Provincial auditor Tara Clemett has come out with her first report since assuming the position and it is one that paints several government agencies in a bad light for practices being done.
One of the areas Clemett focused in was enforcement of the sale of tobacco and vaping products saying a better job is needed.
Clemett noted that almost 20 percent of retail operations that sell those products did not receive an inspection in 2020-21 and that there wasn’t a full list of outlets that sell tobacco and vaping products in Saskatchewan.
Clemett also honed in on the provincial coroners service saying reports are not getting back to families in timely fashion which can negatively affect families.
Speaking at the Saskatchewan Legislature just hours after the report came out, Justice Minister Gord Wyant knows work is needed to improve those timelines and that is important for those reports to be in the hands of families as soon as possible so they can have closure.
Clemett also determined the Ministry of Social Services needs to better monitor whether group and approved private service homes provide quality care to adults with intellectual disabilities.
She says the ministry must be better at things like annually inspecting each group home to see if it meets minimum care standards, update its home inspection checklists to cover key risk ares and centrally track inspection dates and as well as identify and rectify deficiencies.
The audit also found that the ministry did not have direct contact with 63 per cent of residents in the homes in the past two years. Social Services Minister Lori Carr admitted COVID-19 may have played a role in that.
