Fees Report 2017-2018

From: Parole Board of Canada

Table of Contents

• Chairperson’s message
• General fees information
• General and financial information by fee category - Record suspension
• General and financial information by fee category - Access to information
• Financial totals for all fee categories
• Fees under the Department’s authority

Chairperson’s Message

On behalf of the Parole Board of Canada (PBC), I am pleased to present the 2017-18 Report on Fees.

On June 22, 2017, the Service Fees Act received royal assent, thereby repealing the User Fees Act. The Service Fees Act introduces a modern legislative framework that enables cost-effective delivery of services and, through enhanced reporting to Parliament, improved transparency and oversight. The act provides for:

• a streamlined approach to consultation and the approval of new or modified fees;
• a requirement for services to have service standards and reporting against these standards, along with a policy to remit fees to fee payers when standards are not met;
• an automatic annual fee adjustment by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to ensure that fees keep pace with inflation; and
• annual detailed reporting to Parliament in order to increase transparency.

This 2017-18 Fees Report is the first report to be prepared under the Service Fees Act. The report includes new information such as a detailed listing of all fees. Additional fee information will be included starting next fiscal year, once the PBC fully transitions to the Service Fees Act regime.

I welcome the increased transparency and oversight that the Service Fees Act’s reporting regime embodies, and I am committed to transitioning the Parole Board of Canada to this modern framework.

______________________________
Jennifer Oades
Chairperson, Parole Board of Canada

General fees information

The tables that follow provide information on each category of fees, including:

• the name of the fee category;
• the date that the fee (or fee category) was introduced and last amended (if applicable);
• service standards;
• performance results against these standards; and
• financial information regarding total costs, total revenues and remissions

In addition to the information presented by fee category, there is a summary of the financial information for all fees as well as a listing of fees under the department’s authority. This listing includes the existing fee dollar amounts and the adjusted dollar fee amount for a future year, as applicable.

General and financial information by fee category - Record Suspension

General information

Financial information (dollars)

* The amount includes direct and indirect costs, where such costs are identifiable and material.

† A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid. Under the Service Fees Act, departments are required to develop policies that determine when fees will be remitted to fee payers should service standards not be met. The requirement for departments to remit is anticipated to come into effect on March 31, 2020. This effective date allows departments time to develop remissions policies and adjust service standard tracking and remittance systems. During fiscal year 2017-18, some departments may have issued remissions, in accordance with the authority of their enabling legislation or regulation, as opposed to the authority given by the Service Fees Act.  It is remissions issued under enabling legislations or regulations that are shown above.

** Revenue reported includes only the portion of the fee that is available to the PBC for respending (i.e. $470). The difference between the fee charged of $631 and the $470 retained by the PBC is deposited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, to offset other government costs such as employee benefit plans, charges for accommodations, etc.

General and financial information by fee category - Access to Information

General information

Financial information (dollars)

* The amount includes direct and indirect costs, where such costs are identifiable and material.

† A remission is a partial or full return of a fee paid. Under the Service Fees Act departments are required to develop policies that determine when fees will be remitted to fee payers should service standards not be met. The requirement for departments to remit is anticipated to come into effect on March 31, 2020. This effective date allows departments time to develop remissions policies and adjust service standard tracking and remittance systems. During fiscal year 2017-18, some departments may have issued remissions, in accordance with their authority of their enabling legislation or regulation, as opposed to the authority given by the Service Fees Act. It is remissions issued under enabling legislations or regulations that are shown above.

Financial totals for all fee categories

Total revenues, cost and remissions (dollars)

Note: the totals are the sums of the revenues, costs and remissions reported for all fee categories in the “Financial information” tables.

Fees under the department’s authority

Fee amounts for 2017-18, 2019-20, and a future fiscal year, as applicable (dollars)

* Fees are adjusted annually in one of two ways: (1) Under the Service Fees Act, fees are adjusted in each fiscal year by the percentage change over 12 months in the April All-Items Consumer Price Index for Canada, as published by Statistics Canada for the previous fiscal year. The Consumer Price Index rate for this report is 2.2%. (2) The fee is subject to a periodic adjustment at a predetermined rate, in accordance with another authority in legislation or regulation. Note that the projected adjusted fee amount may not come into effect in 2019-20 as a result of fee changes, new legislation, regulations and/or other factors.

† The “Future fee amount and fiscal year” is the new amount of the fee, in a future fiscal year other than 2019-20, adjusted by a predetermined rate, in accordance with the authority in legislation or regulation.