Initial Scoping Report for the Audit of the Movement of Public Servants between the Federal Public Service and Ministers’ Offices
A Report by the Public Service Commission of Canada
February 2007
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Table of Contents
Background
A non-partisan public service
Non-partisanship is one of the cornerstone values that govern appointments to and within the public service. A crucial consideration in the public service is to maintain the reality and the perception of impartiality. Ensuring the political neutrality of the public service is a core element of the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) mandate. Staffing decisions are meant to be non-partisan and free from personal favouritism.
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Ministers’ offices
Ministers have a budget allocated by Treasury Board for hiring exempt staff (personnel exempt from the normal appointment procedures under the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA). The terms and conditions of employment for exempt staff are outlined in the Treasury Board's Guidelines for Ministers' Offices. The Treasury Board Secretariat’s Leave Without Pay Policy permits employees to take unpaid absences from work for personal or other reasons, including employment as exempt staff in the office of a Member of Parliament, while maintaining continuity of their employment. As at
March 31, 2006, 44 public servants were employed in ministers’ offices.
Public servants who work as exempt staff in a minister's office can gain valuable insight into the challenges facing a government and into the policy development process. This knowledge and experience can then benefit the work of the public service. However, the PSC considers that a public servant's time in a minister's office as exempt staff should be of a finite duration, the public servant should be on leave without pay from his or her public service job, and such movements should be monitored. Moreover, the fact that a public servant is employed as exempt staff should not influence decisions made with respect to the organization and staffing of public service positions.
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PSC concerns
The PSC is concerned about the reality and the perception of political impartiality in light of the unmonitored movement of public servants to and from ministers' offices as exempt staff.
With the Federal Accountability Act, which received royal assent on December 12, 2006, the 2006 Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders (the Code) is entrenched in legislation and is clarified. Amongst other things, the Code imposes stronger limits on activities that exempt staff can pursue after they leave the minister's office. In addition, the Federal Accountability Act amends the Lobbyists Registration Act so as to provide for a five-year ban after leaving office for former public office holders, including exempt staff, on lobbying activities. The Federal Accountability Act also amends the ministerial priorities provisions in the PSEA and removes the priority right for appointment to public service positions which certain ministerial staffers enjoyed upon ceasing to be employed in a minister's office. These developments, taken together, may make it more attractive to invite public servants to work as exempt staff in order to make up any potential shortfall.
In 2005-2006, the PSC investigated the circumstances surrounding the so-called “phantom positions”, two requests received from departments to provide a priority entitlement for appointment of two ministerial staff, pursuant to the PSEA. It became apparent that in both cases, an individual in the minister's office sought to influence appointment decisions in a public service department. This is inconsistent with the values that underpin staffing in Canada's public service, and illustrates the potential for abuse of the appointment system. Appointments to and within the public service should be based on merit, and made in a fair and transparent manner, free from the appearance of political influence or personal favouritism.
Because of parliamentary interest in this area, the PSC is undertaking an audit of the movement of public servants from ministers’ offices back to the public service. The audit will assess to what extent the two identified cases are isolated incidents or a symptom of a broader pattern.
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Objective
The focus of this audit is to determine the extent of movement of public servants between the public service and ministers’ offices; and whether the staffing requirements of the PSEA, Public Service Employment Regulations (PSER), PSC policies and other applicable legislation are met for appointments of public servants returning from ministers’ offices. The audit will also assess the risk to political impartiality.
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Scope
The audit focuses on public servants returning from ministers’ offices to the federal public service during the period April 1990 to September 2006. This timeframe, which covers the period for which data were available, takes into account a number of transition periods between governments.
The scope of the audit is limited to appointments made to and within the public service in departments and agencies subject to the PSEA. Ministers’ staff who joined the public service for the first time are not included in the scope of this audit.
Public servants who have worked in a minister’s office can return to the public service through the following mechanisms:
- conditions established in the Treasury Board Leave Without Pay Policy;
- leave of absence priority appointment;
- minister’s staff priority appointment;
- appointment resulting from an internal or external competitive (advertised) process; or
- appointment resulting from an internal or external non-competitive (non-advertised) process.
The audit will focus on appointments to public service positions where there is a greater risk to political impartiality. Accordingly, we have excluded the following staffing activities from our preliminary determination of the number of appointments included in the scope of this audit:
- Public servants returning within a 12-month period to their substantive position in the department or agency where they worked prior to working as an exempt staff in a minister’s office. Under certain circumstances, the Treasury Board Leave Without Pay Policy allows public servants to take a leave of absence of up to 12 months and return to their substantive position.
- Appointments made to administrative support services, identified as the clerical (CR), secretarial (ST-SCY) and levels 1 through 3 of administrative services (AS) occupational groups. These are considered to involve lower risk of partisanship.
- Appointments where there was a significant break in service (24 months or more) before the individual returned to the public service from the minister’s office.
The PSC maintains a database, derived from the pay system, known as the Job-Based Analytical Information System, as an oversight tool in analyzing government-wide trends. It is a database of more than two million records spanning a 17-year period
(1990 until today). Using this database, we identified 162 public servants employed as ministers’ staff who returned to the federal public service during the period April 1990
to September 2006.
The following table summarizes the results of the analysis we did to remove appointments considered outside the scope of this audit.
| Appointments of public servants returning from ministers’ offices to federal departments and agencies subject to the PSEA |
162 |
| Less: |
|
| - |
appointments of public servants returning, within a 12-month period, to their substantive position |
12 |
| - |
appointments made to the following groups: administrative support (AS) level 1, 2 or 3, clerical (CR) or secretarial (ST-SCY) |
45 |
| - |
appointments made after a break in service greater than 24 months |
8 |
| Appointments to audit (preliminary number) |
971 |
As indicated above, the preliminary number of appointments subject to audit is 97. This is a preliminary number since we may find upon examination of documents that some appointments may be eliminated, as these individuals were in fact public servants returning to their substantive positions or being deployed to a new position at the same group and level. In addition, some appointments initially excluded from the scope but potentially involving unusual subsequent promotion trends during the follow-on period will be added to the scope of the audit.
Based on our database information, 20 of the 97 records involved an appointment through the priority system. They will be included in the scope of the audit.
We have also identified seven appointments made to the executive level (EX). Prior to December 2005, the authority to make appointments to positions at the executive level was not delegated to departments. Now, this authority is delegated to departments. These appointments will be included in the scope of the audit.
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Methodology
This audit will be carried out in accordance with the PSC Audit Manual, which sets out the audit framework and provides a set of comprehensive audit policies that govern the conduct of all audits and studies by the PSC. It also includes the PSC Audit Code of Professional Conduct, which must be followed, in addition to the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service. This Manual and the audit policies it contains are based upon current standards of the audit profession and other disciplines.
As part of its audit procedures, the PSC will review files on appointment activities (where they exist2), pay records and other key documents and conduct interviews with department and agency officials if necessary. Departments and agencies will be contacted for access to supporting documents and interviews, as appropriate.
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Communication
As is our normal process, we will send letters to deputy heads of the departments and agencies involved in the scope of this audit, informing them of our planned audit work. The PSC will inform departments and agencies, where applicable, of any cases of concern as they arise.
The audit will be reported to Parliament and the results will be posted on the PSC’s Web site.
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Investigation
If, during the course of this audit, allegations arise or facts come to light which indicate a probable breach of the legislation, investigations may be initiated and conducted concurrently with the audit. These investigations would be conducted in accordance with sections 11(b) and 66 to 69 of the PSEA. Investigators will have the authority, under Part II of the Inquiries Act, to summon witnesses and receive testimonials under oath. Any investigation initiated will follow the rules of procedural fairness, which include giving the parties an opportunity to be heard.
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Report and Timelines
The audit will be reported to Parliament in the fall of 2007.
Investigation reports, if any, are subject to the Privacy Act and will be provided to the parties after they are finalized. Given the nature of fact-finding investigations, these reports may not be completed at the time the audit report is made public.
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Glossary
Advertised appointment process – (this term is used in the new PSEA only) Meets two conditions. First, persons in the area of selection are informed of the appointment opportunity. Second, they have an opportunity to apply and demonstrate their suitability against the merit criteria.
Audit - An objective and systematic examination of activities that provides an independent assessment of the performance and management of those activities.
Employee - A person employed in the part of the public service to which the PSC has exclusive authority to make appointments; includes part-time but not casual workers.
External appointment process – (this term is used in the new PSEA) A process in which persons may be considered whether or not they are employed in the public service.
Internal appointment process – (this term is used in the new PSEA) Appointments for which only persons employed in the public service may be considered.
Investigation – An inquiry into an alleged violation of the PSEA or the PSER.
Leave of absence priority – The priority entitlement for leave of absence returnees refers to employees who are on leave without pay, for any reason, and whose positions have been backfilled on an indeterminate basis, either by appointment or deployment. An employee with this priority is entitled to be appointed ahead of all other persons to any position for which the person meets the qualifications (or the essential qualifications under the new PSEA), except where the department or agency intends to appoint one of its own surplus employees. The entitlement starts on the date the position is backfilled indeterminately and lasts for the remainder of the original leave, plus one year thereafter.
Minister’s staff priority – The PSEA provides that persons employed in a minister's office are entitled to be appointed in priority over other persons to positions in the public service for which they are qualified if:
- they were employees of the public service immediately before becoming employed in the minister's office;
- they qualified for appointment to the public service under the PSEA while employed in the office of a minister; or
- they had been employed as an executive assistant, special assistant or private secretary to a minister or in any of those capacities successively, for a continuous period of at least three years. In this instance, these individuals have a right to be considered for positions at a level equivalent to the level of private secretary to a deputy head (The PSC has established this to be a level normally equivalent to an EX minus 2 or above).
To be entitled to the priority, the person must have ceased to be employed in a minister's office. The entitlement remains in force for a period not exceeding one year after the individual ceases to be employed in a minister’s office.
With the coming into force of the Federal Accountability Act on December 12, 2006, the minister’s staff priority entitlement has been replaced by the right to participate in advertised internal appointment processes open to employees of the federal public service for a one-year period after the person ceases to be employed in the minister’s office.
Non-advertised appointment process – (this term is used in the new PSEA only) An appointment process that does not meet the criteria for an advertised appointment process.
Organizations – This report uses "organizations" to stand for departments and agencies.
Personal favouritism – Involves an inappropriate action or behaviour by a public servant who, by using knowledge, authority or influence, provides an unfair advantage or preferential treatment to a current employee or a candidate for employment in the public service.
Political influence – Interference in the appointment process. It could include, but is not limited to, interference by a minister’s or a member of Parliament's office.
Priority – The right to be appointed ahead of all others to vacant public service positions. There are four types of statutory priorities under the Public Service Employment Act (surplus employees appointed within their own department or agency, leave of absence, ministers' staff and lay-off, in that order) and six regulatory priorities under the Public Service Employment Regulations (surplus employees appointed outside their own department or agency, Governor General's exempt staff, employees who become disabled, Canadian Forces/RCMP who are released for medical reasons, relocation of spouse and reinstatement, in no specific order).
Priority person – A person who has an entitlement under the Public Service Employment Act or Public Service Employment Regulations, for a limited period, to be appointed ahead of all others to vacant positions in the public service for which he or she meets the essential qualifications.
Public service – The departments named in Schedule I of the Financial Administration Act, the organizations named in Schedule IV of that Act, and the separate agencies named in Schedule V of that Act.
1 It is estimated that 83 of these 97 public servants are at present employed in the public service. (Return)
2 Up until December 2005, staffing files could be destroyed after two years. (Return)
