Departmental Plan 2022-2023

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• Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the President of the Treasury Board, 2022
• Catalogue No.: SC100-9E-PDF
• ISSN: 2371-8382

From the Minister

As the Minister responsible for the Canada School of Public Service (the School), I am pleased to present the School's Departmental Plan for 2022-23. As the Government of Canada's common learning provider, the School offers a wide variety of courses, events, programs, and learning tools that serve to establish a strong learning culture within the public service.

To best support an agile, equipped and inclusive public service, the School consistently delivers, in both official languages:

• responsive, high-quality, and accessible learning opportunities that strengthen the capacity for innovation across the core public service
• learning products under five business lines – Government of Canada and Public Sector Skills, Transferable Skills, Digital Academy, Indigenous Learning, and Respectful and Inclusive Workplace

In 2022-23, the School will deliver on its mandate by continuing to equip public servants with the knowledge, skills, and competencies they need, while also being responsive to current and emerging priorities, including the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In particular, the School will:

• optimize delivery modalities and leverage virtual tools to ensure that learning can be accessed by all public servants in departments and agencies across the country
• maintain and expand the functionality of its new learning platform in line with the Government of Canada's digital and accessibility standards
• deliver learning products and events that increase the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary for greater inclusion in the workplace and support the Clerk's Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service
• support the Government of Canada's commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples by providing learning on the history, heritage, cultures, rights, and perspectives of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, and their long-standing relationships with the Crown
• advance innovation across the public service by encouraging experimentation and novel solutions that reflect the best practices of multidisciplinary fields such as project management, emerging technology and human-centred design

I am confident that, with these and other actions outlined in this Departmental Plan, the School will continue to offer high-quality learning experiences that support all employees of the core public service in serving Canadians with excellence.

Plans at a glance

Established on April 1, 2004, under the Public Service Modernization Act, the Canada School of Public Service operates under the authority of the Canada School of Public Service Act (CSPS Act).

Under the CSPS Act, the School has the mandate to:

• encourage pride and excellence in the public service
• foster a common sense of purpose, values, and traditions in the public service
• assist deputy heads in meeting the learning needs of their organizations
• conduct research and encourage greater awareness of public management, administration, and innovation

The School plays a key role in helping public servants serve Canadians with excellence in a digital age, where Canadians expect their government to be effective, transparent, and open by default.

The School delivers a common curriculum to equip public servants with knowledge, skills, and competencies across five business lines:

• Government of Canada and Public Sector Skills
• Transferable Skills
• Digital Academy
• Indigenous Learning
• Respectful and Inclusive Workplace

For more information on the Canada School of Public Service's organizational commitments, see the Minister's mandate letter.

For more information on the Canada School of Public Service's plans, see the "Core responsibilities: planned results and resources" section of this plan.

Core responsibilities: planned results and resources

This section contains information on the department's planned results and resources for each of its core responsibilities.

Common public service learning

Description

The Canada School of Public Service provides common learning to all employees of the core public service to serve Canadians with excellence.

Planning highlights

The School has four expected results under its core responsibility. It will deliver common learning that is responsive, of high quality and accessible, and will strengthen the capacity for innovation across the core public service.

1. Common learning is responsive to learning needs

   The School will continue to deliver a common curriculum through five business lines to better equip public servants with knowledge, skills, and competencies while being responsive to emerging and ongoing priorities and the ongoing impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic.

   The Government of Canada and Public Sector Skills business line will provide core learning pertaining to the craft of government that is needed by public servants at all stages of their career, including new employees, employees transitioning to managerial functions and functional specialists in areas such as human resources and financial management. Through this business line, the School will collaborate with partners across the federal public service to design and deliver high-quality innovative learning products that are responsive to learners' needs and that align closely with Government of Canada priorities.

   The Transferable Skills business line will help public service employees develop and hone portable knowledge and skills of value both inside and outside government in a variety of areas including project management, leadership, and communications. Through this business line, the School will deliver a range of events and expand on learning products related to coaching, leadership, experimentation, and design.

   Through the Digital Academy, the School will provide learning to support the modernization of the Government of Canada's services, policies, workplace, and workforce. The School will provide a growing suite of learning products to increase public servants' digital and data literacy, as well as their understanding of in-demand skills such as service design, data analytics, product management, and the use of new technologies.

   The Indigenous Learning business line will support the Government of Canada's commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples by educating public servants on the history, heritage, cultures, rights and perspectives of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, including their long-standing relationships with the Crown. Under the four themes of Recognition, Respect, Relationships, and Reconciliation, the Indigenous Learning business line will offer a growing suite of resources to increase cultural skills and awareness of Indigenous realities.

   Through the Respectful and Inclusive Workplace business line, the School will deliver products and events to increase the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary to change behaviour for greater inclusion in the workplace and support the Clerk's Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service. Key topics will include diversity and inclusion foundations (for example, gender-based analysis plus, unconscious bias, and combatting systemic racism and discrimination), accessibility, anti-Black racism, mental health, LGBTQ2+ inclusion, and healthy workplaces (including violence and harassment prevention).

   Furthermore, Executive Learning at the School will complement these five business lines by equipping public service executives with the knowledge, competencies, and skills needed to respond to government priorities and meet the current and future needs of Canadians. Executive Learning themes will focus on the development of broader horizontal and inclusive leadership approaches and adapting to emerging priorities. In collaboration with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer and the Public Service Commission of Canada, the School will deliver the Executive Leadership Development Program to support the development of a skilled and representative executive workforce.

2. Quality common learning is provided to the core public service

   The School will maintain its focus on engagement and collaboration, which are key components of the "Nothing Without Us" approach and essential to developing and delivering high-quality learning. To enhance curriculum development, the School will engage in partnerships across the public service and with Indigenous Peoples, academia, policy centres, international organizations and communities, functional and horizontal communities, other stakeholders, and public servants with lived experiences. The School will work transparently through a coordinated approach with functional communities to identify training needs and develop learning programs.

   To improve the awareness of innovative practices and increase early adoption of novel approaches, the School will support capacity building to advance innovation across the public service. By taking a "learning-by-doing" approach, in addition to hosting learning events, the School will work with partners to understand how novel technologies may be deployed across the public service, and how they may be used to advance public policy objectives.

   The School will continue to prioritize data as an asset and ensure that learning priorities are informed through evidence-based decision making focused on the user experience. To this end, the School will increase its data literacy and implement robust data applications across its activities.

3. Common learning is accessible to all employees of the core public service

   The School will rebalance its delivery of learning to ensure increased accessibility for public servants across Canada by optimizing learning delivery modalities and leveraging virtual tools. In addition, the School will work with delivery partners to ensure that event platforms are accessible to public servants in all government organizations. This is especially important for major events, which draw a large number of participants from a broad range of federal departments and agencies (for example, the annual Government of Canada Data Conference).

   The School will offer new modes of delivery such as experiential learning, where public servants can apply what they have learned to real business problems. It will also facilitate data-driven experimentation to explore different flexible and engaging learning formats.

   The School will maintain and expand the functionality of its new learning platform in line with the Government of Canada's digital and accessibility standards. The new learning platform will be leveraged as an enterprise learning solution for the Government of Canada.

4. Strengthened capacity across the core public service to use innovative approaches

   Design and innovation learning will be embedded throughout the School's Digital Accelerator and curriculum, to align with the Government of Canada's Digital Standards for user-centric and iterative methodologies in the design of programs and services.

   The School will share innovative practices by providing learning opportunities and encouraging novel solutions for core government functions, ensuring that learning reflects the lessons learned and best practices of multi-disciplinary fields such as product management, emerging technology, and human-centred design.

   In addition, the School will host virtual events, such as Data Demo Week, featuring cutting-edge technologies that draw on the power of data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning and equip the public service to innovate. It will also explore opportunities to identify and promote data-sharing platforms and support the federal government's efforts to recruit and develop data talent.

   Gender-based analysis plus

   In 2022-2023, the School will foster collaboration with Women and Gender Equality Canada and other departments and agencies to develop and deliver learning products that are in line with the Government of Canada's commitment to gender-based analysis plus and equip learners to uphold the goals, objectives, and indicators of the Gender Results Framework.

   United Nations' (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

   The School's planned activities, notably its Policy Implementation Case Study on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, will contribute to increased awareness of the United Nation's 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By offering courses and events in areas such as gender-based analysis plus; climate change; and open, transparent and inclusive government, the School will support public servants in learning about key 2030 Agenda priorities, including Gender Equality (SDG 5); Climate Action (SDG 13); and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16).

   Experimentation

   As a learning institution, the School will play an important role in fostering a culture of experimentation in the Government of Canada by providing the learning support public servants need to understand and employ experimentation in their work and by building the foundations required to conduct rigorous experiments. For example:

   • the Public Sector Experimentation team plans to deliver workshops on behavioural insights aiming to increase awareness of experimentation in public service and teach employees how to implement experimental projects. The team also plans to develop an experimentation framework for projects, at the discovery stage to help identify relevant opportunities for conducting experiments.
   • the Technology Lab will explore and test a variety of cutting-edge ideas, concepts, and approaches, and develop innovative technical solutions to support learning opportunities across the public service. Specifically, the Lab will explore concepts such as game-based learning and the use of immersive technologies to enhance the delivery of learning content, increase learner engagement, and improve the learning experience.
   • the GC Data Community team will explore how it can make use of experimental tools to increase uptake of their products and events. These tools will include A/B testing and the use of nudges to improve event registration and attendance, as well as the response rates for participant evaluations.

   The School will promote innovation through its work, and the work of its partners, to develop the skills necessary to strengthen capacity for innovation across the Government of Canada. The principle of "Learning-by-doing" will underpin many learning products, particularly in digital skills.

   The School will share innovative practices, both across government and with external partners, by providing learning opportunities and encouraging novel solutions for core government functions, including in the areas of digital enablement, accessibility, and data sharing.

   The School will explore innovative solutions to learning and learning delivery, embrace new approaches to keeping the curriculum high-performing, and experiment with semi-automated methods to identify and correct performance issues.

The financial, human resources and performance information for the Canada School of Public Service's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Canada School of Public Service's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Canada School of Public Service's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Internal services: planned results

Description

Internal services are the services that are provided within a department so that it can meet its corporate obligations and deliver its programs. There are 10 categories of internal services:

• management and oversight services
• communications services
• legal services
• human resources management services
• financial management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• real property management services
• materiel management services
• acquisition management services

Planning highlights

Internal Services that support learning delivery are underpinned by a commitment to raise the bar on inclusion, openness, effectiveness, and transparency. The Canada School of Public Service will optimize internal planning processes and forecasting strategies to gain efficiencies and transparency for internal services processes and support.  

The School will implement the CSPS Data Strategy to foster a cultural transformation where data is widely available, trusted, and valued as an organizational asset, and used to take timely, informed, and strategic actions.

Planned spending and human resources

This section provides an overview of the department's planned spending and human resources for the next three fiscal years and compares planned spending for 2022-23 with actual spending for the current year and the previous year.

Planned spending

Departmental spending 2019-20 to 2024-25

The following graph presents planned spending (voted and statutory expenditures) over time.

Statutory spending is comprised of employee benefit plans, forecasted respendable revenue, and unspent revenues carried forward from the previous fiscal year in accordance with subsection 18(2) of the Canada School of Public Service Act.

Increased spending in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21 is mainly due to investments in the development and implementation of the School's new learning platform.

Planned spending will remain stable over the next three years and will include sustained investments in the School's new learning platform to keep it up to date and meet the needs and expectation of learners.

A higher spending level through 2021-22, compared to future years, is mainly due to investments in the School's new learning platform, the evergreening of tools and devices for employees, and the shift to the virtual learning offerings.

Over the next three-year planning period, the School will continue to invest in the modernization of its new learning platform and the review and update of its curriculum to meet the learning needs of public service employees and reflect governmental priorities.

Innovative learning initiatives, including artificial intelligence demonstration projects and tailored learning products will be pursued and strengthened through partnerships with other government departments.

The School will continue to host pan-governmental initiatives to leverage, on behalf of the entire public service, knowledge and research in public service administration and policy development

Planned human resources

The following table shows information on human resources, in full-time equivalents (FTEs), for the Canada School of Public Service's core responsibility and for its internal services for 2022-23 and the other relevant years.

The number of FTEs is expected to be stable over the next three years after a slight increase in previous years as a result of the creation of a new branch and the implementation of new initiatives.

Estimates by vote

Information on the Canada School of Public Service's organizational appropriations is available in the 2022-23 Main Estimates.

Future-oriented condensed statement of operations

The future oriented condensed statement of operations provides an overview of the Canada School of Public Service's operations for 2021-22 to 2022-23.

The forecast and planned amounts in this statement of operations were prepared on an accrual basis. The forecast and planned amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan were prepared on an expenditure basis. Amounts may therefore differ.

A more detailed future oriented statement of operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations with the requested authorities, are available on the Canada School of Public Service's website.

Total expenses include amortization costs and costs related to services received without charge for accommodations, as well as the employer's contribution to employee benefit plans. Total expenses exclude those related to the acquisition of capital assets.

The reduction in the net cost of operations before government funding and transfers is mainly due to increased spending in 2021–22 in salaries as a result of collective agreement renewals, the purchase of licenses enabling online learning as well as an expected decrease in revenue as the School is not projecting to carry forward unspent revenues from 2021-22 to 2022-23.

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: The Honourable Mona Fortier, P.C., M.P., President of the Treasury Board

Institutional head: Taki Sarantakis, President

Ministerial portfolio: Treasury Board

Enabling instrument: Canada School of Public Service Act, S.C. 1991, c. 16

Year of incorporation/commencement: 2004

Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

Information on the Canada School of Public Service's raison d'être, mandate and role is available on the organization website.

Information on the Canada School of Public Service's mandate letter commitments is available in the Minister's mandate letter.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on the Canada School of Public Service's website.

Reporting framework

The Canada School of Public Service's approved departmental results framework and program inventory for 2022-23 are as follows.

Supporting information on the program inventory

Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the Canada School of Public Service's program inventory is available on GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information table is available on the Canada School of Public Service's website:

• Gender-based analysis plus

Federal tax expenditures

The Canada School of Public Service's Departmental Plan does not include information on tax expenditures.

Tax expenditures are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for government-wide tax expenditures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report provides detailed information on tax expenditures, including objectives, historical background and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis plus.

Organizational contact information

Mailing address

Telephone: 1-866-703-9598
Fax: 1-866-944-0454
Email: https://www.csps-efpc.gc.ca/contact_us/inquiries-eng.aspx
Website: https://www.csps-efpc.gc.ca/

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility(responsabilité essentielle )

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A document that sets out a department's priorities, programs, expected results and associated resource requirements, covering a three year period beginning with the year indicated in the title of the report. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A change that a department seeks to influence. A departmental result is often outside departments' immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (Indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that consists of the department's core responsibilities, departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department's actual performance in a fiscal year against its plans, priorities and expected results set out in its Departmental Plan for that year. Departmental Results Reports are usually tabled in Parliament each fall.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform decision-making and improve outcomes for Canadians. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from, innovation. Innovation is the trying of something new; experimentation involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, introducing a new mobile application to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new application and comparing it against an existing website or other tools to see which one reaches more people, is experimentation.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person year charge against a departmental budget. Full time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2022-23 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the 2021 Speech from the Throne: protecting Canadians from COVID-19; helping Canadians through the pandemic; building back better – a resiliency agenda for the middle class; the Canada we're fighting for.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative in which two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within a department and that focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

An inventory of a department's programs that describes how resources are organized to carry out the department's core responsibilities and achieve its planned results.

result (résultat)

An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead, they are within the area of the organization's influence.

statutory expenditures(dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

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