Embed Transparency Requirements in the Federal Service Strategy (CA0048)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Canada Action Plan 2016-2018
Action Plan Cycle: 2016
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
Capacity Building, E-GovernmentIRM Review
IRM Report: Canada End-Term Report 2016-2018, Canada Mid-Term Report 2016-2018
Starred: No
Early Results: Marginal
Design i
Verifiable: No
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information
Implementation i
Description
Embed Transparency Requirements in the Federal Service Strategy Why do this: Excellence in service delivery is at the core of citizens’ expectations for their governments. For a government to truly be open and accountable, it must deliver responsive services and be transparent on results. How will it be done: The Government is developing a Service Strategy that will transform service design and delivery across the public service, putting clients at the centre.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
7. Embed Transparency Requirements in the Federal Service Strategy
Commitment Text:
The Government of Canada will develop a new Clients-First Service Strategy that embeds requirements for openness and transparency in the delivery of government services.
Milestones:
7.1. Develop a Government of Canada Clients-First Service Strategy that aims to create a single, user-centric online window for all government services.
7.2. Establish new performance standards and set up a mechanism to conduct rigorous assessments of the performance of key government services, and report findings publicly.
Responsible institution: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Supporting institutions: Service delivery departments and agencies.
Start date: Not specified
End date: Not specified
Editorial Note: The text of the commitment was abridged for formatting reasons. For full commitment text, visit: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Canada_AP3.pdf.
Context and Objectives
According to the action plan, the aim of this commitment is to ensure rigorous assessments of key government services and publicly report the findings. Milestone 7.1 is reasonably clear and would provide Canadians with a single place to obtain information on government services and programs, thus making it somewhat relevant to the OGP value of access to information. Milestone 7.2 also has some relevance to the OGP goal of access to information, by promoting transparency in government functions through public reporting, though the vagueness of the deliverable here makes potential impact difficult to assess. For example, it does not specify the nature of the mechanism by which the assessment will be carried out, nor the degree to which it will be public facing (beyond merely reporting its findings).
Completion
Canada’s self-assessment reports substantial progress towards Milestone 7.1. The new service strategy was developed and was highlighted in the Clerk of the Privy Council’s Twenty-Fourth Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service.[Note65: See: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/pco-bcp/documents/pdfs/clerk-greffier/24rpt-eng.pdf.] The milestone is on track for completion.
For Milestone 7.2, Canada’s self-assessment reports that 'the new Service Strategy includes performance measures to enable public reporting on progress.'[Note66: The draft self-assessment for Commitment 7 is available at: http://open.canada.ca/en/mtsar/commitment-7-embed-transparency-requirements-federal-service-strategy.] In response to follow-up queries from the IRM researcher, a representative from the Treasury Board Secretariat said that they are 'currently in the process of defining [their] KPIs and determining what data [they] can leverage.'[Note67: Email received on 11 October 2017.] The government reports this as substantial progress, though in the absence of clearer and more concrete deliverables a score of limited progress seems more appropriate.
Next Steps
As it is currently drafted, this commitment is of questionable value to Canada’s OGP progress, as the milestones are only very generally related to access to information. The IRM researcher recommends not to carry it forward to future action plans. Establishing performance standards and public reporting programs is an area which shows some promise, though it is unclear how this milestone is distinct from Milestone 5.1.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
7. Embed Transparency Requirements in the Federal Service Strategy
Commitment Text: The Government of Canada will develop a new Clients-First Service Strategy that embeds requirements for openness and transparency in the delivery of government services.
Milestones:
7.1. Develop a Government of Canada Clients-First Service Strategy that aims to create a single, user-centric online window for all government services.
7.2. Establish new performance standards and set up a mechanism to conduct rigorous assessments of the performance of key government services, and report findings publicly.
Responsible institution: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Supporting institutions: Service delivery departments and agencies
Start Date: Not specified
End Date: Not specified
Editorial Note: The text of the commitment was abridged for formatting reasons. For full commitment text, visit http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Canada_AP3.pdf.
Commitment Aim
This commitment aimed to ensure rigorous assessments of key government services. It also entailed publicly reporting the findings of such assessments. It would create a single online window for all government services and establish standards and a mechanism to assess and report on their performance.
Status
Midterm: Substantial
The government developed the new service strategy in the first year of implementation. It published the strategy in the Privy Council Office's Twenty-Fourth Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service (Milestone 7.1).[Note55: See Michael Wernick, Twenty-Fourth Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario: Privy Council Office), https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/pco-bcp/documents/pdfs/clerk-greffier/24rpt-eng.pdf.] As of June 2017, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat was in the process of defining its key performance indicators and determining what data it could leverage for the assessment mechanism in Milestone 7.2.
End of term: Complete
According to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), the online window is still under development and is viewed as a longer-term goal. The TBS considers Milestone 7.1 complete, with the publication of the service strategy document. The strategy discusses the creation of this online window. The specific language of the milestone supports this interpretation of the commitment as complete. As written, it promises a development process rather than the window itself as a deliverable. Under Milestone 7.2, the self-assessment cites the TBS's Guideline on Service Management, published on 23 March 2017.[Note56: See “Guideline on Service Management,†Government of Canada, https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=28422.] The guideline's policy on service outlines the process for establishment and management of service standards and real-time performance information to support service delivery. According to the government's self-assessment, in summer 2017, the TBS launched a pilot project on service standards assessment of key service departments. In that period, it also established a new tool to help departments assess existing—and develop new—service standards.[Note57: The self-assessment is available at https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/9da9faf5-deb1-48db-8f16-91055d942d65.]
Did It Open Government?
Access to Information: Marginal
The 2017 midterm assessment noted that this commitment had questionable value to Canada's OGP progress. The milestones are vague and only very generally related to access to information. Though the government did make some additional material public as a result of this initiative, the overall level of progress in terms of access to information in Canada is relatively small. Moreover, while the public has access to the assessments, the public does not appear to have opportunity to actually hold officials accountable for their actions. The lack of opportunity there limits the commitment's relevance to the public accountability value. Also worth noting, the online window which is the focus of Milestone 7.1 does not appear to be close to launch.
Carried Forward?
This commitment, as written, was fully completed under the current action plan. In Canada's fourth action plan, Milestone 4.5 builds on this commitment to create a performance dashboard to track service delivery performance.
Commitments
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User-Friendly Open Government
CA0064, 2018, Access to Information
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Financial Transparency and Accountability
CA0065, 2018, Access to Information
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Corporate Transparency
CA0066, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Digital Government and Services
CA0067, 2018, Automated Decision-Making
-
Open Science
CA0068, 2018, Access to Information
-
Healthy Democracy
CA0069, 2018, Civic Space
-
Access to Information
CA0070, 2018, Access to Information
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Feminist and Inclusive Dialogue
CA0071, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Reconciliation and Open Government
CA0072, 2018, Access to Information
-
Open Government Community
CA0073, 2018, Access to Information
-
Enhance Access to Information
CA0042, 2016, Access to Information
-
Streamline Requests for Personal Information
CA0043, 2016, E-Government
-
Expand and Improve Open Data
CA0044, 2016, Access to Information
-
Provide and Preserve Open Information
CA0045, 2016, E-Government
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Define an Approach for Measuring Open Government Performance
CA0046, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Develop Open Government Skills Across the Federal Public Service
CA0047, 2016, Access to Information
-
Embed Transparency Requirements in the Federal Service Strategy
CA0048, 2016, Capacity Building
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Enhance Access to Culture & Heritage Collections
CA0049, 2016, Capacity Building
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Enhance Openness of Information on Government Spending and Procurement
CA0050, 2016, Capacity Building
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Increase Transparency of Budget and Other Department of Finance Information
CA0051, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Increase Transparency of Grants and Contributions Funding
CA0052, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Improve Public Information on Canadian Corporations
CA0053, 2016, E-Government
-
Increase the Availability and Usability of Geospatial Data
CA0054, 2016, Access to Information
-
Increase Openness of Federal Science Activities (Open Science)
CA0055, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Stimulate Innovation through Canada’s Open Data Exchange (ODX)
CA0056, 2016, Access to Information
-
Align Open Data Across Canada (Open Data Canada)
CA0057, 2016, Access to Information
-
Implement the Extractives Sector Transparency Measures Act
CA0058, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Support Openness and Transparency Initiatives Around the World
CA0059, 2016, Access to Information
-
Engage Civil Society on Open Government
CA0060, 2016, Public Participation
-
Enable Open Dialogue and Open Policy Making
CA0061, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Promote Open Government Globally
CA0062, 2016, Access to Information
-
Engage Canadians to Improve Key Canada Revenue Agency Services
CA0063, 2016, Access to Information
-
Implement Directive on Open Government
CA0030, 2014, Access to Information
-
Open Data Canada
CA0031, 2014, Access to Information
-
Canadian Open Data Exchange (ODX)
CA0032, 2014, Access to Information
-
Open Data for Development
CA0033, 2014, Access to Information
-
Open Data Core Commitment
CA0034, 2014, Access to Information
-
Open Science
CA0035, 2014, Science & Technology
-
Mandatory Reporting on Extractives
CA0036, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Open Contracting
CA0037, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Open Information on Budgets and Expenditures
CA0038, 2014, Fiscal Openness
-
Digital Literacy
CA0039, 2014, Capacity Building
-
Open Information Core Commitment
CA0040, 2014, Access to Information
-
Consulting Canadians
CA0041, 2014, Marginalized Communities
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International Aid Transparency Initiative: Publish Plan to Make CIDA Activities Available and Accessible
CA0010, 2012, Aid
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International Aid Transparency Initiative: Implement Plan
CA0011, 2012, Aid
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Opening Government of Canada Records: Increase Access to Archived Federal Documents at Library and Archives Canada
CA0012, 2012, Records Management
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Opening Government of Canada Records: Issue New Mandatory Policy on Document Classification
CA0013, 2012, Records Management
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Opening Government of Canada Records: Make Classified Information Available Online
CA0014, 2012, E-Government
-
GCDOCS: Deploy Wave One of Electronic Record and Document Management Solution
CA0015, 2012, E-Government
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GCDOCS: Deploy Across Federal Government
CA0016, 2012, E-Government
-
GCWEB: Develop Consolidated Web Presence
CA0017, 2012, E-Government
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GCWEB: Implement New Platform
CA0018, 2012, E-Government
-
Data.Gc.Ca: Expand Number of Datasets Available
CA0019, 2012, Access to Information
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Data.Gc.Ca: Implement Data.Gc.Ca Portal
CA0020, 2012, Access to Information
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Data.Gc.Ca: Improve Standardization of Data
CA0021, 2012, Access to Information
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Government of Canada Resource Management Data: Publish Resource Management and Performance Data
CA0022, 2012, Access to Information
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Government of Canada Resource Management Data: Enhance Search and Data Tools
CA0023, 2012, Access to Information
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Consulting Canadians: Develop New Platform for Consultation
CA0024, 2012, E-Government
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Consulting Canadians: Develop Standard Approach to Use of Social Media
CA0025, 2012, E-Government
-
Consulting Canadians: Pilot a Crowdsourcing Initiative
CA0026, 2012, E-Government
-
Consulting Canadians: Enable Use of Common Online Tools
CA0027, 2012, E-Government
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Open Regulation: Federal Regulators to Post Forward Regulatory Plans
CA0028, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
-
Open Regulation: Simplify Engagement Activities
CA0029, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
-
Open Government Directive: Issue Directive on Open Government
CA0001, 2012, E-Government
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Open Government Directive: Implement Directive on Open Government
CA0002, 2012, E-Government
-
Open Government Licence: Issue Open Government Licence
CA0003, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
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Open Government Licence: Adopt Open Government Licence
CA0004, 2012,
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Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Pilot of Online Request and Payment Service
CA0005, 2012, Access to Information
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Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Implement ATI Solution
CA0006, 2012, Access to Information
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Modernising Administration of Access to Information: Make Completed ATI Request Summaries Searchable
CA0007, 2012, Access to Information
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Virtual Library: Begin Design of Virtual Library
CA0008, 2012, E-Government
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Virtual Library: Launch Virtual Library
CA0009, 2012, E-Government