BILL NO. 10
(as introduced)
1st Session, 65th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
3 Charles III, 2025
Private Member's Public Bill
Statutory Program Evaluation Act
The Honourable Iain Rankin
Timberlea–Prospect
First Reading: February 18, 2025
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
An Act to Provide for the
Evaluation of Statutory Programs
1 This Act may be cited as the Statutory Program Evaluation Act.
"evaluation cycle" means the number of years between an initial evaluation and a subsequent evaluation of a statutory program;
"evaluation year" means the initial evaluation year and the years in which subsequent evaluations are to be held under Section 3;
"expenditure" means a payment of public funds made under the authority of any Act of the Legislature;
"program" means a service, payment, protection or other benefit for the public or to serve a common purpose for defined individuals or organizations that is authorized by or pursuant to an Act of the Legislature
(a) for which an expenditure is made; or
(b) for which money is collected from individuals or organizations or a class of individuals or organizations to provide a service, payment, protection or benefit for the same or different individuals or organizations or the same or a different class of individuals or organizations,
in more than one fiscal year and includes the administration of the service, payment, protection or other benefit, but does not include
(c) the general administration of the Government or any department, office or other entity established under the Public Service Act;
(f) any part of the operation of a crown corporation as defined in the Finance Act;
"program evaluation" means the evaluation of a statutory program to determine
(a) public policy objectives that the program is designed to achieve;
(b) its effectiveness in meeting its public policy objectives;
(c) the efficiency by which it is delivered; and
(d) whether its public policy objectives could be better fulfilled by different means;
"statutory program" means a program for which expenditure is authorized by an Act of the Legislature, other than an appropriation Act, for a year or years subsequent to the year in which the Act was enacted.
3 (1) The Chair of the Treasury and Policy Board shall, by order,
(a) within six months after the coming into force of this Act, for every statutory program under which an expenditure has been made before the commencement of this Act, prescribe a fiscal year no later than the seventh fiscal year after the commencement of this Act as an initial evaluation year for the statutory program and, subject to subsections (2) and (3), prescribe the evaluation cycle for the statutory program; and
(b) within six months after the coming into force of an Act authorizing a statutory program for which the first expenditure is made on or after the commencement of this Act, prescribe a fiscal year no later than the seventh fiscal year after the first expenditure under the statutory program as an initial evaluation year for the statutory program and, subject to subsections (2) and (3), prescribe the evaluation cycle for the statutory program.
(2) The evaluation cycle of a statutory program may not exceed seven years.
(3) Notwithstanding any evaluation cycle set under this Section, the Assembly, on the recommendation of a committee of the Assembly, may, by resolution require a program evaluation of a statutory program at a time specified in the resolution.
4 The Chair of the Treasury Board shall consult with experts in the private and public sectors respecting accepted professional standards for program evaluations and, taking into account such professional standards, shall, by order, establish evaluation standards.
5 In setting an initial evaluation year and evaluation cycle for a statutory program, the Chair of the Treasury and Policy Board shall, so far as is practicable, set program evaluation cycles according to the following criteria:
(a) no more than 20 per cent and no less than 10 per cent of all statutory programs should be subject to evaluation under this Act in any fiscal year;
(b) initial evaluation dates should be set for statutory programs so as to maintain, for each department of Government, a similar amount of responsibility to carry out evaluations in each year; and
(c) no more than one of the five statutory programs involving the greatest expenditure should be evaluated in any one year.
6 (1) A statutory program that is discontinued before the commencement of an initial evaluation year is subject to evaluation under this Act in the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which it was discontinued.
(2) A statutory program that is discontinued between evaluation years is subject to a final evaluation in the year following its discontinuance if required by the Assembly under subsection 3(3).
7 (1) The Minister responsible for the administration of a statutory program shall cause a program evaluation of the program to be carried out, in accordance with evaluation standards established under Section 4, covering the evaluation period described in subsections (2) and (3).
(2) The evaluation period starts
(a) at the end of the period covered by the previous evaluation of the statutory program; or
(b) if no previous program evaluation has been carried out, at the start of the statutory program or seven years before the end of the evaluation period, whichever is the later date.
(3) The evaluation period ends at the end of the fiscal year preceding the evaluation year.
(4) The Minister shall ensure that the program evaluation is completed within 150 days after the end of the evaluation year and shall lay the results of the program evaluation before the Assembly on one of the first 30 days on which the Assembly sits following its completion.
8 (1) The Auditor General of the Province may review any program evaluation and submit a report on it to the Assembly.
(2) In the case of a program evaluation covering a statutory program under which the average annual disbursement in the three fiscal years preceding the evaluation has been more than $250,000,000, the Auditor General of the Province shall review the program evaluation and submit a report on it to the Assembly.
(3) A report on a program evaluation by the Auditor General of the Province made under this Act must be submitted to the Assembly in the same manner that Auditor General may make a report to the Assembly under the Auditor General Act.
9 After being laid before the Assembly, a program evaluation and any report of the Auditor General of the Province that refers to it may be referred to such standing committee of the Assembly as the Assembly may name for the purpose, and the committee shall take the evaluation and report under consideration and may hold public hearings if the Assembly so orders.
10 A report by a standing committee under Section 9 is deemed to be accompanied by a request for a response by the Government.
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2025 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created February 18, 2025. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.
