ARCHIVED - Support materials for Departmental Performance Report (DPR) 2007-2008

Program Activity – Corporate Support Services

• Introduction
  • International Initiatives
  • Management Initiatives and Capacity Development
  • Human Resources Management
  • Business Continuity
  • Sustainable Development
  • Audit
  • Other Management Initiatives

Introduction

The Public Health Agency of Canada (Agency) recognized that strategic and developmental initiatives are required to support the achievement of its priorities and advance the work of improving public health. Since its inception, the Agency has undertaken a number of activities to fulfill its role as a voice for public health, to define its structural needs and to establish the necessary elements, to build new and expanded relationships, and to explore new avenues for improving the public health system in Canada. As a new organization, the Agency found itself in an opportune time to define its role within the public health system and to develop efficient and effective internal mechanisms and processes. Initiatives were undertaken to define the Agency’s priorities, to strengthen its internal capacity and accountability and to align resources, research, programs and policies.

International Initiatives

Commitments

The Agency committed to:

1. Co-sponsor a workshop on Trade and Healthy Diets in the fall of 2007;
2. Further an international health strategy and an organizational approach for managing international activities; and
3. Expand the capacity to implement the international health strategy and strengthen Canada’s links in the international public health arena.

Performance Analysis

Commitment 1 was successfully met. During 2007-08, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), McGill University and Health Canada (HC), the Agency organized and co-sponsored the WHO Forum on Trade and Healthy Food and Diets, a 2-day meeting of experts held November 2007. This forum enhanced international linkage among health and trade policy experts, increased knowledge base and awareness of the impact of trade policy on population health.

To successfully meet commitment 2, the Agency advanced its international health strategy and organizational approach for managing international activities. The Agency established a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and developed themes and proposed activities intended to form part of a Canada-Brazil MOU on health. The Agency further bolstered its capacity to provide international policy advice; supported the implementation of an international public health approach within the Agency and with other government departments; and supported the establishment of policies on international mobilizations by establishing an International Public Health Division, an Agency International Network, and an External Advisory Committee on International Public Health. These steps enabled the Agency to successfully meet Commitment 3.

Management Initiatives and Capacity Development

Commitments

The Agency committed to:

1. Develop a five-year strategic plan for the Agency;
2. Execute the strategies and initiate the Integrated Human Resources (HR) Planning process in an annual cycle that will re-visit strategic business objectives, expected results, operational plans, a current workforce assessment, forecast HR needs, HR gaps, and planned priorities related to HR, budget resources and Information Management / Information Technology support;
3. Produce a more comprehensive and integrated Business Plan to further address human resource planning, based on analysis of the current workforce, forecasts of future needs and gap analysis/succession planning; and
4. Develop of a Management Resources and Results Structure (MRRS) to enhance transparency and accountability, by reviewing its Strategic Outcome and develop a clear and detailed inventory of its programs in an enhanced Program Activity Architecture (PAA), developing a Performance Measurement Framework (PMF), and identifying the governance structure that ties these elements together.

Performance Analysis

Commitment 1 and 2 were successfully met. The Agency launched its Strategic Plan 2007-12³³ on September 13, 2007. The plan provides the strategic directions and priorities for the Agency over the next five years. All employees and key stakeholders across the country were provided access to the Plan.

The Agency developed and posted on its intranet site an Integrated HR Plan for 2008-09.³⁴ The Plan integrated ongoing business and operational planning in all directorates within the Agency with the annual workforce analysis exercise. The publication of the Plan marks the first time the Agency integrated all anticipated staffing needs across the Agency, together with a perspective on priorities and objectives across a range of human resource management fields into one document. The Agency satisfied the first phase towards a planning process that fully integrates business, operational, accommodation, information technology and HR planning.

Commitment 3 was partially met. Although the development of a more comprehensive and integrated Business Plan was deferred due to a Strategic Review, resource constraints, need for training and tools development, a Human Resources Plan was developed to strengthen succession planning, identify gaps in the workforce and human resource strategies were implemented to close gaps and meet goals. The plan will be implemented into the Business/Operational Planning process of the Agency in accordance with its planning cycle. Priority was given to parliamentary reporting and to government-wide processes.

Commitment 4 was partially met. Significant steps were taken to develop the Agency’s MRRS. This included reviewing the Strategic Outcome and PAA as part of the Agency’s Management Accountability Framework assessment. Opportunities for improvement were identified. A draft PMF providing specific expected results for the Agency’s work and proposing performance indicators and targets was developed, along with a description of the governance structures associated with the Agency’s PAA. Financial codes were developed to support the 2008-09 PAA so that financial expenditures could be associated with specific Agency programs thereby increasing accountability. Adoption of the PMF was deferred to provide time for internal consultations to confirm that the best possible suite of indicators were selected, to ensure that the data collection and analysis workload was manageable, and to provide time for the Agency to build the required performance measurement capacity. The Agency will review its Strategic Outcome, PAA and PMF in 2008.

Human Resources Management

Commitments

The Agency committed to:

1. Continue to advance diversity and to demonstrate clear and sustained leadership in enhancing linguistic capacity within the organization to improve language of work and service to Canadians;
2. Develop and implement recruitment and retention strategies to ensure a professional and sustainable workforce that will respond to current and future requirements;
3. Develop key human resources strategies to support its surge capacity in the event of an emergency, and to position and prepare the Agency to respond accordingly in the event of a pandemic/ influenza outbreak; and
4. Continue to report to central agencies on the new Staffing Management Accountability Framework and on various other aspects of human resources management (e.g., employment equity, official languages).

Performance Analysis

All commitments were successfully met. Responsibility for the provision of corporate services related to official languages and employment equity was informally repatriated to the Agency from HC in the autumn of 2007. The Agency positioned seven Champions to promote the human resource disciplines of official languages, learning, workplace well-being, recruitment, leadership, diversity, and values and ethics. This leadership helped to mobilize Agency employees towards achieving the goal of improving internal capacity and ensuring a supportive culture. The Agency held management information sessions on Official Languages (OL) staffing guidelines and linguistic profiling; created a draft OL Action Plan; established a second language training pilot project; and sustained the minimum overall representation goals in all of the designated employment equity groups.

The Agency began to implement an ES Recruitment and Development Program, which constitutes approximately 20% of the Agency’s workforce. The Agency also participated in the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative whose goal is to build senior leadership capacity to address terrorism and other large-scale disasters that threaten the public’s health. In addition, the Scientists as Leaders Pilot Program, a two-year pilot program to develop leadership skills and capacity among Science and Technology professionals at the EX minus 1, EX minus 2 and EX equivalent levels was delivered. Finally, an Aboriginal Management Development Program providing the opportunity for Aboriginal employees to apply and qualify for a structured learning and development program aimed at positioning participants to assume management positions in HC and the Agency was implemented.

The Agency drafted an HR Health Emergency Response Plan to enable it to respond in a timely and coordinated manner to the HR needs of the Agency during any emergency that could affect the health and social well-being of Canadians. It describes how the Agency will hire and compensate the personnel required to fulfill its mandate in a health emergency.

The Agency reported on official languages, labour relations and against the Staffing Management Accountability Framework in a Departmental Staffing Accountability Report.

Business Continuity

Commitments

The Agency committed to conduct a tabletop exercise to test and validate the Agency’s Business Continuity Plan in the event of a pandemic influenza outbreak.

Performance Analysis

Commitment 1 was met. A table-top exercise to test and validate the Agency’s Business Continuity Plan in the event of a pandemic influenza outbreak was conducted March 2007. Gaps identified during this exercise were presented to senior management with improvement recommendations.

Sustainable Development

Commitments

The Agency committed to:

1. Launch the Agency’s first Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) and initiate several projects for the greening of its operations, and reporting;
2. Begin to integrate sustainable development into its strategic and business planning and reporting;
3. Produce the first progress report to the Management Committee on the Agency’s SDS by December 2007; and
4. Complete the four deliverables outlined in the Agency’s SDS, namely to:
5. Review the outcomes of Population Health Fund sustainable development projects in the Quebec Region;
6. Begin work to identify (through their genetic imprint) and respond to antibiotic resistant organisms in the North;
7. Reinforce the public health system by establishing public health chairs in at least 10 universities; and
8. Establish a committee to monitor the health effects of a changing climate.

Performance Analysis

Commitments 1 and 3 were met, while 2 and 4 partially met. The Agency’s first SDS was launched. Several projects for greening the Agency operations were also launched including updating the Agency’s Green Procurement course and ensuring that all new desktop computers, monitors and printers met the Energy Star standard. The first steps taken to begin to integrate sustainable development into the Agency’s strategic and business planning and reporting included a systematic exploration of the extent to which the principles and language of sustainable development could be integrated into the Agency’s PMF. Work to integrate sustainable development concepts into the Agency’s business planning templates was not completed, mainly due to capacity constraints.

The first progress report on the Agency’s SDS was submitted to Management Committee in December 2007.

The Agency reviewed the outcomes of Population Health Fund sustainable development projects in the Quebec Region. However, reporting was delayed until April 2008. The review found that the seven projects, which integrated sustainable development, were substantial, comprehensive, multi-partnered, and community-building. Overall, the projects reduced impact on the environment, reduced the release of greenhouse gases and yet increased economic activity and social well-being. As well, work began to identify and respond to antibiotic resistant organisms in the North through their genetic imprint. Planning discussions took place and while there was interest in moving forward and, controversy over ownership of the data arose. This culturally sensitive issue was not resolved. In addition, 14 public health chairs were established. Finally, the environment was identified as one of the Agency’s priorities, as indicated in its Strategic Plan. The Agency’s Public Health and Environment Network was created to develop a framework for the environment in the Agency. The Network will continue to monitor the health effects of a changing climate though the establishment of a committee specifically dedicated to this issue. Terms of reference for this committee were drafted.

Audit

Commitments

The Agency committed to:

1. Establish an Audit Committee;
2. Undertake audit projects planned for 2007-08 in the Agency’s Three-Year Risk-Based Audit Plan; and
3. Make audit reports available to the public on the Agency’s website.

Performance Analysis

These commitments were all met. The Agency’s Audit committee was established. A charter for the Audit Committee was published in April 2007 and the Committee met several times. Audit projects planned for 2007-08 in the Agency’s Three-Year Risk-Based Audit Plan were undertaken, and audit reports were made available to the public on the Agency’s website.

Other Management Initiatives

Commitments

The Agency committed to pursue the recommendations of the Program Management Committee (PMC) to the Agency’s Executive Committee concerning opportunities for adjusting existing programs to fulfil policy objectives, including the reallocation of existing program resources, to move from lower to higher priorities, and ways to strengthen the management, oversight and effective delivery of programs

Performance Analysis

Commitment 1 was met. The Agency’s PMC implemented an external review of funding programs not already under review through other processes. Results of the review were provided to the Agency and subsequent discussions formed the basis for recommendations for programs. PMC recommended directions for funding programs and received approval by Executive Committee. The PMC established a dedicated working group to move the project forward, led by a Change Manager working with a Change Champion within the Agency.

³³  http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/2007/sp-ps/

³⁴  http://intranet.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hr-rh/rep-rap/docs/IHRP_2008-06-23-ENG.pdf