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SECTION II: ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME

The following section presents plans and key outcomes for projects listed as departmental priorities, Table A, over the three year planning period.

Economic Statistics Activity

Resource Requirements	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
($ thousands)	202,238	201,071	197,895
FTE	2,493	2,528	2,498

The Economic Statistics program area provides information and analysis on the entire spectrum of Canadian economic activity, both domestic and international, through a set of macro-economic statistics. Another component of the service line focuses on the business and trade sectors of the Canadian economy. This information includes measures of the value of production; cost structures; commodities produced and consumed; flows and stocks of fixed capital assets employed in the economy; the degree of capacity utilization; estimates of planned annual capital expenditure of businesses and governments; and measures of price changes for industrial goods, capital expenditures and construction.

In addition, information is provided on the volume and financial implications on measures of change in retail prices, on the science and technology activities of the federal and provincial governments, and on research and development in government and other sectors of the economy.

The Economic Statistics programs and the projects detailed below constitute the department's strategic outcome for the Economic Statistics Activity in conformity with Table B.

Environmental Indicators

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Environmental Indicators	2,227	2,230	-

In 2004, the Government of Canada committed to establishing national indicators of freshwater quality for aquatic life, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of these new indicators is to provide Canadians with more regular and reliable information on the state of the environment and how it is linked with human activities. Environment Canada, Statistics Canada and Health Canada are working together to develop and communicate these indicators. Reflecting the joint responsibility for environmental information management in Canada, this effort has benefited from the co-operation and input of the provinces and territories.

The second annual report released in November 2006 included all three indicators. The air quality indicator presented in the report focused on human exposure to ground-level ozone as well as, for the first time, fine particulate matter. Both are key components of smog. The greenhouse gas emissions indicator described changes in emissions from 1990 to 2004. In 2006, the water quality indicator focused on the ability of Canada's surface waters to support aquatic life over the period 2002 to 2004. Work was undertaken to develop a better understanding of how well the monitoring sites represent the quality of water bodies or watersheds in which they are located and how they relate to all the rivers and lakes in Canada. This will be taken into account in the revision of the indicator for future reports. Also for the first time, the second report contained results from the Households and Environment Survey that provided important socio-economic contextual information by province such as influence by advisories of poor air quality, treatment of drinking water, application of fertilizers and pesticides, ownership of household gasoline powered equipment and persons traveling by motor vehicle to work.

Planned activities: Reports will be produced annually on a continually improving set of indicators with increasingly robust analyses to track the changes in the three areas. Statistics Canada's contributions to the improvements will include new contextual survey results on related household behaviours, water use in industry and agriculture, and municipal source water quality. As well, Statistics Canada will contribute to improving the project's data management and enhancing analytical methods. The long-term goal is better information in support of decision-making that fully accounts for environmental sustainability.

Business Register (BR) Redesign

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Business Register Redesign	3,039	-	-

The Business Register is a central repository containing all businesses with a significant level of activity in Canada, together with contact and classification information for these businesses. The majority of Statistics Canada's economic surveys rely on the Business Register for carrying out their activities, particularly with respect to sampling, data collection and the production of estimates. The Business Register is a key component of the Departments economic statistics program.

The Business Register's overall structure and technological environment were established more than twenty years ago. In 2005, we began a complete redesign of the Register to ensure its ongoing capacity to fulfill its mission in the years to come. The objectives of this redesign are to simplify and update the concepts and operational processes, to facilitate the use of the Register through the utilization of more modern, user-friendly technology, and to enhance the timeliness of the information found in the Register. The redesign will also lower the Register's operating cost and help Statistics Canada's reduce and effectively manage business response burden, an ongoing Departmental priority.

Planned activities: The redesign of the Business Register is a three-year project that will end in 2007 2008. Development and testing of the new Register's components will be completed that year, and the surveys will be transitioned from the old to the new Register. This transition will take place over a period of about six months, starting in the fall of 2007. It will be based on a plan that takes into account each survey's cycle. In addition, the new Register's technology tools and operational processes will be quite different from the old ones. Training will be given to users and to staff responsible for the operations of the new Register. This training will begin in the summer of 2007.

Services Price Index

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Services Price Index	3,360	4,418	5,400

Services comprise approximately two-thirds of the Canadian economy. Business services represent almost 40% of gross domestic product compared to about 17% for government services and 11% for personal services. Despite their importance, price indexes for the business services sector are a significant gap in the Canadian economic statistical system. This gap seriously affects the quality of real output and productivity change estimates for this sector.

Over a five year period, the Department will develop services price index programs for approximately 30 broad business services categories which accounts for approximately 80% of value added of the business services sector. In the 2006/2007 fiscal year, preliminary data collection began for wholesaling, truck transportation, non-residential rents and machinery and equipment rents. Preliminary price collection is scheduled to start for property/casualty insurance and retailing services in 2007. Research and development of price index methods was also carried out for brokerage and wealth management financial services, telephone and other telecommunications services, other professional, scientific and technical services, and rail transportation and freight services.

Planned activities: In 2007-2008, initial development will be completed for four major services categories. This will result in the initial release of regular quarterly national price indexes (with geographic detail for some services categories when possible) by the end of the 2007-2008 fiscal year. Research, development and testing is expected to be initiated for additional business services categories including "other administrative and support services", real estate commissions and management fees, and rental of automobiles and trucks.

Equalization Program

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Equalization	3,263	3,423	3,189

The federal government transfers funds to the provincial and territorial governments on an annual basis to assist in the provision of programs and services to the public. These transfers allow the provinces to provide comparable levels of public services at comparable levels of taxation. In the March 2004 Federal Budget, the Government of Canada announced a series of changes to the Equalization formula. Among others, the property tax base will be changed from an indirect measure to one that better reflects current market values in the residential property sector.

The project planning, development and implementation phase is scheduled to take place over the next three fiscal years. The new data will not only serve to improve the fiscal capacity measures within the Equalization formula, but statistical outputs will be made available to the public and within government.

Planned activities: In 2007-2008, Statistics Canada will undertake Phase I of the Property Tax Base project dedicated to detailed planning, development and implementation of collection concepts, methods and tools. The emphasis will be put on the collection of data on property values and property tax revenue from administrative sources. Inter-provincial comparability issues related to the definitions and classifications of residential and non-residential properties as well as to the coverage and valuation methods will be addressed. The development, the implementation and the testing of the collection tools will draw a significant share of the resources during this first phase. Internal discussions will be launched regarding the geographical delineation of municipalities.

Social Statistics Activity

Resource Requirements	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
($ thousands)	156,441	156,845	158,427
FTE	1,873	1,883	1,894

The Social Statistics program area provides information on the economic and social characteristics of individuals, families and households in Canada, and on the major factors that can contribute to their well-being. It includes measures of household income and expenditure; employment, unemployment and their associated costs and benefits; labour income and factors affecting labour supply; tourism and international travel; and information on topics of specific social policy concern.

This area also provides information and analysis on the facilities, agencies and systems that are publicly funded to meet the socio-economic and physical needs of Canadians. These include justice, health care, education systems, and cultural institutions and industries. Information is provided on the nature and extent of their services and operations, as well as on the characteristics of the individual Canadians and families whom they serve. Increasingly, the Department is attempting to go beyond the institutional orientation of this component to portray the impacts on Canadians of the health, education and justice systems.

The Social Statistics programs and the projects detailed below constitute the department's strategic outcome for the Social Statistics Activity in conformity with Table B.

Child-Centered Family Law Strategy

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Child-centered Family Law Strategy	725	-	-

In 2003-2004, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) received funding as part of Justice Canada's "Child-Centered Family Law Strategy" to undertake the development and implementation of a micro-data version of its Maintenance Enforcement Survey (since renamed the Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs) and to develop and implement a Civil Court Survey, a brand new survey area. Since that time, the CCJS has developed survey specifications (through federal-provincial-territorial consultations), designed central processing systems for both of these administrative data surveys, and begun data collection in four jurisdictions for each survey. A prototype report for the Civil Court Survey was completed this late last fiscal year, while the annual publication for the Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs, released in January 2007, for the first time contained new content from the survey.

Planned activities: In 2007-2008, the CCJS plans to continue implementation of both surveys in two or three jurisdictions. As well, the Centre will continue development of statistical output tables for each survey, in consultation with its federal-provincial-territorial partners. Additionally, the first annual release of the Civil Court Survey is planned, and new content will be incorporated in the annual release of the Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs.

Health Statistics

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Health Statistics Program	17,825	17,825	17,825

Three major activities dominate the Health Statistics Program in the coming year. One is the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS), a new and highly innovative 'direct measures' health survey. The second is the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) which provides sub-provincial data at the health region level. A third initiative relates to the use of provincial health care administrative data for an innovative range of new statistical information.

First to address longstanding limitations within Canada's health information system, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada have supported Statistics Canada in obtaining funding for the new CHMS. This support was announced in the 2003 Federal Budget as part of an extension of the Health Information Roadmap Initiative.

The Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) will collect key information relevant to the health of Canadians by means of direct physical measurements such as blood pressure, height, weight, lung function and physical fitness. In addition, the survey will collect blood and urine samples to test for infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and nutrition and environment markers. The survey will also measure physical activity directly with an electronic activity monitor respondents will wear over a one week period, and thus provide a key point of information with regard to the growing prevalence of obesity.

Information from the CHMS will provide much more reliable estimates of the extent of such major health problems as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, lung disease, physical inactivity, exposure to infectious diseases and exposure to environmental contaminants.

The CHMS will collect information from 5,000 Canadians aged 6 to 79, located in 15 sites across Canada. This sample size will provide national level estimates only. Work was ongoing during 2006-2007 to finalize the collection applications, construct the mobile examination clinics, hire and train collection staff, negotiate locations and legal arrangements with the provinces and communities where sites are located and conduct a dress rehearsal of the entire survey. Collection is set to begin in March 2007 and to continue until June 2009. Initial data release should occur in late 2009 or early 2010.

Second, the CCHS has been in place since 2001, and has been critical to providing data on Canadians' health not only to provinces, but also to municipalities and communities. It is primarily an interview survey, the main exception being direct measures of height and weight in order to track the prevalence of obesity for a sub-sample. The main innovation for the coming year is to move the survey from a biennial format (i.e. a large sample every other year) to continuous interviewing. Notwithstanding the very large sample size of the CCHS, it remains under pressure from competing demands for even larger sample size and even more content. A number of jurisdictions are again expected to purchase extra sample, and it remains difficult to balance competing priorities for more detailed information in areas such as wait times for surgery and diagnostic imaging, and prevalence of risk factors for disease. The dissemination strategy for the survey data is also being examined to ensure that ongoing relevance to key stakeholders.

Third the Health Person Oriented Information initiative (HPOI), created under the Health Roadmap, is currently being enhanced as Statistics Canada is negotiating partnerships with Provincial, Territorial and Federal Ministries responsible for Health Care and Public Health, to obtain ongoing access to administrative data routinely collected through the health care system. These data can be combined with survey data to look at risk factors, health services utilization and health outcomes.

Planned activities: In 2007-2008, data collection for the CHMS will begin and the change to continuous data collection for the CCHS will be implemented. Memoranda of Understanding will be negotiated with all jurisdictions involved in the exchange of health care administrative information to facilitate the transfer of these data to Statistics Canada.

Census Statistics Activity

Resource Requirements	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
($ thousands)	95,653	64,316	54,215
FTE	811	506	375

This program area provides statistical information from the Census of Population and Agriculture and other complementary surveys to Census data. The Census Population and Agriculture are conducted once every five years. The Aboriginal People Survey as described below is one survey being conducted to complement the Census data. The Census of Population provides benchmark information on the structure of the Canadian population and its demographic, social and economic conditions. It provides detailed information that cannot be generated through sample surveys on sub-populations and for small geographic areas. Estimates of the size of the population and its demographic structure between censuses, as well as population projections, are dependent on census information.

Population counts and estimates are required to determine electoral boundaries, the distribution of federal transfer payments, and the transfer and allocation of funds among regional and municipal governments, school boards and other local agencies within provinces.

The Census of Agriculture provides economic and social statistics pertaining to the characteristics and performance of the agriculture sector operators and their operations.

The Census Statistics programs and the projects detailed below constitute the department's strategic outcome for the Census Statistics Activity in conformity with Table B.

2006 Census of Population

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
2006 Census of Population	49,897	18,997	9,332

The 2006 Census introduced some ground breaking changes transforming a process that had been virtually unchanged for 35 years. These changes were responding to pressures that had built up over the past two decades over the confidentiality and security of the completed questionnaires being reviewed by local enumerators, and at the same time taking advantage of some opportunities due to technological advancements. The Census collection and front-end processing activities, where all of the major changes were implemented, met and in some cases surpassed their goals.

Here are some of the major changes that were implemented and the results of these changes:

• Statistics Canada introduced an efficient and secure internet application. 2.2 million households chose this method of response, which surpassed the high end of the planning assumption goal of 2.1 million.
• Statistics Canada introduced a master list of dwellings for all of Canada. The goal was to mail out to as many addresses as possible, as well as to register each form against the master list as it was returned to the central data processing centre regardless of the response channel. We successfully mailed out to 73% of all dwellings in Canada, reducing our requirement for enumerators by 15,000 from 2001. The Master Control system was subsequently a critical piece in our ability to track and control field operations at the dwelling level.
• Statistics Canada replaced labour intensive manual key entry of Census questionnaires, which Statistics Canada had contracted out to the Canada Revenue Agency since 1981. Statistics Canada successfully scanned and utilized automated character recognition technologies and processed all the returns in-house at our Data Processing Center. The results include the creation of over 138 million images, the automated capture of over 1.3 billion characters and the manual keying of about 100 million characters. All indications are that the quality of the capture was as good if not better than what was achieved through manual key entry.
• Statistics Canada set out to eliminate local enumerators having to manually edit and follow-up directly with respondents to obtain incomplete or missing information. With all of the data now in electronic format, complex editing was performed in a consistent and automated fashion. Follow-up with respondents for missing information was done using computer-assisted telephone follow-up from three call centers. 920,000 questionnaires were sent to and received from Failed Edit Follow-up operations. As a result of the better quality data received through the Internet questionnaire, this was about 300,000 cases less than originally expected.

All of these major changes contributed to our ability to reduce the reliance on a large number of field staff traditionally required to conduct the Census operations in the field. Instead of the approximately 50,000 field staff that Statistics Canada would have had to hire using the traditional collection approach, we built a process requiring about 27,000. However, due to the exceptionally difficult labour markets, particularly in the major urban centers as well as in many parts of Alberta, we could only hire about 17,000 enumerators. To increase the challenge, during the peak non-response period, Statistics Canada could retain only about 10,000 enumerators and only about a third of these could offer their services for more than 20 hours per week.

These challenges in hiring and retention of staff forced us to take some bold and decisive actions, which were possible because of the flexibility built into the new processes and systems.

Statistics Canada had a very successful public communications program for the 2006 census. The support from the provinces, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and the media was exceptional. Thousands of companies agreed to support the census by agreeing to carry our message on their products and as part of their own public communications campaigns. The significance of full participation to all private and public sectors appeared to be well-understood by all. There were no major issues arising during the collection period.

Despite the many successes to date for the 2006 Census, Statistics Canada did see a slight drop in the overall response rates, continuing a trend that has evolved over the past few decades.

Although there are still some challenges for 2006 in the coming year, Statistics Canada have already embarked on building towards the 2011 Census. Statistic Canada is in the middle of reviewing all of the lessons learned to date for the 2006 Census so that we can build on our successes and implement changes where warranted.

Planned activities: In fiscal year 2007-2008, Census results will be communicated to Canadians. Data will be produced for use by community groups, businesses, governments and Canadians at large. Central to the Census dissemination strategy is to provide information, analysis and data products that showcase the strength of Census data and meet a wide range of users' data needs. The following 5 major data releases will occur during 2007-2008: July 17, 2007: Age and Sex Sept. 12, 2007: Families, Marital/Common-Law Status, Household, Housing December 4, 2007: Language, Immigration, Mobility January 15, 2008: Aboriginal Peoples March 4, 2008: Education, Labour Force Activity, Place of Work, Languages Used at Work In addition, Census staff will begin preparing for the 2011 Census.

2006 Census of Agriculture

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
2006 Census of Agriculture	3,400	2,000	-

May 16, 2007 will mark the release of the Census of Agriculture data, one year after Census Day. While releasing farm-related data one year after Census Day has been the tradition for a number of censuses, this time the release will also include operator data. Moreover, on the day of release all of these data will be available on the Internet, including those at the census consolidated subdivision geographic level — the equivalent of a community in all provinces. Data at this level were not available online in 2001.

The Census of Agriculture is taking a similar approach to improve the release of its analytical compendium, a book of 30-specialized analytical articles traditionally released after the Agriculture–Population data become available. In 2007, the first article will be released electronically in September, with additional selected articles released every four months until the entire compendium of articles becomes available in book form. This will make analytical insight into census of agriculture data accessible to more Canadians earlier than before and generate renewed media interest.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture–Population linkage database will be under development. This unique database provides a profile of socio-economic characteristics for the one-fifth of farm operators who completed the long Census of Population questionnaire.

Preliminary work on the 2011 Census of Agriculture will be conducted during the coming year. Census staff will establish a high-level schedule for the next Census of Agriculture. One of the most critical steps of this schedule will be the development of the content for the 2011 questionnaire. This process will include getting input from data users nationally about new content requirements, and testing new and modified questions with respondents across the country. Given the economic and structural pressures that the agriculture industry continues to face, determining questions that satisfy both government and industry, yet accurately measure the health of Canadian agriculture, will be especially challenging.

Planned activities: In 2007-2008, Census of Agriculture will release all 2006 Census data, May 16, 2007, one year after Census Day. In addition, preparation for the 2011 Census will begin with high level schedules and preliminary questionnaire content.

Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS)

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Aboriginal People Survey	6,328	6,358	6,695

The Aboriginal Peoples Survey (off-reserve) is being conducted and funded through a cost-recovery arrangement with a consortium of policy departments, led by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. The 2006 APS will complement the Census data, providing a snapshot of the socio-economic, cultural, and health conditions of Aboriginal populations living off-reserve. The survey will provide governments and Aboriginal organizations with indicators to monitor change in educational outcomes, health status, employment and aboriginal language proficiency. More importantly, it will provide statistical information on the determinants of these changes. Initial results from the survey will be released in the fall of 2008.

In addition to the off-reserve survey, an on-reserve component of the APS will be conducted using a progressive approach over the next five years, working with First Nation communities willing to participate in the APS program. As part of the aboriginal statistical program, Statistics Canada will be providing as well ongoing technical support and assistance to the newly established First Nations Statistical Institute (FNSI).

Planned activities: In 2007-2008, an on-reserve component of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey will be implemented using a progressive approach and technical support will be provided to FNSI. Data collected from the off-reserve survey will be processed and analyzed in preparation for release in 2008-2009.

Data Gaps Initiative

	Planned Spending
($ thousands)	2007-2008	2008-2009	2009-2010
Data Gaps Initiative	18,350	18,350	18,350

The governance for the projects funded by this initiative has been strengthened to ensure the continuation of the development nature of the fund, in order to fully realize the research feasibility vocation of approved projects.

Service for Canadians

Statistics Canada must continually strive to ensure that the information it produces is relevant, timely, accurate and coherent. Of equal importance is the need to ensure that the means, by which Canadians communicate with the Department, as respondents and information users, are as practical and user friendly as possible. The Department will pursue its initiatives aimed at controlling the burden it places on respondents, by exploring new ways of making use of existing information holdings, and by developing and testing modern methods and technologies to minimize reporting burden.

Standards of Service to the Public

Statistics Canada is committed to serving its clients in a prompt, reliable, courteous, and fair manner. To this end, we make the following commitment.

Making information available is an important part of our business. Accordingly, Statistics Canada will:

• communicate in the official language of the client's choice;
• provide service during regular business hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in all Canadian time zones, through the National Contact Centre 1-800 toll-free service and e-mail address;
• provide information in multiple formats to accommodate diverse needs.

Depending on the nature of the enquiry, response times will vary. To ensure prompt service, Statistics Canada will:

• return a client's phone call within 1 business day of receipt;
• acknowledge receipt or answer an e-mail within 2 business days and a letter received by mail or fax within 5 business days of receipt;
• fill basic information requests and orders for readily available products within 2 business days of receipt;
• fill requests for custom products or services on a contractual basis within a mutually agreed-upon time;
• advise clients of any change in delivery time, and clearly explain the reason for the change.

Statistics Canada provides information of broad interest to the public free of charge via its website and libraries throughout Canada.

Statistics Canada recovers the costs of providing specialized products and services to various groups and individuals. Fees are based on factors such as complexity of the request, time required to conduct the work, technology requirements, and data transmission cost; licensing fees may also apply. For these products and services, we will:

• always inform clients of the cost of the product, or service prior to undertaking the work;
• advise the client immediately of any change in cost, and explain the reason.

To meet the information needs of clients, Statistics Canada will:

• consult with the client to fully understand their needs;
• advise the client immediately in the event of differences between the request and the product to be delivered, and explain the reason;
• provide a solution free of charge if the product delivered does not conform to the client's request, and this is due to our misunderstanding.

Planned activities: In 2007-2008, Statistics Canada will implement the standards of service to the public as described above, monitoring adherence to the commitments and report in the Departmental Performance Report.

Statistics Canada's Website

Statistics Canada's website plays a vital role in ensuring that the Department's information is accessible by the public. Beginning in 2005, a concerted effort was undertaken to improve the website based on user feedback and needs. As part of this initiative Statistics Canada launched its updated website featuring a redesigned homepage, introduced a uniform look and feel across the website, improved the search features and a new module for national economic accounts. The website is now more accessible to visitors with special needs, such as the visually impaired. Integrated access to maps and geographic products through a "Maps and Geography" module has been implemented.

Ensuring that visitors to www.statcan.ca have a high degree of satisfaction is an important goal for Statistics Canada and the introduction of a quality assurance program for all site content is important to achieving this.

We continue to investigate ways to improve the satisfaction rate for visitors who are using the site search features. New techniques including guided navigation and faceted search will permit easy access to search results through user selected options such as author and subject.

Planned activities: In 2007-2008 we will continue invest in improving the website. Workflows are being implemented to ensure that new content and applications are subjected to an intensive quality assurance program including usability, accessibility and functionality testing. We will also work on improving the classification, integration and management of information on the site to provide better access to data by subject headings and by geographic region. In addition, we will also be looking at the website to ensure that the applications, tools and technologies used to publish on the World Wide Web meet current and future needs.

Internal Audits and Evaluations

The following table lists the upcoming internal audits that pertain to Statistic Canada.

Name of Internal Audit/Evaluation	Type of Audit/ Evaluation	Status	Expected Completion Date
2006 Census related to Selected Security, Administrative and Quality Practices	Audit	Ongoing	Summer 2007
Office of the Auditor General – 2006 Census	Audit	Ongoing	Fall 2007
Confidentiality of Sensitive Statistical Information	Audit	Ongoing	Fall 2007
* The electronic link to reports and plans will be available on Statistics Canada's website: www.statcan.ca

The Department is the process of developing a detailed business plan for the implementation of the 2006 Policy on Internal Audit as outlined by the Office of the Comptroller General. Internal Audit Division is currently developing a multi-year risk-based audit plan that will respond to the requirements of the Policy on Internal Audit. The plan is expected to be presented to the Internal Audit Committee at the beginning of 2007-2008. A risk-based audit model specific to the regional offices is also under development and is expected to be completed by the end of 2007-2008.

The Department expects to have established a new Audit Committee in conformity with the 2006 Policy on Internal Audit by the end of 2008-2009.

Statistics Canada Evaluation Plan

The ongoing evaluation of the quality and credibility of the statistical information produced by Statistics Canada is essential to the fulfillment of its mandate and achievement of its strategic outcome. For this purpose, each statistical program is subject to a detailed review and report on program performance every four years, with a briefer update report in the second year of this four year cycle. Departmental managers use the results of these evaluations to make enlightened decisions on priorities, adjustments in programs to meet users' needs, reallocations of resources and other program adjustments.

Through this process, program managers conduct a thorough and rigorous self-assessment of their program's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and vulnerabilities, assess the risks and provide a strategic plan to the Chief Statistician.

The QPR is a comprehensive review of each program conducted every four years, resulting in all departmental programs being subject to an evaluation over a four year cycle. The QPR involves a thorough consultation with key constituents, particularly on their satisfaction with program outputs. Feedback is obtained through satisfaction surveys, on-going or ad hoc meetings, participation in advisory committees and other consultation mechanisms. This provides in-depth qualitative and quantitative information regarding program performance. For completeness and consistency, all performance indicators are reported on the basis of the Department's Quality Assurance Framework¹. The results of this evaluation are used by Program Manager to articulate a strategic direction for the next four years, which is presented to the joint Planning/Evaluation Committee, chaired by the deputy head, for guidance and approval, and is fed into the long-term planning process.

The BPR is a mid-cycle progress report on the implementation of the approved strategic plan. Like the QPR, it is structured according to the Quality Assurance Framework but performance reporting is conducted as required, where there is materiality in the trends. This mid-cycle report also highlights emerging changes and issues and how they are addressed.

The schedule of the Quadrennial Program Reviews and the Biennial Program Reports, for 2007-2008 to 2009-2010 planning period, are shown in Section IV, Table 4.2.

1. The Department's Quality Assurance Framework (Table 4.1) provides a structure for analysing and reporting on the program quality to be used by managers in their QPR and BPR. It defines the six dimensions of quality and each dimension refers to quantitative or qualitative indicators which are to be addressed if relevant to the program.

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