Auditor General, Julia Mullaley, today delivered to the House of Assembly her report on Performance Audits of Departments and Crown Agencies. This report included the results of three audits: Healthy Eating in Schools, Oversight of Provincial Wellness Priorities, and Student Transportation.
The report on Healthy Eating in Schools concluded that the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District was not adequately managing healthy eating in schools. It highlighted that foods and beverages available to school-aged children were often not meeting the nutritional requirements of the School Food Guidelines.
The audit on Oversight of Provincial Wellness Priorities concluded that to support the achievement of Government’s The Way Forward targets to improve health outcomes, improvements are needed in existing oversight processes to effectively coordinate, monitor, evaluate and report on implementation of wellness priorities. It further noted that the Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development had committed to developing a Healthy Active Living Action Plan in 2017 to focus on actions to support achievement of Government’s targets but work on this Action Plan is still underway.
Results of the audit of Student Transportation concluded that better oversight and monitoring by the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District is needed to ensure the safe transportation of students. Highlights included required improvements in District processes for monitoring inspections designed to assess a vehicle’s mechanical condition; lack of documented guidance for staff on how to assess a driver’s abstract and police records check to ensure they meet District expectations for qualified drivers; drivers were not always completing the required training designed to reduce the risk of accidents in the transportation of students; and schools did not fully comply with Departmental policy for bus safety training to students.
“Each of these audits focus on important areas including fostering healthy lifestyles through healthy eating, effectively overseeing the implementation of health promotion and wellness priorities to improve provincial health outcomes and ensuring the safe transportation of students. I encourage the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District and Government departments to consider the recommendations in this report which are designed to promote accountability and encourage positive change in the management of these public programs and services.” – Julia Mullaley, Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador
In total, the three audits made 22 recommendations to the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District and Government departments. The full report is available on the Office of the Auditor General website at www.ag.gov.nl.ca/ag/allReports.htm
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