Results of audit “Quality of public services in the information society” Markko Kard Alo Lääne The 9th Annual Meeting of the Representatives of the Baltic, Nordic and Polish SAIs Druskininkai September 5th, 2008

Background of the audit More than 80% of the population possess the ID card that enables both electronic authentication and digital signing. By legislation the digital signature has equal power with the handwritten one, and public authorities are obliged to accept digitally signed documents Signals that although Estonia has rather good IT infrastructure to offer e-services, the latter lack customer-oriented approach Principles of Estonian Information Policy 2006 –An objective was: IT solutions will be created for the electronic provision of all basic services Estonian Information Policy Strategy 2013 –An objective is: public sector is citizen-centred, transparent and efficient.

Audit objective To gain assurance that public services are compatible with the principles of good administration or has the practice of making people run between authorities and submit unnecessary documents been discontinued?

Key Findings (1) Information is generally available, but the information is fragmented or incomplete all too often Many administrative agencies require the submission of paper documents even in the case that the relevant information is actually contained in databases and the agency would eventually use the information from the databases anyway All of the administrative agencies and local governments that were included in the sample are adequately technically equipped to engage in electronic communications, but the officials’ attitude towards the necessity of dissemination of information and their skills of updating data and communicating through electronic channels vary The provision of public services could be made quicker and more efficient, if redundant procedures were called off and officials were trained in the field of electronic communications

Key Findings (2) Even if an agency has created the possibilities of electronic administration, there are often just a few users of that opportunity. The reason for that situation may lie in both lack of knowledge and the inconvenience of using e-services The control over the usage of personal data in databases is irregular or non-existent When imposing obligations on local governments, the state usually does not make available the information systems that are necessary for compliance with the obligations so as to ensure consistent quality The procedures are still based on paper world

Recommendations (1) Websites should contain a detailed explanation, in simple language, about the procedure for applying for a service and references to the legislation regulating the provision of the service Wider usage of pre-filled application forms which could be completed and submitted electronically Guidelines should be developed in for the purpose of harmonising the structure of the websites of state and local government agencies and making them therefore more convenient to use An informative campaign should be organised in conjunction with the providers of public services for wider introduction of the applications of e-services provided by the state and local governments

Recommendations (2) Both central authorities and local governments should wider introduce their e-services in the State Portal, elaborating the one-stop-shop for both central and local e-sevices To analyse the legislation that provides for the rules of procedure relating to public services and to exclude redundant administrative measures from the process of applying for a public service To consider the aspect of convenience of use when developing new IT solutions and improving the existing ones, and to elaborate the legal framework accordingly To analyse the necessity of data required in application forms and omit the redundant data fields from the application forms To stop the duplicating collection of data into authorities’ databases while the main state register exists. To ensure that public services are provided on the basis of data entered in the main state register.

Challenges and experiences It is hard to generalize as the quality of services varies a lot between state agencies and local municipalities as well as between the e-services offered by the same institution Difficult to convince smaller local governments to invest in the development of e-services, although they agree with the recommendations It was vital to analyze the e-services and screen the web pages of all the institutions beforehand, as several of the services were amended during the audit and we would not have the possibility to document those improvements otherwise

Ongoing and further activities Current audit: Functioning of the internal control systems in protection of personal data and identity –Derived from the IT Baseline Protection Manual Close co-operation and counselling of Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and Minister of Regional Affairs in further development of e-services e-Citizen Charter: everyone’s rights in information society –Ca 7’500 views in e-inclusion website –Workshop in Estonian Public Service Conference

Thanks! Full audit report is available in English at _teenuse_kvaliteet_english_ _final.pdf