2007 May Report of the Auditor General of Canada

Progress since our 1993 audit

5.13 Justice Canada should complete its corporate strategic planning and develop strategies to meet its long-term goals.
(5.9–5.12)

The Department agrees with the Auditor General's recommendation. The Department created the Office of Strategic Planning and Performance Management in February 2005 to begin to strengthen the Department's strategic planning and performance management capabilities, including integrating planning and strategic analysis, and performance measurement and reporting for the Department. The Department is also developing a corporate human resources strategy, which encompasses the key strategic human resources priorities of the Department as well as other human resources management initiatives in support of government-wide priorities. The Department will continue its efforts to implement planning frameworks and processes that reflect the unique needs and challenges that it faces in meeting its strategic outcomes.

5.20 Justice Canada should examine the weaknesses noted in its management of legal agents used for civil work and take corrective action. (5.14–5.19)

The Department agrees with the Auditor General's recommendation. In fact, the Department has an action plan to support the continued implementation of improvements to the management of legal agents. This action plan will also address the issues raised by the Auditor General.

5.25 In addition to its current management of alternative dispute resolution initiatives, Justice Canada should ensure that it clearly defines each initiative's objectives, estimates the potential cost savings and formally reviews the outcome of initiatives against their objectives. (5.21–5.24)

The Department agrees with the Auditor General's recommendation, which is consistent with the recent review of the Department's dispute resolution initiative that has resulted in a new mandate focused on providing services to departments supporting long-term prevention and early resolution of disputes. These client-focused services include systems design, legal advisory support, and training, all of which are linked to the departmental priorities of improving practice management and managing the volume of litigation.

5.29 Justice Canada should define performance measures for its corporate priorities and improve its performance reporting to Parliament. (5.26–5.28)

The Department agrees with the Auditor General's recommendation. As part of its departmental performance report to Parliament, the Department will incorporate relevant measures from the annual assessment of our Management Accountability Framework completed by the Treasury Board Secretariat.

More broadly, the Department has implemented a number of changes to its annual reports on plans and priorities and departmental performance reports in an effort to improve reporting to Parliament and the public on the results of departmental initiatives and priorities. Also, as part of its efforts to improve reporting, the Department has implemented a practice whereby a committee of performance measurement specialists within the Department, as well as one external adviser, assess the quality of data used to arrive at management's assessments of the degree to which the Department is achieving its priorities each year. The results of these reviews are reported in the departmental performance report.

Quality assurance

5.62 Justice Canada should develop a quality management system or systems for each of its practices to provide senior management with ongoing and reliable assurance that all services meet established minimum quality standards. (5.30–5.61)

The Department agrees with the Auditor General's recommendation and will build on the elements of its quality work recognized by the Office of the Auditor General with a view to having a sound quality management approach.

Resource management

5.93 Justice Canada needs to make improvements to its resource management. The Department should

• use management information on workload volumes and costs for all of its legal services to better monitor trends, plan, set priorities, manage resources, analyze service delivery options, and identify opportunities for controlling costs;
• work with client departments to effectively plan, manage, and improve the cost-effectiveness of their financial arrangements with a view to managing demand for legal services and thereby reducing costs; and
• ensure that a senior manager with the necessary authority leads the improvement of management practices at the Department and oversees implementation of these changes.
  (5.63–5.92)

The Department agrees with the Auditor General's recommendation. The Department of Justice Canada will continue the work underway to develop approaches to further develop its capacity to use management information to enhance management decisions, and regularize its cost recovery agreements with government departments.

The Department is currently working on putting in place an initiative to better coordinate and integrate its law management practices. The Department will, at the same time, review its management practices to identify and put in place corporate reports to provide management information to support departmental decision making. Senior management authority to lead our work on management practices will be strengthened.