Treasury Board, which sets the guidelines for all government departments in Canada, defines a service standard as "a public commitment to a measurable level of performance [that] clients can expect under normal circumstances." These standards help Canadians by formalizing the kind of service that they can expect from any department. The standards also help VAC staff, by giving them targets to aim for—both in terms of their own performance, and of letting the public know what to expect.
At present, Veterans Affairs Canada has twenty-two service standards, which cover all the key programs and services that the Department provides to Veterans. These service standards are published on the Website; in the future, the Department also plans to add the performance of each service standard.
The purpose of this audit was to assess the process for reviewing and developing service standards, as well as the accuracy of data being reported. The scope of the audit included all twenty-two standards, and covered practices in the 2011/2012 fiscal year. The audit started in October 2011, and the analysis was completed in February 2012.