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More accountability for the public sector proposed
27 October 2010
So far, I have been unimpressed by the McGuinty government, but the proposed new legislation that expands accountability rules across the public sector strikes me as the best thing they've done to date (perhaps the ONLY good thing they've done to date).
Municipal governments are governed by similar rules, and I have always wondered why other public institutions like hospitals and schools were not equally transparent in their procedures and expenses. Seems like that's about to change and I think it's to the benefit of everyone, or at least that's what this government press release suggests:
Government Proposes New Rules, Higher Standards For Broader Public Sector
October 26, 2010 - Ontario is proposing strict new rules that would prevent organizations funded with taxpayer dollars from using public funds to hire external lobbyists to ask for more funding.
The proposed Broader Public Sector Accountability Act would, if passed, bring in new rules and higher accountability standards for hospitals, Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and the broader public sector around the use of external lobbyists, consultants and expenses. Hospital and LHIN executives could see reductions in pay, should they fail to comply with the requirements under the proposed Act.
The new rules would also apply to school boards, colleges, universities, hydro entities, community care access centres, Children's Aid Societies and other public sector organizations that receive more than $10 million in government funding.
In addition to ending the use of taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists, the new rules would:
QUICK FACTS
The proposed Act would also include tough expense and procurement rules for large Broader Public Sector organizations, such as mandating competitive procurements.
Ontario has reduced its reliance on consultants by 53 per cent. Consulting expenditures in 2001/02 were $656 million and have been reduced to $304 million in 2009/10.
Lobbyists are required to publicly register under the Lobbyists Registration Act.
LEARN MORE
Looks good to me, although I have yet to read the Act in its entirety. Along with the above, in another press release, the government has some additional proposals in that bill to restrict the use of lobbyists for tax-funded agencies:
Taxpayer-Funded Lobbyists Banned In Ontario Public Sector
October 26, 2010 - Legislation proposed on October 20 would, if passed, prohibit broader public sector organizations from using public funds to hire external lobbyists - ensuring that taxpayer money is used to deliver public services and programs instead of being wasted on outside lobbyists.
Under the proposed legislation, a lobbyist is an individual who is paid to lobby on behalf of a client. A lobbyist may be a government relations practitioner, lawyer or other professional who provides lobbying services to clients for a fee. However, it does not include someone who works "in-house" and performs government relations tasks as part of his/her job.
The proposed legislation would apply to classified agencies, such as the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, hydro entities, large broader public sector organizations such as hospitals, school boards and universities and every other publicly funded organization that receives more than $10 million in government funding.
The restrictions outlined in the proposed legislation complement several initiatives the Ontario Public Service has in place.
LOBBYING:
The Lobbyists Registration Act requires lobbyists who wish to lobby public office holders to register with the Lobbyist Registrar, who is the Integrity Commissioner. All lobbyist registrations are available to the public on the Integrity Commissioner's web site (www.oico.on.ca). Failure to file required information in accordance with the Act, or making false or misleading statements, is an offence. Upon conviction, an individual is liable to a fine of up to $25,000.
The government also has regulations in place under the Public Service of Ontario Act that restrict post-service lobbying activities by former public servants, including those employed in designated senior positions in a minister's office. For one year after leaving the public service, these former public servants are prohibited from lobbying any minister's office or ministry with which they worked in the 12 months prior to leaving the public service.
The government also has strong conflict of interest rules for vendors involved in lobbying activities. Firms that bid on government work in areas such as public relations, media relations and commissioned research services, must disclose the subject matter of their lobbyist activities over the past 12 months, which ministries they have lobbied, and on behalf of whom.
CONSULTING SERVICES:
Government of Ontario policies on the procurement of consulting services require all ministries and agencies to use competitive procurement processes when they acquire consulting services, and restricts the payment of hospitality, incidental and food expenses for consultants.
Since 2003, 1,519 positions in the Ontario Public Service have been approved for conversion to replace work previously done by consultants. This has resulted in ongoing annual savings of approximately $64 million.
EXPENSES:
The proposed legislation increases transparency and accountability by setting clear rules for the public posting of expense claim information by designated broader public sector organizations. The proposed legislation requires Local Health Integration Networks and hospitals to post information about expense claims onto their public web sites.
The payment of expenses to consultants who work in the Ontario Public Service is restricted.
The public has access to online listings of expenses for the Premier, Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentary Assistants, political staff and senior management in the Ontario Public Service and a link to the expenses of the Chairs, appointees, Chief Executive Officers, Presidents and Vice-Presidents or equivalent levels (direct reports to CEOs) and the top 5 claimants at 22 of Ontario's largest agencies.
In November 2009, the Public Sector Expenses Review Act, gave the Integrity Commissioner the authority to review expense claims of senior officials, appointees and the top 5 expense claimants in 22 of the province's largest agencies. This act requires these officials to abide by the same rigorous accountability and oversight provisions that apply to Cabinet Ministers and political staff who fall under the Cabinet Ministers' and Opposition Leaders' Expenses Review and Accountability Act.
The government revised the Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expenses Directive to provide stronger and simpler expense rules for employees at ministries, employees and appointees at classified agencies, consultants and contractors to ministries or classified agencies, and designated persons in all organizations prescribed by regulation under the Public Sector Expenses Review Act, 2009.
These initiatives protect the interests of taxpayers and strengthen the government's accountability for its agencies by raising the standard of oversight and by requiring all agencies to adhere to the same rules.
~~~~
I'm interested to see if this gets passed as proposed. I hope since, since the more accountability and openness we provide in the public sector, the stronger our democracy is.
One item of note in the above press release is the online access to the expenses of your elected officials. Why don't we have that here? Well, the mayor does. He promised to post his expenses online and although it takes a bit of digging to find them, they are available up to April, 2010. However, I could not, after a lot of searching, discover a single report on council expenses. We need to improve that. The public should be able to read what council has spent, as well. And I would recommend that both be presented in a modified format that explains what the numbers mean, not merely list them. Better communication by the town is one of my primary goals this term.
While the mayor lived up to his promise to post his expenses, the same can't be true of minutes for his meetings with developers. As I recall, last election he promised to make them public. Search as I could, I could find nary a one online. Now perhaps they are posted somewhere deep within the bowels of the site, or under some title that isn't obvious to the search engine terms I used. But I don't recall the mayor giving council any minutes of those meetings, at last for the last two years. So where are they?
Municipal governments are governed by similar rules, and I have always wondered why other public institutions like hospitals and schools were not equally transparent in their procedures and expenses. Seems like that's about to change and I think it's to the benefit of everyone, or at least that's what this government press release suggests:
Government Proposes New Rules, Higher Standards For Broader Public Sector
October 26, 2010 - Ontario is proposing strict new rules that would prevent organizations funded with taxpayer dollars from using public funds to hire external lobbyists to ask for more funding.
The proposed Broader Public Sector Accountability Act would, if passed, bring in new rules and higher accountability standards for hospitals, Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and the broader public sector around the use of external lobbyists, consultants and expenses. Hospital and LHIN executives could see reductions in pay, should they fail to comply with the requirements under the proposed Act.
The new rules would also apply to school boards, colleges, universities, hydro entities, community care access centres, Children's Aid Societies and other public sector organizations that receive more than $10 million in government funding.
In addition to ending the use of taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists, the new rules would:
- Expand Freedom of Information legislation to cover hospitals.
- Require hospitals and LHINs to post expenses of senior executives online.
- Require hospitals and LHINs to report annually on their use of consultants.
QUICK FACTS
The proposed Act would also include tough expense and procurement rules for large Broader Public Sector organizations, such as mandating competitive procurements.
Ontario has reduced its reliance on consultants by 53 per cent. Consulting expenditures in 2001/02 were $656 million and have been reduced to $304 million in 2009/10.
Lobbyists are required to publicly register under the Lobbyists Registration Act.
LEARN MORE
- Taxpayer-Funded Lobbyists Banned In Ontario Public Sector
- Broader Public Sector Procurement
- Hospital Records Open To Public Scrutiny
- Learn about Ontario's Excellent Care for All Strategy.
Looks good to me, although I have yet to read the Act in its entirety. Along with the above, in another press release, the government has some additional proposals in that bill to restrict the use of lobbyists for tax-funded agencies:
Taxpayer-Funded Lobbyists Banned In Ontario Public Sector
October 26, 2010 - Legislation proposed on October 20 would, if passed, prohibit broader public sector organizations from using public funds to hire external lobbyists - ensuring that taxpayer money is used to deliver public services and programs instead of being wasted on outside lobbyists.
Under the proposed legislation, a lobbyist is an individual who is paid to lobby on behalf of a client. A lobbyist may be a government relations practitioner, lawyer or other professional who provides lobbying services to clients for a fee. However, it does not include someone who works "in-house" and performs government relations tasks as part of his/her job.
The proposed legislation would apply to classified agencies, such as the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, hydro entities, large broader public sector organizations such as hospitals, school boards and universities and every other publicly funded organization that receives more than $10 million in government funding.
The restrictions outlined in the proposed legislation complement several initiatives the Ontario Public Service has in place.
LOBBYING:
The Lobbyists Registration Act requires lobbyists who wish to lobby public office holders to register with the Lobbyist Registrar, who is the Integrity Commissioner. All lobbyist registrations are available to the public on the Integrity Commissioner's web site (www.oico.on.ca). Failure to file required information in accordance with the Act, or making false or misleading statements, is an offence. Upon conviction, an individual is liable to a fine of up to $25,000.
The government also has regulations in place under the Public Service of Ontario Act that restrict post-service lobbying activities by former public servants, including those employed in designated senior positions in a minister's office. For one year after leaving the public service, these former public servants are prohibited from lobbying any minister's office or ministry with which they worked in the 12 months prior to leaving the public service.
The government also has strong conflict of interest rules for vendors involved in lobbying activities. Firms that bid on government work in areas such as public relations, media relations and commissioned research services, must disclose the subject matter of their lobbyist activities over the past 12 months, which ministries they have lobbied, and on behalf of whom.
CONSULTING SERVICES:
Government of Ontario policies on the procurement of consulting services require all ministries and agencies to use competitive procurement processes when they acquire consulting services, and restricts the payment of hospitality, incidental and food expenses for consultants.
Since 2003, 1,519 positions in the Ontario Public Service have been approved for conversion to replace work previously done by consultants. This has resulted in ongoing annual savings of approximately $64 million.
EXPENSES:
The proposed legislation increases transparency and accountability by setting clear rules for the public posting of expense claim information by designated broader public sector organizations. The proposed legislation requires Local Health Integration Networks and hospitals to post information about expense claims onto their public web sites.
The payment of expenses to consultants who work in the Ontario Public Service is restricted.
The public has access to online listings of expenses for the Premier, Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentary Assistants, political staff and senior management in the Ontario Public Service and a link to the expenses of the Chairs, appointees, Chief Executive Officers, Presidents and Vice-Presidents or equivalent levels (direct reports to CEOs) and the top 5 claimants at 22 of Ontario's largest agencies.
In November 2009, the Public Sector Expenses Review Act, gave the Integrity Commissioner the authority to review expense claims of senior officials, appointees and the top 5 expense claimants in 22 of the province's largest agencies. This act requires these officials to abide by the same rigorous accountability and oversight provisions that apply to Cabinet Ministers and political staff who fall under the Cabinet Ministers' and Opposition Leaders' Expenses Review and Accountability Act.
The government revised the Travel, Meal and Hospitality Expenses Directive to provide stronger and simpler expense rules for employees at ministries, employees and appointees at classified agencies, consultants and contractors to ministries or classified agencies, and designated persons in all organizations prescribed by regulation under the Public Sector Expenses Review Act, 2009.
These initiatives protect the interests of taxpayers and strengthen the government's accountability for its agencies by raising the standard of oversight and by requiring all agencies to adhere to the same rules.
~~~~
I'm interested to see if this gets passed as proposed. I hope since, since the more accountability and openness we provide in the public sector, the stronger our democracy is.
One item of note in the above press release is the online access to the expenses of your elected officials. Why don't we have that here? Well, the mayor does. He promised to post his expenses online and although it takes a bit of digging to find them, they are available up to April, 2010. However, I could not, after a lot of searching, discover a single report on council expenses. We need to improve that. The public should be able to read what council has spent, as well. And I would recommend that both be presented in a modified format that explains what the numbers mean, not merely list them. Better communication by the town is one of my primary goals this term.
While the mayor lived up to his promise to post his expenses, the same can't be true of minutes for his meetings with developers. As I recall, last election he promised to make them public. Search as I could, I could find nary a one online. Now perhaps they are posted somewhere deep within the bowels of the site, or under some title that isn't obvious to the search engine terms I used. But I don't recall the mayor giving council any minutes of those meetings, at last for the last two years. So where are they?
