Question Period Note: DEPARTMENTAL PLAN 2019-2020

• The Departmental Plan provides parliamentarians and Canadians with information on what we do and the results we seek to achieve.

• The Plan illustrates that Veterans Affairs is focused on placing the well-being of Veterans at the centre of everything that is done.

• By making service excellence a priority, we will ensure that Veterans experience improved quality, timeliness and efficiency in the delivery of services.

• The principles of Care, Compassion and Respect are driving the work we do this year. We are caring for the men and women who have served Canada, and their families. We are showing compassion for their needs, and we are committed to meeting them.

BACKGROUND – 2019-2020 Departmental Plan

The 2019-20 Departmental Plan provides parliamentarians and Canadians with information on what VAC does and the results it seeks to achieve during the upcoming year. Its purpose is to communicate annual performance goals and the financial and human resources forecast to deliver those results. The report tells a clear, straightforward and balanced story of the actual results we seek to achieve, while continuing to provide transparency on how tax payers’ dollars will be spent.

• A key focus for 2019–20 is to put the well-being of Veterans at the centre of everything we do. By making service excellence a priority, we will ensure that Veterans experience improved quality, timeliness and efficiency in the delivery of their services.

• The principles of Care, Compassion and Respect will drive the work VAC does. We are caring for the men and women who have served Canada, and their families. We are showing compassion for their needs, and we are committed to meeting them.

• In the Plan, VAC describes its programs and services, its priorities for 2019–20, and how its work will fulfill its departmental mandate commitments and the government’s priorities. The highlights of the Plan include:

Benefits, Services and Support:
• Implement Pension for Life
• Improve Decision times through updates to internal processes and changes to Disability application processing teams
• Continue to advance Closing the Seam initiative and improve Transition Support
• Evolve our services through digitization and process improvements
Commemoration:
• Commemorate the 75th anniversary of key Second World War Milestones
• Continue to eliminate backlog of Veteran grave repair items
Office of the Veterans Ombudsman:
• Conduct research and analysis on Pension for Life implementation, service experience, transition support and health supports
• Implement an online booking tool
Internal Services:
• The Implementation of an integrated talent management framework
• Modernization of IT infrastructure systems

• Moving forward, Budget 2019 focuses on the overall well-being of Veterans and their families by investing in supports and services for them. This Budget builds on the historic investments we made which improved financial security for many Veterans.

• Veterans Affairs Canada expects to decrease spending by $387M in 2019-20, excluding Budget 2019 announcements, when compared with forecast spending in 2018-19. This is primarily attributable to the transition to Pension for Life. As a result of offering monthly benefits through Pension for Life beginning in 2019, benefit payments will be spread out over the lifetime of the Veteran. This results in lower near term cash payments but the lifetime value of the benefit is expected to increase significantly.

• Planned human resources shows an increase in 2019–20, which then decreases again in 2020–21 and 2021–22. This is due to the temporary resources that were put in place this year to help implement Pension for Life, reduce our backlog and work on Veteran grave repairs.

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