Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for welcoming me and for pointing out that this is my very first appearance before the committee in my new capacity of Secretary of the Treasury Board. It is a pleasure for me to be here along with my colleagues whom you have already named. Theref

Public Accounts committee  In some cases, to reiterate what Ms. Fraser said, analyses have indeed been performed. With respect to the challenge function, discussions have taken place. Perhaps my colleague from the Department of Finance would care to respond.

Public Accounts committee  No, because the challenge function involves verbal exchanges. In addition, when we respond to the report of the Auditor General, Ms. Fraser, rarely do we not agree with her recommendations. We do not want to find ourselves in this situation too often.

Public Accounts committee  Not necessarily, insofar as the challenge function is concerned, because this is a verbal function. Analysts from the Privy Council Office as well as from the Treasury Board Secretariat ask verbal questions and interact verbally with their colleagues from various departments.

Public Accounts committee  I will ask my colleague from the Department of Finance to answer that question.

Public Accounts committee  We do not produce a report to assess performance in the area of GBA, but we do have a tool with which to evaluate departmental performance. As part of the process of making management accountable, one section looks at the department's capacity to satisfy optimum conditions for TB

Public Accounts committee  If you don't mind, I will get back to you with a report on that matter. Perhaps we may be able to tell you the extent to which the departments are satisfying our requirements for TB submissions. This is one component of our management accountability framework.

Public Accounts committee  All right. If it's fine with you, I will also consult with our colleagues from Status of Women Canada who have much of that information.

Public Accounts committee  I think if you give us three months we'd be able to comply with that, to look at the components of champions and the extent to which departments are fulfilling their Treasury Board submission requirements.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. The central agencies did respond to the recommendation made by the Auditor General in her report. And we still remain of the view that it is the responsibility of sponsoring departments to conduct appropriate gender-based analysis and that the challenge function that

Public Accounts committee  In terms of the challenge function, we are not proposing to change the way we operate.

Public Accounts committee  What we are proposing to do is work with departments and agencies to strengthen their capacity and to strengthen the documentation they put into their own analysis to demonstrate they have taken those issues into account.

Public Accounts committee  If I may, there are two aspects to this. One of them is in fact that departments and agencies should demonstrate that they have taken these issues into account. And we do take the point, as the Auditor General has indicated, that we have to do more and better work on that front.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, but the documentation around whether or not departments have taken that into account should actually be coming from the department--

Public Accounts committee  Step two, if you'll allow me, is in fact--