Auditor General John Noseworthy released his annual report on government departments Jan. 26. (CBC)

Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general is criticizing the province for improperly rehiring hundreds of retired teachers, allowing them to collect pensions and salaries.

John Noseworthy released his Annual Report to the house of assembly for the year ending March 31, 2010 Wednesday.

In it, he said that during the 2009 calendar year, 443 teachers received pension benefits, and were also paid a salary.

Pension benefits for the teachers totaled $15.6 million and salaries totalled $5.2 million.

"We examined a sample of 138 [rehired teachers] and found that, contrary to the Teachers' Pension Act and government policy, none had the required approval from the Minister of Finance … and, neither the department nor the school districts obtained cabinet approval for the rehiring of pensioners," wrote Noseworthy.

The auditor general's department found 60 of the 138 teachers it looked at were rehired for more than 65 days without having their pension benefits suspended; six were employed for three years through the use of multiple applications to the Education minister and there were four instances where retired teachers were hired even though numerous non-retired teachers had applied.

Child, Youth and Family Services

The auditor general concluded there was an increased risk that harm may occur to children. He blamed issues with the delivery and monitoring of the program to provide long-term protection of children.

"We examined a total of 46 case files from the four Regional Health Authorities and found that 90 percent of the risk assessment instruments relating to the maltreatment of children and 94% of the family centered action plans designed to assist in the mitigation of identified risks were not completed as required by the department's policy," wrote Noseworthy.

Education

The auditor general’s report identified a number of problems at the Nova Central School District, including non-compliance with the Public Tender Act and lack of monitoring and control of its capital assets and vehicle fleet.

It also pointed to problems with compensation and recruitment practices and spending related to travel claims, cell phones and other areas.

"We identified 14 purchases totaling approximately $627,000 where the district did not call a public tender as required,” said Noseworthy.

"In addition, there was a purchase of $56,370 for mechanical tools where the district did not award the tender to the lowest bidder and there was not documentation to support why the lower bids were not accepted."

Environment and Conservation

The auditor general critisized the provincial government for not keeping track of contaminated sites or not cleaning them up.

"In 2002, we determined that province was not doing a good job with regard to identifying and remediating contaminated sites in the province. Eight years later, government is still not doing a good job identifying and remediating contaminated sites in the province," said the report.

Noseworthy said the provincial government does not have a central budget indicating how much money is set aside for cleaning up contaminated sites.

Ambulances

The auditor general's department determined that road ambulances operating in the province may not be safe and attendants may not have the required level of training.

"As a result, patient care could be compromised and there may be a risk to public safety," said the report.

The auditor general's department examined 36 ambulance files and found:

• Eight instances where not all required semi-annual mechanical inspection forms were on file;
• 17 instances where not all required semi-annual ambulance inspection forms were on file;
• 13 instances where – although the ambulance had been designated by the Motor Registration Division of the Department of Government Services as inactive – claims were submitted and payments were made totalling $156,785 relating to inactive periods.

In 2010, there were a total of 63,592 transports of which 5,942 – almost 10 per cent - were transports where attendants did not have the level of training required by departmental policy, according to Noseworthy's report.