I propose that the Government, while looking for opportunities for streamlining in individual ministries, also systematically examine the rationality and necessity of the procedures carried out within or at the request of individual ministries, and the usefulness of the procedures and the data collected for the implementation of activities or in terms of added value for citizens, operators and government structures.
In the course of our work, which is closely linked to the delivery of public services, our Association and its members are confronted with a number of procedures, requirements and issues which we find to be irrational, unnecessary, sometimes even completely pointless. We obtain approval for day-to-day business decisions from officials who know considerably less than those in charge about the issues they are deciding on, we struggle to collect data which is then not processed, we calculate elements of our business using extremely complex procedures whose results are often meaningless and illogical.
I propose that, within government departments, ministers open a debate on the sensibility of procedures, data, etc. The proposed simplification should be explained and its rejection should also be explained by the government department, namely; why a certain procedure or data is necessary, what it serves and how it contributes to better public service delivery for the citizen.
As an example:
- We provide the Ministry with data on the performance of contractors in such detail that contractors are required to split marginal costs into separate cost drivers for reporting purposes, when they do not need to do so for their own operations.
- we ask the RS for its agreement to decisions taken in bodies in which the RS has a majority