EUPAN – Riga, 19 & 20 March 2015Florian HAUSER, DG EMPLOYMENT

Quality of Public Administration – A Toolbox for Practitioners

IPSG Workshop 2

Workshop Flow

Recap – Toolbox Overview

Short intro to:Theme 1 Better Policy Making

Theme 3 Professional and well-performing Institutions

Discussion:Toolbox content

Toolbox evolution

Overview

1.Context

2.Themes

3.Process

4.Content & Style

5.Publication / Dissemination

Quality of Public Administration –

A Toolbox for Practitioners

Context

Linking "Policy" to Funding20 countries country specific recommendations from European Semester; EUR 5 Billion+ for 18 countries under ESF/ERDF 2014-20; ex-ante conditionalities; demand for guidance

Learning & Managing Knowledge12 commission directorates general involved; many (existing) initiatives (public sector innovation, Small Business Act, Digital Agenda, etc.); comprehensive overview; complement with intl. good practice (e.g. HR); break down silos

No new policy! Guidance (non prescriptive); basis for discussion with practitioners and stakeholders; Commission as a facilitator

Themes• Introduction

• Principles & values of good governance

• Seven thematic chapters:

1. Better policy-making

2. Embedding ethical & anti-corruption practices

3. Professional and well-performing institutions

4. Improving service delivery

5. Enhancing the business environment

6. Strengthening the judicial system

7. Managing public funds effectively (including PP and ESIF, TO11)

Process

Commission Inter-service Group – agree structure and develop content on basis of CSR and TO11 relevance

Presentation & discussion of drafts (EUPAN, ESF committee, TO11 practitioners, academia)

Verification of case studies (170; mainly member states)

May 2014 – Feb 2015

Content & Style

Green Boxes

Blue Boxes

Orange Boxes

Darker Green

Commission policy and initiatives

Key studies and speeches

Case studies

Lighter Green "Cited" from existing studies and guides

Checked with "original sources"

Compendium style (many sources, underlying messages, lessons, not a roadmap – context may limit transferability) +

Publication

Hard copyAbridged Version (140 pages)• (end March?)

E-version Abridged version Full publication 7 chapters Links/Cross-references(Europa website)

Dissemination

Member States Practitioners (central – regional – local levels ); e.g. Committee

of the Regions; Peer-2-Peer

Different expertise (anti-corruption, administrative simplification, HR, justice,…)

Managing Authorities (ESF/ERDF)

Stakeholders (CSO, Associations)

Academia (e.g. Hertie School of Governance, etc.)

Inside Commission Different Services

Geo Desks

Your I

deas?

*A Practical Guide to Policy Making, Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, 2003

“Policy-making is the process by which governments translate their political vision into programmes and actions to deliver 'outcomes' - desired change in the real world. [It] is about

establishing what needs to be done - examining the underlying rationale for and effectiveness of policies - then working out how to do it and reviewing on an ongoing basis how well the desired

outcomes are being delivered.”*

Key Questions for Better Policy Making

1) How is policy designed? What & who informs decision-making? Move from reactive and ad hoc policy decisions to more reflective, long-term planning?

2) What instruments available achieve their policy goals? Merits & implementation?

3) Have policy goals been achieved? Performance & creative solutions?

Designing Policy

• Policy design Evidence based Fresh thinking

• Forward planning Forecasting /Foresight units Futures research / scenarios

• Consultation & co-responsibility

Co-responsibility

CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis; Australia’s Productivity

Commission

Denmark’s MindLab

Finland’s futures report

Consultation over the 2011-2020 Development Strategy for Malopolska

Region in Poland

Inspiring examples:

Policy Implementation

• Laws & regulation:– Impact assessment– Consultation (citizens & business)– ABR

• Structures & reforms– Multi level governance– Coordination / cooperation– Merging / restructuring– Pooling / shared services / outsourcing

• Co-production

Instructions to officials on drafting laws in Finland; Estonia’s Guidelines for Development of

Legislative Policy until 2018

Belgium’s ‘Kafka’ initiative; the Danish ‘Burden Hunter’ approach

Portugal‘s Simplegis programme

Merging the districts of Judenburg & Knittelfeld in Austria; merging 68 municipalities and

corporations into three new municipalities in the Swiss Canton of Glarus

Italy’s social cooperatives; children’s day care cooperatives in Sweden

Inspiring examples:

Policy Evaluation – improvement/innovation

Evaluation – continued…

• External scrutiny:– Parliaments– Media– CSO

• Fostering innovation– Barriers– Organisational culture– Prototyping & testing – Dissemination & learning

Italy’s pilot ‘Civil Evaluation’

Croatia’s Council for Civil Society Development

Denmark’s MindLab (see topic 1.1.1); UK’s Behavioural Insights Team; the Smarter Network in

the Netherlands

Randomised controlled trials in Denmark

Inspiring examples:

Key Messages

Policy process inter-dependent elements (including feedback mechanisms)

Organise active engagement from all actors in all stages

Reinforce analytical capacity (robust evidence base, innovative and forward thinking) inside and outside PA

Balance in deliverable capacity with focus on service delivery (simplify administration, reduce burden on businesses and citizens, and find efficiency savings)

Sufficient critical capacity (expertise to scrutinise, including co-evaluation and healthy external audience of independent media and civil society)

Key Questions for Professional & Well-functioning Institutions

① Do we know what we do, why we are doing it, and how we do it?

② How do we assure good and strong public sector leadership?

③ How do we strengthen a modern human resources (HR) policy and management?

④ How do we integrate quality management and continuous improvement into the culture of public administration?

Managing for Results• Mission, vision, strategy

– Leadership– Forward looking & planning– Burden

• Monitoring, evaluation & learning– Link with chapter 1 on policy– Focus on:

• Learn• Steer & control• Accountability

• Accountability & Communication– Internal (dashboard, MIS, reporting)– External (audit, Political, media, users)

Leadership in Lithuania’s ESF Agency

Strategy development in Upper Austria

Strategic planning and performance measurement at the Flemish Department of

Public Governance in Belgium

Management by objectives, and the balanced scorecard, in the Polish social

security administration

Everyone’s administration - the strategic plan for modernising Castilla y León’s public

administration in Spain

Inspiring examples:

Professional Leadership

• Senior civil service – Career based / position based / hybrid– Centralised?

• Recruitment, T&D– Recruitment & competency

management– T&D – Fora

• Managing change– Roles & link to competences

Formal SCS with centralised organisations and special conditions: The Netherlands and UK

Hybrid SCS systems: Belgium and the Netherlands

Danish code for chief executive excellence; Estonian SCS E-Competence Centre

Finland’s Forum of the Senior Civil Servants & Future Leaders Programme

The UK’s National School of Government, the Estonian Top Civil Service Excellence Centre

The Change Project - city of Mannheim

Inspiring examples:

Modern HR Policy & Management

Total Quality Management

• Using QM models – ISO– CAF(Link to process management/lean chapter 4 improving service delivery)

• Stimulating a QM culture– Raising awareness– Supporting– Benchmarking – Recognising & rewarding

ISO in the Irish Food Safety Authority

Using CAF in Germany, Austria, Belgium & Norway

Quality management in strategic policy documents & ESIF programmes in Poland

Italy’s CAF strategy 2012-2015 in education & training

Benchmarking local government performance in the UK & the Netherlands

Estonian Public Sector Quality Award

Inspiring examples:

Key Messages

  Ensure the institutional system as a whole is complete and coherent

Enable each organisation to perform at the highest level – through: effective leadership, management, structures, staff and processes - fit for purpose, continuously evolving with the environment and expectations of citizens and businesses;

Agree and share values with staff, and ingrain them in the administrative culture; assess performance and promote strength, correct weaknesses;

Encourage and equip (invest in) each individual to optimise his or her contribution to achieving their objectives and aspirations;

Build a quality culture, and use quality management techniques  

Workshop Questions

Toolbox Content?

Toolbox Evolution?

Toolbox Content

Quality? Useful? Practical? Relevant?

What is missing?

Some suggestions:

… enhance process orientation? (practitioner notes)… include failure cases?

Your ideas?

Toolbox Evolution?

Keeping it up-to-date?

Getting practitioners involved?

How to make it (more) interactive?

How to facilitate learning & exchange - Seminars? Peer-2-Peer? Operational networking?

Common interest of CSR/TO11 and other countries – EU value added?

Some suggestions:

… Online platform?… Peer-2-Peer exchange? … Practitioners networks?