2015–16 Departmental Performance Report

Section II: Expenditure Overview

Actual Expenditures

Budgetary Financial Resources (dollars)
2015–16 Main Estimates	2015–16 Planned Spending	2015–16 Total Authorities Available for Use	2015–16 Actual Spending (authorities used)	Difference (actual minus planned)
673,866,874	711,733,149	711,335,706	683,219,807	-28,513,342

Note: The 2015-16 Budgetary Financial information provided in this document excludes the Department’s Vote-Netted Authority of $296.2 million, which the Department recovered from other government departments and agencies for some of the costs incurred to deliver legal services.

Human Resources (FTEs)
2015-16 Planned	2015-16 Actual	2015-16 Difference (Actual minus Planned)
4,474	4,337	-137

Note: The 2015-16 Human Resources information provided in this document includes the FTE’s related to the recovery of costs incurred to deliver legal services.

Budgetary Performance Summary

Budgetary Performance Summary for Strategic Outcomes and Programs (dollars)
Strategic Outcomes, Programs, and Internal Services	2015-16 Main Estimates	2015-16 Planned Spending	2016-17 Planned Spending	2017-18 Planned spending	2015-16 Total Authorities Available for Use	2015-16 Actual Spending (Authorities Used)	2014-15 Actual Spending (Authorities Used)	2013-14 Actual Spending (Authorities Used)
Strategic Outcome 1: A Fair, Relevant and Accessible Canadian Justice System
Program 1.1: Stewardship of the Canadian Legal Framework	393,390,464	394,638,847	400,491,696	361,691,258	399,106,482	384,331,448	383,759,270	382,305,605
Program 1.2: Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime^{Table note ii}	1,320,994	1,320,994	1,324,227	1,324,227	1,320,615	1,115,554	1,080,165	1,195,444
Subtotal	394,711,458	395,959,841	401,815,923	363,015,485	400,427,097	385,447,002	384,839,435	383,501,049
Strategic Outcome 2: A Federal Government that is Supported by High-Quality Legal Services
Program 2.1: Legal Services to Government Program	192,604,324	198,250,530	199,619,747	199,619,745	207,091,862	194,449,097	208,762,405	191,292,725
Subtotal	192,604,324	198,250,530	199,619,747	199,619,745	207,091,862	194,449,097	208,762,405	191,292,725
Internal Services Subtotal	86,551,092	117,522,777	77,424,860	77,114,647	103,816,747	103,323,708	115,249,778	162,247,090
Total^{Table note i}	673,866,874	711,733,149	678,860,530	639,749,877	711,335,706	683,219,807	708,851,618	737,040,864

Table note i

Differences may arise due to rounding.

Return to table note i referrer

Table note ii

The Ombudsman reports directly to the Minister of Justice, and as such, the Office falls outside of the Department’s governance framework.

Return to table note ii referrer

Departmental Spending Trend

As shown in the Budgetary Financial Resources table, the Department’s 2015-16 Main Estimates totaled $673.87 million and its Total Authorities amounted to $711.34 million. The Total Authorities include funding received through the 2015-16 Supplementary Estimates processes and Treasury Board Secretariat Central Votes.

Departmental Spending Trend
	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19
Sunset Programs - Anticipated	-	-	-	5.17	43.77	51.05
Statutory	83.18	77.65	73.12	78.63	78.41	77.74
Voted	653.87	631.20	610.10	600.23	561.34	555.18
Total^{Table note iii}	737.04	708.85	683.22	684.03	683.52	683.96

While spending (including statutory expenditures) decreased from $737.04 million in 2013-14, to $708.85 million in 2014-15, spending further decreased in 2015-16 to $683.22 million (3.6 percent less than the previous year). The variance between 2014-15 and 2015-16 is due primarily to a one-time transition payment for implementing the salary payment in arrears by the Government of Canada and the salary increase for the Law Management classification group (with the associated terminable allowance), both of which occurred in 2014-15.

The decrease in planned spending (voted and statutory) can be mostly explained by the sunsetting programs that account for $5.17 million in 2016-17, $43.77 million in 2017-18, and $51.05 million in 2018-19.

Furthermore, as the Department adjusts to fluctuating client department demand for legal services, the profile of its Total Authorities continues to change from year to year. As the graph below demonstrates, the trend shows a decrease of 7.0 percent in A-base as a result of the implementation of Budget 2012 savings measures and Legal Services Review reductions, as well as a relatively small variance in the Vote-Netted Revenue over the three-year period (less than 1.0 percent).

In 2015-16, $293.53 million of Vote-Netted Revenue was collected. This Vote-Netted Revenue decrease is primarily due to the fluctuation in legal service demand and efficiencies resulting from the implementation of Legal Services Review initiatives. The A-Base authority in 2014‑15 included $17.39 million in additional funding from the Treasury Board Central Vote for expenses related to one-time transition payment requirements and for the Law Management classification salary increase. Without that increase, the authorities for 2014-15 and 2015-16 would be comparable ($713.16 million revised for 2014-15 versus $711.34 million in 2015-16).

Expenditures by Vote

For information on the Department of Justice’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, please consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2016.

Alignment of Spending With the Whole-of-Government Framework

Alignment of 2015-16 Actual Spending with the Whole-of-Government Framework (dollars)
Program	Spending Area	Government of Canada Outcome	2015-16 Actual Spending
Program 1.1: Stewardship of the Canadian Legal Framework	Social Affairs	A safe and secure Canada	384,331,448
Program 1.2: Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime	Social Affairs	A safe and secure Canada	1,115,554
Program 2.1: Legal Services to Government Program	Government Affairs	Well-managed and efficient government operations	194,449,097

Total Spending by Spending Area (Dollars)
Spending Area	Total Planned Spending	Total Actual Spending
Economic affairs	0	0
Social affairs	395,959,841	385,447,002
International affairs	0	0
Government affairs	198,250,530	194,449,097

Financial Statements and Financial Statement Highlights

Financial Statements

The financial highlights presented within this report are intended to serve as a general overview of the Department of Justice Canada’s financial position and operations and should be read in conjunction with the 2015-16 Departmental Financial Statements.

Financial Statements Highlights

The financial results are shaped by the two strategic outcomes and associated internal services that aim to ensurea fair, relevant, and accessible Canadian justice system and a federal government that is supported by high-quality legal services.

Department of Justice Canada
Condensed Statement of Operations (unaudited)
For the Year Ended March 31, 2016 (dollars)
Financial Information	2015-16 Planned Results	2015-16 Actual	2014-15 Actual (Restated)	Difference (2015-16 actual minus 2015-16 planned)	Difference (2015-16 actual minus 2014-15 actual)
Total expenses	1,133,176,000	1,060,282,000	1,083,911,000	-72,894,000	-23,629,000
Total revenues	341,413,000	293,577,000	297,225,000	-47,836,000	-3,648,000
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	791,763,000	766,705,000	786,686,000	-25,058,000	-19,981,000

Planned Results

Planned results are based on the Future-Oriented Financial Statements presented in the 2015-16 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP). The $72.9 million variance between 2015-16 planned expenses and 2015-16 actual expenses is attributable to lower than planned operating expenses primarily due to efficiencies resulting from the implementation of Legal Services Review Initiatives. Transfer payments were also lower than expected due to the reassessment of the criteria to recognize the Department’s liabilities related to Grants and Contributions.

The 2015-16 planned revenues were $47.8 million higher than the 2015-16 actual revenues, mainly due to the change in presentation of the employee benefit program portion of legal service revenues as earned on behalf of the Government. As these types of revenues are not respendable by the Department, they are reported as revenue earned on behalf of Government and as a decrease to the gross departmental revenues.

Expenses

Total departmental expenses were $1.1 billion in 2015-16, a decrease of $23.6 million from 2014-15. This reduction is mainly attributable to a decrease in operating expenses, particularly in salaries and employee benefits, due to a general decrease in FTE levels and terminable allowances. Professional and special services were also lower as a result of a prudent use of resources. Grants and contributions also decreased for the Youth Justice Program, the Legal Aid Program, the Contraventions Act Fund Program and the Aboriginal Courtwork Program.

Revenues

Total departmental revenues were $293 million in 2015-16, a slight decrease of $3.6 million from 2014-15. A portion of these revenues (approximately 20 percent) are reported as revenues earned on behalf of Government.

Department of Justice Canada
Condensed Statement of Financial Position (unaudited)
as at March 31, 2016 (dollars)
Financial Information	2015-16	2014-15	Difference (2015-16 minus 2014-15)
Total net liabilities	417,309,000	476,984,000	-59,675,000
Total net financial assets	351,026,000	408,523,000	-57,497,000
Departmental net debt	66,283,000	68,461,000	-2,178,000
Total non-financial assets	34,171,000	36,216,000	-2,045,000
Departmental net financial position	-32,112,000	-32,245,000	133,000

Liabilities

Total net liabilities were $417 million for 2015-16, a decrease of $59.7 million from 2014-15. The variance is mainly attributable to a decrease in transfer payments payable for the Youth Justice Program, Legal Aid, the Contraventions Act Fund Program and the Aboriginal Courtwork Program. This is a result of the Department reassessing the criteria to recognize its liabilities related to Grants and Contributions. The Family Law accounts payable also decreased as a result of the timing of payments under the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act. Increases in employee future benefits also contributed to the net liabilities difference.

Financial and Non-Financial Assets

Total net financial assets were $351 million at the end of 2015-16, an increase of $57.5 million from 2014-15. This variance is mainly attributable to a decrease in the amount due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which represents net cash the Department is entitled to without further appropriations in order to discharge its liabilities.

Total non-financial assets were $34 million at the end of 2015-16, an increase of $2 million from 2014-15, as a result of an increase in prepaid licence fees and a decrease in tangible capital assets.

Date modified:: 2022-05-11

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