Browse by: "2015"

Agility is a tool that can help governments to not only maintain but even improve public services in a time of fiscal consolidation. Financial uncertainty is not the only challenge governments face today. Changing demographics, globalisation, climate change, risk of potential large-scale disasters are among the many others. Agility can help governments meet these challenges as well. It's also not enough to be "agile". Governments must be quick and responsive in a strategic way. This means being aware of emerging opportunities, being able to make tough collective decisions and stick to them, and mobilising appropriate financial and human resources rapidly and efficiently to where/when they are needed most. This publication is supports reforms towards greater strategic agility in the public sector including the use of budgeting policy levers, human resource management strategies and ICTs. It presents, in a sense, a toolkit for reform, together with a broader framework for action, taking into account the enabling factors and potential risks that may occur. This report is also an attempt to show that the public sector has the capacity to reinvent itself during difficult times and that large public sector organisations are able to take on the challenge.

This publication provides comprehensive and consistent information on African central government debt statistics for the period 2003-2013. Detailed quantitative information on central government debt instruments is provided for 17 countries to meet the requirements of debt managers, other financial policy makers and market analysts. A cross country overview on African debt management policies and country policy notes provides background information on debt issuance as well as on the institutional and regulatory framework governing debt management policy

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 report provides an analysis of the impact of a range of corrupt practices on economic growth and development in four key sectors: utilities and infrastructure, extractive industries, health and education. As quantification of the impact of corruption on economic growth at a macro level remains challenging, this report presents evidence at the micro and sectoral level to capture the various consquences of this phenomenon. Prepared by the OECD as a contribution to the G20 efforts to fight corruption, this report aims at increasing the understanding of the channels by which corruption inhibits economic growth and assist countries in further integrating anticorruption in their efforts to foster inclusive, sustainable growth and development. Drawing lessons from the cross-cutting analysis, the report encourages countries to design comprehensive anti-corruption strategies for which progress could be measurable and which would be tailored to specific country circumstances and economies to achieve the best results for economic growth and value-for-money.

This report provides an overview of frameworks and experience in Latin America and internationally in dealing with the challenges associated with corporate governance of company groups. It describes their economic rationale, benefits and relevance in Latin America, and how they are defined, overseen and regulated. It also delves into some of the risks and more specific challenges involved in ensuring protection of minority shareholder rights and managing or minimising conflicts of interest within groups. It notes the rising importance of Latin American-based multinational company groups. Finally, it reviews existing international and regional guidance on corporate governance of company groups before assessing the more specific policy options and challenges in the region, and describing the conclusions reached by the Latin American Corporate Governance Roundtable and Task Force on Company Groups based on this report’s findings. Country-specific chapters provide more specific descriptions of the frameworks in place for corporate governance of company groups in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

The review analyses key areas of public governance in Costa Rica and identifies opportunities to improve the performance of the state in order to ensure more effective and efficient service delivery for all citizens. It examines co-ordination at the centre of government, public policy monitoring and evaluation and the use of the budget framework for strategic planning. It also looks at human resource management, integrity policies and public procurement, and multi-level governance. The review provides recommendations to assist the government in strengthening the capacity of the public sector to support social and economic development.

This OECD Recommendation and its Companion Document provide guidance for all stakeholders on the economic and social prosperity dimensions of digital security risk. In an economic context in which the digital environment has become essential to growth and prosperity, well-being and inclusiveness, digital security risk should be considered with respect to the broader economic and social perspective, and its management integrated in stakeholders’ decision making processes.

This review represents a new policy approach for public sector reviews, linking the traditional thematic public employment and strategic human resource management (HRM) framework to public sector innovation and service delivery challenges in the Dominican Republic. The study is based on lessons learned from the experience of OECD member and key partner countries, starting with an economic and institutional analysis of the Dominican context in a broader regional perspective. The report provides a detailed diagnosis of its public employment management and pragmatic solutions for improving it. The recommendations are based on assessments in the following priority areas: the use of strategic workforce planning and management, the state's ability to acquire and retain workforce competencies and enhancing government's core values, performance management and leadership, HRM reforms and the capacity to implement innovative approaches for a more efficient and effective public administration leading to better service delivery.

Measuring regulators’ performance can strengthen the contribution of regulatory policies to sustainable growth and development. While measuring a regulator’s performance is a fundamental function of a “world class” regulator, it is challenging, starting with the definition of what should be measured and including the attribution of outcomes to regulators’ actions and the availability of robust and evidence-based evaluation methodologies. This review is the first application of an innovative methodology that helps regulators address these challenges and improve the way in which they assess their own performance. The mehtodology puts performance measurement in the wider context of governance arrangements of economic regulators. The review finds a close link between the independence of the regulator and performance. It also stresses the importance of focusing on regulatory tools and processes and measuring their quality to help improve performance. It highlights the need to define clear goals to develop output and outcome indicators that can be actionable and useful for the regulator. The review provides a roadmap for strengthening performance assessment by Colombia's communications regulator and is expected to help advance the better regulation agenda of other Colombian regulators and economic regulators of OECD members.

The G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance help policy makers evaluate and improve the legal, regulatory, and institutional framework for corporate governance. They also provide guidance for stock exchanges, investors, corporations, and others that have a role in the process of developing good corporate governance. First issued in 1999, the Principles have become the international benchmark in corporate governance. They have been adopted as one of the Financial Stability Board’s Key Standards for Sound Financial Systems and endorsed by the G20.
This 2015 edition takes into account developments in both the financial and corporate sectors that may influence the efficiency and relevance of corporate governance policies and practices.
 

Government at a Glance provides readers with a dashboard of key indicators assembled with the goal of contributing to the analysis and international comparison of public sector performance. Indicators on government revenues, expenditures, and employment are provided alongside key output and outcome data in the sectors of education, health and justice. Government at a Glance also includes indicators on key governance and public management issues, such as transparency in governance, regulatory governance, public procurement and the implementation of employment and remuneration reforms since 2009. While measuring government performance has long been recognized as playing an important role in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the public administration, following the economic crisis and fiscal tightening in many member countries, good indicators are needed more than ever to help governments make informed decisions regarding tough choices and help restore confidence in government institutions.

Government at a Glance: How Hungary Compares presents recent comparable data on key indicators of government activities and performance in Hungary, compared with its neighbouring countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia) as well as the OECD average. The main goal of this publication is to identify progress and persisting challenges in public sector reform in Hungary and to highlight some areas where public sector efficiency might be further improved in future years. It provides indicators on a wide range of government activities, including public finance management, public employment and pay, administrative burden for businesses, and the delivery of services in two key areas (health care and education).

All countries are investing in health data. There are however significant cross-country differences in data availability and use. Some countries stand out for their innovative practices enabling privacy-protective data use while others are falling behind with insufficient data and restrictions that limit access to and use of data, even by government itself. Countries that develop a data governance framework that enables privacy-protective data use will not only have the information needed to promote quality, efficiency and performance in their health systems, they will become a more attractive centre for medical research. After examining the current situation in OECD countries, a multi-disciplinary advisory panel of experts identified eight key data governance mechanisms to maximise benefits to patients and to societies from the collection, linkage and analysis of health data and to, at the same time, minimise risks to the privacy of patients and to the security of health data. These mechanisms include coordinated development of high-value, privacy-protective health information systems, legislation that permits privacy-protective data use, open and transparent public communication, accreditation or certification of health data processors, transparent and fair project approval processes, data de-identification and data security practices that meet legal requirements and public expectations without compromising data utility and a process to continually assess and renew the data governance framework as new data and new risks emerge.

This review focuses on the objectives and direction of the State Territorial Administration Reform (STAR) that the Government of Hungary launched in 2010. It provides an evidence-based evaluation of the current state of the reform and identifies steps that can be taken to improve territorial-administration governance and improve service delivery. The review presents practical recommendations to strengthen the structures, processes and resources of the territorial state administration, including opportunities for co-ordination and collaboration between the central, territorial and local self-government administration.

This report presents the findings and recommendations from analysis conducted by the OECD as part of the OECD-Hungary Strategic Partnership for Public Administration Reform. Through this initiative, the OECD has supported the government of Hungary in putting in place some of the key building blocks of a “strategic state”. The report’s recommendations can be expected to contribute to strengthening the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and integrity of the public administration and contribute to supporting sustainable and inclusive growth and development in Hungary.

This report examines Malaysia's early experience of implementing regulatory impact analysis (RIA) to support evidence-based rule making. The introduction of RIA is a key element of Malaysia's National Policy on the Development and Implementation of Regulations, launched in 2013. Malaysia has put in place the institutional infrastructure for implementing RIA at a rapid pace, learning from the experiences of a number of OECD countries among them Australia, the Netherlands, Korea and Mexico. However, Malaysia needs to move its attention from advocacy and awareness raising to guiding and supporting regulators to apply RIA. This report's recommendations focus on the need for the government of Malaysia to: consolidate the implementation of RIA over the medium-term; integrate RIA into Malaysia's policy-making processes; and build the capacity inside government necessary for ensuring high-quality RIA. Implementing these recommendations will assist not only Malaysia's domestic policy goals but also promote regional integration in Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through supporting regulatory convergence.

This review analyses open government principles and practices in Lithuania with the aim to support the government of Lithuania in its current and future public governance reforms. In this context, the OECD examines the role of the centre of government as a catalyst for open government reforms, analyses citizens' participation as a key open government practice and explores the opportunities and challenges of digital government as enabler for open government. It examines open government at the level of central government, complemented by a health sector case study. The book presents practical recommendations to assist the government in delivering on its commitment to enhance openness and inclusiveness of policy making and service delivery, and to strengthen government-citizen relations.