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NLIS 1
January 31, 2006
(Office of the Auditor General)
 

Auditor General releases Report to the House of Assembly on
Reviews of Departments and Crown Agencies for the Year Ended 31 March 2005

John L. Noseworthy, C.A., Auditor General, today released his Report to the House of Assembly on Reviews of Departments and Crown Agencies for the Year Ended 31 March 2005.

The report contains approximately 560 pages of conclusions, commentary, recommendations and auditees� comments. The report outlines the reflections of the Auditor General, the results of reviews of Government departments and Crown agencies, and information relating to monitoring of prior years� recommendations.

Mr. Noseworthy highlights many specific areas, including:

  • Inconsistent compensation practices among Government entities with many of the inconsistencies relating to the more senior officials at the entities. Through Mr. Noseworthy�s discussions with many senior officials at Government entities, he gets the sense that many senior officials feel justified in their actions and have an attitude that if the other board can do it, then so can they. In Mr. Noseworthy�s opinion the inconsistent compensation practices continue because there is no consequence of doing so.
  • Concerns with financial and administrative practices at the Central West Health Corporation, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and Memorial University of Newfoundland.
  • Concern that poor management practices at the Department of Health and Community Services are not ensuring that costs of the Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program are minimized.
  • Contrary to its policy, the Department of Education is using secondments to fill positions on a long-term basis. The Department contravened the spirit and intent of Government�s Merit Principle by hiring 19 of 32 secondments without a job competition and also promoted some seconded employees to management positions without a job competition.
  • Concerns with how the Municipal Assessment Agency assesses property values as well as with Agency expenditures.
  • Concerns with how personal care homes are licensed, monitored and inspected. The Department of Health and Community Services does not adequately determine whether the regional health and community services boards are complying with legislation and Department policies relating to personal care homes.
  • Newfoundland and Labrador is the only Atlantic Province without Province-wide coverage for land-based 911 emergency response services. Currently, only 40% of the Province�s population and less than 10% of communities on the island portion of the Province have access to this 911 service and there is no land-based 911 service in Labrador.
  • Improvements are required by the Department of Environment and Conservation in registering and inspecting petroleum storage systems, and in enforcing compliance with environmental legislation. Without adequate systems and processes, the risk of environmental damage from petroleum fuel spills is increased.
  • While the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment has instituted a number of useful measures to monitor the Income Support Program, these measures are not being employed as effectively or thoroughly as they should be.
  • Although Government received approximately $350 million in 1997 to operate the Labrador ferry service in perpetuity, the Labrador Transportation Initiative Fund, after only 9 years, is expected to be depleted in 2007. After 2007, Government will have to fund the operations of the Labrador ferry service through its budgetary process - estimated at a net cost of approximately $18 million per year.
  • Issues relating to Government�s investment in Icewater Seafoods Inc. and in a manufacturing company.
  • Government is not efficiently managing its vacant/surplus properties which, at 31 March 2005, were comprised of 62 buildings within 27 sites. Government has no long-term strategy for the disposal or alternate use of vacant/surplus properties and, as a result, they continue to deteriorate while the Department of Transportation and Works incurs ongoing operational costs and increasing environmental remediation costs.

Mr. Noseworthy�s report is available on the Office of the Auditor General Web site at //www.gov.nl.ca/ag/reports.htm

Media contact: John L. Noseworthy, C.A., Auditor General, (709) 729-2700

2006 01 31                                10:30 a.m.


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