COVID-19 supports, group home monitoring and vaping covered in Sask. auditor's report

Saskatchewan's new provincial auditor Tara Clemett presented her first report, which covered COVID-19 support, group homes for people with intellectual disabilities and youth tobacco and vaping concerns, on Wednesday.

Clemett, who was appointed on Nov. 15, replaced Judy Ferguson, who announced her resignation in February, after five years in the role and 40 years in the auditor's office.

More than a year into the pandemic, the report touched on how the government handled COVID-19 support programs.

COVID-19 supports

Overall, the province performed well in administering its financial supports for people impacted by COVID-19, Clemett said.

The report analyzed the government's various support programs, including those for small businesses, education and tourism.

Ministries "were able to deliver programs quickly, while maintaining sufficient administrative processes," Clemett said.

However, she highlighted the need for enhancements to oversee the accelerated oil site cleanup program. The federal government provided $400 million to the province to pay for the program from 2020 to 2023.

Clemett also said the Ministry of Social Services "needs to properly verify client income information" for the Saskatchewan Income Support program (SIS).

"There may be (SIS) clients in 2020-21 who received support from Ministry of Social Services while also receiving income through the federal government's COVID support programs like CERB."

The federal and provincial governments are working together to share information, but Clemett said "timeliness remains a factor in avoiding overpayments to ineligible clients."

Group home monitoring

The report found issues with how the Ministry of Social Services monitors group homes for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Clemett said the ministry funds and licenses privately operated group homes and approved service homes, to provide accommodation, meals and care to 1,600 adults with intellectual disabilities. 

The report found the ministry lacked a central system in monitoring these homes, but Clemett said such a system would allow the government to identify "pervasive and persistent issues."

"We found the ministry must continually inspect these homes, monitor timely resolution in deficiencies and analyze serious incidents," Clemett said.

The audit found 63 per cent of the client records it tested found the ministry "did not have any direct contact with clients in the last two years."

The report said the ministry does not regularly meet with clients to discuss their "ministry-mandated, person-centred plans." Those plans it said, "are driven by clients goals, dreams, and aspirations to enhance their development and quality of life."

The report also found issues with follow-up to serious incident reports. It found in 2020-21 there were 748 serious incidents in group homes and 111 incidents in approved private homes.

Serious incidents included clients wandering, inadequate handling of medications and one case where a person was burned due to a broken water gauge.

Clemett said the ministry does not monitor whether homes implement recommendations based on serious incident investigations.

Youth tobacco and vaping use

The report also highlighted inadequate tobacco and vaping enforcement and requirements with regard to youth.

"19 per cent of the 1,200 retail locations that sell cigarettes and vape products did not receive an annual routine inspection by authority tobacco enforcement officers in 2020-21," Clemett said.

The report found the Ministry of Health does not properly monitor whether its youth shopping tests are conducted annually and whether non-compliant retailers are sufficiently investigated.

Clemett recommended the ministry compile a list of all locations that sell tobacco and vape products and provide detailed guidance to tobacco enforcement officers.

She said enforcement is needed to make it more difficult for youth to use these products.

The report said youth vaping has doubled in Canada and tripled in Saskatchewan since Health Canada's survey in 2017.

About 33 per cent of Saskatchewan students in grades 7 to 9 have tried vaping, according to the latest survey from 2019.