Compliance Evaluation Report

Table of contents

• Executive Summary
• Overview of OCL’s Compliance Function
• Objectives and Scope of the Evaluation
• Evaluation Scope and Methodology
• OCL’s Compliance Function – Its Operational Context
• Finding 1: The current staffing situation is adversely affecting efficiency and timeliness
• Finding 2: The elements are in place for the Compliance Function to be efficient
• Overall Conclusions
• Recommendations

Executive Summary

The objective of this Evaluation was to assess the Compliance Function as it relates to the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s obligations to ensure compliance with the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct, focusing on:

• The processes, tools, guidance documents and procedures in place to support the Compliance Function
• The documented approach for performing activities in a consistent, accountable, and repeatable manner
• The capacity of the program to meet its objective of fulfilling the purpose of the Act

Context

• Involves knowledge-based work that relies on experience, expertise, and analysis
• The work is undertaken by a team of 7 staff led by a Director
• Of the 6 Investigator positions, three are currently on parental leave

Conclusions

1. The Compliance Function cannot be as efficient and timely as it would be if it were fully staffed. Recruiting efforts are ongoing.
2. The processes and culture of OCL’s Compliance Function are contributing to efficiency and timeliness. The elements are in place to help ensure that the processes are defined, understood, consistent, and repeatable. The Functions’ capacity appears to be sufficient for its normal, steady state volumes of activity.

There are no recommendations related to the Compliance Directorate’s efficiency and timeliness arising from this evaluation. The Directorate has the processes, procedures, guidance and tools its needs to be efficient and timely, when fully staffed.

Overview of OCL’s Compliance Function

The Commissioner of Lobbying ensures transparent and ethical lobbying by administering the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct.

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s (OCL) responsibilities include:

• Maintaining a searchable registry of information reported by lobbyists;
• Providing education to stakeholders; and
• Verifying that lobbyists comply with requirements.

The Compliance Directorate ensures that registrants, lobbyists, and former designated public office holders meet their obligations by conducting activities to enforce the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct. Decisions to proceed with an investigation or to refer a file to a peace officer are made by the Commissioner.

The Act requires that the Commissioner conduct an investigation if he or she has reason to believe that an investigation is necessary to ensure compliance with the Act or the Code.

Objectives of the Evaluation

OCL’s 2023-2024 Audit and Evaluation Plan included an Evaluation of the Compliance Function. This is the first Evaluation of the function.

The objective was to assess the Compliance Function as it relates to the OCL’s obligations to ensure compliance with the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct, focusing on the following:

• The processes, tools, guidance documents and procedures in place to support the Compliance Function
• The documented approach for performing activities in a consistent, accountable, and repeatable manner
• The capacity of the program to meet its objective of fulfilling the purpose of the Act

The evaluation did not examine the effectiveness of the Compliance Function.

Evaluation Scope and Methodology

Scope: The evaluation scope included the components of the Function that were responsible for reviewing exemption requests, conducting verifications and compliance assessments, and conducting preliminary assessments and investigations. The evaluation did not include the Registry and OCL’s education/outreach functions.

Validity of the Evaluation Methodology

From an evaluation perspective, the methodology is sufficient to provide a high level of confidence in the accuracy of the findings and conclusions within the scoping parameters.

OCL’s Compliance Function - Its Operational Context

OCL’s Main Compliance Activities:

Noteworthy characteristics of the work

• The complexity of the case is not known until the investigator starts researching. Some cases are straight-forward and some are complex. Triage is conducted at the outset of each case.
• Involves knowledge-based work that relies on experience, expertise, and analysis. It is skill-based and not a series of mechanical steps.
• Legal and policy advice is provided on a collaborative basis as part of the process.
• There may be inherent delays due to stakeholders not providing requested information. OCL can’t always control the timeframe.
• Conducted in private.
• Volume of files: In 2022-23, 27 files were closed at the preliminary assessment stage and 3 investigations were pursued. This volume of files is typical for the Compliance Directorate.
• In 2022-23, 30,681 monthly communication reports were filed.
• The Directorate conducts compliance assessments to address the late filing of registrations and communication reports. In 2022-23, 44 lobbyists were monitored to ensure compliance.
• In 2022-23, the Compliance Directorate processed 8 applications for exemptions to the five-year restriction on lobbying from former designated public office holders.
• Files are initiated based on both external referrals and proactive internal monitoring. The Directorate plans to increase its proactive monitoring activities.
• A priority matrix model is applied to help determine the priority of files.
• The work is undertaken by a team of 7 staff led by the Director, Compliance (3 Senior Investigators, 3 Investigators, an Intake Officer)
• Control points in the process involve a signoff from the Director and the Commissioner. There are frequent formal and informal consultation opportunities to discuss files internally.
• It is a small organization (both OCL and the Compliance Function) where collegiality and interpersonal relationships are important contributors
• The organization has adopted a hybrid working model (post-pandemic)
• The compliance activities do not involve or demand a complex technology platform. A case management system is in place and continues to be improved.

Finding 1: The current staffing situation is adversely affecting efficiency and timeliness

Current staffing challenges make it difficult for the Compliance Function to be efficient and timely:

• Of the 6 Investigator positions, three are currently on parental leave.
• Two of the investigators are relatively new to the positions (less than 3 months), and are in the process of learning about the organization and the role.
• There are challenges related to recruiting personnel for short-term positions (attracting people, training). Recruiting efforts are ongoing.

Due to this situation, the processing of files is slower because:

• There are fewer investigators allocated to the workload.
• Effort of the more-knowledgeable individuals is diverted toward assisting newer staff, which is essential, but adversely affects their efficiency in addressing files.

Also, the Function is less able to devote effort to proactive compliance monitoring.

Conclusion on Finding 1:

The Compliance Function cannot be as efficient and timely as it would be if it were fully staffed.

Finding 2: The elements are in place for the Compliance Function to be efficient

Objective measurement of efficiency is difficult for a knowledge-based, analytical activity.

However, many elements that have been developed in recent years will help to ensure that the Compliance Function processes are defined, understood, consistent, and repeatable.

The actions taken that will lead to this outcome include:

• A process flowchart, to define the process
• Templates to provide standardization and guidance
• An onboarding process to provide guidance and consistency
• Personnel are cross-trained to be able to perform a range of compliance activities
• A decision matrix to guide the prioritizing of files
• Exemption Requests are subject to service standards
• The introduction of Preliminary Assessments to assess the need for investigation
• Investigator-specific training

These all contribute to increased efficiency. In addition, the Directorate recognizes that continuous improvement will be required.

Other elements will continue to contribute to the efficiency and timeliness of the Function:

• A documented approach to the process is in place and has been communicated. This provides a defined reference for the processes.
• The documented approach addresses the concept of procedural fairness, and the process is viewed as achieving this objective.
• The organization is viewed as collaborative and professional. The interviewees see the work as important. There appears to be openness to discuss new ideas and changes.
• There are frequent internal meetings to discuss files and share knowledge, and there are informal discussions among the staff.
• There is a recognition that a smaller group of professionals such as this needs to function collaboratively and cooperatively.
• Given the typical number of files, investigations, and other activities, the staff complement of the Compliance Function appears to be sufficient.
• The new Director of the Compliance Directorate understands both the context and the content of the role, which will support all aspects of the processes.
• Technology tools are considered sufficient and are being improved.

Conclusions on Finding 2:

The findings suggest that the processes and culture of OCL’s Compliance Function are contributing to efficiency and timeliness. The elements are in place to help ensure that the processes are defined, understood, consistent, and repeatable. This provides a solid base for the Function to continue to build on.

The Function’s capacity appears to be sufficient for its normal, steady state volumes of activity.

Other Relevant Considerations

An Evaluation study is retrospective. However, several planned activities of the Compliance Function are worth noting because they are likely to contribute to further process improvements and efficiencies:

• Planned changed to OCL’s case management system include the creation of mandatory fields that will contribute to improving process discipline and will also improve data quality. These will lead to increased efficiency and process integrity.
• The addition of mandatory fields in the case management system will also formalize interim control points, which will improve process rigour, repeatability, and monitoring.
• There is an intention to develop a knowledge base of OCL precedents. This type of reference tool will contribute to improving both efficiency and effectiveness.

Overall Conclusions

The evaluation of the Compliance Function determined that the Function cannot be as efficient and timely as it would be if it were fully staffed. There have been and continue to be ongoing efforts to recruit personnel.

The evaluation findings suggest that the processes and culture of OCL’s Compliance Function are contributing to efficiency and timeliness. Elements developed in recent years will help to ensure that the Compliance Function processes are defined, understood, consistent, and repeatable. These all contribute to increased efficiency.

Finally, the planned continuous improvement activities of the Compliance Directorate are likely to contribute to further efficiencies.

Recommendations

There are no recommendations related to the Compliance Directorate’s efficiency and timeliness arising from this evaluation. Given the noted developments in recent years and the planned improvements, the Directorate has the processes, procedures, guidance and tools its needs to be efficient and timely, when fully staffed.