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WHITBY FREE PRESS WEDNESDAY, JHU Y 23, 1980, PAGE 9 Ottawa Report By SCOTT FENNELL. MP (PC -ONTARIO) Tax payers flot getting moncys worth Some of you may remember a controversy which flared in the wake of the last Auditor-General's report on government spending and management. The issue was to do with the ef- ficiency of civil servants as compared with private sector em- ployees. The auditor-general, an independent and essential gover- niment watchdog, gave civil servants in a broad clerical range a 60 per cent efficiency rating. Put simply, we taxpayers are flot getting our money's worth. There was niuch criticism, especially from t.he govern.ment and civil service unions, over the accuracy of the Auditor- General's testing methods. As a member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, 1 have followed up on the issue. It turns out that there is a costly competency in the civil ser- vice which, in my view, is advancing, not retreating. The governmrrent has ignored the auditor-general's reports before and I fear the same will happen again. The testing method did not involve anything as subjective as incentive or profit motive but was simply an examination of the speed and accuracy of common paperwork functions nor- mally performed in large industry and goverient. By paperwork functions the auditor-general meant tasks such as audits of fornçs, records and files maintenance, accounts, and routine regulation monitoring. In ail, ten different work groupings were considered - and ahl were activities at- ~J3ÀSLE MM 44 BOND STREET W. OSHAWA ~I4~iJ~-I~ ROGER'S TRAVEL BUREAU Personalized.Travel Arrangements ROGER ANNAERT Propr. Manager BOND TOWERS MALI 44 BOND STREET WEST OSHAWA, ONT., CANADA Bus. 579-2261 WANTED: Mothers Looking for Borgoins> REWARD 10% off ail our 4 nearly new 4 clothes and toys CHILDREN'S WORLD 44 BOND ST. W. OSHAWA 4 571-2066 10 a.m. -9 p, m. 28th. 29th, 3th, 3lst loa.m..Bp.m. lstk 10 a.m. -5 pm. 2fd _ - u- umw w «ur" w w W BOND TOWERS UNIFORMS "We Have or Will Get Uni forms For Any Profession." Pant Suits up to 25% off Dresses 30 to 50% off Bras & Slips 20% off Shoes 15-20% off Sumrmer Nightgowns 20-50% off "Gift Certificates Available" COME IN AND QUALIFY FOR VOUR DISCOUNT CARD LAY-A-WAY available witfl smalI deposit Hours: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. 28th, 29th, 3th, 31lst lOa.m.-8p.m. lst 10Oa.m. - 5p.m. 2nd BOND TOWERS UNIFORMS Bond Towers Mall 44 Bond St. W. ~J. JOULY WVe Have Corne A Long Way To Open This New Shop For You. * Good Selection of Wicker & Ceramics * Specializing in Silk Flowers for WeddÎngs * Gifts and Floral Arrangements for Ail Occasions * Natural Sea Coral JOA N N ES JIowet.4 & Gt4 Bond Towers Mail (Donwstalrs) 44 Bond Street West Oshawa 579-5269 Ail Spring & Summer Merchandise Coats, dresses, gowns, bathing suits & separates. 576-7152 VZSAfl 571-2066 Nue tributable to the private sector. A smal11 . ainpling of civil ser- vants was used but they were from across the country in ten different government departments. When the efficiency resuits were completed, a larger weight was given to the larger departments. The 60 per cent resuit is misleading because a perfect score is impossible. With the same testing methods, the private sec- tor aims for a 90 per cent f igure as efficient. To be on the safe side, the auditor-general said the nature of the civil service die: it being larger than prîvate sector.bureaucracies) would mean an 80 per cent resuit would be adequate. But it is fair to extrapolate the resuits.. The testing base was much large than that used for Gallop poils and, as my party recently discovered, they can be painfully accurate. So, what we're left with is a civil service operating - in clerical terms - at three-quarters of the capacity thpt what we deserve. It's a disturbing and expensive problem which we must not simply classify as bureaucrat bashing. It should be stressed that the Auditor-General laid almost the entire blame at upper and middle management's door. The problem will be solved by making major - and, yes, sometirnes radical - changes in this area and not by picking on lower level civil servants in a mean-spirited fashion. I intend to focus on managements's responsibility in next week's column. (e - *nt