Serious observers of BC Politics know that Sean Holman's Public Eye Online is a daily must read. Other media sometimes, but not always, credit Sean for the stories he breaks. His recent revelation that the Campbell government has decreed that service plans for ministries must have only six performance measurements was unfortunately ignored by the "major" media.

In March 2000, Former Auditor General George Morfitt released a report titled Towards a More Accountable Government: Putting Ideas into Practice in which he argued that government required more accountability. In September 2000, his successor, Wayne Strelioff, released a report titled Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Budget Process Review Panel, which followed up on Morfitt's initiative and the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act which he motivated. It hasn't worked out the way Morfitt and others might have hoped.

In 2002 the Service Plan for the Ministry of Children and Family Development contained 29 performance measurements, in 2006 it contained 15, and in 2008 the number was reduced to 6. On two key indicators the Ministry lowered it standards. As Holman reported, the target for "Percentage of Aboriginal children in care served by delegated Aboriginal agencies" was reduced from a target of 50% for 2005-06 in the 2003 Service Plan, to 33% for 2010-11 in the 2008 Service Plan. Holman also reported that the Ministry's target for repeat child abuse went up from 16.9% in its 2004 Service Plan to 20.9% in 2008. In other words, the Ministry of Children and Family Development is reducing its accountability and failing in the key areas where it continues to report. In view of that failure, it wouldn't be surprising if Minister Tom Christensen was hoping for a cabinet shuffle to escape the heat.

In 2002 the Ministry of Health Service had 34 performance measurements in its Service Plan, plus another 11 measures in the Ministry of Health Planning, but in 2006 the Ministry of Health had only 15 performance measurements. As Holman reported, the number of performance measurements for the Ministry of Health was reduced to 6 in 2008, 8 if you count sub-parts a and b as two measurements.

It is understandable that performance measurements evolve and reflect organizational changes within government, but substantially changing them without following up on outcomes for previous measurements makes a joke of the exercise. Campbell and his ministers are likely to argue that measurements are abandoned after goals are achieved, but anyone who looks at the details can see that there is no apparent reason for abandoning many of the measurements set just a few years ago.

In 2002 the Ministry of Children and Family Development specified the measurement of the "number of kindergarten aged children who are ready to learn." In 2002 the targets for that measurement were to be developed (a frequent starting point). In 2008 the measurement is found in the Ministry of Education, its sixth of six measurements; the actual measurement for 2007-08 is reported as 70.4%, down from 72.1% in 2004-05. The 2010-11 target is only 75%. Apparently progress is expected to be very slow for a very important indicator that likely predicts later social ills.

For an example of dropped measurements, look at the Ministry of Health which in 2002 set a performance measurement of reducing regional variation in access to selected services. There is no mention of regional variations in the 2008 Service Plan. Likewise, the 2002 Plan established a performance measurement of maintaining 45-50% public satisfaction in the way services are provided. The word "satisfaction" doesn't appear in the Ministry of Health's 2008 Service Plan.

As long as the Campbell government can succeed with policy by news release, don't expect measurements of goals and performance to receive much attention.