Gender-Based Analysis Plus - 2019-20 Departmental Plan – Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
General information
Governance structures
The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) is the central agency that acts as the administrative arm of the Treasury Board.
The Treasury Board is a committee of the Queen’s Privy Council of Canada that:
acts as the government’s management board
provides oversight of the government’s financial management and spending, as well as oversight of human resources issues
provides oversight of complex horizontal issues such as defence procurement and modernizing the pay system
is the employer for the public service
establishes policies and common standards for administrative, personnel, financial and organizational practices across government
fulfills the role of the Committee of Council in approving regulatory policies and regulations, and most orders‑in‑council
is responsible for reporting to Parliament
In 2016, TBS made it mandatory for departments and agencies to include a gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) appendix in all submissions seeking Treasury Board approval for new spending proposals or authorities. As part of its due diligence review of each submission, TBS identifies relevant issues and recommends adjustments to ensure that the outcomes of new government policies, programs and initiatives will meet the needs of the men, women and gender-diverse individuals who make up Canada today. Based on this review, TBS advises Treasury Board ministers of the gender implications of approving each proposal.
TBS has designated a GBA+ champion at the assistant deputy minister level. The champion:
promotes the value of GBA+ in informing Cabinet decision‑making
provides guidance to TBS’s senior managers on their responsibilities with respect to GBA+
is a member of the GBA+ Champions Network and works with the GBA+ champions from the following institutions to make GBA+ coherent and consistent across government, to stress the importance of GBA+ in memoranda to Cabinet and in Treasury Board submissions, and to implement gender budgeting:
Privy Council Office
Department of Finance Canada
Department for Women and Gender Equality
Statistics Canada
promotes departmental and government‑wide training for TBS analysts so that they can integrate GBA+ into TBS’s challenge function when reviewing memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board submissions from TBS and from other departments and agencies
promotes the value of GBA+ through, for example, GBA+ Awareness Week, speaking engagements, and presentations to internal and external management committees
As well, as the secretariat for the Public Service Management Advisory Committee (PSMAC), TBS allocates time for the deputy minister of the Department for Women and Gender Equality to consult PSMAC on the status of government-wide implementation of GBA+ and its impacts on legislative, policy, and program initiatives.
In 2019–20, TBS will focus on the following key activities to support GBA+ governance:
identifying an employee-level GBA+ co‑champion to help engage employees on GBA+
forming a champion advisory committee to consider the learning needs of the various functional communities at TBS, including the need for GBA+ training
working with existing operational and governance committees within TBS to promote GBA+ and to report on the extent to which it is included in decision‑making
Human resources
In addition to the GBA+ ADM‑level champion, an employee-level co‑champion, who will work in this role part time, will be identified in 2019–20.
GBA+ will also be supported by the part-time work of TBS analysts.
Planned initiatives
In recent years, TBS has:
supported the Treasury Board in adopting and implementing the Directive on Results, which requires departments and agencies to integrate GBA+ into the development of Departmental Results Frameworks, Program Inventories and Performance Information Profiles to ensure that no Canadian is missing out on a government benefit because of their gender, age, ethnicity, marital status, income level, and so on
introduced a requirement for departments and agencies to include in their Departmental Plan a supplementary information table that outlines, for Parliamentarians and Canadians, how they are fulfilling the government’s commitment to fully implement GBA+
taken action to meet all of the commitments it made in the Government of Canada Action Plan in response to the fall 2015 report of the Auditor General on implementing GBA. These commitments included tracking relevant data in Treasury Board submissions to:
identify and address barriers to the effective use of GBA+ in order to achieve better program, policy, and service outcomes
identify and share lessons learned to strengthen TBS’s challenge function in the future
updated the competency profile of evaluators in the federal public service to add inclusion of GBA+ considerations as an example of effective behaviour when conducting program evaluations
made draft policy instruments available to departments and agencies for review and feedback, including to the Department for Women and Gender Equality, whose feedback focuses on the potential gender implications of implementing the new policy instrument government-wide
developed the following guidance to help departments and agencies integrate GBA+ into regulatory analysis:
the new Cabinet Directive on Regulation: The directive, which came into effect on , requires that, as part of their regulatory analysis, departments and agencies determine potential social and economic impacts on diverse groups of Canadians when proposing new regulations.
the Policy on Regulatory Development, the Policy on Cost‑Benefit Analysis, and related tools: These policies and tools require departments and agencies to identify any GBA+ considerations, and to ensure that GBA+ is a component of cost‑benefit analysis and is considered systematically in regulatory proposals.
In 2019–20, TBS will build on its work to date. It will:
develop a Departmental GBA+ Action Plan that includes key deliverables and performance indicators
TBS will report on the progress of this action plan to Departmental Governance Committees
TBS will continue to deliver and promote internal training on GBA+, deliver GBA+ awareness sessions to TBS staff, promote GBA+ in TBS onboarding events, and continue to promote GBA+ Awareness Week
continue to carry out its challenge function when reviewing memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board submissions to assess the quality of the GBA+ appendix, and then informing Treasury Board ministers of the gender implications of implementing new policy or program proposals
continue to consult and collaborate with the Department of Finance Canada to ensure a comprehensive approach to gender budgeting
develop, and post on an internal government website, a guidance tool to help the evaluation community integrate GBA+ into evaluations
lead implementation of the Government of Canada’s new policy direction on the collection, use and display of sex and gender information, which was approved by the Clerk of the Privy Council in November 2018
