How Government Works

Presentation to the Financial Management Institute

May 22, 2014

Doug Doug NevisonNevisonAssistant Secretary, Privy Council OfficeAssistant Secretary, Privy Council Office

View from 30,000 Feet

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GC policy priorities• Economic: jobs, trade, balanced budget• Social: safe and secure families and communities• Other: Military, veterans, the North, international role

GC administrative priorities• Control the size and the cost of government operations• Reform the way spending is managed• Make government more efficient and responsive

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• The Clerk of the Privy Council– Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister – Secretary to the Cabinet– Head of the Public Service of Canada

• Business Transformation and Renewal Secretariat– Advise PM and Clerk on management policy– Support Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee– Support DM Board of Management and Renewal– Draft Annual Report to the PM on the Public Service

• Liaison Secretariat for Macroeconomic Policy– Advise PM and Clerk on Budget issues– Provide advice on financial sector and tax policy proposals– Strategic advice and analysis on economic and financial issues

Privy Council Office (PCO)

Blueprint 2020

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• Background– How did this get started? What is the objective?

• Engagement process– Who we engaged, how we engaged

• What we heard– Priority areas, specific ideas

• Destination 2020– Key signature horizontal initiatives

• Next Steps– Implementation, continued engagement

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Expenditure Management System (EMS) Reform

• Goal of EMS reform is to increase oversight– Ongoing need to increase the rigour of financial

decisions in a constrained fiscal environment– Improved external and internal oversight to address

current challenges and Ministerial expectations• External Oversight: Estimates reform to be achieved

through strengthening Parliamentary scrutiny of Estimates and supply

• Internal Oversight: Upfront discipline on new and existing spending to be strengthened through more rigorous costing and better information to inform decision-making

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• External Oversight– June 2012 Report of the Standing Committee on Government

Operations and Estimates (OGGO) – “Strengthening Parliamentary Scrutiny of Estimates and Supply” – made many recommendations to:

– Ensure that Parliamentarians have clear and understandable Estimates information; and

– Provide sufficient support and capacity for members to interpret the information available

– TBS launched searchable online expenditure database containing information on departmental spending authorities (April 2013)

– Increasing information available at a program level – three years back, three years forward, and at lower levels – how far do we go with measures/indicators?

– Potential changes in the vote structure?

Expenditure Management System (EMS) Reform

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• Internal Oversight– New spending

• Integrating more rigorous costing and stronger contextual information into new spending decisions will help ensure that decisions are based on the best available information

• TBS will require more stringent Chief Financial Officer attestations, better costing tools and standards

• TBS will increase its capacity to challenge and inform costing, improve the consistency and quality of costing information to allow for better comparisons, and in certain cases, do in-depth costing

• To achieve this, a new Costing Centre of Excellence in the Office of the Comptroller General has been established

– Existing spending• The ongoing review of existing spending is also required to ensure

that resources are directed only to those programs and activities that remain priorities of the government and achieve value for money

Expenditure Management System (EMS) Reform

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Financial Management Transformation (FMT)

Diagnostique

• Common framework of legislation and TB policy• Variation in specific processes and IT applications• Opportunities to enhance effectiveness and efficiency

Principles

• “Enterprise” approach: the GC as a single organization• Adopt lessons learned from other large organizations• Tailor for use in the Public Service of Canada• Integrate FM with other back-office functions• Business-led, not technology-led• Phased implementation

TBS and OGDs are developing business case

Conclusion

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• Interesting times in the Public Service of Canada– Serving the Government, Parliament, Canadians– Contributing to eliminating the deficit by 2015– Changes from B2020, EMS reform, FMT

• FI Community plays a vital role– Key part of policy development and program delivery– Fulfils special trust over taxpayers’ dollars– Increasingly adding strategic value

• Make the connections today– Part of the bigger picture– Your role in the process– How you can contribute