Public Accounts committee  There were a variety of issues there. I think one of the key ones was that the model really needed to be expanded—and I think Corrections agrees with us on this—to look more at the implications for overtime and whether or not there were circumstances in which essentially what looks like overstaffing on the surface can in fact be cheaper than paying overtime on a net per-hour basis.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for inviting me to discuss chapter 7 of our December 2008 report, “Economy and Efficiency of Services”, an audit of Correctional Service Canada. With me today is Gordon Stock, principal of the public safety team responsible for this audit. Correctional Service Canada has an obligation to ensure the safety and security of the Canadian public and its own staff, as well as criminal offenders sentenced by the courts to two years or more in prison.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I would note that the agency has agreed with the recommendations we have made. They have indicated they are taking action to address them. We are encouraged by that, and we are looking forward to coming back and seeing the progress they have made.

Public Accounts committee  Right now, I don't. We have planned to schedule follow-up work, but my guess is that probably we would want to allow at least two to three years for Mr. Rigby to get things done and in place. That just gives you a concept of the timeframe. We'll put that in our plans.

Public Accounts committee  No.

Public Accounts committee  It basically reflects the situation in the agency prior to December 2007, going back about 18 months, roughly.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for inviting me to discuss chapter 7 of our May 2008 report, “Detention and Removal of Individuals”, an audit of the Canada Border Services Agency. With me today is Gordon Stock, the principal of the public safety audit team responsible for this chapter. Following a review of chapter 5 of our April 2003 report, the public accounts committee requested that we conduct this audit and report back on whether the management of detentions and removals had improved under the agency since 2003, when we audited those activities as part of Citizenship and Immigration Canada's control and enforcement program.

Public Accounts committee  I'd like to come back to the department's action plan. We believe it is a very constructive action plan and responds well to the recommendations we've made. We look forward to watching the department put it into operation. I think that will help move the yardsticks.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd just like to clarify this so that we don't leave an impression.... In terms of the commanders' reports, they dealt at length with logistical issues and supply issues, and they certainly did raise concerns, in some instances, about deficiencies in the supply chain.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to discuss chapter 2 of our May 2008 report, “Support for Overseas Deployments—National Defence”. I am pleased to speak to you today about this important topic, as operational support is the foundation on which military missions rely.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Again, to come back, I think the commitment from the Border Services Agency to deal with the recommendation is encouraging. The ones that we view as critical are, essentially, starting at the basics and developing a solid database of randomization, because that's really essential to both performance assessment and to refinement of the risk models; and secondly, a proper recording of the results.

Public Accounts committee  What we were doing was reporting the result of an analysis that was done by the department's own National Risk Assessment Centre. It was looking over the period, and it divided the population into types of referrals. One type were referrals for customs lookout. There was some reason to believe they were bringing in something of a commercial nature that they ought not to bring in.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, we have not had a chance to systematically examine the implementation, but we have been encouraged by the very positive reception the agency has given to our recommendations and to the commitments, as indicated by the president in his remarks today, to implementing them.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for inviting me to discuss chapter 5 of our October 2007 report, “Keeping the Border Open and Secure”, an audit of the Canada Border Services Agency. With me today is Gordon Stock, principal of the public safety team responsible for this audit. The Canada Border Services Agency has a wide-ranging mandate.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, Mr. Chair, we were in direct contact with the labs, and that's how we got the information in the first place. In most cases, we were talking to them, and we visited a number of the labs. Obviously we can't audit the information because they're foreign countries, but one of the things we did do is, towards the end of the audit, as we were compiling this table, we wrote back to each of these labs and said, “Okay, this is how we're using the information.