The Yukon Legislative Assembly’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts has released a report on the Department of Education’s progress on addressing recommendations from the Auditor General of Canada.
The subject of the committee’s report is follow-up on a report of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada entitled Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Legislative Assembly of Yukon – Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Education in Yukon – Department of Education. This audit report was released on June 18, 2019 and can be accessed at http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/yuk_201906_e_43400.html
During the 34th Legislative Assembly, the committee released a report on May 7, 2020, the Sixth Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts of the 34th Yukon Legislative Assembly, which endorsed all the recommendations of the Auditor General.
The current Public Accounts Committee was appointed by the 35th Yukon Legislative Assembly on May 17, 2021. As part of its responsibility to scrutinize public spending, the committee believes it is important to keep departments accountable for commitments made in response to recommendations from the Auditor General.
The committee held two public hearings in January 2022 to investigate what progress had been made. Officials from the Department of Education and the Yukon Chiefs Committee on Education appeared as witnesses at the hearings. The Public Accounts Committee also sought feedback from several other organizations. The committee received written submissions from Autism Yukon, the Yukon Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Association, the Association of Yukon School Councils, Boards and Committees, the Yukon T1D Support Network, the Yukon Association of Education Professionals, the LDAY Centre for Learning and the Child Development Centre.
The committee’s report makes note of what has been done since 2020 to address the issues highlighted by the Auditor General and where more work is needed. The committee expects to see the Department of Education make further progress and is therefore recommending that the Department of Education provide an update by February 28, 2023.
The full report is available on the committee’s webpage https://yukonassembly.ca/committees/pac