Statement outlining results, risks and significant changes in operations, personnel and program
Introduction
This quarterly financial report has been prepared by management as required by section 65.1 of the
Financial Administration Act and in the form and manner prescribed by the Treasury Board. The report should be read in conjunction with the Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates A and B and the previous quarterly financial reports for the current year as well as Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012 (Budget 2012). The report has not been subject to an external audit or review.
The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is an independent administrative tribunal that was created on January 1, 1989, by an amendment to the
Immigration Act. In 2002, the
Immigration Act was replaced by the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which has been amended by the
Balanced Refugee Reform Act (BRRA) and by the
Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act (PCISA) in 2012.
The mission of the
IRB is to resolve immigration and refugee cases efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the law.
The
IRB has five program activities: Refugee Protection, Immigration Appeals, Admissibility Hearings and Detention Reviews, Refugee Appeals and Internal Services. The Internal Services program activity supports the four other program activities.
A summary description of the
IRB's program activities can be found in
Part II of the Main Estimates.
Basis of Presentation
This quarterly report has been prepared by management using an expenditure basis of accounting. The accompanying Statement of Authorities includes the
IRB's spending authorities granted by Parliament and those used by the
IRB in a manner consistent with the Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates A and B for the 2012‑13 fiscal year. This quarterly report has been prepared using a special purpose financial reporting framework designed to meet financial information needs with respect to the use of spending authorities.
The authority of Parliament is required before monies can be spent by the Government.
Approvals are given in the form of annually approved limits through appropriation acts or through legislation in the form of statutory spending authority for specific purposes.
As part of the Parliamentary business of supply, the Main Estimates must be tabled in Parliament on or before March 1 preceding the new fiscal year. Budget 2012 was tabled in Parliament on March 29, after the tabling of the Main Estimates on February 28, 2012. As a result, the measures announced in Budget 2012 could not be reflected in the 2012‑2013 Main Estimates.
In fiscal year 2012‑2013, frozen allotments will be established by Treasury Board authority in departmental votes to prohibit the spending of funds already identified as savings measures in Budget 2012. In future years, the changes to departmental authorities will be implemented through the Annual Reference Level Update, as approved by Treasury Board, and reflected in the subsequent Main Estimates tabled in Parliament.
The
IRB uses the full accrual method of accounting to prepare and present its annual departmental financial statements that are part of the departmental performance reporting process. However, the spending authorities voted by Parliament remain on an expenditure basis.
Highlights of fiscal quarter and fiscal year to date (YTD) results
Significant Changes to Authorities
As at December 31, 2012, the total authorities available for use were $146.2 million compared to $148.5 million for the same quarter of the prior year, representing a decrease of $2.3 million or 1.5% as reflected in the Statement of Authorities and as shown in the Graph below.
The net decrease of $2.3 million is due to the following:
- A net decrease of $1.6 million in funding transferred to Shared Services Canada to consolidate and transform information technology infrastructure;
- A decrease of $2.1 million in sunset funding to support the reform of Canada's Refugee System;
- A decrease of $1.5 million related to savings identified as part of the 2009 Strategic Review of departmental spending;
- A decrease of $1.1 million related to sunset funding to manage immigration cases involving classified information under Division 9 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act;
- A decrease of $0.4 million related to a rate adjustment applicable for the employee benefit plan;
- A decrease of $0.3 million related to the transfer of pay accounts to PWGSC; and
- A decrease of $0.1 million related to transfer to Public Service Commission;
- An increase of $1.4 million in funding to address challenges in the management of security inadmissibility cases, protect classified information in immigration proceedings, and obtain assurances against torture in exceptional removal cases;
- An increase of $0.4 million in funding to support the sharing of immigration information with the United States;
- A decrease of $1.8 million related to savings identified as part of the Budget 2012 Spending Review;
- A net increase of $1.1 million related to the operating budget carry forward;
- A net decrease of $7.3 million related to Paylist Expenditures; and
- A net increase of $11 million related to reprofiling.
Significant Changes to Expenditures
The
IRB spent 23% of its authorities in the third quarter of 2012‑2013. Compared to the previous year quarter, total expenditures have decreased by $1.7 million from $34.9 million to $33.2 million. This represents a decrease of 5%.
[Alternate format]
The image illustrates a graph of the third quarter expenditures compared to the annual authorities.
The vertical axis is dollars in millions and the horizontal axis is the fiscal years 2012‑2013 and 2011‑2012.
For fiscal year 2012‑2013, the first column indicate the total authorities of 146.2 millions and the second column the expenditures of 33.2 millions.
For fiscal year 2011‑2012, the first column indicate the total authorities of 148.5 millions and the second column the expenditures of 34.9 millions.
Risks and Uncertainties
The
IRB is funded through annual appropriations. As a result, its operations are affected by any changes in funding approved by Parliament. In addition, the
IRB's operations are affected by changes to legislation, the pace of Governor in Council appointments and reappointments of
IRB members and the intake of new immigration and refugee cases.
Budget 2010 announced that the operating budgets of departments and agencies would be frozen at their 2010‑2011 levels for fiscal years 2011‑2012 and 2012‑2013. Consequently, increases in expenditures related to personnel costs and other operating expenditures have to be managed within the allocated budget. In addition, a Strategic Review was conducted resulting in a net budget reduction of $5.7 million over fiscal years 2010‑2011, 2011‑2012 and 2012‑2013 to the Refugee Protection, Admissibility Hearings and Detention Reviews and Internal Services program activities. The impact on organizational activities has been managed through the following actions and mitigation strategies:
- Increases in personnel costs due to collective agreements have been absorbed through attrition due to retirements and departures for other reasons; and
- Increases in other operating costs have been managed through the reallocation of budgets from lower to higher priorities.
Significant changes related to operations, personnel and program
On December 15, 2012, the system for determining refugee claims made in Canada underwent significant changes as a result of the coming into force of the
Balanced Refugee Reform Act and the
Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, the latter of which amends both the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the
Balanced Refugee Reform Act.
Budget 2012 Implementation
This section provides an overview of the savings measures announced in Budget 2012 that will be implemented in order to refocus government and programs; make it easier for Canadians and business to deal with their government; and, modernize and reduce the back office.
Under Budget 2012, the
IRB will achieve savings of $13.1 million by fiscal year 2014‑2015 through efficiency measures and program reductions that align resources to the
IRB's core mandate, scaling back activities where the need is reduced; transforming internal operations; and by consolidating and streamlining its activities. With these changes the Board will support management excellence and accountability in government.
In the first year of implementation, the
IRB will achieve savings of approximately $3.3 million. Savings will increase to $6.3 million in 2013‑2014 and will result in ongoing savings of $13.1 million by 2014‑2015.
Over the next three fiscal years, these savings will derive from the discontinuance of hearings in Ottawa; the elimination of a planned measure to provide transcripts of proceedings of the new Refugee Protection Division (RPD) where the decision is appealed to the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD); the elimination of the information-gathering interview at the new
RPD; and the expected reduction in the volume of appeals to the
RAD resulting from legislation adopted by Parliament.
Approval by Senior Officials
Approved by:
Brian Goodman,
Chairperson
Serge Gascon,
Chief Financial Officer
Ottawa, Canada
March 1, 2013
Statement of Authorities
(unaudited) - Fiscal year 2012‑2013
(in thousands of dollars)
Statement of Authorities (unaudited) for 2012‑2013
| Total available for use for the year ending March 31, 2013Note 1 Note 2 | Used during the quarter ended Dectember 31, 2012 | Year to date used at quarter-end |
|---|
| Vote 10 – Net Operating expenditures | 129,685 | 29,044 | 79,839 |
| Budgetary statutory authorities – Contributions to employee benefit plans and proceeds from disposal of surplus crown assets | 16,469 | 4,118 | 12,352 |
|
Total authorities |
146,154 |
33,162 |
92,191 |
Statement of Authorities
(unaudited) - Fiscal year 2011‑2012
(in thousands of dollars)
Statement of Authorities (unaudited) for 2011‑2012
| Total available for use for the year ending March 31, 2012Note 1 Note 3 | Used during the quarter ended December 31, 2011Note 4 | Year to date used at quarter-end |
|---|
| Vote 10 – Net Operating expenditures | 131,722 | 30,807 | 89,488 |
| Budgetary statutory authorities – Contributions to employee benefit plans | 16,807 | 4,115 | 12,346 |
|
Total authorities |
148,529 |
34,922 |
101,834 |
More information is available in the attached table.
Departmental budgetary expenditures by Standard Object
(unaudited) -
Fiscal year 2012‑2013
(in thousands of dollars)
Departmental budgetary expenditures by Standard Object (unaudited) for 2012‑2013
| Expenditures | Planned expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2013Note 5 | Expended during the quarter ended December 31, 2012 | Year to date used at quarter-end |
|---|
| Personnel | 112,532 | 25,025 | 73,998 |
| Transportation and communications | 3,730 | 830 | 1,867 |
| Information | 75 | 242 | 375 |
| Professional and special services | 20,515 | 5,057 | 12,627 |
| Rentals | 1,354 | 125 | 915 |
| Repair and maintenance | 4,890 | 903 | 1,012 |
| Utilities, materials and supplies | 925 | 163 | 348 |
| Acquisition of machinery and equipment | 1,877 | 797 | 1,003 |
| Other subsidies and payments | 256 | 20 | 46 |
|
Total net budgetary expenditures |
146,154 |
33,162 |
92,191 |
Departmental budgetary expenditures by Standard Object
(unaudited) - Fiscal year 2011‑2012
(in thousands of dollars)
Departmental budgetary expenditures by Standard Object (unaudited) for 2011‑2012
| Expenditures | Planned expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2012Note 3 | Expended during the quarter ended December 31, 2011Note 4 | Year to date used at quarter-endNote 4 |
|---|
| Personnel | 111,404 | 27,364 | 82,468 |
| Transportation and communications | 2,419 | 953 | 2,788 |
| Information | 94 | 11 | 59 |
| Professional and special services | 22,140 | 5,692 | 13,666 |
| Rentals | 978 | 98 | 261 |
| Repair and maintenance | 6,159 | 454 | 1,510 |
| Utilities, materials and supplies | 1,098 | 169 | 496 |
| Acquisition of machinery and equipment | 4,035 | 111 | 512 |
| Other subsidies and payments | 202 | 70 | 74 |
|
Total net budgetary expenditures |
148,529 |
34,922 |
101,834 |