Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Bill 25, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2013-2014, be read for the second time.

This bill will make supplementary appropriations for operations expenditures for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

Bill 25 has had second reading.

---Carried

Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 22, Territorial Emblems and Honours Act; Tabled Document 70-17(4), Electoral Boundaries Commission, Final Report, May 2013; and Committee Report 5-17(4), Report on the Review of the Report of the Auditor General of Canada on the 2013 Northwest Territories Income Security Programs, with Mr. Dolynny in the chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Committee would like to consider Committee Report 5-17(4).

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Is committee agreed?

Thank you. First off is Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Government Operations has presented its report on the review of the 2013 Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. The committee's report, which was read into the record, includes 21 recommendations. For the benefit of the public, Members would like to explain how and why the committee conducts a review, as well as what's in the report.

Mr. Chair, the Auditor General of Canada is an important source of independent, professional advice for this Legislative Assembly. The Auditor General usually conducts one performance audit each year on specific programs and services of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Assembly can make suggestions, but the choice of which programs to audit is up to the Auditor General.

Each year's audit report is provided to the Legislative Assembly and tabled in the House. Under the Rules of the Legislative Assembly, the Standing Committee on Government Operations has the mandate to review the Auditor General's reports. The committee holds preparatory meetings with the Auditor General's staff. The committee then holds a public review and questions witnesses from the department or agency responsible. The committee issues its own report, based on what was learned during the public review. In this case, the committee has added 12 recommendations to the nine made by the Auditor General.

Mr. Chair, it is the Legislative Assembly's job to scrutinize government spending and performance, to ask questions and to hold the government publicly accountable for its actions. That's why the Standing Committee on Government Operations conducts a public review, reads its report into the public record, and moves the report's recommendations for adoption by the Assembly in Committee of the Whole. The government is obliged to account to the House by responding to the recommendations on the record within a specified time frame. The committee, the Assembly and the public expect answers.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations thanks the Auditor General of Canada and his staff for their work on the 2013 audit of four income security programs delivered by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. The programs audited were Income Assistance, Student Financial Assistance, the Senior Home Heating Subsidy and the Child Care User Subsidy.

The audit focused on two main questions. The first as whether the department was delivering its programs according to key elements of legislation and policies. The second was whether the department was collecting data and assessing program performance to ensure objectives are met.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations was dismayed to learn there are serious systemic problems with the delivery of income security programs with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. According to the Auditor General, the department is providing reasonable access to these programs and has established the required appeals processes. However, the Auditor General also found that many client files are not managed according to requirements; processes are unclear, not followed or incomplete; monitoring is inconsistent; financial oversight is sometimes lacking; employees are not sufficiently trained; and there is limited assessment of program performance. These issues are significant.

In its review of the report, the standing committee considered general issues as well as the specific findings of the audit. The committee concurs with the Auditor General's recommendations with regard to program delivery and evaluation, and makes additional recommendations on such issues as an integrated continuum of services, program accountability and reporting relationships, workload and safety concerns of front-line workers, the use of voucher systems for income assistance and fairness of the appeals processes.

The Department of Education's income security programs cost the government $30 million each year and affect more than 5,000 of our residents. These are important programs for people in need, students and seniors.

The committee is encouraged that the Minister has accepted the Auditor General's recommendations and that the department plans to implement them. Members are, nevertheless, convinced that ECE's Income Security Program delivery and evaluation will improve only if the department's senior management devotes sustained attention over a period of years to carry out the plan for reforms and create an organizational culture of client service.

The committee believes the Minister and the department are committed to change and we commend them for this. However, they are only at the beginning of a long journey. This Assembly, too, must develop sustained attention to ensure that the needed changes happen. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli, for those opening comments. General comments. Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before moving into a motion, I think it's been said that perhaps we need to understand this process of ensuring that we scrutinize the government and keep them accountable in terms of how funding is dispersed and policies are maintained, and the integrity of the institutions that we uphold on behalf of the public is something that our voters expect us to maintain. Therefore, an exercise that we had to endure today is a procedure that has been mandated to this committee. It has been a fairly monotonous task that needs to go forth.

I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment take the lead in working with other GNWT social envelope departments and other service providers towards the development of an integrated case management system, consistent with its commitment to a culture of client service. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called.

---Carried

Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment clarify the reporting relationships of staff involved in the delivery of its income security programs with a view to making their accountability evident, and provide this information to the standing committee at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to make some general comments on all of these motions. I think it's important that we state how much effort the committee put into the consideration of this report. There was a great deal of detail that the Auditor General presented to committee in the report and committee considered it at length and quite carefully. I think the number of motions that have come out of this report are an indication of the concern that committee had for the findings in the Auditor General's report.

I realize the late hour. I would speak to some other motions, but I think I will just combine my comments to sort of general comments on this particular motion. I would urge the department to look seriously at all of the recommendations from committee. We didn't make them lightly. We certainly considered not making some of these motions but felt that they were... The point we're trying to get across was important enough that we did want to have more motions rather than less. In terms of all of these motions, they go to a particular concern either raised by the Auditor General and agreed to by the committee or a concern that the committee had that came from some of the information that the Auditor General brought forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. To the motion.

Question has been called.

---Carried

Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment set a standard for monthly client service officer caseloads, review staffing levels and rebalance workloads as needed. A backup system should be in place to provide additional experienced staff support where there is a temporary overload. Thank you, Mr. Chair.