SECTION II: STUDY BACKGROUND
Observation 1: The new reporting process is a real improvement on previous reporting, conceptually. The organizations that report to Parliament, along with Parliament and its committees, now need to focus on maximizing the opportunities the process provides, and making the concept work better in practice.
Observation 2: Developments in recent years have confirmed the importance of effective parliamentary oversight of Government spending, the conclusions of earlier parliamentary reports about the need for improvement, and the directions and priorities for reform that they identified. Parliament’s priority now is to ensure that progress continues.
SECTION III: PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR EXAMINING ESTIMATES
| 1. | That the document entitled Parliamentary Committee Review of the Estimates Documents be provided by the Auditor General to all parliamentarians, after each election, as a reference tool. |
| 2. | That the House of Commons and Library of Parliament collaborate with Treasury Board Secretariat to include a session on the estimates process in the orientation provided to newly-elected Members of Parliament, and that follow-up training focussed on practical approaches to maximizing Parliament’s effectiveness in holding governments accountable through the estimates process be provided at regular intervals each year, funded by a reallocation from the budget of the Canadian Centre for Management Development (or its successor). |
| 3. | That the parliamentary committees reviewing the Estimates of large departments consider limiting their study to one program or one agency in particular (selected in compliance with the principles of alternation and sampling), in light of the timeframe and resources available. |
| 4. | That parliamentary committees reviewing the estimates of programs or organizations that have been studied by the Auditor General consider using the reports, and requesting the advice, of the Office of the Auditor General in the early stages of their work. |
| 5. | That parliamentary committees consider holding a planning meeting before the hearing with public servants that would enable them to learn more about the program or agency to be reviewed. Such planning meetings could use documents obtained beforehand from the officials in answer to specific questions. |
| 6. | That the members of parliamentary committees consider the possibility of dividing up the tasks involved in the budget review and that they do the same with the additional documents provided by the departments or agencies. |
| 7. | That parliamentary committees consider the possibility of inviting clients or groups with special interest in the activities of the program or agency under review in order to obtain a critical view of its performance, activities and orientations. |
| 8. | That parliamentary committees consider the possibility of asking researchers to collect information on the program or agency under review and to draft technical and administrative questions to be forwarded by the committee chair to departmental officials before they appear before the Committee. |
| 9. | That parliamentary committees consider preparing a precise meeting schedule for the Estimates review in their work plan and that the public servants and experts called to appear be informed as far in advance as possible. |
| 10. | That parliamentary committees consider tabling short reports on departmental plans and priorities and performance reports as a routine practice, in order to provide departments with clear feedback on their central accountability documents. |
| 11. | That parliamentary committees consider planning a meeting with the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) in their Estimates review schedule. This meeting, following the meeting with departmental officials, would allow TBS to have feedback from the parliamentary committee concerning the quality of the reports of the program or agency under review and to conduct follow-up activities in order to improve them. |
| 12. | That the Library of Parliament develop, for consideration by the Board of Internal Economy, a proposal detailing key enhancements to the support of estimates-related work of House of Commons committees and implementation time-frames, and be given the additional resources required to deliver enhanced support reflecting the requirements outlined in this report. |
SECTION IV: IMPROVING THE INFORMATION AND STRENGTHENING INCENTIVES
| 13. | That the Treasury Board Secretariat undertake an annual systematic review of all Reports on Plans and Priorities after they have been tabled in the House of Commons, and that the necessary means be made available, either through a reallocation of internal resources or, if necessary, in the form of new resources. |
| 14. | That, once the annual review of all Reports on Plans and Priorities has been completed, the Treasury Board Secretariat select a sample of departments and agencies to work with intensively during the preparation of such reports for the following year, and that the necessary means be made available, either through a reallocation of internal resources or, if necessary, in the form of new resources. |
| 15. | That the Treasury Board Secretariat initiate a major review of the form and content of reports submitted to Parliament, the objective being to move toward more concise, more synoptic documents, giving a clearer picture of a department’s performance and directions, using tables and graphs to present key trends and variations and employing numeric performance targets and measures. |
| 16. | That the Government of Canada give Treasury Board Secretariat a mandate to develop, in collaboration with each department and agency, precise and quantifiable performance indicators for their activities. |
| 17. | That all federal departments and agencies include hyperlinks to Internet sites and appendices in their Estimates documents , in order to give readers access to detailed information regarding programs.9 |
| 18. | That, in the course of its work on continuing improvements to the format and content of Plans and Priorities Reports, Treasury Board Secretariat consider the inclusion (ideally near the beginning of these reports) of a short section setting out the department’s understanding of previous committee recommendations and their rationales, and detailing the ways in which recent program changes, existing resource allocations and future spending plans respond to these recommendations. |
| 19. | That the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs consider a review of Standing Order 81(4), with a view to exploring its possible amendment, initially for a two year trial period. The amendment could require that the Chair of a committee, whose estimates are deemed to have been reported back to the House, table before the House a letter providing an explanation of the failure of the committee to have selected one or more of the programs, funded through estimates referred to the committee, substantively considered the program or programs selected, and reported these estimates to the House. |
| 20. | That the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs consider changes to the Standing Orders, initially for a 2 year trial period, that would establish a specific procedure to govern committee reports on departmental Reports on Plans and Priorities and Performance Reports. Such a procedure could create two options for committees, enabling them to select one or both of: |
(a) a “one hour debate in the House or deemed adoption” option modeled on the existing procedure for reports from the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, and
(b) a 90 day mandatory written response option, modeled on that currently provided by Standing Order 109.
SECTION V: THE SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES
| 21. | That standing committees consider scheduling hearings (extended, if required) twice each year, for the purpose of examining organizations within their terms of reference on supplementary estimates and, as a matter of routine practice in order to signify that this examination has been undertaken, report supplementary estimates (either amended or unamended) to the House. |
| 22. | That Treasury Board Secretariat review the format and content of the supplementary estimates documents with a view to incorporating a short justification of each supplementary spending requirement (perhaps consisting of a one-line statement under a “Justification of Requirement” heading, that would provide a location for references to unanticipated security costs following 9/11, the rationale for vote transfers, and the like). |
SECTION VI: THE CABINET CONFIDENCE ISSUE
| 23. | That the President of Treasury Board review the format of the Records of Decision issued by the Board, and consider including a provision that would (except in exceptional circumstances and at the decision of the Board) authorize officials to disclose and discuss before parliamentary committees the detail of decisions that are reflected in the estimates, both main and supplementary, once these documents are tabled in the House of Commons. |
| 9 | For example, general information on a program or organization, program evaluation reports, internal audits, reports of the Auditor General, internal performance reports, and client survey information. |