ARCHIVED - Public Appointments Commission Secretariat - Report

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Section I: Departmental Overview

1. Raison d’être

The mandate of the Public Appointments Commission is to oversee and report on the selection process for Governor-in-Council appointments in agencies, boards, commissions and Crown corporations. To achieve efficiency in the public sector, there is a need for the federal government to provide greater certainty and consistency in appointment policies and in the process and standards that are followed.

The Public Appointments Commission Secretariat’s role is to provide advice and support respecting the development of the Public Appointments Commission and, once the Commission is established, to assist it in developing and implementing policies and procedures and partnerships necessary to successfully carry out its mandate.

2. Responsibilities

The Public Appointments Commission Secretariat was created by Order-in-Council on April 21, 2006. The Commission and its Secretariat are within the portfolio of the Prime Minister, reflecting the prerogative of the Prime Minister with respect to Governor-in-Council appointments.

The Secretariat’s main responsibility is to lay the groundwork for the establishment of the Public Appointments Commission which is provided for in the 2006 Federal Accountability Act, and once established, to provide ongoing support. Specifically, the Secretariat will advise the Commission on the development of a Code of Practice and associated guidance governing the selection process for Governor-in-Council appointments to agencies, boards, commissions and Crown corporations; provide advice and support on implementing the Code of Practice; provide advice and support to the Commission in carrying out the mandate to conduct audits on compliance with the Code of Practice; andprovide advice and support to the Commission on the preparation of an Annual Report to the Prime Minister and, through the Prime Minister, to Parliament.

3. Strategic Outcome and Program Activities

The Public Appointments Commission has one Strategic Outcome, as described below, which is supported by two program activities.

Strategic Outcome: To ensure fair and competency-based processes are in place for the recruitment and selection of qualified individuals for Governor-in-Council appointments across agencies, boards, commissions and Crown corporations.

Program Activities

Program Activity: Oversight of Governor-in-Council appointments

This covers activities relating to: the development of options for a principle-based and proportional Code of Practice, including minimum criteria covering selection criteria, recruitment strategies and assessment processes; the development of procedures and guidance to assist auditors to assess compliance to the Code of Practice, once implemented; continued research into domestic and international agencies responsible for public appointments to identify best practices; the development of frameworks for reporting to the Prime Minister and Parliament; and internal evaluation frameworks to measure success in achieving the mandate. Additionally, advice and best practices are shared with Privy Council Office (PCO) officials to support ongoing improvements to existing appointment frameworks.

Program Activity: Internal Services

As the Public Appointments Secretariat is limited in size and as the Secretariat must function as a department within the meaning of Schedule 1.1 of the Financial Administration Act, the Corporate Services Branch within PCO provides administrative and financial services under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with most services provided by PCO on a cost recovery basis.

4. Performance Summary

2009-10 Financial Resources ($ millions)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
1,063	1,018	291

2009-10 Human Resources (FTEs)

Planned	Actual	Difference
4	1	3

During the year 2009-10, the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat had a small team of two, a Deputy Executive Director on assignment and an Administrative Assistant on contract. Contracted staff are not included in full-time equivalent totals.

Performance Summary

($ millions)

Program Activity	2008-09 Actual Spending	2009-10				Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
		Main Estimates	Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
Oversight of Governor-in-Council appointment	347	963	963	918	238	A well-managed and smoothly operating government machinery.
Internal Services	Note 1	100	100	100	53
Total	347	1,063	1,063	1,018	291
Full-time equivalents (FTEs)	1	4	4	4	1

¹ Commencing in the 2009-10 Estimates cycle, the resources for the Internal Services program activity are displayed separately from other program activities; they are no longer distributed among the remaining program activities, as was the case in previous Main Estimates. This has affected the comparability of spending and FTE information by program activity between fiscal years.

Departmental Priorities/Contribution to Strategic Outcome

Name	Type	Performance Status
1. Support the Commission	Ongoing	Successful completion requires establishment of Commission
2. Build the Organization	Ongoing	Successful completion requires establishment of Commission
3. Develop the Code of Practice	Ongoing	Successful completion requires establishment of Commission
4. Monitor, Audit and Report	Ongoing	Successful completion requires establishment of Commission

Priority 1:  Support the Commission

Once the Commission is established, the Secretariat will provide policy and operational support to the chair and any members appointed.

Priority 2:  Build the Organization

In order to support the Commission once established, the Secretariat needs to ensure that the plans for its organizational structure including fulfilling planning and reporting obligations under Section 1.1 of the Financial Administration Act are ready.

Priority 3: Develop the Code of Practice

The Secretariat’s work focuses on researching best practices, conducting literature reviews, consulting with federal departments, agencies, boards, commissions and Crown corporations and with other levels of government in Canada and abroad to develop, for the early consideration of the Commission, a Code of Practice and associated guidance for selection processes regarding Governor-in-Council appointments.

Priority 4:  Monitor, Audit and Report

The 2006 Federal Accountability Act requires the Commission to provide advice and to monitor the application of the Code of Practice, and provide the Prime Minister with an Annual Report tabled in both Houses of Parliament.

Risk Analysis

As the Commission was not established / operational for 2009-10, the Secretariat’s work was completed in “draft,” that is, subject to the approval of the Commission once established, and there was no permanent staffing of the Secretariat.  The Secretariat’s work primarily focused on research and identification of best practices, to be shared on a timely basis with PCO officials, in order to inform their ongoing reform efforts in support of the appointments system.

Expenditure Profile

The Secretariat was established by Order-in-Council in April 2006, and was headed at that time by an Executive Director as its Deputy Head. The total planned spending will only be required once the Commission is fully operational.

The Public Appointments Commission Secretariat was fully operational in 2006-07, the year of its establishment. Shortly thereafter, the Commission was held in abeyance. Since 2007-08, the Secretariat has been laying groundwork for a new Commission and its expenditures have remained stable for the past two fiscal years.

Voted and Statutory Items
($ millions)

Vote # or Statutory Item (S)	Truncated Vote or Statutory Wording	2007-08 Actual Spending	2008-09 Actual Spending	2009-10 Main Estimates	2009-10 Actual Spending
1	Program expenditures1	103	303	945	265
(S)	Contributions to employee benefit plans	10	44	118	26
Total		113	347	1,063	291

Due to rounding, figures may not add to the totals shown.

¹ Please refer to the spending trends graph for more details on departmental spending trends. Please refer to the Performance Summary above or to Annex II (provided electronically) for more details on the total Main Estimates and the total Actual Spending.

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