12. The Committee believes that overall the Department's performance has improved, although not as much as it would wish for. Despite the recurring qualified audit opinion, the Department's ongoing efforts to address the underlying causes has led to improvement on the audit outcome. The qualification continues to relate to the adequacy of the Third Party Funds' financial and control system: last year's item relating to irregular expenditure no longer appears as a qualification. Still, the Department has had difficulties: the Auditor- General noted that of 72 planned targets, only 20 were achieved (a performance rate of 28%). The Department admitted that performance over the review period has been seriously compromised by the focus on audit issues, with many of the targets set by the Department either partially or not achieved. The Auditor-General observed (in passing) to the Committee that the worst performers in terms of predetermined objectives (the Department, the NPA and the SIU) also experienced the greatest financial pressure. The Committee is unable to comment on this observation but notes it.The Auditor-General also reported problems relating to monitoring, as well as the failure to act swiftly to ensure that targets were met - despite a new performance monitoring system (TROUX), which is consistent with the Department's admission that the focus has been on addressing the audit qualification.