Public Accounts committee  I imagine that you're looking at a multi-coloured grid?

Public Accounts committee  I think what we're saying is that we have certain actions or elements, whether it's our committee or whether it's the guide, and we're mapping it against each part of the framework. So if you read across the top, you see the elements of the framework. And I guess the framework—

Public Accounts committee  On the vertical are actual things that we're doing, things that we have in place, and we're mapping it against what we consider to be a robust management framework. We have, in a sense, an easy mapping of those elements to a construct that the Auditor General referred to earlier, which is called the management accountability framework, something the Treasury Board Secretariat uses to look at the departmental management.

Public Accounts committee  Not a comparative answer. From the Auditor General's report we have a sense of what some of the daily rates were for individuals on these contracts. As I recall, for some of the higher-end work it ranged from $800 to $1,100 per day. You'd have to do the math and figure out what the equivalent would be for a government employee.

Public Accounts committee  Thanks very much, Mr. Chair. To your first comment about the observation that often government departments can seem to be siloed, disconnected from each other, I think that can be the case. Our accountability to Parliament is quite separate. But we do meet with colleagues. As one example, I chair a group of assistant deputy ministers who come from a number of other departments, small and large.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's my pleasure to answer this question. I'm doing so because I chair the committee in the department that oversees procurement. It's a committee that was established in 2007, and we are adjusting our activities as we determine the best way to approach oversight of procurement in the department, knowing how important it is to the department.

Government Operations committee  I think the Department of Finance would probably be best suited to answer the question, so I'm going to duck it. The Department of Finance would be the best party to answer it, because your question has to do with how we generate the resources to carry out our program. I think probably, in general, we rely on taxpayers as opposed to--

Government Operations committee  I'd be happy to do so.

Government Operations committee  Yes, we do. As I think many departments in government are doing, we are linking, obviously, our human resources plan to our business plan so we can project our business ahead and try to make sure we have the people in place to meet our needs. I've talked a bit about what we're trying to do in the area of translation, knowing that this is an area of significant shortage and of great concern to us in the future.

Government Operations committee  Yes. We have shared, for example, our fall recruitment strategy with the Clerk of the Privy Council, who then shares it with the other agencies involved. I should say we've shared our strategy. We still have to get the numbers and get the details worked out. In that regard, I personally am a member of a committee of university champions that has been set up So for example, I'm the champion for recruitment at Queen's University.

Government Operations committee  Yes, we do have financial information on spending related to Parliament Hill.

Government Operations committee  Yes. In the English version it's page 75. It's in section 3, supplementary information, in a table entitled “Real Property Services”. You'll see, about midway down, “Parliamentary Precinct”, where the various projects are set out.

Government Operations committee  Do you mean more details? In the Public Accounts as well would be the actual spending on these projects.

Government Operations committee  You've perhaps heard about some of our plans related to compensation, because that's been a particular challenge in the area of human resources management in our department. We have approached that problem with vigour over the last year, and we have reduced the problem significantly.

Government Operations committee  I'm afraid the accounting is a bit complicated. I think what we have approval for right now is some $235 million worth of work, related mainly to.... I have the data here. In June 2005, the West Block program received preliminary project approval for some $821.5 million, of which some $248.3 million is granted to complete the masonry stabilization of the West Block towers and the implementation of interim space projects.