As the committee knows, the policy has changed. Starting in 2013, all direct program spending will have to be evaluated over a five-year period. In the departments we looked at, the percentage of coverage was between 7% and 13%. None of the departments we looked at was actually evaluating 20% each year, which is the minimum they would have to do. They're very concerned about the lack of experienced evaluators. We know that much of the evaluation work has been given to contractors. We think it's important that some of that expertise be brought in-house, within government, and that this function be strengthened across government. There is still time, but they mentioned a concern about whether they'd be able to build up the capacity to do this within three years.
On November 4th, 2009. See this statement in context.