Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in the department, we have a number of different functions, including our policy division. We've got nursing consultants. We've got the chief public health officer. We have a number of responsibilities that are responsible for developing policy related to particular activities, such as nursing or midwifery and those types of things. When operationalized, those are operationalized through the Territorial Health and Social Services Authority and our two other partner boards. The quality assurance that I have been referencing is quality assurance at the authority level, which is responsible for taking any complaints or concerns from a resident and investigating those concerns and making recommendations on the operations to ensure that these incidents, as they occur, do not occur again.
We do have to have, and we do have a close relationship between the authority and the department. When the department is working on policy, territorial-wide policy, they absolutely engage frontline providers and staff within the authority who can provide information and help on the design because, bottom line, they are front-line providers. As far as quality assurance, I mean, there are many different ways of looking at that. We do collect data so that we can make evidence-based decisions. Much of that data come into the department for analysis so that we can all, in this room, in this building, as well as in the department, work to make evidence-based decisions.
Thank you, Minister. I just ask when you're done talking, just to mention it. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I wonder, then, for example, how audits work in this process. Is there going to be a regime of regular audits based on the quality assurance policies? How broad are these policies going to be? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Recognizing that there are so many different program areas within the Department of Health and Social Services, with respect to new programs or amendments to programs in the future, program designs will often occur in the department where standards will be set that must be evaluated and monitored over time as part of the evaluation framework which we hope and intend to put into place with respect to programs we are putting forward. The authorities will be the authority, and our two partner authorities will still be required to collect the data and make sure that the data is being compiled on a regular basis and funnelled up so that it can reported on in this House and in other venues.
As far as individual audit goes, for instance, the Child and Family Services, as an example, the individual audits will be done by the authority with support from the -- sorry, it is the other way around. It will be done by the department with support from the authority and the appropriate regions because they are the front-line individuals with the data. It has to be collected in partnership.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there was also some discussion during the business planning about a new formal mechanism to deal with complaints. Can the Minister update us on that? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once again, my memory of that particular conversation is around what we wanted to do in the individual authorities so that individuals have an opportunity to provide or register their concerns in the Territorial Authorities, so it can be reviewed by our quality assurance staff and so that recommendations can be made for improvements.
Now, having said that, there are also other venues for our residents to make complaints. For instance, if a resident has a concern about a physician, there is a formal mechanism for residents to make complaints about physicians. If a resident wants to make a complaint about a particular practitioner and their performance, there are mechanisms by which, through licensing bodies or others, an individual can make a complaint about an individual professional. If it comes to system concerns or process systems or process concerns in a health centre or a hospital, that is where we would really like them to engage our quality assurance people.
In some of our authorities previously, those quality assurances were also patient representatives, and we are trying to separate those two a little bit, so that a patient representative is there to provide guidance and support through the system, and we have quality assurance who can take complaints and investigate and find improvements, so we're trying to separate those a little bit and have them as sort of two different things, recognizing that they obviously have to work hand in hand from time to time. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will just finish this section with a comment, and the comment is that I recognize that there is a difference between the department and the authority, and that the two are defining their roles and their relationship to one another. When it comes to this business plan, we only have the opportunity to talk to and have accountability with the department, so there is a missing link here with accountability with the authority. There needs to be some consideration given about how we as Regular Members provide oversight of the authority as the largest entity funded by the department. I just leave that as a comment. I don't know that there is a plan now, but in the future, we are going to need either to have the department answer on behalf of the authority, or have the authority here themselves. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister, would you like to respond?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That already exists according to the legislation for the authorities. the Ministry of Health and Social Services is responsible and accountable for provision of services through the Territorial Health Authority, and they do that through a board which the Minister appoints. I certainly take recommendations from others on the membership. Ultimately, this budget before you does have a significant amount of money that is flowing to the authority, so I would suggest that, if you have questions that are specific to the authority throughout the document, there are areas that are clearly flowing money to the authority, I think this is the appropriate venue to have the discussion about some of those things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Further questions or comments from committee? I will give committee a moment. I see none. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Looking at page 173, and I see that there is a reduction in staff of two people in this activity area. Can someone tell me what is going on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Mr. Chair, I apologize. When the Member referenced the page, I started turning the page and I did not hear the question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. O'Reilly, would you please repeat the question for the Minister.
Mr. Chair, I'm looking at page 173, and it shows a two-person reduction from 2017-2018. It seems to be located in the Beaufort Delta. Can someone tell me what those two people do and why the reduction is being made? Thanks Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what's in there is a reduction of two positions in the Health and Social Services Administration Office in Inuvik. However, post-printing of this document, the decision has been made to reduce only one of those vacant positions in Inuvik. The second position now identified is a vacant position in Yellowknife in the information system support. So the insured service coordinator and administrative assistant were the ones in Inuvik; and now it's just one of those.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that answer. So one of the two positions in Inuvik is not going to be eliminated, but there is an additional position in Yellowknife that's going to be eliminated. So the total is still 98? Thanks Mr. Chair. Sorry, again, I am just worried that we're not dealing with the same main estimate page that the Minister seems to be dealing with, so that's going to cause a problem. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I said, originally, it was two positions in the Beaufort Delta; one was an insured services coordinator, and the other was an administration assistant. Since printing this document, we have changed our minds, and I apologize to the Members for the late notice on that. The bottom line is, the insured service coordinator position remains full. We anticipated that the demand was going to decrease there a little bit because we had a significant number of positions, but they're fully busy up there. We had to reevaluate. When it comes to the information assistant position in Yellowknife that we've eliminated instead, it's been vacant for an extended period of time. There were two positions, identical positions; one is filled, and in an assessment, it was determined the workload could be carried by the one position. Eliminating it is not going to change results and it's not going to change or increase workload on the individuals. We feel comfortable that it can be done with one. Then the administrative assistant in Inuvik, it's been vacant for an extended period of time, and we're comfortable that the work can be done in that region, in that office, without that administrative position. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So the page, maybe, that the Minister is looking at for 2018-2019 shows 83 in headquarters and 15 in the Beaufort Delta; is that correct? Thanks, Mr. Chair. For 2018-2019? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.
Yes, Mr. Chair. In future printings, it will reflect the numbers the Member has identified.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So just before we get too much more into the departmental budget, are there any other changes to the main estimates that we should know about? I'll leave it at that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.
No, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Nothing further, Mr. O'Reilly?
This issue arose when we were looking at the Education, Culture and Employment main estimates, so I just want to encourage any Ministers: if there are changes to what we see in the printed document, they should advise us in advance. This is not a big deal, perhaps, for this page, but I want to try to avoid having this confusion on the floor where the Minister and his staff are looking at one document and we're looking at something different. So just a heads-up that, if there are changes to what they're looking at compared to what we have, we need to know. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'll certainly share that information with the Minister of Finance. As a note, we are looking at exactly the same document. We just have the information that there has been a slight change, and that has been brought to your attention. I take the Member's point and we'll endeavour to make sure that happens. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Okay, I appreciate the help with that. Where in the department is the agricultural strategy funding located? Thanks, Mr. Chair. Is this the right section? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I shall note that we are reviewing the summary on 171 to 173. I'm sure if you looked beyond that you may find what you're looking for. Have you got another question to this summary activity?
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I'm trying to determine where in the departmental budget the -- well the agricultural strategy implementation is in this section, at least $50,000 of it, from schedule 3 of the business plan, but I think the Minister talked about there being $498,000 for the agricultural strategy. So can he tell me what the $50,000 in this activity is for and where the rest of the money is found? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the bulk of the money for the agricultural strategy and the positions that are being created is on page 178. There is $50,000 that appears in this section, but it's mostly for some of the contract work we're doing up front to get the work done to make this go live. So it's for subcontracting services that we have. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes. So the Minister said that the $50,000 in this activity is for contract services. Can the Minister tell us what that money is going to be used for? Thanks Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.
Thank you Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the $50,000 for a jurisdictional review of public health legislation and regulations and identification and development of the NWT regulatory changes under the Public Health Act that are harmonized with federal and GNWT legislation related to public health and agriculture. It's a contract of $50,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have no further sections on this section. Thank you.
