Value for Money in Government Public Administration after "New Public Management"

116 Pages·2010·0.83 MB·English

by  OECD

Value for Money in Government
Value for Money in Government
Public Administration after “New Public
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Value for Money in Government
Public Administration
after
“New Public
Management”
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION
AND DEVELOPMENT
The OECD is a unique forum where governments work together to address the economic,
social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts
to understand and to help governments respond to new developments and concerns, such as
corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population.
The Organisation provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek
answers to common problems, identify good practice and work to co-ordinate domestic and
international policies.
The OECD member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, the
CzechRepublic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the
Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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guidelines and standards agreed by its members.
This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions
expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the
Organisation or of the governments of its member countries.
ISBN 978-92-64-08643-2 (print)
ISBN 978-92-64-08644-9 (PDF)
Series: Value for Money in Government
ISSN 2079-8938 (print)
ISSN 2079-8946 (online)
Photo credits: Cover © Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images
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© OECD 2010
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3
FOREWORD –
Foreword
At the request of the Dutch government, the OECD Secretariat
conducted a study on the organisation of central government from the
perspective of value for money. The Dutch government is interested in a
comparative analysis, both quantitative and qualitative. The OECD
Secretariat was asked to focus the quantitative analysis on public
employment and the qualitative analysis on the sharing of support services
and selected themes in the area of financial management. The following
countries were invited to provide information to the study: Australia,
Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and the United
Kingdom. This book contains the result of that study. It is the first volume in
the series Value for Money in Government.
The study was carried out by a team of the Directorate for Public
Governance and Territorial Development consisting of: Ian Hawkesworth,
Oscar Huerta Melchor, Dirk Kraan and Camila Vammalle. The team was led
by Dirk Kraan. Daniel Sanchez Serra provided statistical assistance.
In order to carry out this study, the OECD team participated in missions
to The Hague (the Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Stockholm
(Sweden) and in each of these capitals met with many officials of the

ministries responsible for the organisation of central government. The team
wishes to express its sincere gratitude to all of these officials for their efforts
to provide the team with the sought after information and for their patience
in explaining the often widely diverging structures of their national
governments. In particular the team wishes to thank: Mr. Peter van der
Gaast, Principal Administrator of the Directorate of Labour Affairs Public
Sector of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, who organised
the mission to The Hague; Mr. Mogens Pedersen, Deputy Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who organised the mission to
Copenhagen; and Ms. Lena Westin, Director of the Division for State
Administration of the Ministry of Finance, who organised the mission to
Stockholm.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AFTER “NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT” © OECD 2010
4
– FOREWORD
In order to collect information concerning the other countries (Australia,
Canada, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), the
OECD Secretariat organised a workshop on 3 December 2008 in Paris. The
team wishes to thank the officials and members of Permanent Delegations to
the OECD who participated in this workshop and for the information they
provided in their presentations and documents.
In addition, the team wishes to thank the officials in ministries and
statistical offices who completed the quantitative questionnaire (the
“snapshot of the public administration”). The team is fully aware that
completing this questionnaire was not an easy task, and is grateful that all
participating countries made efforts to complete it.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AFTER “NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT” © OECD 2010
5
TABLE OF CONTENTS –
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................ 9
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 19
Chapter 1 Quantitative Comparison of Public Service Employment ........... 21
Employment in central government ................................................................ 22
Administrative employment ............................................................................ 25
Data sources .................................................................................................... 25
The size of central and general government .................................................... 28
Size of administrative employment ................................................................. 38
Organisation of central government ................................................................ 42
Notes ............................................................................................................... 46
Bibliography .................................................................................................... 49
Chapter 2 Qualitative Assessments of Recent Reforms .................................. 51
Focus of the qualitative assessments ............................................................... 52
Shared service centres ..................................................................................... 52
Financial management .................................................................................... 71

Questions emerging from the qualitative assessments .................................... 86
Notes ............................................................................................................... 88
Bibliography .................................................................................................... 91
Annex A COFOG-Special Classification ......................................................... 93
Annex B Snapshots of the Public Administration .......................................... 97
Annex C Corrected Central Government Employment .............................. 101
Annex D Standard-setting Units and Support Services Delivery Units ..... 107
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AFTER “NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT” © OECD 2010
6
– TABLE OF CONTENTS
Tables
Table 1.1. Contents of the databases in the area of public employment ............. 29
Table 1.2. Rates of centralisation per policy area excluding health and
education ............................................................................................ 34
Table 1.3. Rates of intermediate consumption per policy area excluding
health and education .......................................................................... 35
Table 1.4. Compensation of employment relative to total expenditure per
policy area excluding health and education and total
expenditure per policy area relative to total expenditure on
services in kind .................................................................................. 37
Table 1.5. Administrative employment in general government (including
local government) relative to population and domestic
employment ....................................................................................... 40
Table 1.6. Distribution of central government employment over types of
government units................................................................................ 43
Table 1.7. Distribution of employment in core ministries and arm’s-length
agencies over types of tasks ............................................................... 44
Table 2.1. Organisational models ....................................................................... 67
Table 2.2. Saving on support services in selected sample countries ................... 70
Table B.1. Australia: Central government employment in full-time
equivalent (2008) ............................................................................... 98
Table B.2. Denmark: Central government employment in full-time
equivalent (2008) ............................................................................... 98
Table B.3. Denmark: Support services split up in full-time equivalent
(2008) ................................................................................................. 98
Table B.4. Finland: Central government employment in full-time
equivalent (20 06) ............................................................................... 99
Table B.5. Finland: Support services split up in full-time equivalent
(2006) ................................................................................................. 99
Table B.6. Ireland: Central government employment in full-time
equivalent (2008) ............................................................................... 99
Table B.7. Netherlands: Central government employment in full-time
equivalent (2006) ............................................................................. 100
Table B.8. Netherlands: Support services split up in full-time equivalent
(2006) ............................................................................................... 100
Table B.9. Sweden: Central government employment in full-time
equivalent (2008) ............................................................................. 100
Table D.1. Standard-setting units and support services delivery units in
Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden ........................................... 108
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AFTER “NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT” © OECD 2010
7
TABLE OF CONTENTS –
Figures
Figure 1.1. Employment in general and central government relative to
population and domestic employment .............................................. 30
Figure 1.2. Employment in general and central government excluding
health and education relative to population and domestic
employment ...................................................................................... 32
Figure 1.3. Employment in central government without high colleges of
state, armed forces, non-profit institutions, health providers
and educational establishments relative to domestic
employment and the population ....................................................... 41
Figure 1.4. Employment in core ministries and arm’s-length agencies in
support services over type of service ............................................... 45
Figure C.1. Central government employment excluding health and
education corrected for decentralisation ......................................... 103
Figure C.2. Central government employment excluding health and
education corrected for rate of decentralisation, rate of
outsourcing, labour intensity and spending priorities .................... 105
Boxes
Box 2.1. New Public Management . ...................................................................... 55
Box 2.2. Spending reviews in the United Kingdom .............................................. 79

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AFTER “NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT” © OECD 2010