The reports of the Members of the Legislative Assembly Workers’
Compensation Board Service Review Input Committee, chaired by Red Deer South MLA, Mr. Victor Doerksen, and the Workers’
Compensation Board Appeal System Review Committee, chaired by retired judge, Mr. Samuel Friedman, Q.C., were issued in the fall of 2000. The reports recommended significant policy, legislative and regulatory changes to improve the service delivery and accountability of the workers’ compensation system.
Government’s response to recommendations
The government accepted or accepted in principle 49 of the 59 recommendations made by the two committees.
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Establishment of an accountability framework
One of the changes announced by the Minister was the
establishment of an accountability framework by January 1, 2002.
In addition to defining roles and responsibilities, the framework will include establishing measures and targets to monitor
performance in key areas by the WCB and the Appeals Commission.
Stakeholder input will be obtained
Stakeholders will be given an opportunity to discuss the
recommendations and provide input on the measures and targets to be included in the framework.
My Office will participate in the accountability
framework
My Office has accepted the Minister’s request to perform specified auditing procedures on the performance measures of the WCB and the Appeals Commission. As the work on performance measures progresses, we will assess the systems underlying the performance measures and accountability framework, and make
recommendations where we believe there are opportunities to improve those systems. We believe that our involvement will add credibility to the public reporting of the performance of these organizations and improve their accountability to the Legislative Assembly and other stakeholders.
Ministry financial statements
We conducted an audit of the Ministry’s financial statements as at and for the year ended March 31, 2001. My auditor’s report contained a reservation of opinion as a result of the Ministry applying a corporate government minimum threshold to capitalize assets.
In accordance with corporate government accounting policies, capital assets purchased with a cost of under $15,000 are expensed in the year acquired, rather than being capitalized and amortized over their useful lives. Consequently, a significant amount of resources available to the Ministry have been recorded as if they have been consumed.
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Other entities
Financial audits for the following entities were also completed for the year ended December 31, 2001:
Government of Alberta Dental Plan Trust
Government Employees Extended Medical Benefits Plan Trust Long Term Disability Income Continuance Plan-Bargaining Unit Long Term Disability Income Continuance Plan-Management,
Opted Out and Excluded Joint Standards Directorate
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Infrastructure
Overview
During 2000-2001, according to the Ministry’s business plan, it was responsible for:
• providing safe and effective highways within the Province
• ensuring traffic safety
• providing facilities to government departments, Crown boards and agencies
• funding and developing water management facilities
• funding and developing infrastructure facilities managed by other organizations such as school jurisdictions, post-secondary educational institutions, health authorities and municipalities
• providing central services to government departments including vehicle fleet operations, accommodation, and air transport
During 2000-2001, the Ministry was also given the responsibility for developing and implementing an energy rebate program to assist Albertans with the cost of heating. The Ministry paid rebates to residential consumers, businesses, and not-for-profit organizations.
The Ministry was responsible for the government’s capital planning initiative
The Ministry was also primarily responsible for the
cross-government initiative of capital planning. The overall goal of this initiative is to ensure effective, innovative capital planning and funding decisions. Strategies include preparing annual corporate overviews to facilitate planning, multi-year infrastructure
budgeting, implementing effective infrastructure management systems with common performance measures and effectively managing physical infrastructure.
The Ministry of
Transportation is now the lead Ministry for the government’s capital planning initiative
In March 2001, as part of government restructuring, the government created the Ministry of Transportation. The Ministry of
Transportation is now the lead Ministry for the cross-government capital planning initiative. The Ministry of Infrastructure still provides support for this initiative. The Ministry of Transportation is now also responsible for providing safe and effective highways within the Province, ensuring traffic safety, and funding and developing water management facilities.
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The following table summarizes the Ministry’s operating expenses, capital investment, and revenues from external sources for the year ended March 31, 2001:
Operating
The Ministry owns and manages the majority of the government’s capital assets and provides funding for health and educational facilities
The Ministry is the major owner of infrastructure in the
government. The approximate net book value of the government’s capital assets amounted to $8.0 billion at March 31, 2001. Of this amount, the Ministry owns and manages capital assets with a net book value of approximately $5.9 billion. Most of the remaining government assets are held by the Ministries of Environment (primarily land and water management systems) and Community Development (heritage buildings and collections, and social housing).
The following table provides details of the assets the Ministry owns and manages. Dams and water management systems
- work in progress 152 2.6
Total $ 5,900 100.0
Net Book Value Total (in millions of dollars)
Source: Ministry of Infrastructure March 31, 2001 Financial Statements
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The estimated net book value at March 31, 2001 of health and educational facilities funded by the Ministry is as follows:
(Billions of dollars) School facilities $2.4 Post-secondary facilities 2.2
Health facilities 2.5
Summary of audit results
We reviewed the Ministry’s process for preparing business case analyses
We reviewed the contracts and funding arrangements for infrastructure projects to determine whether the Ministry has a process for preparing appropriate business case analyses to support these projects. The Ministry has a process for analysing and
evaluating proposals from potential contractors and service providers. However, we noted that the Ministry could improve its process for preparing business case analyses. Specifically, the Ministry should establish and enforce its requirements for preparing business cases, perform comprehensive analyses to support
infrastructure projects, and formalize the risk assessment process in partnership projects.
We reviewed the Ministry’s system for generating deferred maintenance information
We reviewed the processes and information systems the Ministry uses to identify and report on deferred maintenance for
infrastructure it owns and supports. Our goal was to learn if the Ministry’s information systems could generate reliable information on deferred maintenance. The Ministry has performance measures for condition, utilization, and functional adequacy of its
infrastructure, which it plans to include in its annual reports. These measures show how effectively the Ministry has maintained its infrastructure. But the Ministry does not have reliable information on the extent or cost of deferred maintenance because its current systems are not capable of generating reliable information.
We followed up on our
In 1997-1998, we made a recommendation relating to performance measures and in 1999-2000, we made recommendations relating to the Ministry’s capital planning initiative, long-term capital asset plans, and infrastructure management systems. We reviewed the Ministry’s progress in implementing our recommendations. The Ministry has implemented our recommendations on performance measures and the capital planning initiative. It has made progress in implementing our recommendations on long-term capital asset plans, and infrastructure management systems. However, further work is required to fully implement them.
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Scope of work
In addition to the annual financial audit, we completed the following work:
• application of specified audit procedures to key performance measures included in the Ministry’s 2000-2001 annual report
• an examination of the Ministry’s process to prepare business case analysis for infrastructure projects
• an examination of the Ministry’s process to identify and report deferred maintenance on infrastructure it owns and supports
• a follow-up on the Ministry’s progress in implementing our recommendations on performance measures, capital planning initiative, long-term capital asset plans, and infrastructure management systems