The Reform of Public Administration and Improved Administrative Services

January, 2001

One of the main goals this year for the Ministry of the Interior is the reform of public administration. At the final government session of last year the ministerial meeting discussed the ministry's programme for 2001. The reform should above all provide a higher level of expertise, knowledge and motivation among public employees, reduce the influence of a change in government on the operation of public administration, improve efficiency, simplify public administration and make it more accessible to citizens and improve administrative services and the relationship of its officials to clients. The basis for the majority of systemic measures necessary to carry out the reform are the anticipated amendments to the constitution, which fall into three areas: organisation of the government, including the nomination of the prime minister and ministers; organisation of the administration; and the issue of regions and decisions by referendum. The constitutional changes must be carried out by the middle of the coming year and the first draft of the constitutional changes should be prepared by the end of January.

The reform also requires the adoption of some systemic laws, which the Ministry of the Interior intends to propose to the government in the coming months. Thus in February the ministry will propose a draft Public Administration Act and a range of implementing regulations concerning state administration business and in March a draft Public Employees Act.

The draft Public Employees Act for employees in state bodies and local government bodies has been in preparation for a long time. The act will enter into force from 2002. Before that it shall also be necessary to prepare the implementing regulations, plan the financial resources and other necessary measures. The essential innovations included in the law are: the introduction of a career planning system (its basis will be the placing of public employees into 15 hierarchical bands of promotion), a rational separation of political and expert work, the professionalisation of core administration levels, more objective recruitment procedures with the possibility of legal protection, decentralisation of human resource decision-making and supervision over the internal organisation and human resource matters and changes to the system and, finally, raising the standards of the expert examinations. Currently the question remains open as to whether public employee status applies only to a narrower section of the state administration or if it applies also to those who work in the public sector in a wider sense. In March there will also be amendments to the Decree on the Common Bases for Internal Organisation and Job Classification. The essence of these changes will be the founding of an information bureau for administrative units.

Another important systemic regulation is the Public Agencies Act which is already passing through the parliamentary process. This belongs within the reform process because it introduces public agencies as new entities, within the state administration, which have some level of autonomy. The founding of the public agencies is expected in areas where the acquis communautaire demands the working of independent regulatory institutions and in the area where the tasks allow an independent human resource and financial operation and the application of the principles of new public management. The third systemic law is the Public Administration Act. This requires the merging of the current Public Administration Act and the Organization and Competence of Ministries Act. The second important change lies at the level of the heads of administrative units, who should act as managers of the administrative units, organisationally subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior, professionally to the ministry within whose competence they work.

The anticipated amendments to the Institutes Act are also significantly linked to the public administration reform. Among the range of open questions which require a solution are the legal personality of institutes, the economic activities which they perform and the related tax treatment and financial auditing as an obligation that does not apply to institutes. The Ministry of the Interior will also propose to the government instructions for greater flexibility and rationalisation in the area of employment in the state administration (fixed term contracts, reduced working hours, on work contracts, technology-based redundancies and reallocation). In February the government will send the Decree on the Process of Assessing the Fitness of Workers to Performing Tasks Relating to Their Job as an implementing regulation for the Act on State Employees. During the same month the ministries will also receive instructions on the method of assessing the redundancy of employees in accordance with the regulations on work relations and a collective bargaining agreement for non-economic activities. During the preparatory phase of the 2001 budget the Ministry of the Interior will agree with the Ministry of Finance on budgetary measures to encourage the reorganisation and rationalisation of operations.

In the area of computerisation a project will be concluded this year dealing with the standardisation of administrative procedures in administrative units, which will allow the computerisation of procedures and the introduction of electronic transactions within these procedures. The results of the project will also enable the formation of standardised computerised formats for administrative units on the internet and the establishing of realistic administrative statistics. By the end of May the legal obstacles to electronic transactions with customers in administrative procedures will also have been removed.

By the end of March the government will be given the Decree on the Conducting of Administrative Unit Transactions with Clients. This provides for modern, user friendly access including: a reception, making arrangements with clients, complaints and comments book, compulsory identification of officials, a queuing system providing privacy to clients, explanations given for delays in administrative procedures. In relation to public administration reform it is also worth mentioning the education of state officials as part of the special strategy adopted by the Slovenian government (3850 state administration employees and functionaries in two years). To this purpose, incentives will be introduced for obtaining ISO quality certificates in administrative units.

Also under preparation is the founding of a coordinating body which will be composed of: the Minister of the Interior or the State Secretary for Public Administration, the Minister of Finance or the State Secretary for the Budget, Secretary-General of the Government, the Director of the Government Centre for Informatics, the director of the Human Resources Department of the Government, the director of the Joint Services of the Government and the Secretary-General to the Ministries. This group will ensure the harmonisation of progress of the reform: legal, organisational, in human resources, information technology, in the introduction of quality modern procedures to transactions with clients and in promoting "good practice".