Draft Survey of the Structure and Governance of Federal Regulatory Functions

NOTE: This survey is on hold until the results of a similar survey started by Finance are available.

About a month ago, I wrote about wanting to get a better idea of how the regulatory functions throughout the federal government are structured and governed.

In this post, I hope to layout a draft of the proposed survey.

• Audience: Any employees working with the development of federal regulations.
• Mode: Online via Google Forms
• Method of dissemination: Online via policygeek.ca, Twitter, and a proposal for distribution through the Community of Federal Regulators Newsflash will be prepared.

Draft Survey

Part I – Structure

Question 1: Where do you work?

Dropdown of federal departments and agencies with a write-in option for other.

Question 2: Which group in your department or agency is responsible or “holds the pen” for developing the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS)?

• A single centralized unit responsible for regulatory development (i.e. a regulatory affairs unit)
• One of several areas responsible for regulatory development (i.e. on regulatory affairs unit per sector, mode, etc)
• The policy area
• Both the policy area and a unit responsible for regulatory development

Question 3: Which group in your department or agency communicate with your analyst at Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat – Regulatory Affairs Sector (TBS-RAS)?

• A single centralized unit responsible for regulatory development (i.e. a regulatory affairs unit)
• One of several areas responsible for regulatory development (i.e. on regulatory affairs unit per sector, mode, etc)
• The policy area
• Both the policy area and a unit responsible for regulatory development

Question 4: Which group in your department or agency performs Cost-Benefit Analysis for regulatory proposals?

• An analyst within a unit exclusively responsible for regulatory development (i.e. a regulatory affairs unit)
• An analyst within a single centralized and specialised unit for performing cost-benefit analyses (i.e. economic affairs unit)
• An analyst within the policy area
• A contractor or outside analyst/company

Question 5: If you have a centralized unit responsible for regulatory development, what is it called?

Question 6: Is there anything else about the structure and/or seperation of responsibilities within your department or agency that you’d like to share?

Part II – Governance

Question 7: How many levels of management exist between the analyst responsible for a regulatory proposal and the Minister responsible for sign-off (do not include the Minister in this count)

Question 8: How many approvals are required for a regulatory proposal before it is approve for drop off at the Privy Council Office (do not include the Minister’s approval or any TBS-RAS approvals in this count)

Question 9: How do you track regulatory development (select all that apply)

• Standard Excel worksheets
• Excel-based application developed for tracking regulatory development
• Access database
• Internal records management software
• Internal correspondence management software
• Project management software (i.e. Microsoft Project)
• Custom software
• Other

Question 10:Is there anything else you’d like to add about the governance of regulatory development within your department or agency (best practices, irritants, etc)

Conclusion: Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Would you be willing to meet and discuss the structure and governance of your department or agencies regulatory function?

Comments?

I’d like to keep the survey short to encourage as many analysts as possible to take a few moments to complete it. I believe these ten questions will offer a broad overview of the various corporate structures and governance models in use within the public service. Let me know if you have any comments or questions on the proposed draft. Once I have incorporated any comments I receive, I will have it translated and publish a link to the completed survey for people to complete.