Official Languages committee  At the horizontal level, we support them. We look at their record and identify systemic problems.

Official Languages committee  It's somewhere in between. We are not a watchdog, but we do not trust blindly either. The mandate we received from Treasury Board is in fact just as we described it: to establish a policy, then conduct an evaluation and offer support to the departments. That is the role we play.

Official Languages committee  Evaluations indicate how things are going. As to support, that is the work we will be doing with departments and stakeholders to make improvements where there might be some shortcomings.

Official Languages committee  They are the ones currently in place.

Official Languages committee  They were adopted by Treasury Board. We can now apply them. They are applied in all federal institutions.

Official Languages committee  Self-evaluation is mentioned a great deal as regards official languages, and that is also an aspect of management now. Deputy ministers are responsible for that. We ask them to be transparent, knowing that what they report will have to be consistent with other findings. We consider the information about official languages that deputy ministers provide to be reliable and accurate.

Official Languages committee  Yes, and they tell us that. We are not—

Official Languages committee  Unfortunately, not all departments have an action plan, but the majority of them do.

Official Languages committee  It is the deputy minister, the delegate, who is responsible for the action plan. Once we see that it is systematic and that too many departments do not have one, we consider that to be a horizontal problem. Then we create working groups and try to work with the departments to make sure they develop an action plan.

Official Languages committee  I am trying to understand your question.

Official Languages committee  It is the role of the deputy heads to provide that information in full, to provide the reports, so that we have an overall view of the health of the official languages in the public service. It is their role to do so within the confines of a report for a given department and perhaps for a representative of that department.

Official Languages committee  I would say that our process is quite rigorous. In fact, the Commissioner of Official Languages is not part of our department and he closely follows what we do on official languages. I agree with you, but I feel that an external organization does follow what we do.

Official Languages committee  I identified two questions. Let me answer the first one that deals with self-assessment. Is that right?

Official Languages committee  You said that we should go back to an annual review. It is important to understand that the small departments, the departments that do well and the departments that have the least impact conduct a review every three years. There are still some large, high-impact departments that carry out annual reviews.

Official Languages committee  I'm getting to your second question.