Guideline on the Three-Year Plan for Transfer Payment Programs

1. Introduction

Under section 6.6.1 of the Policy on Transfer Payments (PTP), deputy heads are required to provide to the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) by April 1 of each year a three-year plan for their transfer payment programs (TPPs). A summary of this plan is to be made public and referenced in the departmental Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP). Please note that to reduce reporting burden, the departmental plan to be provided to TBS and the summary plan to be made public will be similar. The difference is that the "Comments" column is removed for the purposes of the summary.

2. Purpose of the guidance

This guidance sets out the purpose, content and format of the three-year plan.

3. Purpose of the Three-Year Plan

The primary purpose of the three-year plan is twofold:

1. to provide applicants, recipients, parliamentarians, ministers and other stakeholders with essential information to identify planned departmental activities that might have an impact on their specific programs of interest; and
2. to support TBS in its management oversight and budget office role.

4. Content and format of the Three-Year Plan

The tables below illustrate the required format and content.

Table 1 - Departmental Plan for Transfer Payment Programs

Department Name
Name of transfer payment program	Fiscal year of the approved/ continued/ amended terms and conditions	Forecast spending for current fiscal year (thousands of dollars)	Fiscal year of last completed evaluation	Approved decision as a result of last evaluation (Continuation, Amendment, Termination, Pending or N/A)	Fiscal year of planned completion of next evaluation	Comments
(Column 1)	(Column 2)	(Column 3)	(Column 4)	(Column 5)	(Column 6)	(Column 7)
Name XXX						Column to be removed for the purposes of the summary

Column 1: Provide the name of each approved departmental TPP, including statutory programs (*), for which there is set of terms and conditions. Group transfer payment programs by program activity, as in approved departmental PAA.

(*) Major statutory spending that includes major transfers to individuals (e.g. employment insurance benefits, children's benefits or elderly benefits), as well as major transfers to other level of government (e.g. Equalization payments as well as Canada Health and Canada Social Transfer Programs), are not to be included in the plan.

Please note that the reporting of TPPs is expected to be at the level of a program for which there is a discrete set of terms and conditions. In certain instances, departments may have developed umbrella terms and conditions encompassing two or more TPPs. In these particular instances, the plan should identify independently each TPP encompassed by the planned activity of such umbrella terms and conditions.

Only terminations from the last reporting period are included in the plan.

Column 2: Indicate the fiscal year (e.g. 2006-07) in which the terms and conditions were last approved/continued/amended by Treasury Board or the Minister, as applicable. A proposed program not yet approved is not to be included.

Column 3: Enter the forecast spending of the TPP for the current fiscal year, excluding operating costs. The forecast will include year-to-date actual plus forecast for the remaining of the year.

Column 4: Enter the fiscal year (e.g. 2006-07) in which the TPP's last evaluation or review of relevance and effectiveness was completed (i.e. reports that have been completed and approved by the DM).

If an evaluation or review of relevance and effectiveness has not occurred or will not take place, enter N/A.

Column 5: Where applicable, enter one of the following approved decisions: Continuation (C) or Amendment (A) or Termination (T)

If a decision has not yet been approved, enter: Pending (P)

If an evaluation or review of relevance and effectiveness has not occurred or will not take place, enter N/A.

Column 6: Enter the fiscal year in which the TPP's next evaluation or review of relevance and effectiveness is planned to be completed.  Please note that the three-year plan coincides with the period covered by the RPP. However, when indicating the year in which the next evaluation or review of relevance and effectiveness is scheduled to be completed, departments can exceed, where appropriate, the three-year planning horizon to capture the five year evaluation or review of relevance and effectiveness period required by legislation.

If an evaluation or review of relevance and effectiveness will not take place, enter N/A.

Column 7: This column is not included in the summary.

Where relevant, briefly (bullet points/short sentences) describe any significant actions/undertakings that have impacted or will impact the TPP and/or influence engagement activities with stakeholders.

Complete this table for programs that have been combined, separated, or re-named.

Table 2 - Crosswalk (as required)

Name of Old Program (s)	Name of New Program (s)
(Column 1)	(Column 2)

Column 1: Enter name of the original program that will be converted/renamed to the program name indicated in Column 2.

Column 2: Enter the name of the new/renamed program.

5. Submission of the Three-Year Plan to Treasury Board Secretariat

Departments are required to submit their Three-Year Plans as attachments in Microsoft Excel (other formats will not be accepted) by electronic mail to the following address:

fin-www@tbs-sct.gc.ca

Please include a contact name, phone number, and the URL for the summary in the electronic mail submission.

6. Enquiries

Please direct enquiries about this guidance to your departmental headquarters. For interpretation of this guidance, departmental headquarters should contact:

Financial Management Policy Division
Financial Management and Analysis Sector
Office of the Comptroller General
Treasury Board Secretariat
Ottawa ON K1A 0R5

E-mail: fin-www@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Telephone: 613-957-7233
Fax: 613-952-9613