Treasury Board's role in policy implementation

Once a policy is approved, attention shifts to managing implementation

• Treasury Board (TB) is the Cabinet committee that establishes and oversees management within the Federal Public Administration.
• The extent to which TB policies apply varies for different types of organizations.  Most TB policies indicate the scope of their application in reference to the schedules in the  Financial Administration Act.

There are four functions of management:

1. planning,
2. implementing plans,
3. monitoring and adjusting implementation, and
4. evaluating.

• Treasury Board policies cover each of these areas, and may assign responsibility for developing more detailed, organization-specific policies to Ministers or Deputy Heads.

We often equate Treasury Board with financial management, but that is only one area

• There are management policies in many other areas, including human resources, contracting, project management, information management, internal security, audit and evaluation.

A fundamental decision for TB in setting policy is how to delegate responsibility

• Generally speaking, it is considered efficient and preferable to delegate to the lowest level capable of making sound decisions.
• Sound decision-making requires knowledge, judgment, access to pertinent information and effective relationships with organizations implicated in, or affected by the decisions.
• Effectively, this capacity comes down to the ability to manage the risks that go with the decisions, i.e. balancing the potential benefit of the action with the risk tolerance of those on whose behalf you are deciding.

When it comes to implementing policy decisions, the first question is: what authorities are needed?

• TB policies may give departments many of the authorities they need.  That is, TB has determined that the department can manage the risks.
• However, in some areas, TB policies may require that a Minister seek a specific authority, i.e. requiring the Minister to demonstrate, in a TB submission, that measures are in place within the department to manage the higher than normal risks.

TB submissions seek specific authorities from TB

• This point is worth emphasizing. While you could just fill in the template for the TB submission, it is better to keep in mind the overarching purpose is: demonstrating that your department is capable of managing the risks associated with the decision-making authority it seeks.
• More on how to prepare a TB submission in my next post.

Pour la version fran?aise, visitez: Treasury Board’s role in policy implementation / Le r?le du Conseil du Trésor concernant la mise en ?uvre de politiques