Public Accounts committee  You're absolutely right to ask that question. We're asking the same question, and we're going to make sure that the plans are done, that deputy heads as they are responsible under policy are having their departmental security plan signed off, and that the benefits of those plans

Public Accounts committee  No.

Public Accounts committee  An important point, and one of the benefits of having reports such as chapter 2, is that it helps motivate and focus the minds. We're going to use this to make sure that departments work with us and get this done.

Public Accounts committee  Indeed, it is a key part of going forward, not only mentioned in our management action plan that we've tabled with the committee but also embedded in the objectives of the policy reset that the President of the Treasury Board has launched the department on. One point I think th

Public Accounts committee  Nancy might want to speak to this as well, but there was nothing in this particular audit that dealt specifically with that issue, I'm afraid. I don't really have anything to report directly on in this context. I would say more generally, though, we do have reports on the workfor

Public Accounts committee  There is nothing specifically in the audit about that, I'm afraid, so I don't have a direct answer to that. I would say generally, though, that under the government policy on security, and in the departments' security plans we spoke about a little bit earlier in the meeting, one

Public Accounts committee  Correct.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, indeed. Nancy Cheng did mention ad hoc reporting. That's what we call ad hoc reporting. That does happen. That wasn't the subject of this audit, but that does happen, and it happens in a number of instances where there's an important initiative that the government wants to u

Public Accounts committee  Certainly the last thing we'd want to do is spring anything on anybody. It isn't a predicted thing that we know we're going to do in advance, and there's always the effort to try to work with departments to ensure there's clarity about what it is they're being asked to report on.

Public Accounts committee  You're right in identifying a very important thing. I think the Auditor General defines it as a “reporting requirement that can be demonstrated to have served its intended purpose without unnecessary effort, burden, or duplication”. The word I'd underline is “unnecessary”. There'

Public Accounts committee  That's something we feel we should be doing as well, and we will be doing that. I did mention, and indeed it's reported in the Auditor General's report, that all of the reporting requirements are stated in policy, and I think the audit does make clear that there are clear timelin

Public Accounts committee  The groups that are largely responsible for undertaking the reporting activities within departments fall generally within back-office operations, as we call them. The government cost-containment initiatives tried to ensure that service to Canadians was not affected and that a maj

Public Accounts committee  No, it's a pleasure. We'll do whatever we can to help.

Public Accounts committee  That work is just being launched and is under way. In 2006 there was a very major review of the suite of Treasury Board policies. At that time we had about 180 Treasury Board policies. The Federal Accountability Act cut that number by at least half. Through that, we've brought a

Public Accounts committee  In each policy, there is now a clear architecture against the policy. It identifies what the deputy head of an organization is responsible for in any particular area.