Unfortunately, I don't have the numbers for the rejection rates off the top of my head. The department for sure has that information, I hope. Maybe I can get it for you after the meeting.
With respect to the pros and cons of pre-approvals, the pros are quite obvious to everybody who is listening in today. It is faster approvals, so it's decisions and money flowing into the hands of the applicants much faster. The cons, unfortunately, are a lack of certainty to a certain extent, with people not knowing whether there would be an audit on their case after the fact. From the government's perspective, there would probably be difficulty in recovering amounts that could be overpaid in cases of applications that are not founded or that are not eligible.
These are the main pros and cons that I would see. If I had half an hour, I could probably come up with a longer list of pros and cons, but off the top of my head, these are the main elements that come to mind.