Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to make a short opening statement, and then we can move from there.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to begin by congratulating you undertaking a study on the roles and responsibilities of the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada. Though I was not able to appear before you last week, I am very happy to do so today to present an overview of our roles and responsibilities.
Your comments will be appreciated in our preparation for royal assent of the Federal Accountability Act.
The Treasury Board portfolio includes the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, and the Canada School of Public Service. The Office of the Comptroller General exists as a distinct office within the secretariat.
The role of the Treasury Board is to ensure that government is well managed and accountable, and that resources are allocated to achieve measurable results.
As Secretary of the Treasury Board, I oversee the work of the secretariat in supporting the Treasury Board in its role and its two key sets of responsibilities. The first is management policy development and oversight. The second is expenditure management and financial oversight.
The Treasury Board also acts as the principal employer of the public service, particularly in regard to labour-management relations, compensation, and human resource management issues.
The senior associate secretary of the Treasury Board, Robert Fonberg, gave you a good outline of expenditure management system last week, so today I will focus on what we are doing to strengthen management accountability and oversight, and how we are preparing for the Federal Accountability Act.
The Treasury Board has the authority to set management policies that make clear the accountabilities of deputies for the full range of management functions. That includes responsibilities around HR, information, technology, financial resources, and the like. It is also responsible for dealing with cases of non-compliance, particularly where a department is unable to address a specific issue, or where the non-compliance introduces a broader risk to the government as a whole.
In those instances, the Treasury Board may impose conditions or constraints on the exercise of authority related to the management and administration of a department or take other measures, depending upon the circumstances. The powers of the Treasury Board are particularly effective with respect to spending authorities.
One of the key elements of the Federal Accountability Act is the designation of deputy heads as accounting officers for their respective organizations. To be clear, the bill, which is still before Parliament, proposes the codification of existing principles, practices, and responsibilities.
Specifically, the proposed accounting officer model will bring clarity by codifying the following responsibilities of deputies. First is ensuring that resources are organized to deliver departmental objectives in compliance with government policy and procedures. Second is to ensure that there are effective systems of internal control. Third is to sign the departmental accounts. The final one is to perform other specific duties assigned by law or regulation in relation to the administration of their organization.
In addition, when the bill becomes law, a requirement will be put in place to address unresolved disputes between a deputy and his or her minister in relation to the interpretation or application of a Treasury Board policy, directive, or standard. In the event of such a dispute, the deputy will first seek guidance from me. If the matter remains unresolved, the minister will go to the Treasury Board for a determination. The resulting decision will be shared with the Auditor General as a cabinet confidence.
The legislation also proposes to codify the long-standing practice of deputy heads appearing before parliamentary committees to answer questions pertaining to departmental management. It makes clear that the responsibilities of accounting officers exist within the framework of ministerial responsibility and accountability to Parliament. In other words, while deputies must appear before committees and answer questions on departmental management, ministers alone are accountable to Parliament.
As secretary, I will be held to account for supporting deputies in their roles as accounting officers. Specifically, I am responsible for providing deputies with the right tools to fulfill their responsibilities, including setting the expectations and standards across all management functions, from managing financial resources to managing IT, from HR management to contracting.
The Treasury Board management policies are the foundation for management accountability in government. They ensure a consistent approach to management across government, based on common standards that promote management excellence. They define clear responsibilities and accountabilities of deputies for the management of results, resources, and risks. They define incentives for management excellence, and negative consequences for inadequate performance.
Hard lessons learned over the past few years have demonstrated the need for clarity around roles and responsibilities, particularly in the area of management. As a result, we are currently undertaking a comprehensive renewal of the Treasury Board policy suite to ensure that management policies meet these objectives. In renewing the policies, we are ensuring that accountabilities are clear and that roles and controls are in place to address key areas of risk and to support the accounting officer model proposed by Bill C-2.
We are balancing the need for controls with the need to respect the accountabilities of deputies as accounting officers, to foster innovation and productivity within the public service, and to ensure efficient and effective program and service delivery to Canadians. As an example of an effort in this area, we are reviewing the financial management policy suite to ensure that the roles and responsibilities of deputies as accounting officers, their chief financial officers, and of course the Comptroller General, who provides functional leadership in this area, are clearly set out.
One of the renewed policies that have already been approved by Treasury Board is the policy on internal audit. The new policy provides a comprehensive government-wide approach to the way internal audit activities are planned and conducted in departments. It also provides a clear, integrated assignment of responsibilities for internal audit activities between deputy heads and the Comptroller General. Also, as I mentioned earlier, Treasury Board has a role in addressing non-compliance, particularly when the non-compliance is systemic or creates whole-of-government risks.
As we committed in the federal accountability action plan, we are working on the establishment of a compliance framework that will accomplish three objectives: first, through effective training, to ensure that officials are aware of the rules and consequences when they are broken; second, through such mechanisms as the deputy ministers committee on discipline, to ensure that the right disciplinary measures are used at the right time; and finally, to ensure that both sides of compliance are addressed with preventive measures beforehand and appropriate restorative measures afterwards.
Finally, as secretary, I have the responsibility to provide formal input for the clerk's overall assessment of deputies by providing an assessment of management performance. To do this, I use a number of sources, such as our assessment under the management accountability framework. I look at ongoing Treasury Board submissions, the results of internal audits, and of course my ongoing dialogue and discussions with the deputy heads in departments.
The work I have described above is aimed at clarifying the accountabilities of deputies, including the consequences of non-compliance, providing deputies with the necessary capabilities and tools to help them discharge their responsibilities, strengthening management oversight by both deputies and Treasury Board, and setting clear expectations for management and for assessing management performance.
The work to renew our expenditure management system that Mr. Fonberg described last week will ensure that government programs focus on results, provide value for money, and are consistent with federal responsibilities. These initiatives are mutually reinforcing. Improvements in management accountability and oversight will translate into better expenditure management and vice versa. They will also provide a better focus on moving to a more strategic and risk-based approach to managing transactions.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my remarks. We would be very happy to answer any questions that you may have.
