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2000 April Report of the Auditor General of Canada
Appendix B—Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
(Excerpts from the Fifth Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, April 1997)
The Committee recommends:
That Treasury Board Secretariat develop and make public its implementation framework for the Quality Services Initiative by 30 September 1997. Particular reference must be made to achieving service standards within the context of the Initiative.
That Treasury Board Secretariat lead the Quality Services Initiative by establishing, in co-operation with the departments, a final target completion date for the entire initiative, and by providing guidance and incentives to the departments to ensure that this initiative is completed successfully.
That by 30 September 1997 Treasury Board Secretariat make public the target implementation date for the Quality Services Initiative.
That all departments delivering services directly to Canadians establish plans for implementing the Quality Services Initiative. These plans must include a timetable for full implementation, including target dates for publication of service standards, and must be made available to Parliament and the public.
That departments, as an integral part of establishing standards for the services they provide, consult those receiving services and take their needs into account before final implementation occurs.
That departments make public the standards they have established for the services they deliver to Canadians and report performance against these standards in either Part III of their Estimates, or when appropriate, in performance reports tabled in the House of Commons in the fall.
That Treasury Board Secretariat report annually to Parliament on the progress being made in the development and implementation of service standards throughout government, either in Part III of its Estimates, in its performance report, or in a separate document designated for this purpose.
That departments with telephone services publish service standards governing accessibility and accuracy of answers, that they collect and analyse client complaints about telephone services, and that they regularly measure and publicly report performance against the standards they have established.
That departments engaged in paying benefits continue with efforts to enhance the use of direct deposits as the principal means of payment.