Annual Report to Parliament on the Access to Information Act 2011–2012

April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Mandate of the Canada School of Public Service
• Organization and implementation
  • Access to Information Act activities
  • Delegation of Authority
  • The School's Access to Information and Privacy Handbook
  • Training and awareness
  • Implementation
  • Governance
  • Complaints received
  • Reading room
• Interpretation of the Access to Information Act Statistical Report 2011-2012
• Appendix A – Statistical Report
• Appendix B – Supplementary reporting requirements
• Delegation Order

Preface

The Access to Information Act (Revised Statutes of Canada, Chapter A-1, 1985) was proclaimed on July 1, 1983, giving Canadian citizens and permanent residents the right to access information contained in government records, subject to certain specific and limited exceptions.

Section 72 of the Access to Information Act (the Act) requires the head of every government institution to submit an annual report to Parliament on the administration of the Act within their respective institutions. This annual report describes how the Canada School of Public Service (the School) administered its responsibilities under the Act during the fiscal year 2011-2012. A statistical report is included as an appendix – it provides additional details on the administration of the Act within the School.

Mandate of the Canada School of Public Service

The School is part of the Treasury Board portfolio. The School's enabling legislation is the Canada School of Public Service Act, under which it is mandated to:

• encourage pride and excellence in the Public Service;
• foster a common sense of purpose, values and traditions in the Public Service;
• support the growth and development of public servants;
• help ensure that public servants have the knowledge, skills and competencies they need to do their jobs effectively;
• support deputy heads in meeting the learning needs of their organizations; and
• pursue excellence in public management and administration.

This mandate is delivered through four program activities: Foundational Learning, Organizational Leadership Development, Public Sector Management Innovation and Internal Services.

The School ensures that public servants have the common knowledge and the leadership and management competencies they require to fulfil their responsibilities in serving Canadians.

Organization and implementation

Access to Information Act activities

The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Office is part of the Strategic Directions and Governance Division within the Strategic Directions, Program Development and Marketing Branch. It is comprised of one Director, who acts as the Coordinator for the School, and one ATIP Advisor.

The ATIP Coordinator is responsible for daily activities related to the administration of the Access to Information Act.

The responsibilities of the School's ATIP Office include:

• processing requests for information submitted under the Act in accordance with legislation, regulations and Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) policies and guidelines;
• promoting ATIP awareness at the School and developing efficient internal procedures;
• responding to consultations received from other organizations;
• applying all discretionary and mandatory exemptions under the Act;
• providing advice and guidance to employees, management and requesters on the application of the Act;
• responding to access-related matters in the Management Accountability Framework;
• collaborating with the Office of the Information Commissioner in all access to information-related matters, including complaints;
• reviewing departmental documents, such as audit and evaluation reports, prior to their proactive disclosure on the institution's Web site;
• coordinating the annual Info Source update and submission to TBS;
• preparing the statistical and annual Access to Information Act report to Parliament;
• participating in ATIP community activities, such as the Canadian Access and Privacy Association, the TBS ATIP community meetings and working groups.

Delegation of Authority

For the purpose of the Access to Information Act, the President of the School delegated full authority to the Director/Coordinator of the ATIP Office. A copy of the signed delegation instrument for the Act is included.

The School's Access to Information and Privacy Handbook

A handbook has been developed by the ATIP Office to introduce the legislation and regulations to ATIP liaison officers, outline the roles and responsibilities of the School's ATIP stakeholders, identify the standards for processing requests, inform ATIP liaison officers of the procedures associated with record retrieval and identify reference material available to ATIP liaison officers. The Handbook is available online on the School's intranet site and will be updated on a regular basis.

Training and awareness

In December 2011 and January 2012, the School's ATIP Office organized six training and awareness sessions on the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act with a School instructor. Two other sessions were offered by the ATIP Coordinator in February 2012. Employees in regional offices were able to participate in one English session via Webcast and one French session via videoconference.

A total of 193 School employees participated in the training and awareness sessions.

Two sessions (one bilingual session and one in English) were recorded and made available to employees in the National Capital Region; copies have also been sent to each regional office. Awareness sessions on both Acts will be offered to employees on a regular basis.

In the last few months, a new section devoted to ATIP has been developed on the School's intranet site. The section includes the Handbook, a link to both Acts and useful FAQs. An "ATIP Tips" section is currently under development.

As part of the Open Government initiative, the posting of monthly summaries of completed Access to Information requests became mandatory. The School has been posting summaries on its Internet site since October 2011.

Over the coming months, a new section devoted to ATIP will be added to an orientation guide for new employees of the School.

Implementation

All formal access requests received by the School are forwarded to the ATIP Office, where they are reviewed for clarity and compliance with the legislation. Each request is then assigned to the office(s) of primary interest, which become(s) responsible for locating and retrieving the records containing the information sought and assisting in determining the costs and fees for processing the request. The ATIP Office tracks the progress of requests with each office of primary interest.

Governance

The School's activities related to access to information are informed by a strong departmental commitment to information management. The ATIP Office provides guidance on the management of access to information-related records and the ATIP Coordinator builds organizational awareness of ATIP issues and links these issues to information management strategies.

In April 2010, a new TBS directive was established that included new provisions regarding the duty to assist requesters. In keeping with this directive, the ATIP Office took steps to inform applicants of the principles surrounding the School's obligations under the "Duty to Assist" provisions of the Access to Information Act.

New standards and procedures have been developed by the ATIP Office with regards to:

• communicating with applicants to clarify requests;
• ensuring that the identity of applicants is not shared beyond the ATIP Office;
• respecting the nature of the Act's exemption provisions;
• informing applicants of their right to complain to the Information Commissioner of Canada and advising them on how to avail themselves of this right;
• evaluating the training and awareness sessions;
• avoiding/preventing privacy breaches; and
• improving the processing of requests.

The ATIP Office and its governance structure effectively support the organization's administration of access to information. Training is an integral part of this effective management. The ATIP Office is also responsible for items 12.4, 12.5 and 12.6 of the Area of Management on Information Management under the Management Accountability Framework (MAF).

In accordance with MAF, information management is an organization-wide priority and a responsibility of senior executives and managers. The School also participates in government-wide approaches to developing, implementing and sharing information management policies and practices.

Complaints received

The School has received four complaints this reporting year. They were all solved to the satisfaction of the requesters and the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada.

Reading room

Section 71 of the Access to Information Act requires government institutions to provide facilities where the public may inspect manuals used by employees of the institution in administering or carrying out programs or activities. In accordance with this section, the School has a library designated as a public reading room. It is made available to the public upon request. The library is located at the following address:

Interpretation of the Access to Information Act Statistical Report 2011-2012

A. Requests received under the Act

Between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012, the School received 56 new requests for information under the Act and 6 were outstanding from the previous reporting period, for a total of 62 requests. Of the 56 new requests, 10 were carried forward to the subsequent reporting year. As well, 5 consultation requests were received from other government organizations.

The requests were completed as follows:

• 13 were disclosed in full;
• 15 were disclosed in part;
• None were exempted in their entirety;
• None were transferred;
• 20 produced no documents; and
• 4 were abandoned by the requester.

B. ATI requests received by source

Of the 56 requests received during the 2011-2012 fiscal year:

• 37 came from businesses;
• 9 came from the public;
• 1 came from the media;
• 3 came from academia; and
• 6 came from other organizations.

C. Exemptions invoked

This section of the Statistical Report is intended to identify the number of requests in which specific exemptions were invoked to deny access. If the same exemption is claimed several times for the same request, it is reported only once.

The School applied exemptions under subsection 19(1) and paragraph 20(1)(b) of the Act.

D. Exclusions cited

There were no exclusions.

E. Time extensions

Formal extensions were sought for workload in one case, for external consultation in one case and for internal consultation in one case.

F. Completion time

A total of 49 requests were completed in 30 days or less; 1 request was completed between 31 and 60 days; and 2 requests were completed between 61 and 120 days. No requests took more than 120 days to complete.

G. Method of access

A total of 28 requests resulted in the release of records. All records were released on paper or compact disc to the requesters.

H. Fees

The Act authorizes fees for certain activities related to the processing of formal requests. In addition to a $5 application fee, search, preparation and reproduction charges may apply to various records. Current fees are specified in the Access to Information Regulations. No fees are imposed for reviewing records or for overhead shipping costs, and in accordance with section 11 of the Act, no fees are charged for the first five hours required to search for a record or prepare any part of the record for disclosure.

The fees collected during the reporting period totalled $310.

I. Costs

Dedicated salary costs associated with the administration of the Act are estimated at $91,052, with Overhead and Maintenance costs at $2,360, for a total of $93,412. The dedicated employee resources for 2011-2012 are fixed at 1.5 full-time equivalents.

Appendix A - Statistical Report

Name of institution: Canada School of Public Service

Reporting period: April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012

Part 1 – Requests under the Access to Information Act

1.1 Number of requests

Received during the reporting period: 56
Outstanding from previous reporting period: 6
Total: 62
Closed during reporting period: 52
Carried over to next reporting period: 10

1.2 Sources of requests

Media: 1
Academia: 3
Business (Private Sector): 37
Organization: 6
Public: 9
Total: 56

Part 2 – Requests closed during the reporting period

2.1 Disposition and completion time

2.2 Exemptions

Paragraph 13(1)(a): 0
Paragraph 13(1)(b): 0
Paragraph 13(1)(c): 0
Paragraph 13(1)(d): 0
Paragraph 13(1)(e): 0

Paragraph 14(a): 0
Paragraph 14(b): 0

Subsection 15(1) International Affairs: 0
Subsection 15(1) Defence of Canada: 0
Subsection 15(1) Subversive Activities: 0

Subparagraph 16(1)(a)(i): 0
Subparagraph 16(1)(a)(ii): 0
Subparagraph 16(1)(a)(iii): 0
Paragraph 16(1)(b): 0
Paragraph 16(1)(c): 0
Paragraph 16(1)(d): 0

Paragraph 16(2)(a): 0
Paragraph 16(2)(b): 0
Paragraph 16(2)(c): 0

Subsection 16(3): 0

Paragraph 16.1(1)(a): 0
Paragraph 16.1(1)(b): 0
Paragraph 16.1(1)(c): 0
Paragraph 16.1(1)(d): 0

Subsection 16.2(1): 0

Section 16.3: 0

Paragraph 16.4(1)(a): 0
Paragraph 16.4(1)(b): 0

Section 16.5: 0

Section 17: 0

Paragraph 18(a): 0
Paragraph 18(b): 0
Paragraph 18(c): 0
Paragraph 18(d): 0

Paragraph 18.1(1)(a): 0
Paragraph 18.1(1)(b): 0
Paragraph 18.1(1)(c): 0
Paragraph 18.1(1)(d): 0

Subsection 19(1): 13

Paragraph 20(1)(a): 0
Paragraph 20(1)(b): 13
Paragraph 20(1)(b.1): 0
Paragraph 20(1)(c): 0
Paragraph 20(1)(d): 0

Section 20.1: 0

Section 20.2: 0

Section 20.4: 0

Paragraph 21(1)(a): 0
Paragraph 21(1)(b): 0
Paragraph 21(1)(c): 0
Paragraph 21(1)(d): 0

Section 22: 0
Subsection 22.1(1): 0

Section 23: 0

Subsection 24(1): 0

Section 26: 0

2.3 Exclusions

Paragraph 68(a): 0
Paragraph 68(b): 0
Paragraph 68(c): 0

Section 68.1: 0
Paragraph 68.2(a): 0
Paragraph 68.2(b): 0

Paragraph 69(1)(a): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(b): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(c): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(d): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(e): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(f): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(g) re (a): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(g) re (b): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(g) re (c): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(g) re (d): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(g) re (e): 0
Paragraph 69(1)(g) re (f): 0

Subsection 69.1(1): 0

2.4 Format of information released

All disclosed:

• Paper: 12
• Electronic: 1
• Other formats: 0

Disclosed in part:

• Paper: 14
• Electronic: 1
• Other formats: 0

2.5 Complexity

2.5.1 Relevant pages processed and disclosed

2.5.2 Relevant pages processed and disclosed by size of requests

2.5.3 Other complexities

2.6 Deemed refusals

2.6.1 Reasons for not meeting statutory deadline

Number of requests closed past the statutory deadline: 3

Principal Reason:

• Workload: 1
• External consultation: 1
• Internal consultation: 1
• Other: 0

2.6.2 Number of days past deadline

2.7 Requests for translation

English to French:

• Accepted: 0
• Refused: 0
• Total: 0

French to English:

• Accepted: 0
• Refused: 0
• Total: 0

Part 3 - Extensions

3.1 Reasons for extensions and disposition of requests

3.2 Length of extensions

Part 4 – Fees

Part 5 – Consultations received from other institutions and organizations

5.1 Consultations received from other government institutions and organizations

5.2 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other government institutions

5.3 Recommendations and completion time for consultations received from other organizations

Part 6 - Completion time of consultations on Cabinet confidences

Part 7 - Resources related to the Access to Information Act

7.1 Costs

Expenditures:

• Salaries: $91,052
• Overtime: $690
• Goods and Services: $1,670
  • Professional services contracts: $0
  • Other: $1,670
• Total: $93,412

7.2 Human Resources

Appendix B - Supplemental reporting requirements

The Canada School of Public Service invoked the following exemptions during the reporting period of April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012. It did not invoke any exclusions.

Part III – Exemptions invoked

Part IV – Exclusions cited

Delegation Order

Access to Information Act

I, the undersigned President of the Canada School of Public Service, pursuant to section 73 of the Access to Information Act, hereby authorize the Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator to exercise signing authorities or perform any of the President's powers, duties or functions vested in him by the Access to Information Act.

Contact us Subscribe to the GCLearning newsletter

---

Features

Event: Recognizing the Resilience of Indigenous Women and the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community

(May 3, 2024)

Event: GBA Plus in Action: Respect, Relationships, and Intersectional Leadership in Gwaii Haanas

(May 6, 2024)

Event: Unlocking the Power of Scientific Evidence for Effective Policy-Making

(May 7, 2024)

Follow:

• Twitter
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• GCLearning newsletter
• RSS