Evidence of meeting #14 for Veterans Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was charter.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Bernard Butler  Director General, Policy and Research Division, Department of Veterans Affairs
Charlotte Stewart  Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

9:10 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr

Thank you very much.

Now to Mr. Casey, for five.

November 29th, 2011 / 9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome back, Mr. Butler, and Ms. Stewart.

My first question for you is whether the department has undergone an administrative services review.

9:10 a.m.

Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

Charlotte Stewart

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 been looking at moving towards a centralized service model for information services.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE

So that's Shared Services, is it?

9:10 a.m.

Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE

If I understand your answer correctly, the administrative services review and the transfer of people from VAC to Shared Services Canada are one and the same. I understood them to be separate; that's why I asked.

9:10 a.m.

Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

Charlotte Stewart

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

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE

Okay. So they're related.

You say that this administrative services review was a government-wide initiative. Is it still ongoing?

9:10 a.m.

Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE

What are the expected impacts of this review on staffing numbers and front-line services? Do you have a handle on that yet, or is it too early to tell?

9:15 a.m.

Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

Charlotte Stewart

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 are providing front-line services.

But no, at this point in time, those discussions have not been completed or formalized. Down the road, the opportunity, I believe, is around efficiency and providing a better service; it's not about reducing staff.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE

I just want to be clear on this. There is a bunch of things going on in the department: the transformation agenda, the strategic operating review, and an administrative services review. Am I right that those three things are all going on right now?

9:15 a.m.

Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

Charlotte Stewart

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, is under way.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE

I understand what the transformation agenda is. I understand what the strategic operating review is. How is the administrative services review different? If there are three specific things going on, what is the administrative services review about? Could you help me understand that?

9:15 a.m.

Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

Charlotte Stewart

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 is a horizontal review of functions that all departments perform.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

Sean Casey Liberal Charlottetown, PE

You indicated that you had a chance to see the ombudsman's report. He commented that you were able to get your service standard from 24 weeks down to 16 weeks for the processing of disability benefits. He also commented that it's difficult to determine how much of that reduction was a result of starting the clock later.

Could you shed some light on that?

9:15 a.m.

Director General, Service Delivery and Program Management, Department of Veterans Affairs

Charlotte Stewart

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 starting the clock, frankly what was happening is that files were coming in without complete information, and a decision was made to be clearer about what was required for an applicant's to be reviewed. This is advantageous to the client as well, because it clarifies that, “A complete file includes the following and that for us to begin our process, we require you to do...“ this and this. They get a lot of assistance from our front-line staff to do that.

So yes, an element of that is potentially related to when we begin to measure the turnaround time. But I can say that the majority of the decrease was related to adding more staff and streamlining some of the surrounding processes.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr

Thank you very much.

Mr. Storseth, for five minutes.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I hope you didn't call me Mr. Stoffer again. I thought I heard that.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr

No, and even though he moves around, I didn't call you Mr. Dykstra either. I'm just trying to follow the list here.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB

I don't have the hair to be Mr. Dykstra.

Thank you very much for coming, Mr. Butler and Ms. Stewart. It was very interesting, as always. It was very educational.

As you know, when we started with the new Veterans Charter we wanted to ensure that we got rid of the patchwork of programs that always seemed to always creep up Veterans Affairs Canada. We wanted to make sure it was flexible enough that it would be able to adapt. The new Veterans Charter wasn't going to be perfect in the first place, so we needed to make sure we could make changes.

Have you witnessed that or seen evidence of it in the time the new Veterans Charter has been in place, and could you give me examples of that?

9:15 a.m.

Director General, Policy and Research Division, Department of Veterans Affairs

Bernard Butler

Thank you for the question, Mr. Storseth.

I think a good example of that would be Bill C-55. When the new Veterans Charter was implemented, it had cross-government, all-party support, and there was a clear recognition on the part of the Government of Canada that there was a compelling and pressing need for transitional support for the modern veterans who were releasing from the military. There was a need for promotion of wellness amongst that group, and there was a need to support their re-establishment into civilian life.

So the charter was adopted, and it was acknowledged at the time that it would require adjustment. There were some studies conducted, and this committee itself has looked at it. The recent enhancements, through Bill C-55, represent significant improvements to the charter, which are clearly indicative of the fact that there is a process to identify gaps and a process to adapt.

Bill C-55 and the enhancements we spoke of a short while ago, in our view, are certainly good examples of how it is adjusting to meet the evolving needs and gaps as they are identified.

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB

You mean things like the lump sum disability payment and the changes that were made to that?

9:20 a.m.

Director General, Policy and Research Division, Department of Veterans Affairs

Bernard Butler

Exactly. The lump sum disability payment options that were introduced are a good example of that. If you recall, there was concern voiced by different quarters over the last couple of years that the lump sum payments being made to veterans were perhaps not being utilized as effectively by those individuals as they might be.

The response by the government at the time was to understand what the issue was and then to introduce payment options. Now, as some of you may be aware, the veteran has the option to receive either a lump sum—or some of the benefit in a lump sum and in annual instalments—or to receive it all on the basis of annual instalments over a period of time.

9:20 a.m.

Conservative

Brian Storseth Conservative Westlock—St. Paul, AB

How well disseminated are these changes throughout the veterans' ranks? It seems to me that there are still a lot of regular force members and veterans whom I run into who don't necessarily understand some of the changes that were made.

I understand these are recent changes, but is there a communications strategy to make sure we reach out through organizations and the media to make sure that the veterans are aware of the changes made?