Annual Report on the Access to Information Act 2014-2015

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  1. Access to Information Act
  2. About the Public Health Agency of Canada
• Access to Information Infrastructure
  1. The Access to Information and Privacy Operations Division
  2. Reading Room
• Delegation of Authority
• Requests under the Access to Information Act - Statistical Figures, Interpretation and Explanation
  1. Statistical Report
  2. Number of Access Requests and Case Load
  3. Disposition of Requests Completed
  4. Exemptions Invoked
  5. Exclusions Cited
  6. Disposition and Completion Time
  7. Extensions
  8. Translations
  9. Format of Information Released
  10. Fees
  11. Costs
• Training and Awareness
• New and/or Revised Institution-Specific Access to Information Related Policies, Guidelines and Procedures
  • ATIP Operations Division
• Complaints and Court Applications for Reviews
  1. Complaints to the Information Commissioner
  2. Types of Complaints and Their Disposition Completed in 2014-2015
  3. Applications/Appeals Submitted to the Federal Court/Federal Court of Appeal
  4. 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 Access to Information Act. This report provides a summary of how the Public Health Agency of Canada (the Agency) has fulfilled its access to information responsibilities during the fiscal year 2014-2015.

II. About the Public Health Agency of Canada

The Agency's mission is to promote and protect the health of Canadians through leadership, partnership, innovation and action in public health.

The role of the Agency is to:

• Promote health;
• Prevent and control chronic diseases and injuries;
• Prevent and control infectious diseases;
• Prepare for and respond to public health emergencies;
• Serve as a central point for sharing Canada's public health expertise with the rest of the world;
• Apply international research and development to Canada's public health programs; and
• Strengthen intergovernmental collaboration on public health and facilitate national approaches to public health policy and planning.

For more information about the Agency, please visit our web site.

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, Corporate Services Branch at Health Canada (HC).

In June 2012, under the terms of the Public Health Agency of Canada and HC Shared Services Partnership Agreement, a shared service was established for the administration of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act in the two institutions. 2013-2014 was the first full fiscal year under this new arrangement, and saw the implementation of a single ATIP Coordinator model for the Agency and 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;
• Developing corporate-wide access to information protocols and practices to guide the ATI process;
• Promoting staff awareness and providing training on the Act;
• Preparing annual reports to Parliament; and,
• Liaising with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC), the 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 4.69 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees with the support of consultant services (2.04 FTE) and some part-time and casual employees (0.18 FTE) for a total complement of 6.91 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. The Agency has a reading room available where members of the public may make arrangements to review materials.

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

Access to Information and Privacy Operations 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, which provides ATIP services to the Agency. 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 the Agency'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

Although there was a slight increase in the number of requests received in 2014-2015 (133 as compared with 130 in 2013-2014), the Agency has seen an overall increase of 16% in the number of requests received in the six years since 2008-2009.

Source of Requests: Trends

Of the 133 ATI requests received by the Agency in 2014-2015, 25 were from the business sector, representing an increase of 72% as compared with 2013-2014. The media and the general public still represent the vast majority of the Agency's requests, as 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 requesters and represented 1% of the total number of requests.

Informal Requests

Whenever feasible to do so, the Agency processes requests informally as "access informal". There was a slight increase in the use of this processing method, which includes records previously released under the Access to Information Act. In 2014-2015, the Agency processed 13 requests as "access informal" compared to eight requests in 2013-2014. In the past, the Agency reported separately on 'access informals' and 'treated informally' however, these previous categories are now combined into one.

Posting of Completed ATI Requests

The Agency 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 institutional records.

Case Load

During the 2014-2015 fiscal year, the Agency completed the processing of 136 of 173 (79%) active requests. Active requests included 133 new requests and 40 requests carried over from previous years.

While 2014-2015 saw a decrease from the previous year in the number of pages reviewed, there are a number of factors that contributed to this result. First, the Agency dedicated more resources to addressing some of the oldest requests, which are voluminous and more complex in nature. Second, challenges arising from migration to the Windows 7 operating system impacted the Agency's operations. The upcoming implementation of a new case management system will support more efficient processing of requests going forward.

Consultations Completed for Other Institutions

In 2014-2015, the Agency completed 61 consultations representing 1,700 pages from other federal institutions, and completed eight consultations from other jurisdictions.

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 majority of the 183 exemptions invoked by the Agency 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 117 (64%) of the exemptions applied in 2014-2015. It is worth noting that the invocation of section 20 on 34 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, the Agency applied two exclusions pursuant to section 68 of the Act, and six exclusions for section 69 of the Act.

VI. Disposition and Completion Time

The Agency tracks the disposition of closed requests and the length of time taken to process them. Of the total caseload of 173 requests in 2014-2015, the Agency completed 136 cases and carried over 37 uncompleted requests to fiscal year 2015-2016.

The Agency was able to respond within 30 days or less to the majority of requests. 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 consultations and to process voluminous records. In 2014-2015, the Agency invoked 79 extensions under section 9(1) of the Act.

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, 15 were sent out in paper format. This number, however, represents only 24% of the total pages released. Comparatively, 57 requests were released electronically, representing 76% of pages released.

In 2015-16, the Agency will implement a case management and imaging system that will allow to provide documents to requesters in Portable Document Format (PDF). This will allow for more efficient processing, as well as more delivery options to the public, including via CD-ROM which eliminates the need for photocopying.

X. Fees

The Act authorizes fees for certain aspects of processing formal requests and the fee structure is prescribed in the ATI Regulations. Accordingly, the Agency 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, the Agency collected $550 in application fees and did not seek any production or search fees. In total, the Receiver General for Canada collected $550 in fees. In addition, the Agency waived $1,603 in fees for 95 requests in accordance with its duty to assist applicants.

XI. Costs

The Agency spent a total of $779,073 on ATI functions in 2014-2015. Of this total, salaries accounted for $390,715 and administration for $388,358, most of which was used to retain temporary help to address the volume and complexity of requests. Staffing for the fiscal year amounted to 4.69 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 Agency Employees

Training sessions regarding the Act and related processes are delivered to Agency employees on a regular basis. Four "ATI 101" training sessions, with 65 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 Agency needs. This approach resulted in increased engagement and awareness. The Division continued to increase awareness among Agency employees of their responsibilities under the Act by advertising sessions open to all employees.

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

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, six complaints under the Act were filed with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada (OIC) related to requests completed by the Agency.

The Agency 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 this reporting period, no notices of applications were filed by third parties with the Federal Court or the Federal Court of Appeal pursuant to subsection 44(1) of the Act.

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 the Public Health Agency of 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.

Original signed by:

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: Public Health Agency of 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 Government of Canada institutions and other 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