A new unit to the Ministry of the Interior to strengthen information management cooperation between Finnish municipalities

A working group proposes the formation of a special KuntaIT unit to coordinate information management cooperation between Finnish municipalities and, to an appropriate extent, within the entire public administration. The unit to be placed into the Ministry of the Interior would outline and specify the means of developing services from the perspective of utilising ICT.

The working group that prepared the formation of an organisation (KuntaIT) to strengthen information management cooperation between Finnish municipalities submitted its final report to Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen on Wednesday, 25 January. The work carried out in the working group is associated with the implementation of the Government Information Society Programme.

A model aiming at new ways of cooperation between the State and municipalities

Operations of the KuntaIT unit are based on networking – a method that aims to utilise, as much as possible, the existing resources, best practices and innovations in various ministries and administrative sectors, municipalities and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities plus the business enterprise sector. This involves significant financial reforms. The reform calls for a closer cooperation with the ICT sector too.

The working group considers that closer information management cooperation between municipalities and the entire public administration can rationalise functions within the public administration, improve availability, quality and impacts of public services and enable the necessary reforms in service structures. KuntaIT work is connected with a project to restructure municipalities and services.

The KuntaIT unit is to be placed into the Ministry of the Interior and the KuntaIT project to prepare the unit’s operations will be launched on 1 February 2006. The actual KuntaIT unit is to start its operations on 1 September 2006 and its operations are to be established by 1 January 2007.

The working group proposes that the main functions of the KuntaIT unit are granted funding from the State budget. Development projects and investments are to be funded by development appropriations from various administrative sectors. Municipalities’ contribution to development projects consists of appropriations divided from central government transfers to municipalities and project-specific own funds. Other sources of funding may also be available (such as National Technology Agency and the EU).

When receiving the working group’s report, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen emphasised that KuntaIT is contributing to good cooperation between municipalities and the State. He stressed, in particular, the importance of the agreement reached on the funding model.

Katrina Harjuhahto-Madetoja, who chairs the working group, highlighted that the ultimate aim of closer information management cooperation is to increase the efficiency of public administration and to ensure availability and quality of public services by utilising ICT. This benefits all actors in the society. She also emphasised that public administration has more negotiation power, for example, over IT providers through joint organisations.

The vice-chair of the working group, Timo Kietäväinen, points out that the report is a significant step towards better coordination of the public sector’s ICT policy and more profitable functioning of the administration and customer service. It is of special importance that, thanks to KuntaIT, the focus is now on better quality of public administration recommendations and that they now concentrate on more vital issues with regard to information society development. It is also essential to gather the incoherent development projects spread throughout the public administration up to integrated, more outstanding entities.

Towards a joint information management organisation for public administration

The final report of the KuntaTIME project sets an aim to establish a joint State information management organisation by the beginning of 2009 at the latest. The transitional phase has three actors: State IT Management Unit, KuntaIT unit and a national actor of social welfare and health.

Implementation of the proposal made by the KuntaIT working group’s report has already been initiated and the Ministry of the Interior is now preparing to set up the KuntaIT project.

On 3 October 2005, the Prime Minister appointed a working group to prepare the formation of an organisation (Kunta IT) that would strengthen information management cooperation between municipalities in Finland. The working group was to consider changes needed in the role and functions of the Advisory Committee on Information Management in Public Administration (JUHTA) and how the reform connects with the project for online public services (JUPA), the project to restructure municipalities and services (Paras) and the State information management reform (ValtIT).

The working group was chaired by Katrina Harjuhahto-Madetoja, Programme Director of the Government Information Society Programme. The group was composed of representatives of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, City of Espoo, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

The Information Society Programme is one of the Government's four intersectoral policy programmes. The programme aims to boost competitiveness and productivity, to promote social and regional equality and to improve citizens' well-being and quality of life through effective utilisation of information and communications technologies in the entire society. The Information Society Programme aims to maintain Finland’s status as one of the leading producers and users of ICT.

The final report of the working group is available in Finnish at:

http://www.vnk.fi/tiedostot/pdf/fi/99282.pdf

Further information: Katrina Harjuhahto-Madetoja, Programme Director, Prime Minister’s Office, tel. +358 9 1602 2363 and Timo Kietäväinen, Deputy Managing Director, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, tel. +358 9 7712 700