Good morning, Chair, ladies and gentlemen.
I have just a small opening statement to situate the board.
As you all know, the Veterans Review and Appeal Board is a quasi-judicial, independent administrative tribunal that has existed since 1995, when pension reform was instituted. Since then the board has adjudicated over 100,000 appeals from veterans, mostly in the disability pension area.
The board is arm's length. It has a regular complement of approximately 28 to 30 full-time board members, and on average the board produces some 7,000 decisions a year.
We're proud of our track record because most of the board's decisions are issued within 30 days of the actual hearing. Veterans appreciate the rapidity with which we hear their cases. Overall we are still handling a workload of 700 cases per month. We hold hearings in some 30 locations across the country, and our output is maintained at approximately 6,500 decisions a year.
In a nutshell, that's where the board is right now. We continue to hear as rapidly as possible all the appeals that come from the department to us.
That's really all I can say at this point. I'm ready to answer questions should the committee have any.