canadians' right of access to departmental records.

Case Load

During the 2014-2015 fiscal year, HC completed the processing of 1,420 of 2,271 (63%) active requests. Active requests included 1,569 new requests and 702 requests carried over from previous years.

While 2014-2015 saw a significant increase from the previous year in the number of pages reviewed, the number of requests closed decreased. There are a number of factors that contributed to this result. First, HC dedicated more resources to addressing some of the oldest requests, which are voluminous and more complex in nature. Second, there was an increase in the number of requests carried forward in this fiscal year, which contributed to an increasing overall case load. Finally, challenges arising from migration to the Windows 7 operating system impacted HC's processing capacity. The upcoming implementation of a new case management system will support more efficient processing of requests going forward.

Consultations Completed from Other Institutions

In 2014-2015, HC completed 153 consultations (12,353 pages) from other federal institutions, and completed 24 consultations from other jurisdictions. This represented a marginally lower number of cases (11), while the amount of pages reviewed increased from the previous year by 2,240.

III. Disposition of Requests Completed

Completed requests were classified as follows:

IV. Exemptions Invoked

Sections 13 through 24 of the Act set out the exemptions intended to protect information pertaining to a particular public or private interest, and section 26 of the Act is a temporary exception relating to information to be published.

The vast majority of the 1,592 exemptions invoked by HC focused on three sections of the Act - section 19 (personal information), section 20 (third party information), and section 21 (operations of government). Together, these accounted for 1,287 or 81%, of the exemptions applied in 2014-2015. It is worth noting that the invocation of section 20 on 413 occasions necessitated numerous consultations with third parties, many of which were large multi-national corporations. Such consultations are complex and resource-intensive.

V. Exclusions Cited

The Access to Information Act does not apply to published material, material available to the public for purchase or for public reference (section 68); nor does it apply to confidences of the Queen's Privy Council (section 69). Requests containing proposed exclusions under section 69 require consultation with the Department of Justice, and potentially the Privy Council Office.

During 2014-2015, HC applied 20 exclusions pursuant to section 68 of the Act, and 57 exclusions for section 69 of the Act.

VI. Disposition and Completion Time

HC tracks the disposition of closed requests and the length of time taken to process them. Of the total caseload of 2,271 requests, HC completed 1,420 cases and carried over 851 active requests to fiscal year 2015-2016.

HC was able to respond within 30 days or less in 739 (52%) of completed cases. The remaining requests, categorized into time segments of 31 to 60 days, 61 to 120 days, and 121 days or more, are depicted in the table below. It is important to note that the deadlines for many of these requests were legally extended under the Act.

VII. Extensions

Legal extensions were most frequently invoked to provide time to complete third party consultations and notifications, and to process voluminous records. In 2014-2015, HC invoked 694 extensions under section 9(1) of the Act, a decrease from 719 in 2013-2014.

VIII. Translations

No translation was required to respond to requests in 2014-2015.

IX. Format of Information Released

Of requests that were fully or partially disclosed, 629 were sent out in paper format. This number, however, represents only 12% of the total pages released. Comparatively, 246 requests were released electronically, representing 88% of pages released.

HC's imaging software allows the department to respond to formal ATI requests using Portable Document Format (PDF) which provides more delivery options to the public. Released documents can be mailed on CD-ROM which eliminates the need for photocopying, and associated costs for requesters. It is anticipated that the use of electronic formats for the release of information will continue to grow in future years.

X. Fees

The Act authorizes fees for certain aspects of processing formal requests and the fee structure is prescribed in the ATI Regulations. Accordingly, HC cannot charge fees for reviewing records, overhead or shipping, nor can it charge for the first five hours needed to search for a record or prepare any part of it for disclosure.

Based on requests completed in 2014-2015, HC collected $6,015 in application fees and $1,960 in search fees for a total of $7,975 submitted to the Receiver General for Canada. In addition, HC waived $4,280 in fees for 998 requests in accordance with its duty to assist applicants.

XI. Costs

HC spent a total of $4,560,930 on ATI functions in 2014-2015. Of this total, salaries accounted for $2,657,065 and administration for $1,903,865, most of which was used to retain temporary help to address the volume and complexity of requests. Staffing for the fiscal year amounted to 40 FTEs dedicated to ATI activities. In previous years, these figures did not include administrative support, management, reporting, monitoring and policy resources, nor did they include their overhead cost which contributed to overall support of the operations of the application of the Act. In this fiscal year (2014-2015) these elements were incorporated in the above noted costs.

Training and Awareness

Training for HC Employees

Training sessions regarding the Act and related processes are delivered to HC employees on a regular basis. Eleven "ATI 101" training sessions, with 159 attendees, took place during 2014-2015. The basic objectives of the course are to impart an understanding of the Act, roles and responsibilities, the handling of formal and informal requests, basic grounds to withhold information and how to process an ATI request. Significant efforts have been put into updating training materials and tools. In addition, a new process to identify and strategically assess training needs and to provide customized training to the target groups has been implemented.

Orientation and Awareness

The ATIP Division worked in collaboration with various program areas to promote awareness and develop customized training to address HC needs. This approach resulted in increased engagement and awareness. The Division also continued to increase awareness among HC employees of their responsibilities under the Act by advertising sessions open to all employees. In 2014-2015, the Division also led a working group with representatives from all parts of the Department to discuss issues related to ATI processes and policies.

New and/or Revised Institution-Specific Access to Information Related Policies, Guidelines and Procedures

I. ATIP Operations Division

Organizational Renewal

Work continued to strengthen the ATIP Operations function, including a benchmarking exercise against selected other government departments.

IT Systems Modernization

Case management tools used to manage/process requests were adapted to Windows 7, the new government standard operating system. Efforts to modernize tools continued throughout the year, and implementation of a new case management system and the addition of new imaging and document processing capacity are planned for the fall of 2015.

Complaints and Court Applications for Reviews

I. Complaints to the Information Commissioner

During 2014-2015, 59 complaints under the Act were filed with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC) related to requests completed by HC.

The Department reviews the outcomes of all OIC investigations, and where appropriate, incorporates lessons learned into business processes.

II. Types of Complaints and their Disposition Completed in 2014-2015

III. Applications/Appeals Submitted to the Federal Court / Federal Court of Appeal

During 2014-2015, two applications, made pursuant to subsection 44(1) of the Access to Information Act for review of HC's decision to disclose information, were before the Federal Court.

IV. Responses to Recommendations raised by other Agents of Parliament

There were no recommendations raised by other Agents of Parliament during fiscal year 2014-2015.

Appendix A: Access to Information Act and Privacy Act - Delegation Order

Delegation of Authority

Access to Information Act and Privacy Act

I, the Minister of Health, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act and section 73 of the Privacy Act, hereby designate the persons holding the positions set out in the Delegation of Authority Schedule attached hereto, or the persons occupying on an acting basis those positions, to exercise the powers, duties and functions of the Minister as the head of Health Canada, under the provisions of the Act and related regulations set out in the schedule opposite each position. This designation supersedes all previous delegation orders.

The Honorable Leona Aglukkaq, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Health
July 11, 2013

Appendix B: Statistical Report on the Access to Information Act

TBS/SCT 350-62
Name of institution: Health Canada
Reporting period: 2014-04-01 to 2015-03-31

Part 1 - Requests under the Access to Information Act

Part 2 - Requests closed during the reporting period

2.5 Complexity

2.6 Deemed refusals

Part 3 - Extensions

Part 4 - Fees

Part 5 - Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

Part 6 - Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

Part 7 - Complaints and investigations

Part 8 - Court action

Part 9 - Resources related to the Access to Information Act