The development of the public risk management decision-making framework makes two key contributions:
In developing this framework, two facts about the current environment were immediately evident:
These are indications that recognizing and dealing with uncertainty is a growing concern for public policy decision-makers.
One consistent finding of the literature on risk management is that support and endorsement from senior management is a prerequisite for development of an effective risk management approach. Accordingly, the longer-term integration of public risk management into decision-making practices requires continued leadership now.
Next Steps
The proposed next steps relate to broad, horizontal issues concerning public risk management. As noted, there is a great deal of work already underway in government and it will be important to build on some of that work and where possible, draw linkages between various exercises.
In order for further government-wide work to be successful, all departments and agencies must be involved. Nevertheless, key departments and central agencies have been identified to provide horizontal leadership and coordination in each priority area.
The priority areas identified for further work on risk management include:
4.1 A Government-Wide Framework for Risk Management
One of the ADM Working Group’s most important findings from its examination of best practices from across government, is that effective risk management relies more on the existence of a flexible process than on a rigid set of rules.
While there will always be pressure for a rules-based system for managing risk, the very nature of risk and uncertainty make such a system inappropriate in many circumstances. Even in the case of known conditions, changes or discoveries in science can render existing rules obsolete.
Without the processes in place to identify changes and revisit decisions on an ongoing basis, systems for risk management can become unreliable. What seems to work best are processes that are flexible enough to accommodate rules and also provide for regular revisiting and challenging of the issue analysis (e.g. science) and procedures currently relied upon by departments and agencies.
4.2 The Legal Context
The Department of Justice is working with Treasury Board Secretariat to identify ways of managing legal risk and civil litigation more strategically across the federal government. Building on work already underway, the objective is to find ways, where possible, to avoid or minimize litigation, and to handle any litigation that does occur more efficiently and strategically. Key outcomes expected within the next few months include:
In recent years, the volume and complexity of civil litigation have increased dramatically, putting great pressure both on available resources and the government’s ability to manage this litigation effectively. There is general acceptance that this has become a serious problem for all departments, and calls for a government-wide response. The risks pose program integrity issues for most, if not all, departments. The Legal Risk Management Project will address these challenges.
4.3 The Precautionary Approach and the International Context
The precautionary principle/approach is becoming a key issue in international relations, in terms of trade, health protection and environmental issues. International negotiations, disputes, and agreements relating to risk management, in particular to the application of a precautionary approach, have implications for numerous line departments as well as for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and for virtually all sectors of Canadian society. In this respect, there is a need to integrate domestic and international obligations into the application of the precautionary principle and into the broader risk management process.
Recent developments in the area of bio-diversity and trade protocols highlight the need to come to terms with the precautionary approach in Canadian public policy. While the actual implementation of a precautionary approach may vary sector-by-sector, to ensure coherence in its use, the guiding principles by which it is to be applied need to be reviewed in a comprehensive manner.
4.4 Risk Communications and Consultations
Risk communication is a significant area for further work. The recommendations above are aimed at enhancing the public context component of assessment, and the overall role of communications and consultations in managing risk. They therefore require significant focus on risk communications by central agencies.
Risk communications also needs to be a focus of capacity-building and training. The appropriate mechanisms for integrating risk communications into policy-making is just one aspect; the other is the capacity of the people involved to ably communicate risk concepts to the appropriate audiences.
It is anticipated that additional opportunities for developing risk communications capacity and integrating it into the public risk management process will arise through discussion of this report.
4.5 Risk Management Training
The government’s ability to manage risk rests on the skills of its people. The issue of risk management capacity is therefore broader than the related concern for science capacity. Beyond the need for scientists to conduct good science, effective risk management in a public policy context also requires a capacity for asking the right questions about science, risk, public perceptions and policy options, and how each of these may be related.
For example, choosing the most effective means of achieving a given policy objective (referred to as instrument choice) is clearly important aspect. Often, however, only the most traditional or obvious options are considered (legislation) when other, less onerous options could be equally, or perhaps more, effective, as they are better-targeted, or have the support of stakeholders and are more enforceable. Knowing how and when to pursue use of different policy tools is a simple, yet important, component of public risk management training and capacity needs.
3 See Annex C for a brief explanation of other, ongoing work.