Attachment 2: International comparisons on the role of the Board

Permanent board established under legislation. Board membership consists of the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as chair, secretaries of departments of state, the APS Commissioner, and from time to time co-opted members.

The Board has prescribed statutory functions.

Collective leadership model.

Unique model amongst like-minded/Westminster jurisdictions.

No permanent board.

Legislated model to establish inter-departmental executive boards on an as-needs basis to draw together chief executives of affected or contributing departments to work collectively.

No decision-making board/ committees.

Three advisory committees:

• Coordinating Committee of Deputy Ministers (CCDM)
• Committee of Senior Officials (CSO)
• Board of Management and Renewal (BMR)

The Clerk and Deputy Clerks are ex-officio members of all committees.

The Board was established by statute in 2013 (s64(1), Public Service Act 1999)

Membership is prescribed in legislation (s64(2)).

Functions are prescribed in legislation (s64(3)).

Power to establish Sub-committees to assist to perform the functions of the board is prescribed in legislation (s64(4)).

Framework to establish interdepartmental committees is set out in statute.

Section 25 Public Service Act 2020.

The purposes of interdepartmental executive boards are—

1. to align and co-ordinate strategic policy, planning, and budgeting activities for 2 or more departments with responsibilities in a subject matter area:
2. to support those departments to undertake priority work in the subject matter area:
3. to support cross-department initiatives in the subject matter area.

Section 26 of the Public Service Act 2020 requires an Order in Council (TOR) to state:

• the name of the interdepartmental executive board
• the departments with responsibilities in the subject-matter area in which the board will work (the remit)
• the department that will be the servicing department of the board.

Committees are established on a policy / operational basis.

Roles of the head of the public service (Clerk) and deputy head (Deputy Ministers) are prescribed in legislation (s125-127, Public Service Employment Act (justice.gc.ca)).

The Clerk and Deputy Clerks are ex-officio members of all committees.

Committees comprise various Deputy Ministers and senior advisors.

Chaired by the Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office (deputy head of the civil service).

Members include Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, and a cross-section of permanent secretaries.

Statutory functions:

1. stewardship of and improvement strategies for the APS
2. identify strategic priorities for the APS and consider issues that affect the APS;
3. to set an annual work program, and direct subcommittees to develop strategies to address APS‑wide issues and make recommendations to the Secretaries Board;
4. to draw together advice from senior leaders in government, business and the community;
5. to work collaboratively and model leadership behaviours

Terms of Reference set out policy and operational matters.

The key uses of the model are to:

• align strategy and planning activities for a group of agencies operating in overlapping policy areas; and
• harness the capabilities of individual departments to collectively plan for, and make funding decisions on, a specific cross-cutting problem or priority.

In these instances, responsibility for delivery activities that contribute to the board’s priorities would remain with individual departments.

CCDM: forum to discuss the implementation of the Government’s policy agenda and priorities.

CSO: functions as the human resources committee for the senior executive cadre of the Public Service.

BMR: Provides a forum to advance the management agenda and the renewal of the Public Service.

Accountable to the Cabinet Secretary and is responsible for considering the strategic challenges faced by the Civil Service, and collectively agreeing a way forward.

As the most senior collective leadership body, members of CSB also support the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service in a programme of visible leadership and engagement with other tiers of the Senior Civil Service (SCS), and the wider Civil Service

Not publicly available.

Assume meeting frequency is determined on a board by board basis.

Chief Operating Officer Committee

Future of Work Committee

Digital and Data Committee

Partnerships Priorities Committee