Veterans Affairs committee  What we're working on in our transformation plan has many different elements, and they are happening at the same time. With respect to reducing our turnaround time on the disability program, in 2011 we added additional staff to make sure we cleared off any backlogs and moved towa

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, and I hear those as well. The department has been working on two things. One is a plain language system, where all of our correspondence is being reviewed with the view to making the terminology clear. Sometimes we had a tendency to use terms that were government-centric or

Veterans Affairs committee  With respect to measuring the satisfaction level or feedback, we do client satisfaction surveys. That's a key element of our feedback methodology. With respect to front-line decision-making, our case managers now have the ability to make virtually all their own decisions around t

Veterans Affairs committee  The opportunity from the administrative services review is to provide better service to Canadians. That is the ultimate goal. You mentioned one of the initiatives. Other initiatives could look at ways whereby Veterans Affairs Canada could participate with other departments that a

Veterans Affairs committee  The department is participating in the administrative services review, as are all government departments. Yes, you are correct, we're also working on a transformation agenda; and as with all departments, the strategic operating review, now called the deficit reduction action plan

Veterans Affairs committee  It's a horizontal review of government service offerings and government programs. In particular, I would characterize it as looking for opportunities for the Government of Canada to serve the broader Canadian citizen client group in better ways. Changes may result from it, but it

Veterans Affairs committee  Sure. The changes that allowed us to reduce our turnaround times involved having more staff working on the files, as well as introducing some process improvements. Those process improvements will stay in place and will continue to reduce our turnaround time. In terms of starti

Veterans Affairs committee  The transformation plan I was speaking about has milestones within every year. We're going to see a full transformation by 2015. This is a very significant transformation that is going to affect all levels of the organization. It's taking the organization from a paper-based, non-

Veterans Affairs committee  Are you speaking of visiting the integrated personnel support centres? Once again, the opportunity there is around building the strongest partnership possible on the ground with DND. You're going to go into integrated personnel support centres where back staff and DND staff are

Veterans Affairs committee  The administrative services review is government-wide. We've been a participant in working with Treasury Board, PCO, and others in our department. Part of what we've been looking at is possibly forming new service partnerships; and in other areas, as with other departments, we've

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  The administrative services review was perhaps step one, and the more specific move to common shared services would be a second level.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  We ensure that we have at least one annual meeting. We also have meetings during the year on an ad hoc basis as required. We have a good relationship and open communication with the Legion. Their service officers are working with our front-line staff across the country, so as iss

Veterans Affairs committee  I can speak on behalf of Mr. Hillier, and I'm sure I could say that he's been in every district and every integrated personnel support centre. If he's missed one, I'd be surprised. He makes it a very active part of his business to be on the ground listening to people. I do as wel