Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to take this opportunity to follow up on questions about the main estimates in last Wednesday's meeting with the President of the Treasury Board and her officials, as requested by the committee.
With respect to actual and planned spending on the Secretariat's fundamental responsibility for spending oversight, the 2024–25 Main Estimates include $5.2 billion in planned expenditures. Of that amount, $45.7 million is earmarked for the Secretariat's program spending in connection with its role as a central agency and administrative body of Treasury Board. That figure is comparable to the $44.1 million of actual spending that the department incurred and declared in the 2022–2023 Departmental Results Report.
The balance consists of funds for central credits, which are transferred from the Treasury Board Secretariat to the individual departments and agencies throughout the fiscal year once specific criteria have been met. Central credits are used to supplement other credits in accordance with eligibility criteria. For example, two credits are used to carry over unspent funds within limits established from one fiscal year to the next. There is also the Paylist Requirements Vote, which is used to reimburse organizations for certain types of expenditures, such as parental and maternity benefits and severance payments.
Departments receiving funding from central votes will report on this funding as part of their own departmental reporting.
Another question concerned the budget of the task force responsible for examining Bill C-290, the Act to amend the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. In the 2022 budget, $2.4 million was allocated over five years to study that bill, starting in 2022–2023. The budget is still considered sufficient to support the task force's work and hasn't been adjusted since then.
Expenditures to date have been as follows.
In 2022–2023, $37,000 was allocated for salaries and $16,535 for operation and maintenance costs.
In 2023–2024, $223,592 was spent on salaries and $25,323 on operation and maintenance costs.
Lastly, for 2024–2025, planned expenditures consist of $285,972 for salaries and $35,250 for operation and maintenance costs.
These salary-related funds have been used to compensate the staff responsible for supporting the task force by, for example, organizing meetings, preparing documents, liaising with stakeholders and conducting research.
Task force members have volunteered their time and expertise. The operation and maintenance expenses cover the costs incurred by task force members not residing in Ottawa to travel to that city for in-person meetings as well as translation and earpieces for virtual meetings.
Lastly, regarding service standards, let me say that the Government of Canada provides numerous important and distinct services such as employment insurance, old age security, border services, food inspection and passport issuance, to name only a few.
These services are delivered under diverse operational conditions by departments with differing mandates and funding levels.
Different services have different standards because they operate under a variety of conditions for a diverse set of clients.
A good service standard includes an objective that's clear, measurable and ambitious but also realistic. It takes into consideration the department's capacity to provide the benefits that Canadians expect under normal operating conditions.
These standards are regularly reviewed and updated as necessary. If we achieve an 80% success rate in meeting a standard, for example, we may expect that the vast majority of Canadians are receiving the service provided in accordance with the standard, with due consideration being given to the fact that certain cases are more complex, that the operating environment may be subject to unusual tensions and that technical and human errors may occur from time to time.
If a service standard is fully met, that means that the standard is too low, that too many resources have been allocated to the service or that an error has been made in reporting the standard.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my remarks.
I would be more than happy, along with my colleagues, to answer all your questions.
