(Chapter 8—Spending on the Public Security and Anti-Terrorism Initiative—Spring 2013 Report of the Auditor General)
Ottawa, 30 April 2013—Departments and agencies provided the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat with information on their individual spending and activities under the Public Security and Anti-Terrorism (PSAT) Initiative, but there was no monitoring of government-wide progress toward the Initiative’s objectives, says the Auditor General of Canada, Michael Ferguson, in a Report tabled today in Parliament.
“Between 2001 and 2009, the Treasury Board allocated about $12.9 billion to 35 departments and agencies to fund measures to enhance the security of Canadians,” said Mr. Ferguson. “It is important to know whether this money was spent to achieve the objectives of the Public Security and Anti-Terrorism Initiative.”
The audit found that for the most part, departments and agencies prepared and submitted progress evaluations of their activities and annual reports to the Treasury Board Secretariat, as required. A review of the information provided to the Secretariat showed that projects on which departments and agencies spent PSAT funding were consistent with the broad objectives of the Initiative. Departments and agencies reported spending $9.8 billion of the $12.9 billion allocated for PSAT activities.
The Treasury Board Secretariat was required to prepare summary reports for Treasury Board. The audit found that these reports were not provided. Though the Secretariat was the only department collecting detailed performance information on public security investments, it did not use this information to generate a government-wide perspective of PSAT spending and results, nor did any other federal department or agency. In the absence of any sort of overall monitoring and reporting, information to explain the difference of $3.1 billion between the funding allocated to departments and agencies and the amount reported spent was not available.
“We believe that the government missed an opportunity to use the information it collected to generate a picture of spending and results under the Public Security and Anti-Terrorism Initiative across departments,” said Mr. Ferguson. “The government recognizes that it needs to improve the way it reports financial and non-financial information for future government-wide initiatives.”
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