Question Period Note: 2022–23 DEPARTMENTAL RESULTS REPORT

• The Departmental Results Report (DRR) outlines what we accomplished and the results achieved for Veteran health and well-being in 2022-23 (tabled in Parliament on November 9, 2023).
• Our focus continues to be on improving the overall health, well-being and financial security of Veterans and their families, while recognizing and commemorating those who have served.
• More than 90% of the $5.4B spent in 2022–23 consisted of payments to Veterans, their families, and other program recipients.
• As we transitioned out of the pandemic we resumed both in-office and at home, in-person appointments; improved the way we deliver benefits and programs; and streamlined our processes while we continued to work on our top priority of reducing processing times.

BACKGROUND – 2022-23 DRR

The 2022–23 DRR provides parliamentarians and Canadians with information on what we accomplished and how we achieved the results we wanted to reach during the fiscal year against the plans set out in our 2022-23 Departmental Plan (https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/about-vac/publications-reports/reports/departmental-plan/2023-2024). The DRR is generally tabled and published approximately 18 months after the tabling of the corresponding year’s Departmental Plan.
All Departmental corporate reporting is published both on GC InfoBase - GC InfoBase - Infographic for Veterans Affairs Canada (https://www.tbs-sct.canada.ca/ems-sgd/edb-bdd/index-eng.html#infographic/dept/139/results) and on VAC’s external website - Reports - Publications and reports - Veterans Affairs Canada (https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/about-vac/publications-reports/reports). TBS requires that the reports be published to the web within 2 hours of tabling in Parliament.
Highlights from this year’s Report include:
• We introduced the new Mental Health Benefits (MHB) initiative on 1 April 2022 and 45,096 total claims made by the end of the fiscal year.

• As a result of the Service Excellence Initiative, we retained and hired more term employees dedicated to making disability benefit decisions and reducing processing times.

• We launched the fifth call for Veteran and Family Well-being Fund (VFWF) applications and awarded $6M to 21 organizations.

• We resumed in-person appointments in our offices across the country in July 2022 and resumed home appointments in February 2023.

• VAC increased the maximum rates payable for the War Veterans Allowance (WVA) and the Canadian Forces Income Support (CFIS) benefit by 10%.

• The Veterans Emergency Fund (VEF) provided financial support on 882 occasions to 728 Veterans and their families, totaling $1.5M dollars.

• We are providing $15M in financial support, starting in 2022–2023, for Invictus Games 2025.

• We implemented a new national rehabilitation services contract for the Rehabilitation Services and Vocational Assistance Program.
Quick stats from the DRR include:
• 27,741 sessions were provided by OSI clinics, with clients preferring virtual sessions 61% of the time.
• Clients were provided with a total of $1,085,507,075 via the Income Replacement Benefits (IRB) to support their financial well-being, rehabilitation and re-establishment to post military life. That is up from $963M in 2021–22 (a 13% increase).
• Hosted three virtual multi-date events to connect Veterans with employers – showcasing 85 private sector employers and 14 Public Service department and agencies seeking to hire Veterans.
• Financial support was provided 882 times to 728 Veterans and their families via the Veterans Emergency Fund. These funds helped to ensure Veterans in financial crisis had basic necessities such as shelter, food, and clothing.
• We proactively reached out to 1,871 vulnerable Veterans impacted by emergency situations in an effort to ensure basic needs were met and they could access the support they need, when and where they need it.
• Approximately 70% of the disability application backlog has been reduced since the spring of 2020.
• There was a 43% reduction in the backlog in 2022-23 alone, from 11,619 to 6,621.
• 10,335 were approved for the Mental Health Benefit which allows eligible CAF Veterans to get more immediate treatment coverage for mental health conditions.
• Our national call centre responded to 378,633 calls.
• We responded to 131,975 secure messages via My VAC Account.
• Provided funding to organizations for 174 commemorative initiatives through the Commemorative Partnership Program, for a total of $2.8M.
• We employed 3,525 full-time equivalents, including many new hires, most of whom provided direct service to Veterans and their families.

WHEN PRESSED:
Q1 – Why did the Department lapse funding in 2022-23?
Lapsing funds is a normal and expected part of any budgetary process.
• Our annual budget fluctuates each year due to the demand-driven nature of our programs—based on Veterans’ needs and entitlements.
• Overall, the Department has increased the amount of services and benefits it has provided to Veterans resulting in increased spending in recent years. Spending in 2022-23 was consistent with the previous year and was $600M higher than in 2020-21.
Our actual spending for 2022-23 was $85 million lower than planned mainly in Benefits, Services and Supports but was offset by increased spending in other areas, such as, Commemoration for Invictus Games and the Juno Beach Centre and increased spending in order to support our continuation of efforts to address the backlog and improve the delivery of services and programs to Veterans and their families.
Q2 – What is VAC doing to address wait times?
We continue to improve the current processing times for disability benefits and this remains our top priority. We have made progress, but we know there is more work to do
• Since the spring of 2020, we have reduced the backlog by more than 70%. As of March 31, 2023, we had reduced the number of applications waiting longer than our service standard (i.e., the backlog) to 6,621.
• In 2022–23, we completed 55% of disability benefits first-time applications within the service standard. This is up from 30% in 2020–21, and 46% in 2021–22.
• As we continue to work on the oldest applications first, we expect to see even more improvement.
• We also resumed in-person disability medical appointments which helped reduce wait times for disability applications.