2002/03 Annual Service Plan Report Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise

Report on Resources

This section provides information on the Ministry's operating expenditures, full-time equivalent staff (FTE) allocation, and capital expenditures.

Two tables are provided. The first shows operating information for each division, including the Deregulation Office, and is consistent with the Resource Summary table in the Service Plan for 2002/03 – 2005/06. The second table mirrors the Estimates Vote structure.

Note that in the first table divisions correspond to core businesses as follows:

Core Business	Division/Office
• Marketing and Investment	• British Columbia Trade and Investment Office
• Removing Barriers to Investment	• Economic Policy • Deregulation Office
• Economic Policy and Strategic Advice	• Economic Policy
• Encouraging Innovation and the Development and Transfer of New Knowledge	• Science and Technology
• N/A	• Corporate Services

2002/03 Resource Summary

Table 1

2002/03 Resource Summary Mirroring the Estimates Vote Structure

Table 2

Commentary:

The Ministry realized operating savings of $1.5 million, and capital savings of $0.48 million in 2002/03.

Operating expenditure savings in the Science and Technology Division of $3.6 million helped offset increased expenditures by the Economic Policy Division, and expenditures on reserves for doubtful accounts.

The Economic Policy Division exceeded its budget by $1.242 million, mainly as a result of contributions to Tourism British Columbia to increase marketing of tourism opportunities, and contributions to regional tourism authorities for marketing efforts. In addition, the Ministry provided loan loss provisions of $2.392 million to cover loans made to companies by the previous administration.

The Minister's office variance of $44,000 was the result of insufficient budget allocated for Ministerial travel and operating costs. There were sufficient savings in other Ministry sub-votes to cover these costs.

BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo)'s variance of $0.7 million was due to the Ministry writing-down the value of its investment in PavCo.

The Ministry also under spent $1.5 million for the Northern Development Fund (NDF). The NDF is a fund established under the 1997 British Columbia/Alcan Agreement to promote sustainable economic development in northern British Columbia. The NDF is managed by the Nechako-Kitamaat Development Fund Society. The Ministry anticipated granting the $1.5 million in 2002/03, however, since the Society had not expended previous contributions the grant was not made.

With respect to capital expenditure, the Ministry had savings of $0.480 million in 2002/03. This was due to significant FTE reductions and an associated reduction in expenditures on computer equipment and software. The Ministry's FTE count fell from 284 in 2001/02 to 188 in 2002/03, exceeding the FTE target by 14.

The table below shows how the two resource summary operating expenditure tables reconcile.

Division/Agency	Resource Summary by Division/Office (Table 1) Variance ($000)	Resource Summary Mirroring Estimates (Table 2) Variance ($000)
British Columbia Trade and Investment Office	(2,402)	(10)
Reserve for Doubtful Accounts		(2,392)
Total	(2,402)	(2,402)
Economic Policy	(1,343)	(1,242)
BC Film		(101)
Total	(1,343)	(1,343)
Science and Technology
Total	3,648	3,648
Corporate Services	1,537	841
Minister's Office		(44)
BC Pavilion Corporation		(700)
Northern Development Fund		1,500
Deregulation	60
Total	1,597	1,597
Ministry Total	1,500	1,500