The
Ministry of Human Resources website claims that "all
contracts under the Employment Strategy for Persons with
Disabilities will be performance based". That claim
raises the question of how the contractors successfully
track their trainees while so called "exit surveys"
conducted for the Ministry find less than one third of the
people sampled.
It is
generally believed that a person is better off with a job
than on welfare. That is probably why the Campbell government
has claimed that most of those who leave welfare are finding
jobs. Unfortunately, it has done nothing to measure whether
more people are finding jobs when they leave welfare than
was the case prior to their policy changes. In contrast
to the shoddy
"research" conducted for the Ministry of Human
Resources with so called "exit surveys", Statistics
Canada published a
report that used tax files to track welfare leavers.
It found that family income for 40% of the leavers was lower
than when they were on welfare, and that 53% of those who
leave returned to welfare sometime in the subsequent 5 years.
In an
attempt to compare the performance of the Ministry's training
agencies with both the Statistics Canada study and the Ministry's
own "exit surveys", on February 3, 2003, I submitted
a freedom of information request for the contract clauses
with training agencies that provide support for Minister
Murray Coell's claim that the contracts are performance
based. How is it that the contractors can trace the clients
when the Ministry cannot? Although my FOI request, which
is copied below, was made 84 days ago (58 working days ago
- almost twice the legal limit for a reply), the Ministry
has provided no documents. Receipt of the request was acknowledged,
and a case number was assigned, on February 6. An appeal
has now been submitted to the Information and Privacy Commissioner
on the Ministry's failure to respond in the statutory time
limit. Is the Ministry trying to hide something about the
truth of its claims? Why can't they simply release the contracts?
February
3, 2003
Manager
of Information and Privacy
Ministry of Human Resources
PO Box 9972 Stn Prov Govt by
fax only to (250) 387-3311
Victoria, British Columbia V8W 9R5
Dear
Sir/Madam:
I
make this request pursuant to the Freedom of Information
and Protection of Privacy Act.
This
is a request for documents pertaining to any results based
payment system for JobWave or WCG International Ltd.
It
may help if I put this request in context. The Minister
of Human Resources has given radio interviews where he
has stated that payments to training agencies under contract
to the Ministry will depend on the successful job placement
of Ministry clients and on the ability of those clients
to keep their job for a period of time. The Ministry conducts
regular quarterly exit surveys that it makes available
on its website at http://www.mhr.gov.bc.ca/research/reports/index.htm.
Those surveys purport to measure the number of clients
who are successful at obtaining and holding jobs.
The
purpose of this request is to obtain the contract language
and any relevant documents that show the payment or incentive
offered to JobWave or WCG International Ltd. with respect
to the successful placement of Ministry clients.
The
Ministry's website at http://www.mhr.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/2002/espd_pre.htm
specifically mentions WCG International Ltd. and says
"All contracts under the Employment Strategy for
Persons with Disabilities will be performance-based and
reflect this government's commitment to fiscally responsible
and accountable services for British Columbians."
Without limiting the generality of the request described
above, this request specifically includes the document
that evidences the performance-based contract mentioned
here.
Sincerely,
David
D. Schreck
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