Performance Measure: To Be Determined

The Budget Transparency and Accountability Act requires Ministries and Crown organizations to table service plans, and an overall government Strategic Plan, at the time the provincial budget is presented to the Legislature. When Public Accounts are published, as they were on July 17th for the year ending March 31, 2006, annual reports on the service plans and strategic plan are also made available.

You would think that after five years in power the Campbell government would be able to report on performance measures it set, but next to many key indicators annual reports state: "to be determined".

The service plans that were presented in February 2005 were updated when a mini-budget was introduced in September following the May election. The updated plans included language referring to "the five great goals" which were set out in the February 2005 Speech from the Throne, although not defined.

The government released the 2005-2006 Public Accounts with much fanfare and a media availability by the Minister of Finance, but it looks like they hope that the annual reports are forgotten in the rush to the barbecues. The Ministry of Children and Family Development was involved in a great deal of controversy which necessitated several independent reviews. Minister Stan Hagen's introduction to his annual report makes reference to the reviews, but the report goes on to show that five out of fifteen measures have yet to have a baseline established or have no target set. For example, the report states that an important outcome measurement is "the per cent of children under six with special needs and their families who receive supported child development within three months of service request", but no baseline has been established for measuring performance with respect to that outcome.

Even worse than the Ministry's failure to establish baseline measurements is its attempt to create the appearance of success where the reality is failure. The only goal the Ministry provided for Community Living, which with a budget of over $440 million is responsible for almost 10,000 adults with developmental disabilities, is to establish the authority to assume responsibility, i.e. to establish Community Living British Columbia (CLBC). The Ministry's annual report scores that measure as "target achieved". Fortunately, crown agencies also table their annual reports. CLBC's annual report expresses joy at getting through the transition and says they will work on performance measures for the future. Performance measures for key objectives such as "implement innovative and responsive services" are listed as "to be determined". Responsible people would have expected goals and performance measures to be developed before responsibility was handed off to a new government appointed agency. That is the same agency that is now the centre of controversy and involved in a court case with respect to government's policy to arbitrarily deny services on the basis of IQ levels.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development is not the only Ministry that must be hoping its annual report will go unreported. Keep your eye on these pages for more summaries, or go to the government website and read some of the reports.