Ministry Role and Services

The vision, mission and values outlined in the Ministry of Human Resources 2004/05 to 2006/07 Service Plan guided the ministry's achievements in 2004/05.

Vision

The Ministry of Human Resources envisions a province in which those British Columbians in need are assisted to achieve their social and economic potential.

Mission

The Ministry of Human Resources provides services that move people toward sustainable employment and assist individuals and families in need.

Values

The core values outlined in the British Columbia Government Strategic Plan 2004/05 to 2006/07 are integrity, fiscal responsibility, accountability, respect and choice. Building upon this foundation, the ministry has identified the following additional values, which continue to guide the delivery of our services and define our relationships with clients, partners and staff. The Ministry of Human Resources' values are reflected in its work every day, and support the government's broader strategic plan and priorities. The ministry's values are:

• Personal responsibility — The ministry emphasizes personal responsibility by assisting clients who are able to work to find employment and achieve independence. The ministry supports the efforts of clients who are working to enhance their self-reliance and involvement in their communities.
• Active participation — Clients who are able to work are expected to actively seek employment. The ministry supports these efforts with work search and job placement services, targeted employment training and tools such as employment plans. The ministry provides additional/specialized supports to persons with disabilities to maximize their self-reliance.
• Innovative partnerships — The ministry is developing creative and innovative ways of working with a range of service providers and external agencies, as well as directly with clients to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness of the services provided.
• Citizen confidence — Maintaining public confidence in ministry programs and services is fundamental to realizing the ministry's long-term objective of providing a sustainable income assistance system that provides for those most in need.
• Fairness and transparency — The ministry functions under the principles of administrative fairness and transparency by informing all clients of all reasons a decision is made and providing access to a fair and impartial review of the original decision, through reconsideration and appeals.
• Clear outcomes — The ministry sets out clear outcomes, whether in the form of clearly defined goals as outlined in the Service Plan 2004/05 – 2005/06 or responsibilities of clients detailed in their employment plans.
• Accountability for results — The ministry is accountable to government and all British Columbians for results through performance management systems. Accordingly, all members of the ministry are expected to consistently demonstrate the highest standards of professional ethics and integrity.

Ministry Overview, Core Business Areas and Structure

Ministry Overview

The ministry continued to take a multi-faceted approach to providing services that move people toward sustainable employment and assisting individuals and families in need. This included assisting clients to find employment, providing temporary assistance to clients capable of financial independence and ongoing assistance to those who are not expected to gain independence through employment.

The Employment and Assistance Act and the Employment and Assistance for Persons with Disabilities Act provided the legislative mandate for the BC Employment and Assistance (BCEA) program.

Core Business Area: Employment Programs

Employment programs are available to assist clients to find and sustain employment. Individualized employment plans signed by clients may include directed work search, referral to job placement programs and specific training for employment. Specialized employment programs that support persons with disabilities are included within this core business area.

Core Business Area: Temporary Assistance

Temporary assistance is available to clients who are capable of financial independence through employment, or are unable to seek work because of a short-term condition, as described in the Employment and Assistance Act. Persons with persistent multiple barriers to employment are included in this group.

Core Business Area: Disability Assistance

Disability assistance is available to eligible individuals who are not expected to gain complete financial independence through employment, including clients with disabilities who are seeking work.

Core Business Area: Supplementary Assistance

Supplementary assistance is available to eligible clients, providing health and other supports such as emergency shelters, bus passes, health services for persons with disabilities, user fees for continuing care and for alcohol and drug treatment facilities.

Core Business Area: Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal

The Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal provides clients with timely decisions through a single-level, regionally-based appeal system that is available for individuals who wish to appeal decisions of the ministry. The tribunal operates independently of the ministry.

Core Business Area: Executive and Support Services

Executive and support services provide salaries, benefits, allowances and operating expenses of the minister's office, ministry corporate services and program management.

Ministry Organization Structure/Chart

In 2004/05, the ministry operated under the following divisions:

• Policy and Research Division — provided analytical services and leadership in the development of social policy, legislation, strategic planning, forecasting, planning and performance measurement, and evaluation. The division also provided direct services to clients by reviewing and adjudicating eligibility for the persons with disabilities designation, providing assistance to meet medical needs and maintain independent community living, conducting independent reviews of submitted documentation and rendering the ministry's final decision regarding eligibility for health assistance.
• Employment and Labour Market Development Division — designed and managed programs and services to assist BC Employment and Assistance clients find sustainable employment through job placement, work experience and targeted training. The division also designed programs to support persons with disabilities enhance their participation in working or volunteering and provided leadership on various issues relating to homelessness and emergency shelters. The division supported the ministry's participation on the Ministers Responsible for Social Services, the Forum of Labour Market Ministers and other related inter-governmental activities.
• Regional Services Division — served as the main mechanism of the ministry for providing financial and disability assistance to clients. The division delivered high quality, efficient and effective program services, with the emphasis on assisting clients find sustained employment. There are five geographic regions throughout the province, each lead by an Executive Director who reports to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Regional Services. The Executive Directors are responsible for the successful delivery of BC Employment and Assistance Programs in their respective region. Programs are delivered through 106 Employment and Assistance Centres throughout the province and the Interior Call Centre located in Kamloops.
• Management Services Division — delivered services to enable the smooth running of the ministry's operations — human resources, financial and administrative services, information management and fraud prevention and eligibility compliance.
• Corporate Operations — assisted the Deputy Minister in managing a range of ministry-wide programs and executive initiatives. This area has responsibility for Project Management, Customer Service, Correspondence, Internal Communications and Occupational Health and Safety.

Ministry Operating Context

The ministry's operating context is affected by a number of economic, income, social, demographic and internal components. Some of these factors facilitated the ministry's ability to achieve its goals in 2004/05; others were more challenging and may have slowed the ministry's progress. Many of these components will continue to impact the ministry.

Economic

The British Columbia economy grew by 3.9 per cent in 2004, leading all provinces, after growth of 2.5 per cent in 2003. Domestic activity continued to be the main driver of economic growth last year. Business investment grew by 11.7 per cent. Growth in housing starts of 25.8 per cent in 2004 led to residential construction investment growth of 14.8 per cent. Additionally, machinery and equipment investment, supported by a stronger Canadian dollar, saw growth of 20.0 per cent in 2004. Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity in the province, grew 4.1 per cent in 2004. Particularly strong growth of 4.7 per cent in durable goods expenditures and 5.4 per cent growth in semi-durables expenditures were supported by low interest rates and strong employment growth of 2.3 per cent in 2004. Despite the continued rise of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar in 2004, total exports of goods and services grew by 4.9 per cent. Imports of goods and services grew by 6.4 per cent in 2004.

The Labour Force Survey by Statistics Canada shows that BC recorded an unemployment rate of 7.2 per cent for 2004, the lowest level in the last two decades, with the exception of the year 2000, which had the same rate. The average weekly wage grew slightly to $687 in 2004, higher compared to previous years and surpassing the national average of $680. Success in some of the ministry's goals and objectives was definitely facilitated by the strong economic growth and employment rate experienced by the province during the year.

The service sector continued to be BC's largest employer in 2004, constituting more than two-thirds of total employment. Approximately 26,200 more jobs were created in the service sector compared to 2003. The strength of this sector provided a favorable condition for ministry clients with employment obligations to find work.

Income

Income data are complex to analyze. There are as many ways to examine income as there are ways to rank relative poverty. Low-income cut-offs (after-tax) or LICOs, which reflect the income level at which a family is likely to spend significantly more on food, shelter and clothing than the average family, is a common measure for the prevalence of poverty in a community. The measure was re-based by Statistics Canada for the years 1994 to 2003. Comparing these re-based figures, the low income rate for BC was at its highest at 16.8 per cent in 1996 and lowest at 14.1 per cent in 2001, with the 2003 rate being the middle range at 15.1 per cent.

Analysis done by the ministry shows that there is a close relationship between low-income and unemployment rates. As unemployment rates for BC are predicted to stay low in the coming years because of the anticipated strong economy, the low-income rate is expected to drop.

Social

Solutions to homelessness continues to be a challenge for government. Reliable data on the number of homeless people or those living in shelters is difficult to gather. There are complex inter-relationships between homelessness and health care, social services and the criminal justice system. Many of those who are homeless or living in shelters have multiple challenges including mental health conditions, substance abuse, physical disabilities, conflict with the justice system and poor social supports.

As part of the Premier's Task Force on Homelessness, Mental Illness and Addiction, the ministry increased the number of year-round emergency shelter beds, food, and other services to British Columbians throughout the province during 2004.

Demographic

The population of this province was 4.2 million people in 2004. The province gained a net total of 7,080 people from other provinces, the highest since 1996. BC received a net total of 28,500 immigrants. Based on analysis conducted by the ministry, population growth from migration puts pressure on the caseload while the impact of immigration tends to be minor.

The ministry monitors demographic changes for other impacts they may pose. For example, the changing structure of BC families is reflected in the income assistance caseload. As a proportion of all families, single-parent families rose from 13.8 per cent in 1996 to 15.5 per cent in 2001 for the general population and increased from 70.3 per cent to 72.2 per cent of income assistance families. These comparisons can only be done every five years when the census is updated but the ministry is aware of the complexity of the difficulties faced by single-parent clients. During 2004/05, the proportion of single-parent families that received services from the ministry was 71.7 per cent.

Internal

The ministry utilized a workforce of 1,869 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees in 2004/05 and continued to improve business processes through the use of technology and changes in business processes.

An example of this focus on technology and improved service delivery is the expansion of the BCEA Web Orientation, which now provides information on ministry services and online work search resources in 12 languages, previously, this service was only available in English. In addition, it also provides audio versions for people with literacy barriers or visual impairments. While this replaces the in-person sessions, the regions continue to offer personalized services for a small number of users who may have difficulty accessing the website. Given that as many as one-quarter of British Columbians consider that English is not their first language in the 2001 Census, websites like this clearly enhance the ministry's service delivery.

The ministry's regional realignment initiative to match the regions of the ministries of Children and Family Development and Health Services was fully implemented during 2004/05. This promoted joint partnerships and streamlined service delivery as outlined in the next section.

New Era Commitments

In a June 25, 2001 letter to the Minister of Human Resources, Premier Gordon Campbell identified three key priorities for the ministry to focus on in its first three years:

1. Continue to streamline regional service delivery to clients of income assistance.
2. Implement training and support programs to assist income assistance clients in returning to the workforce.
3. With the Administrative Justice Project, develop a single internal appeal process.

All of the above key priorities were implemented by 2004/05.

1. Streamlined regional service delivery

The ministry introduced a pilot of the Service Enhancement Program (SEP) in 2004/05. The Service Enhancement Program was created to design, pilot and evaluate new methods for people applying for assistance and for verifying on-going eligibility. Under SEP, people inquiring about income assistance receive more information earlier in the application process. This includes information on the three-week work search, income and asset levels, employment plan requirements and potential community resources. Pilot results indicated that the new processes increased consistency in service delivery to clients across the province. With standardized work processes, staff can spend more time assisting clients in becoming self-reliant.

By late 2004/05, the ministry had been operating under its five new geographical regions for 18 months. These new regional boundaries matched those of our partner ministries — Ministry of Children and Family Development and Ministry of Health Services. The ministries, with these common regions, are able to work better together and provide more streamlined and coordinated services. It also promoted functionality amongst ministries.

2. Implemented training and support programs to assist clients

The Job Placement Program continued through 2004/05 to support clients to move to independence. In partnership with contracted agencies, the program provides a range of services that includes assessing clients' job readiness, supporting clients to find employment, monitoring clients' progress in the workplace and providing support to employers.

The Training for Jobs Program provides short-term, integrated training to enable clients to enter or return to sustainable employment. The focus is on clients who face persistent multiple barriers to employment and those who have not found employment with the assistance of other ministry programs. Contracted service providers work with clients to identify their training needs, provide skill-specific training, place clients in employment and support them to sustain that employment over a period of up to 18 months.

The Employment Program for Persons with Disabilities continues to provide a range of specialized services to support persons with disabilities to take on employment or employment-related activities. They include pre-employment, employment planning and employment services — all of which help support persons with disabilities in the workplace. Clients who are not seeking independence through employment are supported to work part-time or participate in volunteer activities in their communities.

3. Developed a single internal appeal process

In delivering the promises stated in the New Era framework, the BC government committed to fair treatment, openness, accountability and choice in the delivery of its programs and services. Through the Ministry of the Attorney General, the Administrative Justice Project (AJP) was initiated to review the province's system of administrative justice. This project examined a range of issues including agency mandates, administrative practices and procedures, appointments, training, performance measurement and public accountability.

In conjunction with the AJP, the Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal was introduced in September 2002. The Tribunal provides a single, streamlined, independent process for reviewing clients' appeals in an open, fair and timely manner. It replaced the previous multi-step appeal process, which took as long as six months to conclude. Under the new process, regional panels adjudicate appeals within the 15-business day statutory limit. In 2004/05, the Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal was fully operational. More information on the achievements of the Tribunal is detailed in Goal 4 of this report.