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This report aims to identify new developments in the administration of central government that lead to better value for money: better services at lower costs for the taxpayers.

This chapter focuses on recent developments in the area of ICT management. Attention is given to the organisation of ICT support services and to the tasks of ICT standard setters. Developments are moving fast in both areas as a consequence of e-government policies. Moreover, there is in all participating countries an increasing emphasis on net savings as an objective of ICT investments.

This report is published as part of the OECD Value for Money in Government series. This project, launched in 2008 on the initiative of the Dutch government, aims to identify new developments in the administration of central government that lead to better value for money: better services at lower costs for the taxpayers.

The OECD Value for Money project was launched in 2008 at the request of the Dutch government. The OECD Secretariat was asked to conduct a comparative study on the organisation of central government from the perspective of Value for Money. The Dutch Government was interested in both quantitative and qualitative international data. In order to conduct the study, the OECD invited a number of countries to provide information to the project. The selection of countries took place in consultation with the Dutch Government. The countries that accepted to participate were: Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, some of those countries were interested in a specific country review next to a comparative international study and offered to contribute to the financing of the project (Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden).

Human resource management includes the tasks of recruitment, career development, pay (salaries and pensions), training and senior civil service management. Traditionally, two models of standard setting for human resource management are distinguished: the career based model and the position based model. The differences between both models concern mostly the tasks of recruitment, career development and pay. In the career based model the major decisions in these areas are taken by the government in consultation with the trade unions, whereas in the position based model there is more room for market incentives. Remedies for disadvantages attached to the more extreme versions of both models currently lead to a certain convergence.

This chapter provides information about the background and aims of the OECD Value for Money study. This chapter also pays attention to some tools of the study and it explains the structure of the current synthesis report.

This chapter provides statistical data about government employment and public expenditures and revenues in the participating countries. Employment is divided over administrative employment and in-kind service delivery employment. Administrative employment is divided over the tasks of government and the types of government administration in accordance with the snapshot of the public administration. Government employment is presented in full time equivalents (FTEs) per 1 000 inhabitants and as a percentage of domestic employment. Differences between countries are analysed in connection with institutional arrangements, such as rates of decentralisation and organisation of health care and social services in the corporate or general government sector.

This chapter focuses on one group of organisations of which the central government is composed, namely the core ministries (as opposed to the agencies). This chapter deals with the way in which the central government is structured into ministries and with the size of the cabinet; the number of deputy ministers and other political officials; the number of political advisors and the number of cabinet committees.

This chapter presents reforms in the area of administrative regulation and supervision. Administrative regulation refers to regulation by ministerial divisions or agencies, as opposed to the legislature, the government or ministers. Supervision refers to the monitoring of compliance with regulations and sanctioning of non-compliance. The chapter makes a distinction between economic regulation, which concerns market accessibility, prices and quantities, and social regulation which concerns the quality of goods and services that are sold on markets or provided by the government.

This chapter presents reforms in the area of policy execution. The organisation of policy execution is very diverse. There is little similarity across countries. Within countries the organisational pattern tends to be rather unsystematic. The analysis in this chapter is based on two distinctions between organisations inside central government: 1) between the State and other organisations with legal personality (private and public non-profit organisations), and 2) between core ministries, arm’s length agencies and independent agencies. These distinctions are recognisable in all countries participating in the study, but strict criteria for the use of the various organisational forms are often lacking or are not systematically applied.

Internal audit is the monitoring component of internal control. It is aimed at minimising the probability of the occurrence of error, inefficient and uneconomic practices or fraud. Internal audit contributes to value for money in government if this aim is achieved at a reasonable cost. This chapter presents three reforms that lead to better results of internal audit at lower costs.

The reforms and reform trends have been categorised by chapter of the report, that is: by type of tasks and types of organisations in accordance with the snapshots and as far as support services and operational management is concerned by type of support service.

This chapter presents reforms in the area of operational management and support services. Operational management is defined as decision-making about the use of operational means, namely: finance (budgeting, accounting, cash and debt operations), human resources and organisation, internal audit, procurement, information and ICT, accommodation, real estate and facilities (office equipment, reproduction, cars, catering, security, cleaning and internal post), communication. Support services include advice on the use of operational means, as well as the execution of support tasks.

This chapter presents a number of recent reforms that aim at strengthening the capacity of central government for policy development. The chapter focuses on technical skills required for policy development, such as forecasting, analysis and evaluation, that were somewhat neglected in the era of New Public Management.

This chapter focuses on agencies of the central government. Agencies are defined as units of a ministry with a separate financial administration. They can be divided in arm’s length agencies, that are subject to the ministerial responsibility as far as (executive) policy is concerned and independent agencies that are not subject to ministerial responsibility as far (executive) policy is concerned.

In this study finance is conceived as a support service, comparable to human resources, procurement, etc. This conception implies that sectoral policy has priority over budgetary policy and that the budget process must serve the policy process in the best possible way.