Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I have to take from the Minister’s answer that there are no specific recommendations from the Child and Family Services Act review which are dealt with in the Foundation for Change. I asked about actions. I didn’t ask about intent and I didn’t ask about direction.

My last question to the Minister is: I would like to know whether the Foundation for Change document has been re-evaluated and/or updated in light of the Child and Family Services Act report. Does it reflect the recommendations in the report, and, if not, will it be updated?

Thank you. One quick last one. I didn’t hear the end of the Minister’s statement but I have to assume that at some point in time the department is going to have to produce a document that goes to the Cabinet for the capital planning process, so is that intended to be started within this budget funded from within?

To the Minister, I like to think that my insatiable appetite for detail enables me to do my job properly.

As to the detail that the Minister is asking that I want, I think I explained in my statement that the Foundation for Change document, to me, has objectives and it has no detail on how those objectives will be achieved. About a month ago, Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Social Programs met with the Minister to discuss the document. We asked for that kind of detail, we asked for the actions, we asked for an evaluation plan to flesh out the Foundation for Change document. Unless those...

I’d like to know if the Minister could advise -- I hope it goes on this page, it’s kind of hard to tell -- but one of the things that we discovered in the Child and Family Services Act was the need to I want to say update but I actually mean to throw out the current system that the social services division works on and replace it with a new, modern, updated, CFIS system or some other system. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not there’s any money in this budget to begin that work and when we might expect a replacement of the current computer system that social services uses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we begin the consideration of the Health and Social Services budget today I want to give voice to my concerns about the Foundation for Change planning document apparently in use by the department. It apparently guides the department’s operations and activities, but this “strategic document,” to quote the Minister, contains little detail on how it does that. That is my concern.

The idea of a strategic document to reform the Department of Health and Social Services was first presented to Members through the Standing Committee on Social Programs about a year and a half...

I understand that all those things happen. My question was more to what on the ground, or what sort of day-to-day changes have been made to the way the health and social services authorities are managed and administered. I believe the Minister advised us some time ago that the department was looking to try and streamline things between authorities and the department. So have any changes taken place and, if so, what are those? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have some questions on this page. The first one is related to the health and social services authorities’ agency administration. The description talks about that this funding is for activities associated with management under the administration of authorities. I’d like to know if the Minister could advise what actions have taken place or what actions will be funded in this budget to improve the administration and management of health and social services authorities. Thank you.

I appreciate the breakdown. I’m struggling to understand. We’ve got, I don’t know, one review for sure which was itemized and then at the end it was a number of reviews. I know that this funding is sunsetting at the end of March of 2012 and I appreciate that federal funding has to end sometime, but I am sort of struggling with what some of this funding is being used for and I wondered two things: what is the territorial support network, and which reviews. Mr. Elkin mentioned a number of reviews. I wonder if he could tell me what those reviews are. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I did wonder on this page under details of other expenses, the purchased services has increased considerably from ‘10-11 revised estimates for ‘11-12. I just wondered if I could get an explanation as to why, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The professional development recruitment and retention increased significantly from main estimates to revised estimates in this current budget year and then we have estimated the same amount in 2011-2012 as the revised estimates from this current budget year. What was the reason for the huge increase from $1.6 million to $2.9 million in this current year? Thank you.