News item | 11-09-2023 | 15:58
We face major challenges in many areas, such as housing construction, social security, dealing with migration and the resilience of our democratic constitutional state. It is then very important that the government exercises its authority properly. This is what Minister De Jonge (Interior and Kingdom Relations, Housing and Spatial Planning) writes in the government’s response to the advice ‘Regaining authority: about the authority worthiness of public administration’ from the Council for Public Administration, which was published in 2022. Despite the fact that steps are being taken in many areas, we are still far from there. The government will therefore continue to work in every possible way to strengthen the government’s authority. Together with the Council, the government wants to investigate how it can best do this in the future.
Advice ‘Regaining authority: about the authority of public administration’
In the report, the Council states that the government’s authority is under pressure, for example because services and facilities have been outsourced to the market or independent implementation organizations. Without authority, government policy lacks legitimacy and support, while these are desperately needed to tackle the major challenges facing society. Restoring authority requires an approach that focuses on multiple parts of government, and the Council recommends investing in the competence, reliability and involvement of public administration. The government has already initiated a number of actions, also based on the Council’s recommendations.
Investing in the competence of public administration
At the beginning of 2023, the government developed the ‘Strong Governance Action Agenda’. In this way, it focuses on long-term thinking, by thinking more carefully about the effects and feasibility of new plans. In addition, when appointing top civil servants, we pay extra attention to specific knowledge for a specific position and there is a need for less rapid rotation.
Investing in the reliability of public administration
The government stands for a government that does not see people as customers or costs, but that puts itself in the shoes of people and listens to them. That is why we are committed to a government that is reliable, that delivers and that does what is necessary, with a new ‘management philosophy’.
Investing in the involvement of public administration
The government recognizes that the government is organized too ‘top-down’ and that not all groups are equally represented in public administration. Diversity and inclusion are a spearhead in personnel policy and should be even more so. In addition, the government wants to realize policy, implementation and monitoring together with society. This will only work if the central government knows what is going on in society and can connect with different groups and organizations.
Regaining authority and ‘Every region counts!’
The government’s response to the report “Regaining Authority” can be seen in combination with the response to the report ‘Every Region Counts!’, in which the Council addressed the gap between and within regions and cities. The government previously announced that it would work on elaborating this together with people from the regions.