Government Operations committee  Maybe I can address the cost first, and then I'll ask Maître Roy to address the issues relevant to the Federal Accountability Act. That's really his domain. In terms of the costs, we have not yet established the additional costs. There may be some minor costs associated, for example, once the public appointments commission is established or the secretariat is formally established.

Government Operations committee  And yet we have saved approximately $7 million. That is our contribution. This money has already been taken from our budget envelope. We achieved the savings by cutting expenditures as much as possible here and there, by saving on management services and by ensuring more effective use of technology.

Government Operations committee  I think that the Privy Council Office, like all departments, has an obligation to meet objectives in terms of effective spending and efficiency savings. We have already implemented measures to cut our budgets. Those measures are based on expenditures from last year or two years ago.

Government Operations committee  I think that this will happen eventually, but within those departments. They will review the structure and adapt it. You must remember that salaries and benefits represent the vast majority of our expenditures. We did not want this to become a way of cutting staff. We wanted to ensure that there would be the salaries and benefits for transferred employees.

Government Operations committee  I don't have access to that information. I apologize.

Government Operations committee  Perhaps you could ask official representatives of the Treasury Board Secretariat this question.

Government Operations committee  I hope not. After all, we're talking about small amounts. As you said yourself, in the major departments, it should be easy to absorb a dozen or some 30 such employees. We expect them to do this. This could also lead to internal efficiency savings.

Government Operations committee  It is a Treasury Board policy that allows all departments automatically to carry forward 5 per cent of their operating budget.

Government Operations committee  Well, the way we hold them accountable, first of all, is that major proposals have to come to cabinet committee. We have secretariats that analyze, make recommendations, and bring departments together when they're not working closely enough. We have deputy minister committees that the clerk has put in place.

Government Operations committee  It's the result of the government's restructuring, a few years ago, of the way it presents estimates with the PAA, program activity architecture. We have specific priorities that have been established. Within that, we've organized our work within PCO to support those priorities.

Government Operations committee  The largest category, approximately 47%, definitely focuses on our policy advice in terms of key priorities and our support for the Prime Minister and for the cabinet. That is our bread and butter in terms of activities within PCO, so that is clearly where the largest resources are being spent.

Government Operations committee  I think we're going to constantly re-examine our structure, to make sure it does meet the needs of the Prime Minister and the cabinet. In this case, over the years we accumulated a number of functions that we felt were not part of our traditional role and that were more almost of an advocacy nature These were things that departments and agencies should be doing.

Government Operations committee  That's correct. The amount of $13.4 million has been transferred to and integrated into the budget--

Government Operations committee  Plus the savings associated with the reductions in the sizes of ministers' offices. So those are net savings as well--there are fewer salaries, fewer operating dollars being spent than there would have been previously.

Government Operations committee  No, there were no positions eliminated as a result of this. The people were transferred with their positions to the new departments, so it was clear that they were protected in that way and they were integrated into their new structures and departments. So no jobs were cut as a result.