Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps I could give a quick rundown of what happens with estimates here. The annual appropriation bills are introduced to the House of Representatives in May, with additional appropriation bills in February. In the House of Representatives they go thro

Government Operations committee  Sometimes they do, indeed, yes. They have to improve their understanding by asking questions. That's the whole purpose of the process, because there are things they don't understand, and it's the job of the public servants to make sure that they do understand them as much as poss

Government Operations committee  Each member of Parliament, each senator, has his or her own research staff. They also have research staff attached to their parties. Before the estimates hearings, those research staff do a lot of work preparing material for the senators. The committees also have their non-partis

Government Operations committee  Apart from these committees and the staff who work on the estimates, the estimates and the explanatory notes of the departments are subjected to scrutiny by a large number of other people and bodies. There is a public accounts committee, a joint committee on public accounts, whi

Government Operations committee  The explanatory notes the departments provide are very detailed. Obviously, senators focus on things that are of interest to them, and those matters of interest are very often politically selected. They're the things that are controversial. They are the things there is political

Government Operations committee  This process has been going on since 1970. In 1970 the Senate introduced estimates hearings, but a lot of changes have happened to the process over that period. It's become much more elaborate. The introduction of the supplementary hearings, for example, was one great change. T

Government Operations committee  It's very detailed. These things are very voluminous. The explanatory notes for all the departments amount to a stack a couple of metres high, if you put them all together. The senators focus on the things they're interested in. There will be elaborate explanations of programs th

Government Operations committee  The committees, of course, have the power to summon witnesses, which they don't normally do. The departmental people and the ministers just turn up. In relation to the bills themselves, the committees have no power to amend the bills. They can only make recommendations in relat

Government Operations committee  The Auditor General's reports are certainly one of the main sources of questioning at estimates hearings. If the Auditor General has found difficulties with a particular program, waste or inefficiency, certainly senators will focus on those programs and have detailed questions ab

Government Operations committee  If senators are interested in a particular program, maybe because the Auditor General has commented on it before, there are two ways of doing it. Either the committee can ask for further written information from the Auditor General, a further report on the particular matter, or o

Government Operations committee  Certainly those reports are open for examination at the estimates hearings, and a lot of questions are based on those annual reports. But there's also a system whereby these committees look at particular annual reports within their subject areas and report on them, and they can d

Government Operations committee  Yes, certainly. That's spelled out in the explanatory notes. And both departments can be called on to explain those particular programs. It's a good way of checking, of course, and cross-comparing on the program.

Government Operations committee  Oh yes, certainly. And committees can arrange between themselves which committee is going to deal with a particular program that is spread across departments.

Government Operations committee  Yes, exactly. It talks about the aims and the effective use of the program and whether it's achieving its aims. I should say that program budgeting is not the term used now for budgeting, but people still talk about programs or projects in departments.

Government Operations committee  They are on an accrual basis.