Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I am pleased to appear before you today to give you a brief description of Service Canada and its role in the delivery of federal government services and its commitment to delivering the best service possible to all Canadians in a way that's efficient, effective, and focused on the changing needs.
I'm accompanied by my colleague, Mr. Paul Thompson, who is the assistant deputy minister of the Processing and Payment Services Branch; and Mrs. Cheryl Fisher, who's the acting assistant deputy minister for the Citizen Service Branch.
The purpose of today's presentation is to provide an overview of Service Canada, who we are and what we do. I will also talk briefly about our future plans, based on the ongoing improvement of the service.
We'll now move on to the presentation. I'd be happy to answer your questions afterwards.
Service Canada aims to offer one-stop, easy-access to government information, programs and services to meet the needs of Canadians. Our integrated national service delivery network makes it easier for Canadians to get what they want or need from the government, how and when they choose, by Internet, by telephone, in person or by mail.
As the operational service delivery arm for HRSDC, Service Canada supports the achievement of policy and program priorities through the delivery of core programs, including employment insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, old age security, the guaranteed income supplement, the social insurance number, and the wage earner protection program.
In addition to delivering core services, Service Canada also works with a range of federal partners to provide Canadians with help or information on such life events as finding a job, getting an education, applying for a passport, having credentials recognized, raising a family, retiring, living with a disability, starting a business, and much more. I will speak more on this later in the presentation.
Service Canada has strongly prioritized collaboration and intergovernmental partnerships, for example with the agreements on life events.
Within HRSDC's portfolio, Service Canada comprises a national headquarters and four regional management structures: West, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic.
Service Canada is one of the largest and most regionally diversified organizations within the government. In fact, in a workforce of 16,000, almost 9 out of 10 employees do not work in the National Capital Region.
Service Canada has on four key business lines.
Our citizen services business line is responsible for Service Canada's client service strategies and offerings, as well as our integrated approach to managing key service channels. It captures the views of and perspectives of Canadians through such initiatives as our office for client satisfaction and the voice of the client initiative, as well as the insights of employees on how to continually improve services through our newly launched voice of the employee.
Our processing and payment service business line is responsible for the operational delivery of the department's core programs, including employment insurance, the Canada pension plan, old age security, and the guaranteed income supplement.
Our integrity services business line helps us to ensure that the right individual receives the right benefit payment at the right time through a comprehensive risk-based program to improve the accuracy of processing and payments, ensure compliance, and ensure the security and accuracy of personal information.
Our labour market and social development program is delivered at the regional level and is responsible for the delivery of a diverse range of programs to Canadians, such as youth, seniors, persons with disabilities, and aboriginal peoples.
Service Canada is responsible for delivering over $95 million in benefits for some of the most basic programs that touch the lives of Canadians: employment insurance, the Canada pension plan, old age security, the guaranteed income supplement and the wage protection program.
This represents approximately 4.3 million payments annually, with the vast majority—nearly 85%—deposited directly into client bank accounts, greatly simplifying the client service experience.
In addition to making payment processes more timely, Service Canada is also achieving higher levels of payment benefit accuracy through more automated processes, generally meeting or exceeding the 95% accuracy target for all major programs.
Ensuring that Service Canada and its employees are focused on the needs and wants of Canadians when it comes to priority services is at the heart of our vision.
Our mission statement is based on what Canadians have told governments they want from a service organization: timely, single-window access to the full range of government service offerings, supported by knowledgeable service professionals.
Under our mandate, we are committed to continuous improvement by deepening the level of cooperation in services to offer Canadians a wider range of government services in the delivery method of their choice. Service Canada's national multimode network ensures that Canadians can click, call or visit to get the government information, programs or services they need.
To provide you with a bit of detail on our more than 600 points of in-person service, we have 331 Service Canada centres, 274 scheduled outreach sites in rural and remote locations, and 28 Service Canada community offices.
On slide 7 you will see a map showing shows that we have over 600 points of service across Canada. Service Canada provides over 90% of Canadians with access to services within 50 kilometres of their homes.
This extremely detailed map of points of service shows the wide range of locations offering services in person to Canadians. As you can also see, the map very clearly illustrates that it is a priority for our organization to provide an efficient presence in urban and rural areas across the country.
At the present time, the vast majority of our in-person sites, nearly three-quarters, are located in rural and remote areas of the country.
Since it was created, Service Canada has made it an ongoing priority to create solid and sustained partnerships and to engage in intergovernmental cooperation.
We have more than 70 service offerings, and they're now delivered on behalf of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and 12 other government departments and partners.
These partnerships increase our ability to attain more complex and convergent results when it comes to providing services to Canadians.
We enhance existing services, for example, sharing information relevant to social insurance number issuance. We deliver new services such as the passport receiving agent service, and we implement new cross-government service offerings such as the joint CPP disability and disability tax credit.
I'm now on slide 9.
There are four key challenges before Service Canada for the future, and these challenges have an impact on our ability to serve Canadians.
The first challenge is the changing demographic.
Our aging population will increase the pressure on Service Canada to deliver the pension and other services that Canada's seniors rely upon. Canada's senior population is expected to more than double by 2036, increasing service demands for pension programs. And as more people retire, we know we will need to turn our focus increasingly to supporting the skilled workforce we will need in the future.
The second challenge is the rising citizen service delivery expectations.
Canadians expect government services to compete with the levels of service they receive from the private sector. This means 24-hour, online, easy-to-use self-service. They want one-stop government services that are organized and offered to meet their individual needs. And in this digital age, as citizens are increasingly empowered to self-serve online, they expect 24/7 access to fully transactional government e-services.
New technologies present the third challenge.
Around the world, public and private sector service delivery organizations are leveraging new technologies to integrate and simplify the delivery of services, streamline transactional services, and make better use of online communication.
Lastly, fiscal restraint is also a challenge.
In a period of fiscal restraint, Service Canada needs to be efficient and as effective as possible.
To meet these challenges, Service Canada remains committed to delivering service to Canadians in a way that is modern, efficient and sustainable.
In the coming years, our service improvement plan will reflect the following priorities.
We want to enhance our service delivery through an improved Service Canada website and the My Service Canada Account, so that citizens can take advantage of greater electronic services and self-service options when they are seeking information and conducting service transactions.
This service improvement plan will also focus on the continued progress of a general modernization program by moving ahead with the possibility of automating, regrouping and further standardizing our administrative processes to attain better operational performance and cut costs in this period of fiscal restraint.
Thank you very much. I would now be pleased to answer your questions.