Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat - 2013–14 Departmental Performance Report

Foreword

Departmental Performance Reports are part of the Estimates family of documents. Estimates documents support appropriation acts, which specify the amounts and broad purposes for which funds can be spent by the government. The Estimates document family has three parts.

Part I (Government Expenditure Plan) provides an overview of federal spending.

Part II (Main Estimates) lists the financial resources required by individual departments, agencies and Crown corporations for the upcoming fiscal year.

Part III (Departmental Expenditure Plans) consists of two documents. Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPPs) are expenditure plans for each appropriated department and agency (excluding Crown corporations). They describe departmental priorities, Strategic Outcomes, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a three-year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Performance Reports (DPRs) are individual department and agency accounts of actual performance, for the most recently completed fiscal year, against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in their respective RPPs. DPRs inform parliamentarians and Canadians of the results achieved by government organizations for Canadians.

Additionally, Supplementary Estimates documents present information on spending requirements that were either not sufficiently developed in time for inclusion in the Main Estimates or were subsequently refined to account for developments in particular programs and services.

The financial information in DPRs is drawn directly from authorities presented in the Main Estimates and the planned spending information in RPPs. The financial information in DPRs is also consistent with information in the Public Accounts of Canada. The Public Accounts of Canada include the Government of Canada Consolidated Statement of Financial Position, the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Accumulated Deficit, the Consolidated Statement of Change in Net Debt, and the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flow, as well as details of financial operations segregated by ministerial portfolio for a given fiscal year. For the DPR, two types of financial information are drawn from the Public Accounts of Canada: authorities available for use by an appropriated organization for the fiscal year, and authorities used for that same fiscal year. The latter corresponds to actual spending as presented in the DPR.

The Treasury Board Policy on Management, Resources and Results Structures further strengthens the alignment of the performance information presented in DPRs, other Estimates documents and the Public Accounts of Canada. The policy establishes the Program Alignment Architecture (PAA) of appropriated organizations as the structure against which financial and non-financial performance information is provided for Estimates and parliamentary reporting. The same reporting structure applies irrespective of whether the organization is reporting in the Main Estimates, the RPP, the DPR or the Public Accounts of Canada.

A number of changes have been made to DPRs for 2013−14 to better support decisions on appropriations. Where applicable, DPRs now provide financial, human resources and performance information in Section II at the lowest level of the organization’s PAA.

In addition, the DPR’s format and terminology have been revised to provide greater clarity, consistency and a strengthened emphasis on Estimates and Public Accounts information. As well, departmental reporting on the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy has been consolidated into a new supplementary information table posted on departmental websites. This new table brings together all of the components of the Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy formerly presented in DPRs and on departmental websites, including reporting on the Greening of Government Operations and Strategic Environmental Assessments. Section III of the report provides a link to the new table on the organization’s website. Finally, definitions of terminology are now provided in an appendix.

President’s Message

I am pleased to present the 2013–14 Departmental Performance Report for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

In 2013–14, the Secretariat made huge strides in advancing the Government of Canada’s efforts to improve the way it interacts with those it serves, strengthen financial and expenditure management, and modernize human resources management.

We continued to change how we connect with Canadians by increasingly making government data accessible and free through our open government initiative. More than 200,000 datasets are now available online at data.gc.ca. Our first national appathon in March 2014 challenged participants to create apps using federal government datasets, demonstrating its enormous potential to promote entrepreneurship, job creation, innovation and economic growth.

We also made it easier for Canadians to file Access to Information requests by offering online application forms for many federal departments and agencies, ensuring government information is open, transparent and accessible to Canadians.

The Treasury Board streamlined electronic services by consolidating the federal government’s web presence from 1,500 different websites to one user-friendly site—Canada.ca. Ranked as the most user-friendly web portal among G8 countries, the site will lead to an integration of departmental services, thus saving Canadians time and effort.

In addition, the Secretariat improved the way the government interacts with business by implementing the Red Tape Reduction Action Plan, which targets irritants that burden Canadian business with unnecessary costs and delays. The One-for-One Rule ensures every new regulation that imposes an administrative burden on business must be offset by the removal of an existing regulation. As of March 31, 2014, the rule has saved Canadian businesses almost $21 million. The One-for-One Rule has been so successful that, in January, I introduced legislation to enshrine it as a permanent feature.

To strengthen financial and expenditure management, we made more rigorous decisions on new and existing spending, and on the renewal of funding set to expire. We established a new Costing Centre of Expertise within the Secretariat to improve our capacity to challenge costing of new programs and services. Similarly, the adoption of new technologies ensures Canadians receive value for their tax dollars by simplifying, standardizing and consolidating administrative functions and operations across the Government.

The Secretariat also led a government-wide effort to modernize our human resources management. Historic barriers to collective bargaining and essential services determination were removed following the adoption of legislation in December. We also reached an agreement on the Public Service Health Care Plan to implement the 50:50 retiree cost-sharing of contributions, resulting in over $6 billion in savings while improving benefits for all plan members.

On April 1, 2014, we moved to implement the Directive on Performance Management, which includes talent management measures and recognition of employee achievements. As well, we have proposed a short-term disability plan as part of our commitment to provide employees with timely access to the type of case management, rehabilitation and return-to-work services they need.

Through these and numerous other measures, the Secretariat is working to modernize government operations so Canadians continue to benefit from effective and efficient programs and services delivered by a high-performing and affordable public service.

I invite you to read the 2013–14 Departmental Performance Report to see how the Secretariat is contributing to the Government of Canada’s agenda to transform and modernize the way we serve Canadians.

The Honourable Tony Clement
President of the Treasury Board