C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Hsin Chu, August 2012 Co-ordination of public policies Why and how best coordinate between ministries ? Charles-Henri Montin, Senior Regulatory Expert, Ministry of economy and finance, Paris

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Summary  Why address co-ordination?  Meaning of co-ordination, key concepts  Objectives of co-ordination  Actors of co-ordination  Channels of co-ordination  Challenges

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Why address co-ordination?  Policy making becoming increasingly complex –Policy areas don’t always fit into one ministry –Different policies from different ministries can interact with each other  The pressure for quality, effective, policy increases the need for –Cooperation –Consultation –Co-ordination

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Some key concepts  Consultation: where views of other stakeholders are sought on a policy proposal  Co-operation: different public authorities agree to work together, exchange information on a given (single) policy issue  Co-ordination: where more than one ministry or agency needs to work together in order to develop a policy, each being in charge of part of the policy (for instance through different legislation and programmes).

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Objectives of co-ordination  Support strategic, coherent, whole-of-government perspective on policy design and implementation  Build awareness of inter-linkages between policy fields  Enable more coherent and strategic planning advice  Complement and support existing policy-making units  Reinforce and support effective, quality policy- making  Identify areas where increased co-operation is needed

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Main actors of policy-making  Depend on context and policy issue  Ministry with lead responsibility in the policy area should initiate co-ordination  For some OECD countries, the “Centre of Government” (PMO, GO) provides a leadership role, for example through Cabinet Committee groups  May be some ‘standing’ or permanent co-ordination areas  Many countries require co-ordination with –Ministry of finance –Legal department

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Examples of specially co-ordinated policies  EU policy formulation  Whole of government approach to general EU policy positions  Co-ordinated response in specific policy issues, such as climate change  Competition –Usually requires assessing the competitive effects of social and other policies (in RIA)  Emergency response (natural disasters, terrorist threats, major accidents).

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Channels of co-ordination  Cabinet sub-committees/ ministerial working groups  Inter-ministerial working groups  Cross-agency working groups/ One-Stop-Shops  Focus groups –May involve different levels of government and/or implementation staff  Networks –HR, IT  Emergency response teams

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August Challenges  Willingness to co-operate and co-ordinate within or across government  Cultural shift change to ‘whole-of-government’ or ‘whole of public service’ perspective  Awareness and familiarity with evidence-based policy making  Willingness to take the lead on a policy area for co-ordination  Convening suitable times for meetings given locations/competing issues

C.H. Montin, Hsin Chu, August To continue the study…  This presentation is online at:  SIGMA: “Organising the central administration” (SIGMA paper n°43, pp )Organising the central administration  Further questions contact: finances.gouv.fr