Backgrounder - The 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Reports
For immediate release
November 1, 2007
OTTAWA - The Honourable Vic Toews, President of the Treasury Board, today tabled
90 performance reports on behalf of federal departments and agencies.
"The Government of Canada is committed to management excellence and reporting to Parliament on departmental performance is key to this commitment," said Minister Toews. "Departmental
Performance Reports provide parliamentarians-and through them all Canadians-the information they need to hold the Government to account for the use of Canadians' hard-earned tax
dollars."
Every year, federal departments and agencies publish Reports on Plans and Priorities, which provide information on the resources and activities required to meet expected results and
achieve strategic goals. At the end of the fiscal year, Departmental Performance Reports look back on the organizations' actual accomplishments and spending, to assess whether their goals
were achieved.
All reports and supporting documents are available on the Web site of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat at www.tbs-sct.gc.ca.
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For more information, contact:
Mike Storeshaw
Director of Communications
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: The 2006-2007 Departmental Performance Reports
The President of the Treasury Board has tabled in Parliament 90 performance reports on behalf of departments and agencies of the Government of Canada.[1] Reporting to Parliament through Departmental Performance Reports is a primary means to inform parliamentarians and Canadians of departmental performance
based on plans and expected results as set out in the 2006-2007 Reports on Plans and Priorities tabled on September 26, 2006.
The Government of Canada has introduced a new expenditure management system that ensures parliamentarians receive improved financial and planning information to better support their oversight role
in the use of public funds. This commitment to better-informing Parliament is reflected by the many improvements made to Departmental Performance Reports over the last few years. In
particular, the Government has:
Improved linkages between results information and previous plans and priorities;
Improved alignment between results information and strategic outcomes;
Reduced the size of the reports by encouraging departments to hyperlink details when appropriate; and
Issued the Performance Reporting: Good Practices Handbook as a practical resource to departments on reporting standards.
The Estimates Process
The Government of Canada is committed to pursuing management excellence, and ensuring value for money to Canadians by providing an effective, transparent and accountable government. Consequently,
the Government has improved parliamentary reporting - in order to better meet the information needs of parliamentarians and better support their oversight role in the use of public funds. It is
important for parliamentarians-and through them all Canadians-to understand what the Government is doing, why it is doing it, how much each program or service costs and what results are
being 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. This is known as the
Estimates process.
Each year, the Government prepares Estimates in support of its request to Parliament for authority to spend public funds. The Estimates, which are tabled in the House of Commons
by the President of the Treasury Board, consist of three parts:
Part I - The Government Expenditure Planprovides an overview of federal spending and summarises the relationship of the key elements of the Main
Estimates to the current Expenditure Plan.
Part II - The Main Estimates identify the spending authorities (votes) and amounts at the departmental levels to be included in subsequent appropriation
bills. In the normal cycle, Parts I and II of the Estimates are tabled concurrently on or before March 1.
Part III - Departmental Expenditure Plans, which are divided into two components:
1) Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPPs) are individual expenditure plans for each department and agency (excluding Crown Corporations). They describe
departmental priorities, expected results and the associated resource requirements covering a three-year period. These documents are normally tabled in the spring.
2) Departmental Performance Reports (DPRs) are individual department and agency accounts of accomplishments against plans and expected results set out in their RPP. DPRs
provide information on how the department or agency is progressing towards its strategic goals - also known as strategic outcomes. The DPRs cover the most recently completed fiscal year and are
normally tabled in the fall.
All reports and supporting documents are available on the Web site of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat at www.tbs-sct.gc.ca.
[1] 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.
