Internal Audit Committee Annual Report 2020-2021

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Context
• Annual Overview
• Annex A- Summary of Key Activities & Discussions in 2019/20

Introduction

This annual report of the external members of the Internal Audit Committee (the Committee) of the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) covers fiscal year 2020–21.

Although the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Policy and Directive on Internal Audit no longer includes a requirement for departmental audit committees to produce an annual report, the Committee has concluded that an annual report helps assess its performance over the past year and establish priorities for the next year.

Context

There was a change in Committee membership over the past year as one of the external members left at the end of her term and a new external member was appointed.  Orientation was undertaken to support integration of the new member.

During 2020–21, the PSC operated remotely due to the Government of Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Work continued to advance priority areas including:

• the New Direction in Staffing
• GC Jobs Transformation
• supporting the recruitment of Indigenous people and persons with disabilities
• advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives — as an organization and as a central agency

Along with advancing key priorities, the PSC also had to address a few areas to support its ongoing effective functioning as an organization. This included finding ways to support the provision of Second Language Evaluations across the federal public service, and priority clearance services to departments and agencies that needed to continue hiring to support the pandemic response and effective continuation of government operations. Early on, the PSC implemented its business continuity plan, and supported employees working remotely throughout the year. The President of the PSC implemented daily and, after July, twice-weekly special Executive Management Committee meetings, by teleconference or MS Teams, on COVID-19 to support effective risk analysis, decision-making and monitoring. The Committee has been briefed regularly, through meetings by teleconference and regular updates from the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive. 

The New Direction in Staffing provided flexibility in recruitment, and the PSC noted that its implementation had progressed during the pandemic in several departments and agencies. The PSC also provided additional flexibilities for organizations during the pandemic. Deputy heads have been delegated authority for second language evaluations, and expiring language test results have been extended for employees responding to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, or who are essential to maintaining government operations. As well, there have been additional flexibilities for staffing positions related to the COVID-19 situation or to ensuring the effective functioning of the Government of Canada. These special temporary measures were reviewed periodically and communicated to Heads of Human Resources and Deputy Ministers.

Of note was the support provided by the PSC to Health Canada in establishing and administering the COVID-19 Volunteer Recruitment Campaign. Through the GC Jobs recruitment platform, the PSC supported Health Canada in developing an inventory of approximately 54 000 individuals who could be referred to provinces and territories to help them respond to the pandemic.

The PSC’s focus on diversity and inclusion has become even more important, and the Clerk of the Privy Council has placed a priority on making meaningful progress in this area. In addition to ongoing and emerging policy and program work in this area, the PSC issued an Audit on Employment Equity Representation in Recruitment report in January 2021, which identified a number of actions that need to be taken to improve hiring outcomes for members of employment equity groups.

The Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive was an active partner in the PSC COVID-19 response and helped senior management navigate new and emerging risks. He also produced 5 overview reports on early actions and lessons learned throughout the year that documented decisions, decision-making processes, as well as actions taken by the PSC during the fiscal year. The Internal Audit and Evaluation Directorate contributed actively to supporting senior management in identifying emerging risks and helping to develop and implement actions taken to address them.

The “new normal” and what the future of work looks like is not yet clear. The PSC and the Committee will need to continue considering the effects of the pandemic response on risk management processes. New risks, both in the short and medium term, may emerge. There are also many opportunities to take advantage of the lessons learned from the accelerated digital transformation of the past year. These lessons will impact how the PSC does things differently in delivering its services, but also in terms of how the Committee sees the risk profile of certain initiatives.

To support decision-making the PSC held several executive management retreats throughout the year. This was particularly important, given the impact of lower-than-anticipated second language assessments on cost-recovery revenues and because the financial situation had to be monitored continuously in the second half of the fiscal year. It is unclear how long and how extensively COVID-19 will impact operations, and so the Committee will have to adapt and remain agile.

The pandemic has disrupted the lives of many. During this unprecedented period, the Committee would like to express our sincere thanks to the staff of the PSC for continuing their important work.

Annual Overview

Summary of the Committee’s work

During 2020–21 the Committee held all 7 of its meetings virtually. This included external member meetings with PSC officials for briefings on a variety of topics, and formal meetings with full membership. In February the external members met with PSC officials for an update on diversity and inclusion. The formal meetings discussed key challenges, including financial risk and opportunities facing the organization. The Director General, Human Resources, provided multiple briefings throughout the year on actions being taken related to employee health and safety, as well as on planning to resume work in physical workplaces. Separate in-camera discussions were also held with the President, Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive following the Committee meetings.

In terms of the mandatory and core areas of responsibility, the Committee played a solid challenge function and offered independent advice to the President on each of these areas:

• values and ethics
• risk management
• management control framework
• internal audit function
• external assurance providers
• follow-up on management action plans
• financial statements and public accounts
• accountability reporting

Annex A provides a summary of key activities and discussions in 2020–21.

With respect to formal reports produced by the Internal Audit and Evaluation Division during this period, the Committee provided advice on the following:

• review of PSC Governance
• audit of GC Jobs Transformation
• Audit of the Administration of the Political Activities Program
• COVID-19 National Volunteer Recruitment Campaign Lessons Learned Review
• Review of the Implementation of the New Direction in Staffing
• Readiness Assessment for the Implementation of the Accessible Canada Act

The Committee had set 3 priority areas of focus for 2020–21:

• implementation of the New Direction in Staffing, both inside the PSC and across the public service, with a focus on designing and implementing appropriate performance measures and indicators
• effective project management for the GC Jobs Transformation project
• implementation of knowledge / data integrated intelligence across the PSC

The Committee received regular updates on each of these areas, and provided a challenge and advisory function to officials and to the President on these issues.

The Committee also supported the President and PSC senior management in managing through the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Annex B provides details of progress against the Committee’s 2020–21 priorities.

Assessment of the Public Service Commission

The Committee continues to have a positive view of how the PSC is managed. Progress is being made on all priorities, and the President is keenly engaged and welcomes advice from the Committee. The support of the President is particularly noted and appreciated.

In terms of the internal audit and evaluation functions, the Committee notes the continued strong leadership of the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive. Both the internal audit function and the evaluation function met our expectations with respect to standards of performance, quality, quantity and timeliness of products. Internal audit is independent from line management, is perceived as such and brings value.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the PSC, as it has challenged all of government, and so has presented increased risk to achieving PSC priorities. The Committee has been kept informed, both by the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive and the President, of how the PSC is dealing with these challenges. The March 2020 scheduled in-person Committee meeting was replaced by 2 teleconferences to keep the Committee active and informed.

The impact of the pandemic on PSC priorities is continuously evolving, as senior management collects data and information and makes key decisions to ensure the continued effective functioning of the agency. The Committee also notes that there are several new executives at the PSC, which will lead to new perspectives and changes; of particular note is the IT department, which in addition to new leadership, continues to grapple with ongoing departures.

Results of the annual Internal Audit Committee self-assessment

Committee members are very satisfied with the functioning of the Committee and the support that is provided. Members have also found that the briefings and updates that are provided for the external members’ meetings are helpful. Ex-officio members were also highly satisfied with the functioning of the Committee.

The self-assessment also indicated a very positive assessment of the work of the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive and his relationship with the Committee. The Committee has noted that he takes a government-wide perspective in undertaking his role. In particular, his work on the COVID-19 Volunteer Recruitment Campaign lessons learned review, conducted in collaboration with Health Canada, and his work with the Internal Audit Operations Network both demonstrated a high level of cooperative and cross-department focus. In both cases the Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive worked with colleagues from other organizations to ensure a cross-department perspective.

Priorities for 2021–22

The Committee recognizes the difficulty of setting priorities for 2021–22, given the evolving nature of the pandemic. The following priorities will be set at the beginning of the fiscal year, and adjusted if required to meet emerging priorities:

• pursuing the building of new digital recruitment and assessment services to respond to emerging needs and user expectations

• tracking the actions to support the achievement of a diverse and inclusive federal public service and PSC workspace

• following the implementation of the New Direction in Staffing, both inside the agency and across the public service, with a focus on understanding what continues to work and what needs renewed attention and focus, in part through the design and implementation of appropriate measures and indicators

Another priority for 2021–22 will be to closely monitor emerging risks and opportunities for the PSC, both as an organization and as a central agency, as the federal government continues to operate remotely and, eventually, returns to the workplace.

Annex A: PSC Internal Audit Committee agenda items by meeting date, fiscal year 2020–21

Annex B: Progress against 2020–21 Internal Audit Committee priorities

1. Pursue the implementation of the New Direction in Staffing, both inside the agency and across the public service, with a particular focus on the design and implementation of appropriate measures and indicators.
• External committee members were briefed on the implementation of the New Direction in Staffing from a central agency perspective by Policy and Communications Sector officials at each quarter as part of in-person meetings.
• The Committee was briefed on the increasing use of non-advertised appointments across the federal public service and planned actions to better understand the reasons for this increase.
• The Committee was presented a Review of the Implementation of the New Direction in Staffing that was conducted by the Internal Audit and Evaluation team.

 

2. Effective project management for the GC Jobs Transformation Project.
• The Committee was provided quarterly updates by the Project Sponsor and Project Director on progress of the project.
• The Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive presented an Audit of GC Jobs Transformation at the June meeting.
• The Committee continued to perform their role with respect to this important transformation project.

 

3. Implementation of knowledge/data integrated intelligence across the agency.
• The Committee was briefed by the Director General, Policy and Strategic Directions, on the implementation of the integrated intelligence framework in response to a 2018 evaluation report.
• Integrated intelligence products were presented to the Committee in May and December.

 

4. Emerging issues
• Pandemic response: The committee was kept informed throughout the year on the PSC’s pandemic response efforts. This was done through 10 week overview reports, briefings, and discussions with senior management.
• Management of worksite resumption: The Director General, Human Resources Management Directorate, provided regular updates on the operating environment and the development and implementation of the plan to support reintegration of work in physical PSC worksites at the headquarters and 5 regional offices.
• Diversity and inclusion: In February and March 2021, the Committee was briefed on what the PSC was doing with regards to the diversity and inclusion priorities, both as a central agency and as an organization. This is an emerging area that will be considered for inclusion at committee meetings in 2021–22.