Well, our envelope has gotten smaller, because in the last Parliament, in the last budget, we were asked to absorb the salary increases of collective agreements. For us, when most of our budget consists of salary and we have very little O and M manoeuvring, a decision like that meant, I think, a $320,000 decrease in our envelope.
That's very significant for us. We've already had to address this. I have three positions that were cut this fiscal year, and I have some people who've left and have not been replaced already to absorb these cuts. So this has already been integrated, if you wish, into our budget. I'm already doing more with less.
As to where we're at right now, frankly, it would take longer to do cases, but it's more than that. It's a risk in our internal services. There are a lot of reporting requirements. We have reporting requirements very similar to those of any other institutions. We do have to have an internal audit function.
Contrary to small agencies, we have to have a full-scale internal audit function, because we are an agent of Parliament. We have had an unmodified audit from the Auditor General for the last five years. I really think we need to keep that. We're looking at sharing our services in terms of human resources simply because the risk in terms of the expertise is too high. Small institutions do have to be aware of those things.
Frankly, as to the people I have in my office, everybody's working so hard that, at this point, I don't think I can ask them to do more. They're going to have to do it on a longer-term scale, if our budget is cut.
I think we'd lose the gains we're making in terms of reducing our inventory, and I think that would be a shame. I really have to clean that up. I still have 1,800 cases in my inventory, and I need to bring that down. My goal is to bring it down to about 500 as a carry-over from year to year so that requesters' rights are really respected. Delays in my office also have a negative impact on requesters' rights.
So it is my responsibility to clean it up. We're making progress, but I'm really convinced that significant cuts.... You know, at some point, there are few areas where I can cut, so....