Reducing Administrative Burdens for Citizens in Austria Philip Parzer, KDZ Oslo 15 May 2009

KDZ – Centre for Public Administration Research Founded 1970 Non-Profit-Association Board of directors with leading representatives of the founding partners Austrian Association of Cities and Towns, City of Vienna, Bank Austria 18 employees Research in social and business sciences in relation to authorities Consulting Training activities for public employees Jan-19

Integral Approach of Austria Initial Situation Integral Approach of Austria Reducing Administrative Burdens for Enterprises developed and accompanied by the Federal Ministry of Finance. Reducing Administrative Burdens for Citizens developed and accompanied in the first step in 2008 by The Federal Chancellery and The KDZ – Centre for Public Administration Research. Jan-19

What have been the main objectives for this project? Based on existing national and international experiences in using SCM for revealing and reducing administrative burdens for enterprises our objectives have been: Testing advantages and benefits of using SCM for measuring and reducing administrative burdens for citizens in Austria, Trying to clarify advantages of using SCM for politicians and citizens, Introducing the idea into the political discussion and raising awareness on the political level, Initiating of a small based (budget and time) project and Getting first results relating to administrative burdens in the identified life events. Jan-19

Standard Cost Model Identifying relevant life events Jan-19 Identifying relevant life events Investigation of activities / official channels per Life Event from the citizens perspective – instead of regulation screening Investigation of time and direct costs per activity. Identification of possibilities to reduce administrative burdens.

Which Life Events have been selected? Sample of 7 „life events“ Birth of a child Primary school registration Marriage Single parents People with disabilities and people requiring care Pension Death Jan-19

How we got insight into activities / mission channels per life event Desk research General Process Information via help.gv and other information of authority websites. Evaluation of application forms (avarage time to fill the forms, number of information obligations / adduction of personal documents, etc.). Expert Interviews Detailed process information. Identifying public service interfaces. Interviews with interest groups Getting insight into potential problems in fulfilling information obligations. Bringing the needs of customers forward. Workshops with experts and interest groups Permanent quality assurance of suggestions to reduce administrative burdens. Jan-19

Activities in Life Event „Death“ Inspection by the doctor to get the statement of death. Announcement of death. Notice of removal to insurance agencies. Notarial identification of the bereaved for legacy. Jan-19

What are the most important administrative burdens in case of death? Adduction of a multitude of personal documents are prevalent. Announcement of death to the register office: medical declaration of death birth certificate proof of citizenship residential registration form certificate of marriage and death if deceased is / has been married No administrative functions of hospitals in case of death Lack of institutionalised information supply about required administrative processes. No service component – hospitals don‘t settle official channels for the bereaved. Jan-19

What are potential options to reduce administrative burdens? Potential to optimize is about 18 per cent of hours total. Jan-19

What could be the main instruments to realize the reduction of administrative burdens? Methods / Instruments Structural and Legal Reforms. Reducing information obligations to the necessarcy core and/or transferring personal documents in an online register. Bringing public services to the customers where standardised processes are evident (e.g. birth, death). Bundling of relevant public services per Life Event - One-Stop-Shops. Institutionalisation of data interchange and better cooperation between public institutions. Jan-19

Results and Future Steps….. Resolution of the Councel of Ministers of 2009-04-14 Engagement of the register office for acceptance of the notification of living, application for proof of citizenship and a passport. Automatical initiation of the application for family allowance. Automatical initiation of the application for childcare benefit. Working on effective implementation measures in the analysed Life Situations. Single Points of Contact. Standardisation and simplifications of processes. Integrative View of Federal, provinicial and local administrative services and proceedings. … Legal evaluation of implementation measures. Intensifying the qualitative aspects of the SCM-Approach. Standardised and periodical customer surveys Common Assessment Framework (CAF) Jan-19

Lessons Learned Don‘t loose the citizens perspectives and expectations especially in the field of reducing administrative burdens. process optimisation vs. high quality services for citizens Interviews with special interest groups in the first step help to get a first overview about necessary activities and administrative burdens in relevant life events. Strenghtening political accountability and business control over public spin-offs can be critical factors in reducing administrative burdens for citizens. to make reduction of administrative burdens work by better cooperation and organisation of data exchange between public institutions (public agencies, spin-offs, NPO‘s etc.) . in Austria especially in the field of social and health services. Further development of E-Government to improve public services and information quality for citizens is of utmost importance. Breakup with traditional local and factual competencies of public agencies to realise „all-inclusive“ services for citizens („No-Stop-Government“) is essential for reducing information obligations and improving service quality for citizens. Jan-19

Thank you for your attention ! For more information …… KDZ – Centre for Public Administration Research, Management Consultancy and Professional Training Corporation Philip Parzer parzer@kdz.or.at +43 1 8923492 - 10 Jan-19