Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke in my Member’s statement about the program review office, which sits under the Department of the Executive. That office has been up and running for some 18 months to two years, and I know that office is doing good work. We’ve seen the results, some of the results. But as I stated in my Member’s statement, there is a distinct lack of sharing of the activities of this office. So I’d like to ask the Minister what projects has this office undertaken since it was established approximately two years ago. Thank you.
Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of the program review office was established in late 2008-09, to, as the Member had stated, look at the way we expend our dollars and the efficiency and the effectiveness of our programs. The work that’s being done is in conjunction with the Refocusing Committee that is led by Minister Miltenberger. My understanding is he has worked on setting up a meeting with the standing committee in early February to go over the information that has been gathered in the area the Member mentioned in her Member’s statement, the area of the general office space review. That’s an area that Minister Miltenberger highlighted in his budget address. There are other areas that the office has begun to do work on and do an inventory of, and that’s looking at some of our fastest growing areas of expenditures across government, and he’ll be prepared to come forward with that in early February as to the work that they have undertaken. Thank you.
I thank the Minister for that response. Unfortunately, I am aware of the results of the office study and, as I mentioned, I felt it was very well done. It’s hard for me to believe that in the last year, if it’s only been a year-- it seems like it’s a lot longer than that -- but in the last year to 18 months the office hasn’t been able to produce some other finite project. So I’d like to ask the Minister, once a project is finished, does the office produce a report on the project that it has undertaken and completed, and who receives that report? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I heard two questions there. Mr. Premier you can answer one question or both of them.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work that the program review office has identified and will feed through our system, and our system being that of our planning and financial work that we do in preparation for budgets, our program review and development as we look at those areas. So that work will be used by us as Members of the Legislative Assembly to look at how we can, and make sure that the dollars we used are being used most efficiently. The areas, the inventory that was being done have been our health care provisions, looking at our education, adult education and training, as well as our K to 12 system has been inventoried; the work that will be presented to committee. So there’s been a lot of work done. The reports, in a sense, will be provided first to the Refocusing committee, Cabinet will then review that information, it will go to standing committee and will be incorporated as we go forward in our business planning processes in the years to come. Thank you.
The Minister has mentioned the Refocusing Government committee. He also mentioned that the results of the inventory that this office is doing is going to Members. Again, I have to state that very little of that information is getting to Members. I appreciate that a review is coming, that a briefing is coming. I only learned about that this morning. So I’m having a little difficulty that in a year or more we’ve only had one firm report on what this office has been doing. I’d like to know from the Minister why the information is not available to Members on a regular basis and whether or not… Oh, I guess I better ask one question since you kind of cut me off the first time. But I will change my question and ask the Minister why the results of these reports cannot be made available to the public. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the process we engaged in was more inclusive for sharing information. We contacted committee at their request to have involvement from the Regular Members on our Strategic Initiative committees, and this Refocusing Government committee did have Members involved in that process. Then subsequent to that, we were informed that they did not want to continue that process. So we have gone back to the more traditional way of doing it. Once we have got enough information to present that will help us in our decision-making process as we go forward. We would share that with standing committee. The available time for that has been set up in early February. We share that information to look at areas that we can then decide on how we go forward, what areas should we review further on and help us as we go forward in the decision making around budget cycles as we go forward. Thank you.
As well, again, our process of keeping it open, those two seats are still open for Members to be a part of. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister mentioned a couple of areas. I can’t remember them both but he mentioned education. I would like to know whether or not, particularly in the area of education, whether the work of the program review office had a direct impact on the budget which we heard about yesterday. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the program review office has not had an impact on this budget that the Finance Minister introduced yesterday. The work that the program review office is doing needs to go through the regular system. That is, once Refocusing Government committee has done their work, it will come to Cabinet. It will go to members of the standing committee. We will have some dialogue on that work and pick areas where we think we can get best results and do a finer focus so to say, Mr. Speaker. The one piece of work that has had an effect has been the general office space review and that work has gone far enough along. It has been shared in this committee. The Minister highlighted that in his statement yesterday. Thank you.
The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
