2014-2015 Departmental Performance Report

Table of Contents

• Chief Administrator's Message
• Section I: Organizational Expenditure Overview
  • Organizational Profile
  • Organizational Context
  • Actual Expenditures
  • Alignment of Spending With the Whole-of-Government Framework
  • Departmental Spending Trend
  • Expenditures by Vote
• Section II: Analysis of Programs by Strategic Outcome
  • Strategic Outcome: Efficient and effective services which support tribunal chairs and members in exercising their statutory responsibilities and ensure that their independence is protected in a manner which promotes Canadians’ confidence in the federal tribunal system
  • Program 1.1: Tribunal Specialized and Expert Support Services
  • Program 1.2: Registry Services
  • Program 1.3: Payments to Tribunal Chairs and Members
  • Internal Services
• Section III: Supplementary Information
  • Financial Statements Highlights
  • Financial Statements
  • Supplementary Information Tables
  • Tax Expenditures and Evaluations
• Section IV: Organizational Contact Information
• Appendix A: Tribunal Departmental Performance Reports
• Appendix B: Definitions

Chief Administrator's Message

I am very pleased to present the first Departmental Performance Report for the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada (ATSSC).

Established on November 1, 2014 with the coming into force of the Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada Act, the ATSSC’s mandate is to provide support services and facilities to 11 administrative tribunals by way of a single, integrated organization. These support services include specialized and expert support services, registry services and corporate services.

The creation of the ATSSC is consistent with the government's ongoing commitment to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its administration and operations. By consolidating the provision of support services for 11 administrative tribunals, the government is strengthening overall capacity and modernizing operations to better meet the administrative needs of federal tribunals and to improve access to justice for Canadians.

This report outlines the ATSSC’s key accomplishments from its creation on November 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015. During that period, the ATSSC focused on developing and implementing management practices and controls by identifying and establishing governance structures, increasing the use of common processes and systems, standardizing internal service processes, where feasible, adopting new technologies, and making better use of facilities. Draft operational and strategic plans have been developed and once final, will guide the new organization as it continues to evolve.

Working collaboratively with the tribunals it serves, the ATSSC endeavoured to ensure that new working relationships, systems and processes were built and implemented with minimal disruption to the tribunals and Canadians. The independence of the tribunals on adjudicative and other substantive matters remained safeguarded.

For ease of reference, the 2014-15 Departmental Performance Reports of the tribunals supported by the ATSSC are annexed to this report.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to ATSSC employees and to the tribunal chairpersons and members for the professionalism and collaborative spirit demonstrated on a daily basis. Our collective achievements have contributed to improving access to justice for Canadians, while establishing a solid foundation for the ATSSC to build upon for its success in the future.

Marie-France Pelletier
Chief Administrator

Section I: Organizational Expenditure Overview

Departmental Spending Trend

* The ATSSC will work with central agencies to renew funding totaling $23.8M that is set to sunset in 2016–17 and that is used to support the operations of the Social Security Tribunal and the Specific Claims Tribunal.

	Operating Expenditures	Employee Benefit Plan	Sub-total - Operating	Vote Netted Revenue	Total Net
Specific Claims Tribunal	2,762,759	167,418	2,930,177	0	2,930,177
Specific Security Tribunal	17,711,720	3,180,112	20,891,832	(17,690,600)	3,201,232
Total	20,474,479	3,347,530	23,822,009	(17,690,600)	6,131,409

Section II: Analysis of Programs by Strategic Outcome

Section III: Supplementary Information

Section IV: Organizational Contact Information

Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada
90 Sparks Street, Suite 600
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5B4
Canada
Telephone: 613-954-0860
Fax: 613-957-3170
Web: Administrative Support Service of Canada

Appendix A: Tribunal Departmental Performance Reports

The Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada Act deemed all financial and human resources of the 11 tribunals to the ATSSC as of November 1, 2014 when the ATSSC came into force.

The tribunals supported by the ATSSC have prepared their final DPRs to address their performance against the measures in their respective 2014–15 Reports on Plans and Priorities for the period April 1, 2014 to October 31, 2014. Those reports are also available on the tribunal websites.

Appendix B: Definitions

appropriation (crédit): Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires): Includes operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

Departmental Performance Report (rapport ministériel sur le rendement): Reports on an appropriated organization’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Report on Plans and Priorities. These reports are tabled in Parliament in the fall.

Full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein): Is a measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

Government of Canada outcomes (résultats du gouvernement du Canada): A set of 16 high level objectives defined for the government as a whole, grouped in four spending areas: economic affairs, social affairs, international affairs and government affairs.

Management, Resources and Results Structure (Structure de la gestion, des ressources et des résultats): A comprehensive framework that consists of an organization’s inventory of programs, resources, results, performance indicators and governance information. Programs and results are depicted in their hierarchical relationship to each other and to the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute. The Management, Resources and Results Structure is developed from the Program Alignment Architecture.

Non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires): Includes net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

Performance (rendement): What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve and how well lessons learned have been identified.

Performance indicator (indicateur de rendement): A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

Performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement): The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

Planned spending (dépenses prévues): For Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPPs) and Departmental Performance Reports (DPRs), planned spending refers to those amounts that receive Treasury Board approval by February 1. Therefore, planned spending may include amounts incremental to planned expenditures presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their RPPs and DPRs.

Plan (plan): The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

Priorities (priorité): Plans or projects that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Strategic Outcome(s).

Program (programme): A group of related resource inputs and activities that are managed to meet specific needs and to achieve intended results and that are treated as a budgetary unit.

Program Alignment Architecture (architecture d’alignement des programmes): A structured inventory of an organization’s programs depicting the hierarchical relationship between programs and the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute.

Report on Plans and Priorities (rapport sur les plans et les priorités): Provides information on the plans and expected performance of appropriated organizations over a three-year period. These reports are tabled in Parliament each spring.

Result (résultat): An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

Statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives): Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

Strategic Outcome (résultat stratégique): A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization’s mandate, vision and core functions.

Sunset program (programme temporisé): A time-limited program that does not have an ongoing funding and policy authority. When the program is set to expire, a decision must be made whether to continue the program. In the case of a renewal, the decision specifies the scope, funding level and duration.

Target (cible): A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

Voted expenditures (dépenses votées): Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

Whole-of-government framework (cadre pangouvernemental): Maps the financial contributions of federal organizations receiving appropriations by aligning their Programs to a set of 16 government-wide, high-level outcome areas, grouped under four spending areas.