Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits - DPR 2015-16

Sixth Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Chapter 3, Reserve Force

Pension Plan – National Defence, of the 2011 Spring Report of the Auditor General of Canada

April 2012

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts examined the Office of the Auditor General of Canada chapter and made two recommendations that involved National Defence.

Original report:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Committee/411/PACP/Reports/RP5463038/411_PACP_Rpt06/411_
PACP_Rpt06-e.pdf

Government response:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspxLanguage=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1&DocId=5692012&File=0

Reservists are a vital part of the Canadian Armed Forces and are instrumental to their success at home and abroad. Since the introduction of the Reserve Force Pension Plan in 2007, National Defence has worked to refine service delivery and ensure that reservists receive pension benefits comparable to those of their Regular Force counterparts.

National Defence continues to address the Auditor General’s recommendations and enhance service delivery through the management action plan. Indeed, since the Committee hearing in December, the department had processed an additional 275 applications as of March 31^st, 2012. Building on this momentum, the department will continue to seek efficiencies and make every effort to eliminate the backlog by 2017.

The Government shares the Committee’s views on the importance of the Reserve Force Pension Plan and accepts both of the Committee’s recommendations. Accordingly, National Defence will report to the Committee on the status of all action plan items targeted for completion in 2012, and provide the first annual progress update on the status of the pension plan file backlog, by December 31^st, 2012.

Status Update:

DND provided a progress update on the status of the pension file backlog. As of April 30, 2016, a total of 10,669 files had been completed and DND is on-track to meet the 2017 closing date.

First Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, 40^th Parliament, 2^nd Session, “Chapter 4, Military Health Care – National Defence of the October 2007 Report of the Auditor General of Canada.”

February 2009

Original report:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Committee/392/PACP/Reports/RP3442081/392_PACP_Rpt12/

392_PACP_Rpt12-e.pdf

Government response:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=e&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=2&DocId=4012028&File=0

The Government accepts this recommendation. DND will report this information in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009-10 DPR. In future years, DND will also look for other ways to make this information available to the public.

Status update:

In FY 2015-16, the Canadian Forces Health Services consisted of over 6,000 members and employees, which included 3,035 Regular Force members (full time), 1,373 Reserve Force members (Part time) and over 1,750 employees of the Public Service (both full and part time). The clinical component of the military health care system consists of nine officer and nine non-commissioned member occupations as well as over 15 Public Service Occupational Groups. Among the clinical component, there are 315 Physicians, 132 Dentists, 545 Nurses, 103 Pharmacists, 173 Physician Assistants, and 2,405 Medical Technicians/Medical Assistants. These clinicians come from the Regular Force, the Reserve Force and Public Service. Finally, the Canadian Forces Health Services are augmented through the use of the Health Service Support Contract which provided in the order of 380 Full-Time Equivalents (FTE), which include 110 FTE Physicians.

Eleventh Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, 39^th Parliament, 1^st Session, “Chapter 2 of the May 2006 Report of the Auditor General of Canada on National Defence – Military Recruiting and Retention.”

December 2006

Original report:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=2560007&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=1

Government response:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=2830673&File=0&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=1

A comprehensive survey analysis that will be conducted in the fall of 2007 will allow the Government to better understand the reasons female members of the Canadian Armed Forces decide to leave the military. Should trends be identified that indicate a need for change, the Government will initiate appropriate corrective measures. The results of this survey analysis, together with any corrective measures undertaken, will be reported in the DPR, beginning with the report for the period ending 31 March 2008.

Status update:

Attrition research continues to include research focused on attrition and retention of women in the CAF. A comprehensive 20 year comparison of overall male and female attrition rates is included in the Annual Report on Regular Force Attrition. In addition, research is underway to examine whether there are notable differences in career patterns and causes of release (voluntary and overall) for women as compared to men in the Regular Force at key years of service points in their careers, particularly at mid-career.

In support of the CAF Retention Strategy, the CAF Retention Survey and CAF Exit Survey continue to be administered to gather data on turnover intentions of CAF personnel.

The attrition rate for women in FY 2015-16 was slightly lower than for men.

The Department of National Defence will ensure that the information identified in this recommendation is included in its annual DPR. However, since the comprehensive analysis of survey results will not commence until the fall of 2007, the reporting of these results can only begin with the report for the period ending 31 March 2008.

Status update:

The Exit Survey is given to all Regular Force members who are leaving the CAF voluntarily. Survey completion is voluntary. The objective of the analysis of Exit Survey data is to assess departing members' satisfaction with several organizational issues as well as to determine the extent to which these organizational issues and dissatisfiers influence their decision to leave the CAF. The Exit Survey is available on-line and all members leaving the CAF are urged retirement to complete it. As data collection is ongoing, the analysis of data takes place as required, and such there are no recent results available. However, it is expected that the results would be similar to those found in the 2008-11 data which indicated that, although none of the organizational issues were identified as salient dissatisfiers or strong influential factors on members’ decisions to leave, the areas of greatest concern included concerns over work-life balance, the effects of postings and deployments on families, and the career management system. Analysis of data collected between 2013 and 2016 is currently underway.

As well, the CAF Retention Survey, which is administered biennially, is used to provide information regarding work and organizational factors that influence retention and attrition of CAF personnel. Results of the 2014 survey indicate that CAF personnel are satisfied with most of the work and organizational variables assessed. Intentions to stay in the CAF until compulsory age are associated with higher reported commitment, person-organization fit, person-job fit, job satisfaction, meaningful work, and work engagement. Areas identified as needing some additional focus included perceptions of organizational support, unit leadership, work-life balance, career management, postings, learning opportunities, and recognition. The 2016 CAF Regular Force Retention Survey is currently being refined and will be administered in September 2016.

The Government will include data regarding attrition rates in the Department of National Defence annual Departmental Performance Report beginning with the report ending 31 March 2007. However, the data will be based on trend analysis as opposed to pre-determined targets.

Status update:

Due to the number of factors influencing attrition that are beyond the control of the CAF, including the state of the Canadian economy, instead of establishing a target for the maximum acceptable rate of attrition of its Trained Effective Strength (TES), the CAF closely monitors all aspects of attrition and uses statistical modelling to forecast attrition for each occupation for each fiscal year. These forecasts are used in formal, structured processes to determine the number of personnel who need to be recruited for each occupation for each fiscal year, and are published as the Strategic Intake Plan (SIP). During the reporting period, actual recruiting and attrition are monitored on a month-by-month basis and the Strategic Intake Plan is adjusted as required. Since reaching its historical low in FY 2011-12, the attrition rate increased for several years until FY 2014-15, but decreased again in FY 2015-16. The overall trained effective strength of the Regular Force decreased slightly in FY 2015-16, and was at 56,421 (93.5% of the trained establishment requirement of 60,353).

The attrition rates above were calculated based on data obtained from the Human Resources Management System (HRMS) up to May 2016. Note that the attrition rates calculated for FY 2015-16 may still change as the data are updated in HRMS.

Fifteenth Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, 39^th Parliament, 1^st Session, “Chapter 5 – Relocating Members of the Canadian Forces, RCMP, and Federal Public Service of the November 2006 Report of the Auditor General of Canada.”

May 2007

Original report:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=2955368&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=1

Government response:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=3077631&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=1

The Government accepts this recommendation.

Status update:

The purpose of the Integrated Relocation Program (IRP) is to relocate CAF personnel and their families in the most efficient fashion and at the most reasonable cost to the public while having a minimum detrimental effect on the employee and family, and on departmental operations.

In 2015-16, the following moves were coordinated through the Brookfield Global Relocation Services (GRS), by quarter:

Fifteenth Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Chapter 3, Mental Health Services for Veterans – National Defence and Veterans Affairs Canada, of the 2014 Fall Report of the Auditor General of Canada

May 2015

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts examined the Office of the Auditor General of Canada chapter and made one recommendation that involved National Defence.

Original report:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=e&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=2&DocId=7922140

Government response:

Nil.

When Parliament dissolved for the October 2015 general election, the need for the Government to respond to the report was obviated.

Status Update:

Any developments regarding this report that took place after March 31, 2016, will be reported in the 2016-17 Departmental Performance Report.

Thirteenth Report of the Standing Committee on National Defence, 41^st Parliament, 2^nd Session, “Canada and the Defence of North America”

June 2015

The Standing Committee on National Defence studied Canada’s role in the Defence of North America. The Committee requested that the government table a response to the Report.

Original report: http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Committee/412/NDDN/Reports/RP8046688/nddnrp13/nddnrp13-e.pdf

Government response:

Nil.

When Parliament dissolved for the October 2015 general election, the need for the Government to respond to the report was obviated.

The Department of National Defence/Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) was involved in two Auditor General (AG) reports completed during FY 2015-16:

Report 7 of the spring 2015 AG tabling, “Office of the Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces,” examined whether the Office of the Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces established and followed key controls, systems and practices related to human resource management, financial management and contracting in carrying out its mandate, in compliance with government legislation and policies. The AG also examined whether National Defence adequately carried out its oversight responsibilities for the Office of the Ombudsman in compliance with government legislation and policies. With respect to National Defence, the AG concluded that although National Defence carried out some monitoring responsibilities for the Office of the Ombudsman, it was not sufficient to be in compliance with government legislation and policies. There were six recommendations included in the report. Of these, two recommendations were directed at the Department of National Defence only, two were directed at the Office of the Ombudsman only, and two were jointly directed to the Department of National Defence and the Office of the Ombudsman. The recommendations can be found through the following link to the entire report: http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_201504_07_e_40353.html

Report 5 of the fall 2015 AG tabling, “Canadian Armed Forced Housing,” examined whether the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces managed military housing in a manner that supported housing requirements, that was consistent with government regulations and policies, and that was cost-effective. The AG concluded that National Defence policy on military housing was consistent with government policy, but that the department did not comply with key aspects of its own policy with respect to clearly defining it operational requirements for military housing or consider how the private housing market could meet the needs of CAF members. In addition, the AG concluded that National Defence did not have adequate and approved plans to support the current and future needs for military housing. There were four recommendations included in the report, all directed to DND/CAF. The recommendations can be found through the following link to the entire report:

http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_201602_05_e_41062.html