Public Accounts committee  Underneath that we have standards and directives that address requirements that the senior officials, for instance, the chief audit executive, the chief financial officer, and the chief information officer, might have in their particular areas of responsibility. We also have a whole series of guidelines that are put out, and some of those have been alluded to already, for instance, guidelines on an investment plan.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for that. I'll do my best, though it's not my particular area of responsibility. I hope, in doing so, to explain a little bit of some of the pertinent features of reporting. Like all of our reports, the requirement derives from the policy that the deputy heads are obligated to keep and maintain the right kinds of systems and to track information on official languages in their departments.

Public Accounts committee  I have nothing to add to that.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for that question. This was alluded to a little bit earlier as a very important issue generally. I might just point out, looking at the reports that the Auditor General selected to report on, that two of them do already have built into them aspects that touch on the need to scale appropriately for different-sized departments.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much for that question. The issue of reporting burden has been with us for some time, as I mentioned, and we felt it was important to not just have our own opinion; we did consult with departments and agencies. In 2012 we brought together about eight departments and agencies specifically to talk about this issue.

Public Accounts committee  Most definitely. We accept the recommendation of the Auditor General, and we'll move on that recommendation.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. That's at the very latest. We're going to try to get it up before, but do it in a way that is as rich as possible so that it's as useful as possible.

Public Accounts committee  Most definitely. In our management action plan tabled with the committee, we've certainly made it clear that it's our intention to do that. We'll move as quickly as we can, and every hope and expectation is that we'll get it done quickly. This is just a terribly small point. One of the things that is very important is that if this inventory is going to be really useful, it be done in a way that is readily accessible to the people we're requiring to do it, so we're tagging all the reports and requirements to be available online.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, I might add a small point. There is not a single composite inventory of all reporting requirements, the 60 the Auditor General mentions in the report. I should make clear a couple of things. All Treasury Board policies that have reporting requirements are obviously publicly available, and that's all policies identified specifically in a section on reporting.

Public Accounts committee  That's a terribly important question, Mr. Giguère. Nancy might have other things to add to this. At no time do I want to suggest that any effort at reducing a reporting burden should put at jeopardy the important requirements to mitigate risks, to ensure that we have the appropriate compliance, and to ensure that deputies within departments, the Treasury Board Secretariat, Treasury Board ministers, and indeed, parliamentarians, have the right kind of information they require in order to run their programs efficiently and hold people appropriately to account.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, indeed. I think, as I mentioned, a core principle of the foundation framework is ensuring that issue of proportionality, that you tailor not just the reporting requirements but all requirements to the risk and to the factors within departments. We're very much building that into the policy feed reset that we're undertaking that is mentioned in the chapter.

Public Accounts committee  That's right.

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  It stands in the category of a large department and agency. Its department security plan has been signed off by its deputy head, yes.

Public Accounts committee  No. It's a very good question, Mr. Allen. The Treasury Board Secretariat is concerned as well about movement. We've been working with departments consistently. Nancy indicated that there's been consistent follow-up, and we've taken a number of other measures to try and support departments and agencies in this.