Human Resources committee  I would speak, if I may, Mr. Chair, to two issues. One is the importance of timely processing of claims for employment insurance or for pensions. Member Morrissey, you noted in your opening comments the person who was waiting several weeks for a decision. We recognize that even when we meet our service standards, as we have consistently for the last few years in terms of the processing of EI claims, we're able to process 80% of them within our 28-day service standard.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  I'd like to talk about the fiscal year that just ended. Obviously, it's been a few weeks since your new system has been in operation. We've been extremely happy so far. It's a game-changer. This completely changed access to agents. So I'll give you the numbers. Last year, the accessibility rate for pension agents was just under 70%, or 68%.

Human Resources committee  These 5.5 minutes were for the year in total. I haven't had any wait time data for a few weeks. Mr. Groen has something to add.

Human Resources committee  We've been working very hard in advance of the new accessibility legislation to assess our physical infrastructure coast to coast to coast across the country. We have 317 in-person Service Canada centres and 32 stand-alone passport offices. Obviously, it's critical for us to ensure that those are fully accessible.

Human Resources committee  We're going to continue to do everything in our power to keep up with the expectations of accessibility, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue to expand. As well, we have had a focus on outreach to vulnerable populations. For example, there were questions around the take-up for the Canada child benefit, old age security, and the guaranteed income supplement.

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair, I would be pleased to answer the question. In my comments at the start of the meeting, I mentioned our two main challenges that affect our capacity to take calls, especially during peak periods. It's a key element of our challenge. First, our technology is outdated.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely, Mr. Chair. I have two general comments. All of our reports to Parliament, whether the departmental results framework or other things, include our performance against each of our service standards. If you were to pull up the parliamentary reports, you would find for the employment insurance program or the pensions program our performance against our commitment to answer 80% of the calls within 10 minutes.

Human Resources committee  I would argue that part of providing excellent service to Canadians is making sure there's full access to the information through which you can inform yourself about what you might be eligible for. In that regard, we've had an extensive program of work to update the content of all our information that's available online.

Human Resources committee  I was incorrect. At public accounts I was out by 2%. I would also note—

Human Resources committee  I was 2% cheap; our results were better, but that was only for one program. If I could give a bit of context around the answer, when people get through to our call centre agents, our staff are trained never to make a decision or a determination on the phone. Our starting point is to provide the information that clients need to inform the decision of whether to apply.

Human Resources committee  As an organization, we have agreed with all the Auditor General's recommendations. We are changing our practice in regard to one specific issue noted by the Auditor General, which is reporting publicly on the number of calls before we've reached our service standard. Our rationale for that is as follows.

Human Resources committee  That's exactly right, and our rationale for that is that we haven't had the opportunity to pass or fail on our service standard if someone hangs up 30 seconds in or five minutes in. Therefore, we are absolutely committed to accurate reporting. We publish our service standards every year in our reports to Parliament for all of our programs against all of our public-facing service standards, and we will absolutely adjust in our next parliamentary report this particular data point.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much for the invitation to appear before you today. Thank you so much for inviting us to speak to you about this important Auditor General chapter on call centres and the service we provide Canadians. I would like to point out that I am joined by my colleague Mr.

Public Accounts committee  We've been focusing very much at Service Canada on the client as the centre of how we change our services. For example, in 2016 we did a study of the service quality for the EI program and realized that as many as 30% of our clients fell into a category we call e-vulnerable because of where they live in the country, literacy, language or other barriers.