Organizational Expenditure Overview - 2014-15 Departmental Performance Report - Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Organizational Profile

Appropriate Minister: The Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board

Institutional Head: Yaprak Baltacioglu, Secretary of the Treasury Board

Ministerial Portfolio: The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Canada School of Public Service. Operating at arm's length and reporting to Parliament through the President of the Treasury Board are the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada and the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada.

Enabling Instruments: Financial Administration Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. F-11

Year of Commencement: 1966

Organizational Context

Actual Expenditures

In 2015–16, the Secretariat revised its Program Alignment Architecture to better reflect core business activities and support the achievement of expected results. Due to significant differences between the Secretariat's previous Program Alignment Architecture and the current structure, no historical spending has been restated leading to 2014–15.

The above tables provide the Main Estimates, the planned spending, the total authorities available for use, and the actual spending (authorities used) related to each program for 2014–15, which are explained by program in the Analysis of Programs by Strategic Outcome section. For comparison purposes, planned spending is provided for 2015–16 and 2016–17, and actual spending is provided for 2012–13 and 2013–14.

The Government-Wide Funds and Public Service Employer Payments program is the largest portion of the Secretariat's planned spending. Based on a three-year average, government-wide funds account for approximately 59 per cent of planned spending for this program. These funds are available for transfer to, and spending by, other departments and agencies. This includes the transfer of funding for centrally managed Votes such as government contingencies, government-wide initiatives, operating and capital budget carry forward, paylist expenditures^{Footnote 2} and compensation requirements (Central Votes 5, 10, 15, 25, 30 and 33) to other departments and agencies. The Secretariat's total funding available for use is reduced accordingly. The remaining 41 per cent is accounted for by public service employer payments, which go to paying the employer's share of the contributions to employee pensions and benefits plans, including statutory payments.

Overall, planned spending is projected to decrease by $800 million from 2014–15 to 2016–17. This amount is based on an expected decrease of $877 million in spending, of which $850 million is due to a decrease in paylist-related expenditures following the elimination of severance benefits for voluntary separation (i.e., for retirement or resignation), offset by a projected increase of $77 million in spending—largely for an expected increase in Public Service Health Care Plan usage, an increase in service costs to deliver the Pensioners' Dental Services Plan and the Public Service Dental Care Plan, and higher employer contributions directly related to increases in the payroll envelope.

Actual spending increased by $329 million from 2013–14 to 2014–15. This was primarily to address a funding shortfall within the plan to provide benefits to the increased number of medically released Canadian Armed Forces members following the Afghanistan mission, and to implement approved benefit changes to the Public Service Health Care Plan totalling $268 million. In addition, there was an increase of $61.6 million mostly attributable to new funding received for the payout of an out-of-court settlement to eligible claimants under the White class action lawsuit launched against the Crown, Buote Estate v. Canada, 2014 FC 773 (CanLII), involving the elimination of the Pension Act offset provision under the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Term Disability Insurance Plan.

For the previous year, actual spending from 2012–13 to 2013–14 increased by $130.5 million. This was mainly due to an increase in disability and health care expenditures, offset by reduced recoveries from the departments that remit the employer's share of public service insurance benefits related to their employees.

Alignment of Spending With the Whole-of-Government Framework

Departmental Spending Trend

Figure 1. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat 2014–15 Actual Spending ($ millions) - Text version

This graphic is a pie chart that illustrates the actual spending breakdown of $3.2 billion for the Secretariat in 2014-15. The pie chart is broken down into two spending areas as follows: 10 per cent ($323 million) of total spending is attributed to the Secretariat's operations, and 90 per cent ($2,898 million) of total spending is attributed to centrally managed funds.

Any minor differences are due to rounding.

The Secretariat spent a total of $3.2 billion toward achieving its Strategic Outcome. Approximately 10 per cent of its total spending was directly related to operating expenditures. Most of the remainder related to Public Service Employer Payments, which the Secretariat manages in its role as the employer for the core public administration.

Figure 2. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Public Service Employer Payments and Various Statutory Items 2014–15 Actual Spending ($ millions) - Text version

This graphic is a pie chart that illustrates the actual spending breakdown of $2.9 billion under public service employer payments and various statutory items in 2014-15. The pie chart is divided into six spending areas, broken down as follows: 22 per cent is attributed to provincial payroll taxes and health care premiums ($631 million); 31 per cent is attributed to the Public Service Health Care Plan ($886 million); 12 per cent is attributed to dental care plans ($344 million); 13 per cent is attributed to service income security insurance plan ($368 million); 8 per cent is attributed to disability insurance, and other ($224 million); and the remaining 15 per cent is attributed to statutory items ($444 million).

Any minor differences are due to rounding.

Total spending for Public Service Employer Payments was $2.5 billion in 2014–15. The amount includes payments made toward 16 public service benefit plans and their associated administrative expenditures. Statutory payments, which relate to the employer contributions made under the Public Service Superannuation Act and other retirement acts and the Employment Insurance Act, totalled $444 million.

Figure 3. Departmental Spending Trend for Program Expenditures (Vote 1) - Text version

This bar graph illustrates the spending trend for Secretariat program expenditures (Vote 1) related to actual spending for fiscal years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 and planned spending for fiscal years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.  Financial figures are presented in dollars along the y axis, increasing by $50 million and ending at $350 million.  These are graphed against fiscal years 2012-13 to 2017-18 on the x axis.

There are two items identified for each fiscal year, the first one being statutory items, largely comprised of contributions to employee benefit plans, and the other, the Secretariat's program expenditures (Vote 1).

In 2012-13, actual spending was $29,775,712 for statutory items and $231,877,492 for program expenditures.

In 2013-14, actual spending was $29,075,263 for statutory items and $234,224,053 for program expenditures.

In 2014-15, actual spending was $27,477,862 for statutory items and $295,850,911 for program expenditures.

Planned spending for statutory items goes from $27,681,925 in 2015-16, to $26,794,261 in 2016-17 and to $26,569,830 in 2017-18.

Planned spending for program expenditures goes from $219,601,334 in 2015-16, to $205,369,133 in 2016-17, and to $202,432,972 in 2017-18.

In general, the Secretariat's operating expenditures include salaries, non-salary costs to deliver programs, and statutory items. These items primarily consist of contributions to the Secretariat's employee benefit plans.

There was an increase of $61.7 million in total program expenditures between 2012–13 and 2014–15. The increase was mostly due to new funding received for the payout of an out-of-court settlement to eligible claimants under the White class action lawsuit. The subsequent decrease between 2014–15 actual spending and 2015–16 planned spending was mostly related to the payout of the same out-of-court settlement, as well as to reduced funding related to the Web Renewal initiative.

Decreases in program expenditures are expected to continue until 2017–18, due to the sunsetting of initiatives such as the Workspace Renewal initiative, the Joint Learning Program, the Web Renewal initiative, the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan, and the Workplace Wellness and Productivity Strategy.

Figure 4. Public Service Employer Payments (Vote 20) and Various Statutory Items – Spending Trend Graph - Text version

This bar graph illustrates the spending trend for the public service employer payments (Vote 20) and various statutory items related to actual spending for fiscal years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 and planned spending for fiscal years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18. Financial figures are presented in dollars along the y axis, increasing by $500 million and ending at $3.5 billion.  These are graphed against fiscal years 2012-13 to 2017-18 on the x axis. 

There are two items identified for each fiscal year, the first one being statutory items, largely comprised of payments under the Public Service Pension Adjustment Act, and the other for public service employer payments.

In 2012-13, actual spending was $443,023,226 for statutory items and $2,057,349,583 for public service employer payments.

In 2013-14, actual spending was $443,088,925 for statutory items and $2,186,132,708 for public service employer payments.

In 2014-15, actual spending was $444,049,205 for statutory items and $2,454,311,704 for public service employer payments.

Planned spending for statutory items will remain the same for fiscal years 2015-16 to 2017-18 in the amount of $443,000,000.

Planned spending for public service employer payments goes from $2,250,070,604 in fiscal year 2015-16, to $2,337,061,397 for fiscal years 2016-17 to 2017-18.

In general, expenditures for public service employer payments and statutory items include the employer's share of contributions required by the insurance plans sponsored by the Government of Canada. They also include statutory payments made under the Public Service Pension Adjustment Act and employer contributions made under the Public Service Superannuation Act, the Employment Insurance Act, and related acts.

Expenditures for public service insurance increased by $129 million from 2012–13 to 2013–14 following:

• A premium rate increase to the employer for the Disability Insurance Plan;
• Reinstatement of premiums for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Term Disability Plan; and
• Higher usage of the Public Service Health Care Plan.

This increase was offset by reduced recoveries from designated government departments that remit the employer's share of public insurance benefits related to their employees.

Public service employer payments increased by $268 million from 2013–14 to 2014–15. This increase was mostly to address a funding shortfall within the plan to provide benefits to the increased number of medically released Canadian Armed Forces members following the Afghanistan mission. It was also due to the implementation of the changes to the Public Service Health Care Plan negotiated in 2014 that increased premiums for pensioners with a view to achieving a 50-50 cost-sharing ratio with pensioners by April 1, 2018.

Planned spending between 2015–16 and 2017–18 is expected to increase by $87 million, largely due to an expected increase in Public Service Health Care Plan usage, an increase in service costs under the Pensioners' Dental Services Plan and the Public Service Dental Care Plan, and higher employer contributions directly related to increases in the payroll envelope.

Estimates by Vote

For information on the Secretariat's organizational Votes and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2014 on the Public Works and Government Services Canada website.