Follow-up of Recommendations in Previous Reports

Chapter 12, December 2001 Report of the Auditor General

Ottawa, 4 December 2001 — In her Report tabled today in the House of Commons, the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, gives the results of follow-ups done on 21 audits reported between 1995 and 1999. She notes that some federal departments and agencies have been more successful than others in implementing corrective action. Since few of them get a "well done" for speedy implementation, the Auditor General urges all departments and agencies to make a greater effort to accelerate their implementation plans.

Here are some results of the follow-up work:

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada – Comprehensive Land Claims. The follow-up of a 1998 audit of comprehensive land claims found that fundamental issues about the current treaty negotiation process remain. These issues include the difficulty of achieving certainty and the length of time to reach agreements. Progress in these areas depends on the political will, co-operation, and good faith of all parties concerned. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is taking action to address most of the observations and recommendations. However, it needs to accelerate its efforts to evaluate the implementation of settlements and to capture and report the full cost of reaching and implementing them.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Board – The Processing of Refugee Claims. At the time of our follow-up, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act had not yet been passed, and therefore progress related to receiving refugee claims and handling failed claims could not be fully assessed. The Immigration and Refugee Board and Citizenship and Immigration Canada are taking steps to address the issues raised in the 1997 audit. However, the Department could not provide information on removals of failed refugee claimants that would show that its processes were now more effective.

Contracting for Professional Services: Selected Sole-Source Contracts and Advance Contract Award Notices. The Treasury Board Secretariat has issued a new policy on advance contract award notices and acted on the recommendations related to training. However, the government has not addressed the concerns raised about management oversight in the 1998 and 1999 audits on contracting for professional services using sole-source contracts. The Treasury Board Secretariat continues to reject the recommendation to have departments with high levels of sole-sourcing conduct annual reviews of their compliance with the regulations.

In addition, this chapter includes follow-ups on the Western Grain Transportation Act Program (Federal Transportation Subsidies), the Child Tax Benefit and Goods and Services Tax Credit Programs (Revenue Canada), the Expenditure and Work Force Reductions in the Public Service and in Selected Departments, the Effectiveness of Measurement and Reporting (Department of Finance), the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, Electronic Commerce, Investments in Highways (Transport Canada), the Underground Economy Initiative (Revenue Canada), Managing the Quality of Statistics (Statistics Canada), User Charges in the Agriculture Portfolio, Hazardous Materials: Managing the Risks to Employees and the Environment (National Defence), GST Returns Processing and Audit (Revenue Canada), Year 2000 Preparedness , the Proper Conduct of Public Business (National Defence), Alternative Service Delivery (National Defence), and the Delivery of Capital Projects in Four Missions (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade).

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The chapter "Follow-up of Recommendations in Previous Reports" is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada Web site (www.oag-bvg.gc.ca).

Information:

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