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SECTION III: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Table 1 - Departmental Link to the Government of Canada Outcomes


Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada’s economy and society which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.
 
Planned Spending¹
Alignment to Government of Canada Outcome Area
2008-2009
2009-2010
2010-2011
Economic Statistics
209,502
206,241
195,424
All Statistics Canada Program Activities are linked to the Government Affairs Government of Canada Outcome Area.
Social Statistics
147,702
145,642
143,119
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics
94,680
88,337
31,563
Total Planned Spending
451,884
440,220
370,106
1. Planned Spending amounts are presented net of respendable revenue.
Note:
Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

The following tables (tables – 3,4,5,6) can be found on the Secretariat’s website at http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rpp/2008-2009/info/info-eng.asp or at Statistic Canada’s website (table 2) at www.statcan.ca.

Table 2 – STC’s Schedule of Quadrennial Program Review (QPR) and Biennial Program Report (BPR)

Table 3 - Internal Audits

Table 4 - Services Received Without Charge

Table 5 - Sources of Respendable and Non-respendable Revenue

Table 6 - Summary of Capital Spending by Program Activity

Program Evaluations

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.

1. The Quadrennial Program Review (QPR)

The QPR is a comprehensive risk based 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 Framework. 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.

2. The Biennial Program Report (BPR)

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.

Internal Audits

There were two internal audits and one by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) completed this past year. As 2006 was a Census year, one of the internal audits and the OAG audit covered different aspects of the Census of Population.

Chapter 6 of the OAG report tabled in November 2007 covered the 2006 Census and found that Statistics Canada satisfactorily managed the 2006 Census of Population in accordance with its quality assurance systems and practices but that the department did not prepare an integrated and comprehensive document describing the overall approach. Statistics Canada took a proactive approach to identifying risks to the 2006 Census. However, it did not fully comply with the requirements of the government’s policy on risk management. In particular, despite the numbers of temporary field staff it needed and the challenges it faced in hiring and retaining them, it did not develop formal and detailed contingency plans to respond in the event that it could not meet those challenges. The department managed risks related to the privacy of respondent information with significant and successful efforts to ensure that the privacy of Census data was protected. The agency will continue to search for ways to improve its processes and practices and will work on the areas that were identified as requiring adjustments for the 2011 Census.

The internal audit entitled “Audit of 2006 Census Related to Selected Security, Administrative and Quality Practices” found that pay was processed in an accurate way, mainly in accordance with established legislation, policies and procedures. However, payments to employees were not always timely as streamlining and adjustment of some controls is necessary to show evidence of due diligence. Personnel screening for new census Statistics Act employees met most of the requirements of the Government Security Policy (2002) and Personnel Security Standard (1994). Reliability checks were done before employees began work, although improvements to some tools and procedures are required for 2011 Census field operations. Employees swear the oath of office under the Statistics Act and have a reliability status before accessing a computing device connected to any Statistics Canada network. Overall, management controls were in place related to monitoring of Census Help Line telephone operators either responding to the Canadian public or contacting them for information as part of failed edit follow-up, although their effectiveness should be improved. Work as already begun on improving these areas for the next Census.

The second internal audit completed during this period was the second part of the “Audit of Central Regional Office (Toronto) Administrative Processes”. In this part it was found that the regional office was mainly compliant with staffing under the Public Service Employment Act. Regarding staffing for Statistical Survey Operations (SSO), it was found that the staffing files had been centralized. There was evidence of competitive processes and that merit was applied. However, a list of key documents to be found in the staffing files was not available. A working committee has been tasked with developing and identifying the key staffing documents that will be required when conducting each SSO staffing process.

The department 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 2008. The plan will also cover the implementation of the 2006 Policy on Internal Audit as outlined by the Office of the Comptroller General, including the selection of a Chief Audit Executive. It is expected that the new CAE will start in early 2008-2009. 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.

The Internal Audit and Evaluation table listing can be found on the Secretariat’s website at http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rpp/2008-2009/info/info-eng.asp.