Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador, Denise Hanrahan, today delivered a monitoring report on outstanding performance audit recommendations to the House of Assembly. The report covers reports issued from 2017 to 2021 and provides a status update on performance recommendations.
The Office of the Auditor General undertakes performance audits that examine how well government and its entities manage resources and operations. Performance audits seek to determine if specific programs or functions are working as intended and offers recommendations for improvement.
“Recommendations are a critical part of our audits, and it is reasonable to expect that departments fully implement recommendations within three years of an audit being issued. However, this year’s monitoring indicates that one in three recommendations (thirty-seven per cent) from 2017 to 2021 remain outstanding. Even more alarming is that two out of three of those (sixty-two per cent) are over five years old,” commented Denise Hanrahan, Auditor General of Newfoundland and Labrador.
For example, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services has not implemented eight recommendations (twenty-eight per cent), including seven related to the home support program. As a result, serious gaps continue with respect to the timely review of home support service assessments and the monitoring of home support hours. Additional information on outstanding recommendations can be found in the backgrounder below.
“Unresolved recommendations – especially after several years – indicates those topics still have gaps that require further attention. Particularly concerning are the number of departments and entities with low implementation rates across a number of performance audit reports. This type of inaction means risks remain, can grow or new risks may be created,” added Auditor General Hanrahan.
The Office of the Auditor General monitors previous performance audit report recommendations over seven years. An initial follow-up is conducted approximately two years after the release of a report, followed by continuous monitoring annually for an additional five years or until recommendations are fully implemented or otherwise resolved.
The full report can be found by visiting the link below.
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Media contact
Chrysta Collins
Office of the Auditor General
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chrystacollins@oag.nl.ca
BACKGROUNDER
As of January 2025, there are 29 recommendations not implemented in the expected three-year time frame. There are many government departments and entities that have areas where improvements could be made, where services could be more efficient; and where savings could be realized with more effective program delivery.
Of particular concern:
- Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services has not implemented eight recommendations (twenty-eight per cent), including seven related to the home support program. As a result, serious gaps continue with respect to the timely review of home support service assessments and the monitoring of home support hours.
- The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure has seven outstanding recommendations (twenty-four per cent), including those related to training of school bus drivers, root cause analysis of ferry vessel mechanical issues and road condition and complaints management.
- The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation has not completed any of the four recommendations (0 per cent) made from the 2019 report on the Oversight of Provincial Wellness Priorities. It was recommended the department:
- Develop an action plan for healthy active living to support government’s health outcome targets and bring indicators in line with the Canadian average by 2025.
- Develop a monitoring/evaluation framework for overall healthy active living programming and ongoing assessment of progress against established targets and desired outcomes.
- Develop a reporting framework for partnering departments on the information required to monitor, evaluate and report on the progress of healthy active living priorities.
- Work with partnering departments to improve the effectiveness of oversight of provincial healthy active living priorities across government.
- The Department of Education does not have a nutrition policy that applies across the province and certain elements of internal control oversight related to the K-12 system continue to be unaddressed.
- A key finding from the NLC audit remains outstanding, specifically the issue of conflict of interest within the public service and Crown entities.
- The department should adequately address conflicts of interest within the public service and Crown entities, including consideration of any legislative amendments required to improve accountability and transparency.
- Recommendations related to compliance with compensation policies by entities and those charged with their governance remain outstanding.
The Office of the Auditor General is no longer monitoring 36 outstanding recommendations that were originally reported in six reports from 2016.
- Salaried Physicians – 15 outstanding recommendations
- Road Ambulance Services – 11 outstanding recommendations
- Acute Care Bed Management – five outstanding recommendations
- Child Protection Services – two outstanding recommendations
- Fire and Emergency Services – Newfoundland and Labrador – two outstanding recommendations
- Teacher Allocation in Schools – one outstanding recommendation
Ongoing performance audit work at the Office of the Auditor General includes:
- Memorial University: Facilities Management
- Auditor General’s Report on the Province’s 2024 Financial Statement Audits
- Medical Care Plan (MCP)
- Royal Newfoundland Constabulary: Operations
- Personal Care Homes
- Health Sector Contracts – Phase 1
- Housing Corporation: Supply Management
- House of Assembly Compliance Audit
Upcoming performance audit work at the Office of the Auditor General includes:
- Long-Term Care
- Health Sector Contracts – Phase 2