Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. I am sure, given that tomorrow she will be a year older, that she is going to be that much wiser and the question is going to be very well answered.

Mr. Speaker, we have expressed concern in this House about the caseloads of social workers and others in that whole social services area. Over time, government has developed a stovepipe approach to delivering programs in isolation.

Mr. Speaker. I am wondering if the Minister could tell us whether she has reviewed with her colleagues in all the other social program envelope departments, the mandates and policies that the departments have so that we can look at them in terms of delivering them in a more coordinated fashion? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Heath and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the deputies of the social departments do work together on quite a regular basis with respect to the programs and services that are being delivered. As far as Ministers of the social departments, we have been considering harmonization of services to certain sectors of the population as opposed to harmonization of policies and practices, but certainly if the Member could provide us with more detail, it is something we could look at. We have looked at it more in terms of programs and services to specific groups in the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps one example, and it is anecdotal, but I will offer it, is that there are workers who handle case loads say in the correctional services, who have work loads of perhaps ten clients. There are workers in the income support side who have case loads of over 100. Are those areas where the departments could get together to balance the work load and put resources where they are most needed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Heath and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, where different departments have certain types of professionals working for them, it is something that we could look at. I would not say that any of the departments would have a situation where they are over-staffed. Certainly we do recognize that issue of the social workers that Mr. Braden refers to. I did address that briefly in the House yesterday and we are working with the Yellowknife board and the workers and the union to find a solution to that particular situation. I would not be aware of any workers with specific credentials who are working in other departments who would not have a significant work load as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister did indeed address the crisis in the social worker area. I wanted to make a point that perhaps rather than hiring more part-time workers, we could look elsewhere within our own government to make better use of our resources.

In that respect, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask if there are standardized benchmarks or performance measurement standards for front line workers in the social services area that could be applied to solving this kind of crisis? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Heath and Social Services, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are certain credentials that are looked for in social workers, front line workers who do work in the area of social work. When they do specific things though, such as child protection, they receive specific training related to that and that is not necessarily the kind of specialized training that other social workers who may work for hospitals or the Department of Justice or any other placement they may be trained in. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is addressed to the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment and it is on the issue of the student financial assistance program. My colleague for North Slave made it very clear that they are interested in having that program transferred, devolved down to their region, not through land claims right now, not through self-government, but devolved because they have a divisional board. I asked the question in this House repeatedly, why does this government hang on to that program with such a desperate grip and insist on administering it out of headquarters in spite of the endless problems and complaints? Can the Minister explain to this House why?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not have a machine gun over here holding anybody hostage over this. We are working towards ensuring it is delivered in a better way and that it is delivered through the regional offices. As I mentioned earlier, we are starting to bring career officers into headquarters. Perhaps it should have been done years ago, but in any event, we are moving on it. As well, we have a fantastic computer system that is starting to run very efficiently and can be accessed by all regions. Down the road, it can be accessed by students as well, to apply online. We have five people, Mr. Speaker, who work in this area. What are we going to devolve? We need to train people in the regional career centres and that is the move we are making. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I sift through the verbiage trying to get to the essence of the reply, do I understand the Minister to say yes, they are going to devolve the programs to the regions? They are going to train the career development staff? Or is he saying they are just bringing staff in to show them what a wonderful system we have in Yellowknife and that Yellowknife will continue to be the choke point in this very important system? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The question was at the beginning, Mr. Ootes. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, we are starting to deliver a lot of this online. Students can apply online, which will facilitate the system tremendously. We are training career officers to be of assistance to teachers, to career guidance counsellors in the schools and that is the process we are following. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the government can devolve and have income support run successfully in the communities, why can student financial assistance not be given the same kind of opportunity? My question to the Minister is when will this program be devolved to the South Slave, to the Dogribs, to the Yellowknife district office, to the Inuvik and Beaufort-Delta region, to the Sahtu? When, Mr. Speaker? When will it be devolved?

Thank you. Minister Ootes, the question appears to be when.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is getting very repetitive. We have five people working on this program at headquarters. We are training people at the regional career centres and we are delivering and making access for students to access the system online, all of which will facilitate a much better system. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.