Auditor general slams government for slow action on aging recommendations

Denise Hanrahan, Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general, says the provincial government is getting worse at implementing recommendations and improvements made by her office. (Ted Dillon/CBC)

Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general on Thursday released a new report card that depicts a worsening trend within departments and government agencies for failing to act on faults and calls for improvement.

The greatest worry, Denise Hanrahan said, is in the health-care system, which also happens to dominate public spending.

Hanrahan's report on outstanding performance audit recommendations — which focuses on recommendations that her office has made within the last seven years — examines how well departments and government entities manage their resources and operations.

This year, there are 69 outstanding recommendations on the table, representing 40 per cent of the auditor general's office recommendations from 2016 to 2020. Of those, 83 per cent were are from 2017 or earlier.

"For context, that means two out of five recommendations remain outstanding. Last year it was one in three, so the trend is worsening," Hanrahan told reporters Thursday.

"I am concerned that recommendations issued nearly a decade ago are still not fully resolved, and it's certainly not a trend I'm encouraged by."

The recommendations vary for each department and other organizations, including the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corp. and Memorial University.

Some have been partially implemented by the governing body but haven't reached 100 per cent implementation yet.

There are 69 outstanding auditor general recommendations on the table this year, representing 40 per cent of the auditor general's office recommendations from 2016 to 2020. (Curtis Hicks/CBC)

"Outstanding recommendations in these reports relate to evaluation, oversight, governance, compliance with policy, business continuity, conflict of interest, internal controls and fraud management. As I'm sure we can all agree, those are very important issues," Hanrahan said.

"It matters because public money was used to find those gaps, and departments and entities need to be held accountable for why they haven't implemented those improvements and corrective actions to mitigate those risks, risks to the public and the risk of increased cost in program delivery."

Health sector is top concern

Publicly funded departments and other agencies with low overall implementation rates include Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services, at 36 per cent; the Department of Justice and Public Safety, at 40 per cent; the Department of Health and Community Services, at 45 per cent; and the Executive Council, at 50 per cent.

Hanrahan said the health-care area concerns her the most.

"Overall, it's a really large part of the public sector. It's a large part of the money and efficiency of the public sector and yet they have some of the lowest implementation rates," she said.

"We gave recommendations — it would have been in 2017 — related to home support. I suspect they're still very relevant, and I'm not sure why they're not implemented."

Hanrahan said acknowledged there have been big changes in the education and health sectors over the last few years. The school board was folded into the Education Department and four health authorities were amalgamated into one.

However, she said, it still doesn't make sense why some recommendations from pre-pandemic years — using 2016 as an example — haven't been resolved.

"How a government responds to recommendations will show the public how committed it is to positive change and improvement in its policies, operations and management of public resources," she said.

"Ultimately, I won't give up on these topics and these subject areas until I see resolution, and I understand from my meeting this morning with the public accounts committee that they won't either. They informed me this morning that they will be considering hearings on the considerable outstanding recommendations that come from our reports."

CBC News asked the premier's office for comment about the report late Thursday afternoon. Spokesperson Sonja Pomeroy said there will be a response Friday morning.

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