Annual Report: 2003-2004

Status report on access requests in a deemed-refusal situation

1. BACKGROUND

For several years, a number of institutions were subject to review because of evidence of chronic difficult in meeting response deadlines. In his 1996-97 Annual Report to Parliament, the former information commissioner reported that delays in responding to access requests had reached crisis proportions.

As a result, the Information Commissioner has adopted the following standard as being the best measure of a department’s compliance with response deadlines: percentage of requests received which end as deemed refusals. Every department reviewed has been assessed against the following grading standard:

This Status Report reviews the continued progress of Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to maintain substantial compliance with the time requirements of the Access to Information Act since the previous report. In addition, this report contains information on the status of the recommendations made in the Status Report of January 2003.

2. COMPLIANCE HISTORY

In the 1999 Report Card issued by the Office of the Information Commissioner, Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) (formerly Canada Customs and Revenue Agency) compliance with the statutory time requirements of the Access to Information Act was rated as a red alert grade of "F", with an 85.6% new request to deemed-refusal ratio.

In January 2000, the statistics showed that from April 1 to November 30, 1999, the deemed-refusal ratio for access requests improved to 51.5%, although still a grade of "F".

In January 2001, for the period April 1 to November 30, 2000, CRA was reported as having attained a borderline compliance with the Act, for a grade of "C" with a 14.9% ratio.

The January 2002 report saw CRA continuing to make impressive progress in reducing the deemed-refusal situation. For the period of April 1 to November 30, 2001, the Agency achieved a grade of "B" with a 6.8% new request to deemed-refusal ratio.

For the 2002-2003 reporting period, CRA made further strides in improving their performance having attained a 3.5%, or a grade of "A" deemed-refusal ratio, with that performance slipping marginally to 5.2% for the full fiscal year, or a grade of "B".

The following graph shows the steady and dramatic improvement experienced by CRA in their efforts to reach ideal compliance with the time requirements of the Access to Information Act.

3. CURRENT STATUS

For the reporting period of April 1 to November 30, 2003, CRA achieved a grade of "B" that denotes "substantial compliance" in meeting the time

requirements of the Access to Information Act. The new request to deemed-refusal ratio for the period was 6.4%.

Although this gives an accurate assessment of the deemed-refusal ratio to requests received within the above-noted reporting period, it does not take into consideration those requests carried over from the previous year, nor the number of requests already in a deemed-refusal status on April 1. In future reports, these figures will be taken into consideration; however, for this report, the grading resulting from that inclusion is provided for information purposes only. In this instance, the results for April 1 to November 30, 2003, would be 6.5%, still resulting in a grade of "B".

While the "ideal compliance" ratio had not been maintained, the professionalism and dedication of the ATIP staff was evident in allowing the Agency to perform as well as it did considering the significant increase in the number of requests it has received. Like many federal institutions, CRA has experienced a steady increase of requests over the last five years. However, the 40% increase in new requests experienced by CRA during this reporting period was substantial. This ever-increasing number of requests is reflected in the chart below, which reveals a 242% increase in the number of ATIA requests received by CRA during the period indicated.

During the course of this review, the Director and Deputy Director identified a number of initiatives put in place during 2003 that were instrumental in maintaining the substantial compliance:

• Weekly tracking of statistics to allow managers to stay on top of workload with monitoring at all levels of management. Additional management reporting tools are currently under construction. Indicative of the involvement of senior management, future performance evaluations for ATIP managers will include performance objectives relating to on-time response rates for ATIA requests.
• Processes related to the opening of new requests now include a triage review. The purposes of this review is not only to identify and resolve administrative issues related to the receipt of new requests, but to identify whether the information asked for by the applicant under the ATIA is available informally and more conveniently to him or her from Agency program offices.
• The establishment and staffing of an officer-level position to review requests to determine if they can be handled informally, as well as the continued identification of information disclosed through previous access requests, which could be responsive informally to requests. In November alone, 17 such requests were processed. This is an encouraging development. During FY 04/05, CRA will be conducting an Agency-wide review of records/manuals, daily activities, etc., to identify further opportunities for the routine, proactive disclosure of information.
• Expanded awareness Agency-wide of roles and responsibilities has been incorporated in the guidance manual, with further enhancements planned to include online reference.

4. FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS AND FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

Recently, there has been considerable restructuring within CRA including the departure of the former CCRA Customs Branch. What impact these will have on workload and CRA’s capacity to continue responding on time to ATIA requests is unknown at this time.

CRA has made tremendous strides in improving its performance record since the initial Report Card. Nevertheless, CRA is encouraged to continue to review processes, resources, and look at newer methods and technologies as they become available. The following recommendations are made to support the continued efforts of CRA to process access requests within the statutory time requirements of the Access to Information Act.

4.1 Sustain Achievement

The achievement of ideal compliance with the time requirements of the Access to Information Act requires constant attention to the access process. The Agency is encouraged to continuously improve its access process activities, build on its achievements and devote the resources needed to once again achieve ideal compliance with the Access to Information Act.

4.2 Informal Access

The Agency continues to identify information that was disclosed through previous access requests over a twelve-month period to assist applicants in deciding whether they wish to file formal requests. Additionally, funding has been approved for an Agency-wide analysis of operationally based opportunities for informal disclosure. This study is planned to be conducted during the coming fiscal year. This analysis is intended to identify opportunities for making information routinely available to the public rather than through the access process.

4.3 Process

In conjunction with an internal review of the ATIP process that is already underway, CRA intends to develop external processing standards for the guidance of Agency OPIs.

5. STATUS OF 2003 RECOMMENDATIONS

In January 2003, recommendations were made to CRA on measures to further reduce the number of access requests in a deemed-refusal situation. The action taken on each recommendation is described below, following the text of the recommendation:

Action Taken: While CRA was unable to maintain the "A" grade for ideal compliance for this reporting period, considering the increased number of requests received and the relative success experienced over the past year, it is anticipated that CRA will quickly be able to achieve ideal compliance. A caveat in this regard is the extent to which CRA’s ATIP office remains adequately resourced and supported.

Action Taken: CRA continues to review its previously released records, as well as other departmental records that may be routinely released, to further reduce request workload by provided records informally. Staff resources have been put in place to focus specifically on this issue.

Action Taken: Continuous review of all aspects of the departmental process is underway, with internal and external process standards under development. Enhanced communications between the ATIP office and OPIs have furthered better understanding of roles and responsibilities of all parties in meeting time constraints.

EXCERPT FROM COMMISSIONER’S RESPONSE TO STATUS REPORT

"Last year we were very pleased with the "A" rating given by your office in recognition of our efforts to comply with the response requirements of the Access to Information Act (ATIA). While we worked hard this year to maintain that level of performance, the number of ATIA requests received by the CRA increased beyond our capacity to do so. This said, the workload reality that you have accurately described in your report is one that we are committed to addressing. During the upcoming year, for example, we will be proceeding with our plan to examine ways by which we might increase opportunities for Canadians to receive information informally from us – without obliging them to file formal ATIA requests. In a resource-scarce environment, we have also taken note of your recommendation that the necessary resources be devoted so that the CRA may again achieve ideal compliance with the on-time response requirements of the ATIA.

In closing, I would like to assure you of our continued commitment to the values of openness and transparency fostered by the ATIA, and to thank you for your recognition of efforts that we have taken to support them."