Government Operations committee  That is very true. I think we had more of a difficulty before we came forward with these funds, because we weren't staffing. That was the problem behind it. We weren't staffing our positions fast enough. We weren't staffing enough of them, so the burden fell to the individuals an

Government Operations committee  You are absolutely right. In 2007, we put a strategic human resources plan in place. We tried to attract people, we put in a program, launched by Mr. Kennedy for analysts, in order to get people interested in coming to the Privy Council Office to gain experience and work with us.

Government Operations committee  There was an agreement by the human resources management advisory group of deputies that they would support these three councils, and I believe they're supporting up to an amount of something like $1 million for all three. What they do is tax each of the departments, and I think

Government Operations committee  That's correct.

Government Operations committee  In my opening remarks it's itemized, but I can provide you with the dollar figures that go with those.

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  That's $4,000.

Government Operations committee  No, nothing like that. We have a Canada-Australia exchange program, which was approved. I mentioned it in my opening remarks. Any staff who go outside of the country are always supported by DFAIT, so this is the amount of money we're transferring to them in order to be able to do

Government Operations committee  For the most part, they are secondments. Secondments between departments are a very easy process. The person maintains her substantive position.

Government Operations committee  I don't believe there were any new hires.

Government Operations committee  That's certainly a possibility. What happens is that the money lapses.

Government Operations committee  No. Other departments would have the same type of entry in either their main estimates or their supplementary estimates.

Government Operations committee  I can tell you, from a historical point of view, that PCO has had lapses—which is unspent money from the appropriation—for a number of years. More recently, that lapse has been decreasing. In 2007, we put in place a strategic HR plan, because one of the reasons we were lapsing mo

Government Operations committee  Yes.

Government Operations committee  We have a policy in place in the public service where we are allowed to carry forward a certain amount. In Privy Council last year, we were allowed to carry forward from our unspent funds a little over $5 million. So we can take that much. Anything above and beyond that is gone.