Program level results 2023-24

Promotion Program

Program-level outcomes	Performance Indicator	Explanation of the indicator	Target	Actual Result in 2021-22	Explanation of the result
Canadians use resources and means to exercise their privacy rights and responsibilities	Take-up of information to Canadians	Accessing OPC information is a key first step in empowering Canadians to exercise their privacy rights.	At least 15% increase	8%	While this target has not been met this year, it is trending in the right direction. With an increase of 9% from last year, this year’s results show that privacy continues to be very much of interest to Canadians.
Parliamentarians are more informed about the privacy implications of proposed bills and government initiatives	Percentage of privacy-relevant bills and studies that proceed through the legislative process having received OPC’s views	This indicator measures the OPC’s responsiveness and efforts to raise awareness of privacy implications of proposed bills and government initiatives.	At least 85%	100%	This indicator measures the OPC’s responsiveness to parliamentarians’ need for advice on the privacy implications of bills and studies. The measure therefore only applies to bills and studies that were being actively studied by parliamentary committee during the year. In 2021-22, the OPC provided views and/or appeared on 8 privacy-relevant bills and studies.
Preventative actions are taken by Parliamentarians, and public and private sector organizations	Percentage of PIA reviews/consultations that lead to the implementation of a privacy protection measure (measured through response to OPC)	The implementation of PIA recommendations is a direct way that federal departments and agencies can take preventative actions and reduce privacy risks.	At least 90%	71%	In fiscal 2021-22, a total of 191 recommendations were made to federal institutions and 136 of them were accepted. This year result is slightly higher than the previous year which stood at 69%.
	Percentage of private-sector organizations that have privacy compliance measures in place (CPO, privacy policy, breach response plan, etc.)	This indicator measures the extent to which private sector organizations take preventative actions to reduce privacy risks and comply with federal privacy laws.	At least 65%	59%	Approximately six in 10 Canadian businesses surveyed said their company has a privacy policy. This represents a small decline over time, with 65% of companies reporting having such a policy in 2019 to 59% in 2022. The pandemic may have affected the survey findings, and specifically, those on compliance with privacy practices. When businesses are preoccupied with pandemic-related impacts on operations, it is reasonable to assume that privacy responsibilities might not be top-of-mind. Whether these are lasting changes, or the product of the environment in which the research was conducted, will remain unknown until this survey is conducted again in the future.

Compliance Program

Program-level outcomes	Performance Indicator	Explanation of the indicator	Target	Actual Result in 2021-22	Explanation of the result
Canadians’ complaints are resolved	Percentage of investigations resolved using Early Resolution	This indicator measures how efficiently complaints are resolved and in doing so, ensure corrective actions and timely resolution of issues.	At least 45%	54%	Early resolution continues to be a crucial part of our operations. While we surpassed our target, we noted a 3% decrease in complaints resolved through this process compared to the previous year.
	Percentage of complaints accepted active more than 12 months	This indicator measures the OPC’s efforts to reduce its caseload of files exceeding 12 months.	At most 2%	15%	Between April 2019 and March 2021, we successfully leveraged a temporary budget increase and enhanced efficiencies to reduce our investigation files older than 12 months by more than 90%. However, with the expiration of the temporary funding this fiscal year, we have seen our backlog cases climb to 102 at the end of March 2022, representing 15% of all ongoing investigations that are under the Privacy Act or PIPEDA.
Increased compliance with federal privacy legislation	Percentage of investigations closed as Well-founded	This indicator provides a view of the state of compliance as seen through the investigations lens.	At most 20%	80%	This indicator measures the percentage of complaints that were the subject of a formal investigation by our Office, where the issues under investigation were deemed to be well founded. A considerable proportion of this result involves time limit investigations related to the public sector, which is an indication that government institutions continue to face challenges in responding to access to personal information requests. It is important to note that the result does not include certain types of complaints, such as those resolved through early resolution or those complaints that were not fully investigated by our Office (e.g., those complaints closed with the following dispositions: no jurisdiction, withdrawn, decline to investigate, discontinued, resolved, settled).
	Percentage of material privacy breaches reviewed by the OPC where the organization took appropriate measures to OPC satisfaction	This indicator measures how responsive organizations are following a breach incident.	At least 90%	96%	As previously reported the OPC has made an adjustment to its risk tolerance and has lowered the threshold for what it considers to be “appropriate measures” for breaches reported in the private sector that appear to present a lower risk. Consequently, last year's (88%) and this year's results are higher than previous years.