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Board of Internal Economy meeting

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Meeting Minutes

Monday, November 28, 2011

A meeting of the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons was held on Monday, November 28, 2011 at 11:30 a.m., in Room 112-N, Centre Block.

In the Chair: The Honourable Andrew Scheer, Speaker of the House of Commons

Present: The Honourables Peter Van Loan, Gordon O'Connor and Rob Merrifield; Ms. Chris Charlton and Judy Foote

Secretary to the Board: Audrey O'Brien, Clerk of the House of Commons

Also Present: Mark Watters, Chief Financial Officer; and Suzanne Verville, Secretariat

Tabling of Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of November 14, 2011 were approved for tabling .

Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the meeting of November 21, 2011 were adopted.

Administration

Audit of the Financial Statements 2010-2011

The Board took note of the results of the audit of the 2010-2011 financial statements, and agreed to make them available to the Office of the Auditor General for information. The Board also agreed to post the audit of the House of Commons Financial Statements on the Parliament of Canada Web Site.

Second Quarter Financial Status Report for Fiscal Year 2011-2012

The Board took note of the Second Quarter Financial Status Report for fiscal year 2011-2012, as at September 13, 2011.

Supplementary Estimates (C) 2011-2012 and Main Estimates 2012-2013

The Board approved Main Estimates 2012-2013 in the amount of $445,935,033 which represents an increase of $4,286,944 or 0.97% over fiscal year 2011-2012.

This amount includes the following adjustments:

  • Reductions from the 2011-2012 Main Estimates
    • of $4,478,000 resulting from the general election on May 2, 2011;
    • of $861,000 representing Employee Benefit Plans (EBP) and EBP annual rate reduction from 18% to 17.6%, as determined by Treasury Board for fiscal year 2012-2013;
    • of $942,000 representing temporary funding for asset management, Members' Financial Portal, online recruitment tool and Occupational Health and safety/Workplace Safety and Insurance claims management system;

This amount includes an amount of $10, 568,000 for items already approved by the Board, and statutory and other items already approved by the Board as follows:

Items Previously Approved by the Board

The Board approved funding of $3,304,000 for fiscal year 2012-2013 notably for the 127th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Quebec City , the revised budgetary allocations for elector supplement and an increase to the Pages' remuneration under the House of Commons Page Program .

Statutory Items

The Board approved funding for statutory items, notably for Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances (MPRA) Account for and Members of Parliament Retirement Compensation Arrangements (RCA) and for Members’ Travel Points System as follows:

  • Funding of $3.025 million for fiscal year 2011-2012 for pension adjustment for Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances (MPRA) Account and for Members of Parliament Retirement Compensation Arrangements (RCA) Account for fiscal year 2011-2012 through Supplementary Estimates (C), and permanent funding of $3.025 million for Main Estimates 2012-2013 and subsequent years; and
  • Funding of $1.304 million for fiscal year 2011-2012 through Supplementary Estimates (C), and additional permanent funding of $1.304 million for fiscal year 2012-2013 and subsequent years to offset the increase in travel costs related to Travel Points System;
Other Items

The Board approved funding of $1,411,200 plus Employee Benefit Plans in fiscal year 2012-2013 and subsequent years to cover additional requirements for other personnel costs for Members' and House Officers' employees.

The Board approved funding of $861,077 in fiscal year 2012-2013 and subsequent years to align the Members' Office Budgets ($276,260), the Members' Travel Status Expense Account ($551,754) and the Employee Benefit Plans (EBP) (17,6% of salary portion -$33,063) with the budget allocations provided to Members.

The Board approved the reprofiling of funds of $662,400 from fiscal year 2011-2012 to fiscal year 2012-2013 and subsequent years to allow project funding ($556,800 for asset management and $105,600 for the online recruitment) to be carried forward to future years due to unexpected changes in priorities.

The Board approved the Supplementary Estimates (C) for fiscal year 2011-2012 in the amount of $11,733,000 which includes items previously approved by the Board, as well as statutory and other items, which have been offset by reductions resulting from the reprofiling of funds and the recent Joint Interparliamentary Council decision to fund the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union from internal resources for 2011-2012.

The meeting was adjourned.

Audrey O'Brien
Secretary to the Board