Annual Report: 2003-2004

Status report on access requests in a deemed-refusal situation

l. 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:

Initially, six institutions were the focus of this review, one being Health Canada (HCan).

This Status Report, for the period April 1 to November 30, 2003, reviews the continued progress of the department to maintain substantial compliance with the time requirements of the Access to Information Act. 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 January 1999 Report Card, Health Canada received a red alert grade of "F" with a 51.2% deemed-refusal to request ratio for requests received from April 1 to November 30, 1998. For the complete 1998-1999 fiscal year, the ratio was 61.8%.

The next year, April 1 to November 30, 1999, the ratio improved dramatically to 3.1%, or an "A" grade. In addition, the backlog of deemed-refusal requests was entirely eliminated.

HCan had continued to achieve a grade of "A", which signals ideal compliance with the Access to Information Act, for each of the following reporting years, with compliance ratios varying between 4.5% and 5% as in the last reporting period. However, the end of the 2002-2003 fiscal year found the department slipping to a 7.2% of deemed refusals, resulting in a grade of "B".

3. CURRENT STATUS

HCan this year has achieved a grade of "B"(5.4%), which signals substantial compliance with the Access to Information Act, for the time period covered by this report.

While 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 of deemed refusals from April 1 to November 30, 2003, would be 6.0%, still a grade of "B".

This year’s result is attributed directly to the dedication and professionalism of the ATIP staff of HCan. The challenges to maintaining this standard were considerable in that the ATIP office saw a higher-than-average turnover of staff. While the number of requests received in 2001-2002 had been the highest to date, indications are that this year will exceed that number. 2003 saw challenges, not the least being the SARS epidemic, resulting in many related access requests. All of these factors, combined with the need to conduct extensive and at times lengthy consultations with third parties and other government departments, put additional strain on the HCan ATIP resources. In addition, privacy requests have increased by 20%.

3.1 Objective for 2004-2005

ATIP management recognizes that the status quo cannot continue, especially with the current workload where staff members are in some cases working as many as 80 hours of overtime a month. In an attempt to address challenges, a business plan is being developed for presentation to senior management. With possible increases in staffing resources and upgrades to technology, it is anticipated that HCan should be able to maintain an ideal compliance.

In line with the constant review of the processing of requests, HCan may need to consider alternate methods of processing records, specifically the upgrading of ATIPflow with expanded training to all staff in its use. Furthermore, reducing the reliance on manually processing of records may ultimately ease the workload on analysts. One such method may be utilizing ATIPimage; many of the departments currently using this tool now see it as invaluable in meeting their compliance objectives.

4. STATUS OF 2003 RECOMMENDATIONS

In the January 2003 Status Report, recommendations were made to HCan to set objective to maintain ideal compliance with the time requirements of the Act. In principal, this objective has been met; nevertheless, all aspects of the process including the delegation authority are still open to review with a mind to enhance productivity. Specific initiatives include the introduction of a higher level review of processed records to ultimately expand the knowledge base, increase communication amongst the staff and improve consistency.

EXCERPT FROM DEPUTY MINISTER’S RESPONSE TO STATUS REPORT

"As you state in our report card, Health Canada ha[s] had a number of challenges in 2003. The Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Division, not unlike the Department as a whole, saw its own set of issues arise which have impacted our performance. Some of these issues have resulted in the decline of our grade from an "A" rating in previous years to a "B".

As departmental officials have indicated to your members, the ATIP Division is in a transition period. Health Canada’s intake of formal requests under the Act has increased sharply and steadily over the last ten years. Requests received in fiscal year 1993-94, have jumped from 648 to a record high of 1,543 during this last reporting period. In line with your recommendation, the ATIP Division recently completed a business plan addressing resource implications. As a result, I am pleased to inform you that, effective immediately, $225,000 in salary has been reallocated to the ATIP Division. In addition, Health Canada has committed to modernizing the Division’s technological tools, including the acquisition of the ATIPimage (document imaging and severing software).

Coupled with the increase in resource allocation, the ATIP Division is also engaged in a detailed review of its internal practices, as well as of those within the Department which relate to the processing of requests to ensure consistency and proper application of the legislation, to improve the quality of responses and to identify efficiencies which could improve performance. During this transition period, I anticipate that we may experience a decline in our grade, however, I am confident that the changes will improve Health Canada’s capacity to continue to meet the requirements of the Act over the long term.

I appreciate the opportunity for these exchanges with your office, and I would like to reiterate my personal commitment to the administration of the Act within Health Canada."