Responses to parliamentary committees and external audits

Summary

This audit focused on whether the federal organizations responsible for procuring 3 complex IT initiatives were on track to support the achievement of business outcomes and to uphold the government’s commitment to fairness, openness, and transparency in procurement. In the case of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), it is procuring a new IT solution to implement a Benefits Delivery Modernization program. This will improve how it delivers social programs and services to Canadians, including Employment Insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, and Old Age Security.

The Auditor General made 5 recommendations, 1 of the recommendations applies to ESDC. The Auditor General found that ESDC should ensure that governance mechanisms are in place to engage senior representatives of concerned departments and agencies for complex IT procurements.

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ESDC’s response and corrective actions

ESDC agreed with the recommendation. As of February 2021, the department has a finalized and approved governance structure.

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Summary

This audit focused on whether ESDC and the Canada Revenue Agency efficiently managed financial assistance to post-secondary students and the risks to the public purse, while helping students attend colleges and universities. The audit also focused on whether the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada collaborated with stakeholders to strengthen students’ financial literacy.

The Auditor General found that ESDC needed to improve its management of some aspects of student financial assistance, perform a more comprehensive evaluation of student financial assistance, did not take enough steps to ensure that borrowers understood their financial obligations and did not properly verify borrowers’ eligibility for the Repayment Assistance Plan. The Auditor General made 5 recommendations based on these findings.

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ESDC’s response and corrective actions

ESDC agreed with the recommendations. As of August 30, 2021, ESDC has worked to enhance Repayment Assistance Plan verification and has developed an appropriate indicator for the Repayment Assistance Plan by working with the Office of the Chief Actuary. In addition, ESDC continues to make progress on a process for credit bureau reporting on loans in collections.

To enhance communications to student borrowers, ESDC has implemented a number of financial literacy tools on the National Student Service Centre website. This includes a “Virtual Repayment Counsellor”, and a “Managing Your Money” webpage with financial literacy content and links to additional resources. ESDC will continue to work with the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) to incorporate additional financial literacy tools and communications as part of the National Student Loans Service Centre’s web portal.

ESDC has also consulted provinces, territories and external stakeholders about the costs and benefits of mandatory training for student loan applicants and recipients. Both groups expressed support for this idea.

ESDC is gathering input received from stakeholders, and is working closely with the FCAC to design and implement an experiment to analyze the efficacy of a training module. A project proposal is in development. A program evaluation is also underway to determine reasons for non-repayment of student loans, which is planned for completion by Fall 2023.

ESDC also initiated work on the research project and the evaluation to assess interactions of the Canada Education Savings Program (CESP) with the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program, as well as examine the impact of education savings incentives provided by the CESP on post-secondary education outcomes. They should be completed by Fall 2022.

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Summary

This audit focused on the design and delivery of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and whether ESDC and the Department of Finance Canada provided analysis to support the initial design and subsequent adjustments to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. This audit also focused on whether ESDC and the Canada Revenue Agency designed mechanisms so that the benefit would support eligible workers who suffered a loss of income for reasons related to the COVID‑19 pandemic, including limiting abuse of the benefit.

The Auditor General found that ESDC and the Canada Revenue Agency should finalize and implement their plans for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit post-payment verification work and conduct a formal assessment of the delivery of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit in order to apply the findings to the design and delivery of future government emergency response and recovery benefits. The Auditor General made 2 recommendations based on these findings.

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ESDC’s response and corrective actions

ESDC agreed with the recommendations. To respond to the recommendations, ESDC will continue its 4- year operational plan for post-payment integrity activities, including extensive investigation into fraudulent claims. ESDC also agreed that a formal assessment of the delivery of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit will inform the design and development of future emergency response benefits.

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