Results of the OECD public governancereview of Estonia

“Towards a single government approach”June 29, 2011, Jerusalem

Heiki LootSecretary of State

Head of Government Office, Estonia

• Population 1.34 million• Area 45,000 km2

• Parliamentary democracy

• 1918 – independence• 1940 – occupied by Soviet Union• 1991 – independence restored• 2004 – member of NATO and EU• 2010 – member of OECD

Estonia

Economic growth rate has been remarkable

Eesti SKP maht (mln eurot)

0

2 000

4 000

6 000

8 000

10 000

12 000

14 000

16 000

18 000

20 000

SKP 1 474 2 037 2 889 3 725 4 463 5 000 5 359 6 160 6 971 7 776 8 719 9 685 11 182 13 391 15 828 16 107 13 861 14 146 14 925 15 690 16 713 17 787

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010* 2011* 2012* 2013* 2014*

Estonia’s GDP (mln euro)

Estonia made well through the crisis

• Government proved to be agile and effective (OECD assessment)

• 9% of GDP fiscal consolidation in 2009– results: deficit only 1,7% of GDP, surplus 0,1% in 2010

• Adjustments in most policies hand in hand with budget reductions

• Productive expenditure (investments, education, RD, enterpeneurial supports) as well as pensions and family policy were left untouched

• Since first half of 2010 Estonia has enjoyed the upturn (3,1% in 2010; 8,5% first quarter 2011)

• January 1, 2011 we entered the eurozone

Economic crisis led to the adjustmentsin the public sector

• Inspired and encouraged by similar Irish and Finnish reports

• Comprehensive governance review (encompasses all levels of government – national, regional, local)

• Two case studies: education and social care• High quality assured by 140 interviews, Estonian

high level support group and advisory group, participation of 8 OECD and 13 national experts from 11 member countries, discussions in Estonian top civil service conference and OECD Public Governance Committee meeting

• 417 pages of analysis, incl 14 pages of recommendations

OECD public governance review

OECD public governance review“Towards a single government approach”

• Main conclusion: Estonia is too small to afford fragmentation

• Main recommendation: to move towards a single government approach

• Three main challenges:– Promoting a “whole-of-government” approach in

public administration– Building a common agenda– Delivering public services effectively

• Promoting a “whole-of-government” approach in public administration– Enable horizontal co-ordination by clarifying accountability in cross-

sectoral initiatives and ensuring the work is sustained over time

– Strengthen responsibility for and practice of co-operation in the public administration by supplementing informal and personal networks with institutional ones

– Build a whole-of-government perspective into the organisational culture of the public administration in order to support horizontal ways of working

– Empower the public administration to work in a whole-of-government manner

– Reduce barriers to government agility by building flexibility into the machinery of government

OECD public governance review“Towards a single government approach”

Main reforms in process 1

• Strengthening cooperation between secretaries general, deputy secretaries general, heads of department and other levels of ministries– Collaboration and co-operation among senior leaders is critical to

achieving a whole-of-government approach to public administration– One reason that public administration reforms have not advanced in

Estonia is that senior public servants have not been able to articulate a coherent and unified message about the need and direction for reform, and then communicate it to politicians

– To gain support and buy-in at the political level, the public administration's senior leadership needs to communicate its own vision for reform. This requires leaders across the public administration to collaborate in developing a co-ordinated vision or direction for where the public administration should be heading, or for the type of reform necessary, before going forward to government

Main reforms in process 1

• Strengthening cooperation between secretaries general, deputy secretaries general, heads of department and other levels of ministries– SG’s weekly meeting not only a forum to review

forthcoming government agenda but also a forum to develop new ideas and solutions, identify policy synergies, build dialogue and exchange information

– Over time this group should take on shared responsibility for delivering on horizontal priorities

Main reforms in process 1

• Strengthening cooperation between secretaries general, deputy secretaries general, heads of department and other levels of ministries– SG’s two-days seminar on the implementation of the results

– 12 issues identified and SG working groups established

– Follow-up seminar in London

– Working groups meetings

– Implementation plan to government in September

– Top civil service conference in October

• Preparing and implementing new Government programme for 2011-2015– After coalition agreement was signed, 18 policy groups of

deputy secretary generals were established to identify and formulate detailed actions in Government programme

– Setting clear objectives in Government programme and aligning budgetary strategy and ministerial annual plans accordingly (develop and maintain “strategic alliance” between Government Office and Ministry of Finance)

– Same policy groups continue to coordinate and follow implementation

– Special task-forces in some horizontal priorities (“wicked issues”)

Main reforms in process 2

• Improving government communications internally and externally to ensure that all key officials in the public administration have more detailed, broader and common information on the background/rationale of Government objectives and actions– Coordination body of government communication established (comprises

heads of communication of ministries, chaired by the director of government communications unit of the Government Office, meets every week, coordination of messages on major issues and upcoming government meetings, also joint projects, “events calender” etc)

– “Main points of discussion” and background information on major government decisions disseminated to members of top civil service

– Single government portal instead of 11 ministries websites to give outside a strong message of a single government (web editors working group)

Main reforms in process 3

• Centralising ministries corporate services (accounting, personnel management, IT, public procurement) in order to pave the way to more flexible Government machinery– Cost savings– Allowing ministries and other government agencies to concentrate

resources and efforts on policy design and implementation rather than on administration and operations

– Reducing “administrative weigth” of ministries to allow more flexibility in the long run

– Amend legislation to enable machinery of government changes to be made via administrative orders set by the Government to best deliver on government priorities and to meet citizen needs

– Unify structures in order to facilitate cooperation between ministries and mobility of staff

Main reforms in process 4

• Establishing rotation and secondment schemes across all classification levels to improve the mobility of public sector staff– Start with senior management– Senior management rotations should be compulsory (up to

five years)– Central recruitement and selection commission (nominations

or appointments on the proposal by the commission)– Continue with other rotation groups– Devolve responsibility for recruitement and selection

decisions of all ministry’s staff from ministers to secretaries general

Main reforms in process 5

Thank you!

Questions, comments?