Analysis of trends in spending and human resources - 2016–17 Departmental Results Report - Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Budgetary performance summary for Programs and Internal Services (dollars)

The Secretariat’s operating expenditures include salaries, non-salary costs to deliver programs and statutory items related to the employer’s contributions to the Secretariat’s employee benefit plans.

The decrease of $48 million between 2014–15 and 2015–16 actual spending resulted mostly from reduced expenditures in 2015–16 related to the settlement in the White class action lawsuit and a decrease in spending related to the Workspace Renewal Initiative (phase I). Those decreases were partially offset by expenditures incurred to support the Secretariat-led government-wide Enabling Functions Transformation.

The increase of $42.5 million between 2015–16 and 2016–17 is mostly attributed to implementing the Secretariat’s Government of Canada’s Budget 2016 initiatives to make progress on government-wide Enabling Functions Transformation, the plan to enhance access to information, and to develop a client-first service strategy and expand open data across the Government of Canada.

A decrease of $67.7 million between 2016–17 and 2017–18 is mostly attributed to one-time funding received to accelerate the Enabling Functions Transformation, as announced in Budget 2016.

Program expenditures are anticipated to further decrease by $14.9 million from 2017–18 to 2019–20, as phase II of the Workspace Renewal Initiative is expected to be completed with more than 800 Secretariat employees expected to move into their new workspace at 219 Laurier by winter 2018.

Figure 4 - Text version

This bar graph illustrates the Secretariat’s actual spending for the public service employer payments (Vote 20) and various statutory items for fiscal years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 and planned spending for fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. Financial figures are presented in dollars along the y axis, increasing by $500 million and ending at $4.5 billion. These are graphed against fiscal years 2014-15 to 2019-20 on the x axis.

For each fiscal year, amounts for the Secretariat’s public service employer payments (Vote 20), statutory items (largely comprised of payments under the Public Service Pension Adjustment Act), and anticipated sunset programs are identified.

No amount is reported in 2014-15 to 2019-20 as sunset programs - anticipated.

In 2014-15, actual spending was $444,049,205 for statutory items and $2,454,311,704 for public service employer payments for a total of $2,898,360,909.

In 2015-16, actual spending was $1,162,005,794 for statutory items and $2,690,624,377 for public service employer payments for a total of $3,852,630,171.

In 2016-17, actual spending was $339,704,346 for statutory items and $2,406,697,551 for public service employer payments for a total of $2,746,401,897.

Planned spending for statutory items will remain the same for fiscal years 2017-18 to 2019-20 in the amount of $340,000,000.

Planned spending for public service employer payments goes from $2,398,570,604 in 2017-18, to $2,396,661,397 in 2018-19, and will remain the same for fiscal years 2019-20.

Total planned spending for public service employer payments goes from $2,738,570,604 in 2017-18, to $2,736,661,397 in 2018-19, and will remain the same for fiscal years 2019-20.

Expenditures for public service employer payments and statutory items represent the employer’s share of contributions required by the insurance plans sponsored by the Government of Canada. These amounts also include statutory items for payments under the Public Service Pension Adjustment Act and employer contributions made under the Public Service Superannuation Act, the Employment Insurance Act and related acts.

The increase of $954 million from 2014–15 to 2015–16 is attributed to statutory items of $718 million, which is largely due to an actuarial adjustment made in relation to the Public Service Superannuation Act, and an increase of $236 million related to public service employer payments to incrementally restore the financial health of the Service Income Security Insurance Plan.

The decrease of $1,106 million from 2015–16 to 2016–17 is largely attributed to the one-time payments made last fiscal year for the actuarial adjustment and the Service Income Security Insurance Plan noted above. These were offset by an increase mainly due to a one-time payment to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Disability Insurance Plan to eliminate the current deficit and to restore the plan to sound financial health.

Planned spending for fiscal years 2017–18 to 2019–20 is expected to remain mostly unchanged.

In 2017–18, the Secretariat has transitioned from its Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture, which was required under the previous Policy on Management Resources and Results Structures, to a Departmental Results Framework, which is required under the new Policy on Results. The planned spending for 2017–18 and 2018–19 were prepared as per the Departmental Results Framework and restated to the Program Alignment Architecture for illustration purposes only.

The budgetary performance summary table above provides the following:

• Main Estimates for 2016–17
• Planned spending for 2016–17, as reported in the Secretariat’s 2016–17 Report on Plans and Priorities
• Planned spending for 2017–18 and 2018–19, as reported in the Secretariat’s 2017–18 Departmental Plan (restated as noted above)
• Total Authorities Available for use in 2016–17 which reflects the authorities received to date, including in-year contributions from other government departments (OGDs) for the Enabling Functions Transformation
• Actual spending for 2016–17, 2015–16 and 2014–15 as reported in the Public Accounts

For additional details on planned spending, see the section “Supporting information on lower-level programs” in Supplementary Information.

The Government-Wide Funds and Public Service Employer Payments program is the largest portion of the Secretariat’s planned spending. On average, the Treasury Board approves transfers of approximately 56% of this program’s funding to other federal organizations for items such as government contingencies, government-wide initiatives, compensation requirements, operating and capital budget carry forward, and paylist expenditures (Central Votes 5, 10, 15, 25, 30 and 33). The Secretariat’s total funding available for use is reduced accordingly. The remaining 44% of this program pertains to statutory payments, used to pay the employer’s share of contributions to employee pension plan, and to public service employer payments, used to pay the employer’s share of contributions to employee insurance and benefits plans.

Overall, planned spending is expected to decrease by $45 million by 2018–19, mainly due to the actuarial adjustment referenced above and offset by additional ongoing funding related to the premium rate increase for the Service Income Security Insurance Plan. The decrease is also due to the sunsetting of the Workspace Renewal Initiative (phase II), and the one-time funding received to accelerate the Enabling Functions Transformation, as announced in Budget 2016.

Actual spending decreased by $1,064 million in 2016–17, primarily because of the one-time payments no longer required for the actuarial adjustment and the Service Income Security Insurance Plan. These decreases were offset by an increase in the Secretariat’s operating expenditures used for:

• Budget 2016 initiatives to accelerate the Enabling Functions Transformation, to enhance access to information, to develop a client-first service strategy, and to expand open data
• establishing a Centre for Greening Government at the Secretariat
• the additional claims related to the White class action lawsuit
• the third-party Shared Services Canada resource alignment review
• the transfer of the Regulatory Cooperation Council Secretariat from the Privy Council Office to the Secretariat

As reported in the Secretariat’s 2015–16 Departmental Performance Report, actual spending increased by $906 million from 2014–15 to 2015–16. Most of that increase, $718 million can be attributed to statutory items, largely due to the actuarial adjustment made in relation to the Public Service Superannuation Act discussed above. The rest of the increase, $236 million, related to public service employer payments to incrementally restore the financial health of the Service Income Security Insurance Plan. This plan is providing benefits to an increased number of medically released Canadian Armed Forces members who served in the Afghanistan mission. These increases were offset by a $48-million decrease in the Secretariat’s operating expenditures, mostly related to the sunset of funding received in 2014–15 for the payout of an out-of-court settlement under the White class action lawsuit launched against the Crown in 2014.