Backgrounder: 2005-2006 Departmental Performance Reports & Canada's Performance 2006
November 23, 2006
OTTAWA - The Honourable John Baird, President of the Treasury Board,
today tabled performance reports for 88 federal departments and agencies,
underscoring the determination of Canada's New Government to deliver more
disciplined, accountable and results-oriented management of tax dollars.
"Canadians have a right to understand how the government spends their
money," said Minister Baird of the 2005-2006 Departmental Performance
Reports. "These publications are important to track the management of
public funds, so that Canadians can assess whether government is spending
effectively and achieving results."
Every year, federal departments and agencies publish Reports on Plans and
Priorities, which state their strategic goals and the resources and
activities required to achieve them. At the end of the fiscal year,
Departmental Performance Reports look back on the organizations' actual
accomplishments and expenditures, to assess whether their goals were achieved.
Minister Baird also tabled Canada's Performance 2006, a companion
document to the Departmental Performance Reports that provides a
whole-of-government view of how individual departments and agencies contribute
to broad outcomes in four areas: economic, social, international and government
affairs.
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For more information, contact:
Patrick Robert
Press Secretary
Office of the President of the Treasury Board
(613) 957-2666
Robert Makichuk
Chief, Media Relations
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
(613) 957-2391
If there is a discrepancy between any printed version and the
electronic version of this news release, the electronic version will prevail.
Backgrounder - 2005-2006 Departmental Performance Reports &
Canada's Performance 2006
The President of the Treasury Board has tabled in Parliament performance
reports for the 88 departments and agencies of the Government of Canada.[1]
A Departmental Performance Report describes each organization's
accomplishments and spending, vis à vis its plans and priorities as set out in
their respective Reports on Plans and Priorities tabled in March 2005.
The Government has made changes to the 2005-2006 Departmental Performance
Reports aimed at making them clearer, more consistent and easier to
understand for parliamentarians and Canadians. Among other things, the reports
now contain convenient summary tables and accrual-based financial statements.
The reports also follow a standard approach of reporting on the long-term
benefits to Canadians that departments are striving to achieve and the programs
that contribute to their achievement.
The Treasury Board President also tabled Canada's Performance 2006, a
companion document to the Departmental Performance Reports that provides
an overview of the entire government's efforts to contribute to Canada's
progress.
Canada's Performance 2006 also helps the reader understand how the work
of individual departments and agencies help to achieve outcomes in four areas:
economic, social, international and government affairs. The electronic version
contains useful hyperlinks to details on departmental plans, resources and
results.
The Estimates Process
The Government is committed to enhancing the transparency of federal
government activities and its accountability for the expenditure of public
funds. It is important for Canadians to understand what the government is doing,
why it is doing it, how much each program or service costs and what results are
achieved.
That is why the government tables in Parliament a variety of documents that
describe its objectives for the future and evaluate its progress against those
stated aims.
Known as the Estimates process, it begins with the annual federal budget,
which outlines the Government's spending plans and priorities. Based on
the budget, the Government then develops its Estimates.
Estimates come in three parts. Part I, the Government Expense Plan,
provides an overview of federal spending. Part II, the Main Estimates,
directly supports the Appropriation Act and identifies the spending authorities
(votes) and amounts to be included in the appropriation bills. Parliament
will be asked to approve these votes to enable the government to proceed with
its spending plans for the coming year. Part III is composed of two parts
Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance
Reports.
Reports on Plans and Priorities are spending plans for each department
and agency (excluding Crown Corporations) that elaborate on, and supplement, the
information contained in the Main Estimates. They describe priorities,
expected results and related resource requirements for the coming fiscal year,
plus two years out. In the fall, an organization prepares a Departmental
Performance Report, which provides an account of actual spending and results
against the objectives that were set out in the Report on Plans and
Priorities for the fiscal year that has recently ended. A fiscal year
covers the period 1 April to 31 March. Eighty-eight Departmental
Performance Reports were tabled today.
For the past six years, the Government has also tabled Canada's
Performance report in Parliament. It is a companion document to the Departmental
Performance Reports. This publication, which was also tabled today, gives
readers an overview of the federal government's contribution to Canada's
performance as a nation in four areas: economic, social,
international and government affairs. The report is also a road map to
departmental details, indicating which organizations work in related areas and
providing hyperlinks to supporting information.
What's New?
In order to enhance accountability for the use of public funds, the
Government continually seeks ways to improve the presentation of financial and
non-financial planning and performance information to Parliament.
For example, this year the government introduced a clearer, more consistent
reporting structure to help highlight the relationship between departmental
budgets, the management of their activities and actual results. The
Management, Resources and Results Structure policy underpins this standard federal planning, management and reporting approach. The consistent display of information, which can now be found in other Estimates
documents and the Public Accounts, helps the reader better understand the
purpose and amount of planned and actual spending throughout the parliamentary
reporting cycle.
Also for the first time this year, all Departmental Performance Reports
contain accrual-based financial statements in order to provide parliamentarians
and other Canadians easy access to this important information. Departmental financial statements, which are a key element of effective
accountability and control, are based on Treasury Board Accounting Standards.
For its part, Canada's Performance 2006 has improved by providing a
clearer overview of how the performance of individual departments and agencies
contributes to broader, government-wide outcomes. The electronic version of the
report serves as a road map to help parliamentarians navigate more easily
through individual performance reports, other relevant government documents,
such as Budget 2006, and useful databases.
[1] The 2004-2005 performance reports covered 90 departments. However,
restructuring of the departments of Human Resources and Social Development
and Foreign Affairs and International Trade has reduced this number by two.
The President of the Treasury Board tables these reports in Parliament, but
each minister is responsible for the information in his or her own
department's report.
Crown corporations do not prepare Departmental Performance Reports;
they report to Parliament separately by way of annual reports.
