FREDERICTON (GNB) – In her latest report released today, Auditor General Kim MacPherson included an update on the status of performance audit (Value-For-Money) recommendations made in her past reports.

“We think it is important that MLAs and taxpayers be provided with sufficient information to assess progress the provincial government is making in implementing these recommendations,” she said.

From her review, the auditor general noted that 63 per cent of her recommendations from 2012 to 2014 have been implemented by the applicable departments, commissions and agencies.

MacPherson’s report provides additional detail on the status of recommendations for four chapters she included in her 2012 report (Medicare – Payments to Doctors, EHealth – Procurement and Conflict of Interest, Solid Waste Commissions, and Capital Maintenance of Highways), two chapters that were included in her 2011 report (Constituency Office Costs for MLAs and Executive Council, and CMHC Social Housing Agreement), along with an update on the progress in implementing recommendations contained in her 2015 Atcon Report.

“We will continue to use our followup process as a means of providing encouragement and support for departments, commissions and Crown agencies to fully implement as many of our recommendations as possible,” MacPherson said.

In following up on her 2012 report on Medicare Payments to Doctors, MacPherson expressed concern that some payments related to injured workers may not be fully recovered by the Department of Health due to the time-consuming manual process the department continues to use to identify those amounts. She also indicated her disappointment that, “total remuneration paid to each doctor by Medicare is still not  publicly reported four years after my recommendation to do so was first made.”

With regard to her 2011 audit of Constituency Office Costs for Members of the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council, MacPherson reported two of five recommendations have still not been implemented, noting in particular the legislative assembly still does not publicly report MLAs’s total constituency office expenses.

“Implementation of these recommendations is critical to ensuring that members of the legislative assembly can be held accountable for their constituency office costs,” she said. “I strongly encourage the legislative assembly and Executive Council Office to work together to implement these two recommendations as soon as possible.”

With regards to her 2015 Atcon Report, MacPherson said, “Opportunities New Brunswick has reported having implemented 15 of my 19 recommendations as of 2016. We intend to verify these assertions in 2017 and report back to the legislative assembly in conjunction with our ongoing work on the Atcon file.”

The Follow-Up chapter can be found in Volume III of the 2016 Auditor General Report which also contains a new performance report on Meat Safety - Food Premises Program. Volume IV, also released today, presents matters arising from the annual financial audit of the province and Crown agencies. These volumes and one-page summaries for select chapters are available online.