July 24, 2003

No Evidence for Cuts to Children

Minister Gordon Hogg announced that he is "only" going to cut a further $70 million from services needed by children in need of protection and vulnerable developmentally disadvantaged adults. Hogg's pet phrase is "evidence based". He uses that term more often that the Premier says "moving forward". On June 25th when Hogg announced that the remaining cuts were evidence based, I submitted a freedom of information request for the evidence.

It turns out that the only "evidence" used by Hogg to take services away from kids is a 1997 staffing model. In simple terms, the Ministry looks at all the factors that determine the work load for social workers and then it cranks out how many hours of social work time it will require. It appears that when Hogg claims that his cuts are "evidence based" all he is really saying is that by reducing the number of people receiving service, they will require fewer workers. Of course, he doesn't say it that clearly so just in case there is any room for misunderstanding, I have submitted the following appeal to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Commissioner.

Information and Privacy Commissioner                 July 24, 2003
1675 Douglas Street, 4th Floor
PO Box 9038 Stn Prov Govt                                by fax only to (250) 387-1696
Victoria, BC V8W 9A4

Dear Commissioner:

Re: Request for Information, Ministry of Children and Family Development reference #2003-795

I enclose the following documents: 1) a copy of my original request dated June 25, 2003; 2) a confirmation of receipt from Melinda Minkley dated June 26, 2003; 3) a letter from Marie Worden dated July 11, 2003; and 4) the cover letter from Carol Carman dated July 21, 2003.

I request a review of the failure to conduct a search for documents, and the unlawful closing of my file.

On June 25th Minister Gordon Hogg made a presentation to an "open cabinet meeting" in which he outlined a further $70 million in cuts that will be made to his Ministry. Later that day I submitted an information request in which I asked for the identification of what evidence based research supports the cuts identified by Minister Hogg in his cabinet presentation. On July 11, 2003, Marie Worden wrote that the information I requested is in the public domain so she closed the formal request file. On July 21, 2003, Carol Carman send a letter with a list of Internet addresses and a 1997 report to the Ministry that recommended a staffing model for determining the number of social workers.

The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act does not give a Ministry the authority to close a file, terminate a request, based on their judgment that the information is "in the public domain", nor does it allow a Ministry to refuse a thorough record search or to deny an applicant's right to appeal. Ms. Carman's substitute response did not address my request for information unless she is saying that the $70 million in cuts identified by the Minister on June 25, 2003, can be directly linked to the application of the 1997 staffing model combined with their assumptions with respect to fewer children in care. If that is the contention, it is equivalent to saying that there is no evidence to support the cuts identified by Hogg. This appeal is for a thorough record search for the documents that the Minister alleged exist with respect to evidence based research to support the particular cuts he identified on June 25th. For example, on June 25th the Minister said that $5.7 million would be "saved" by the redesign of community based contracts and that a total of $35 million would be "saved" by reducing the cost of contracted services. What evidence based research supports those savings in the context of the Minister's statement that savings "will be reinvested as evidence-based services"?

Sincerely,

David D. Schreck