Administrative Burdens for Citizens and ICTPeter Rem

The Hague

5 March 2008

Who is Gert?

• Disability benefit claimant

• Lost his leg in accident at work

• Unemployed due to accident

• Administrative burdens relate to: – Obtaining aids in the

house (wheelchair, new bed)

– Getting a new driving licence

– Claiming benefits • “I filled in more forms the

last two years than the number of taps I repaired in 25 year as a plumber”

Why reducing administrative burdens for citizens?

New government Coalition agreement (2007) states that:

“ A serving government is a government that puts the citizens and companies in the central position. For this, less rules and bureaucratic burdens and a high quality of public services are necessary.”

So close cooperation between programme on reducing administrative burdens for citizens and E-government programme: ICT is an important tool to be able to reduce administrative burdens and to improve the quality of public services

Administrative burdens are costs to businesses and citizens complying with the information obligations resulting from government imposed legislation and regulations

How did we measure? (1)Methodology

Standard Cost Model for Citizens measures in:

Time in hours Out of pocket costs

(e.g. notary, travel costs, stamps) in Euros

• AB citizens= T x Q and C x Q

• T= Time in hours• C= Out of pocket costs in

Euros• Q= Number of people affected by the

AB

• People find time more burdensome than costs (in Euros)

Some facts:

Total AB Citizen the Netherlands (16 mln inhabitants):

110 mln hours € 1,275 billion out of pocket costs

We measured 165 laws and regulations with AB for citizens (=20% of the total number of information obligations)

Regulations with the highest number of AB were: Income Tax Act: 15 mln hours and € 156 mlnPassport Act: 12.7 mln hours and € 18 mlnRoad Traffic Act 12.5 mln hours and € 174 mlnBut also Voting Act: 3.3 mln hours and € 79.000

Administrative burdens of Gert:

An example:

What do citizens want?

Less administrative burdens (bureaucracy)

One front office (‘no wrong door’)

Easy access to the right information

One-off data delivery

An ‘easy’ relationship while interacting

Good treatment by government (‘be taken seriously’)

How did we reduce burdens?

Coordinating programme on reducing burdens of citizens within the Ministry of the Interior and

Kingdom Relations

Reduction proposals of 8 ministries adding up to - 25% reduction of AB citizens

Specific focus on reducing burdens for target groups: handicapped and chronically ill, elderly, benefit claimants, unemployed and volunteers

Ministerial AB ceilings (compensation)

Complaints office and kafka brigade

Smart ICT solutions on the basis of a common ICT infrastructure

What did we do for Gert?

Amongst others: • Renewal of the parking card for handicapped people happens automatically

• Single electronic file for people who receive an unemployment benefit: people will have to provide information only once

• Prefilled electronic forms on income tax

• Benefit claimants are automatically exempted from local taxes

• Several other forms are electronically available and the language in the forms has been made simpler

Results by end 2007

Overall result of AB target groups

Mother on social security (Maria)

Volunteer (Henk)

Handicapped child (Bart)

Old person in need (Thea)

Average family (Verstappen)

Vital old person (Mikel)

Chronically ill (Pauline)

Benefit claimant (Gert)

Unemployed (Johan)

0% 25%

0% 25%

0% 25%

0% 25%

0%

0%

0% 25%

0% 25%

0% 25%

39%

16%

26%

19%

12%

11%

14%

20%

30%

25%

25%

Change in approach 2007-2011

New focus on solutions that matter -> reduction

of burdens relating to top ten annoyances of citizens

Broader approach including service delivery

Working together with the local government (new target in CA: -25% of local admin burden for

citizens)

Quantification mainly to monitor: Departmental admin burden ceilings and new legislation Consequences for the admin burden of target groups

New focus on qualitative burdens of citizens

Top 10 solutions (1):

1. Fast and secure service: waiting time will be transparent and shorter

2. Simple application and accountability with social security

3. Single provision of data: all income-related arrangements in one personal internet page

4. Passports are easily obtainable

5. Reduction of permits, towards general rules

New focus on qualitative burdens of citizens

Top 10 solutions (2):

6. Comprehensible language in forms

7. More trust: more free-of-accountability budgets

8. Mediation

9. Volunteer work: treated like citizens, not enterprises

10. Quality of services: 7/10

Conditions for success: combine quality with quantity

Focus on real issues that matter for citizens

Make a top ten of measurable and noticeable (for political debate) reductions (on the level of

central/decentralised government and role models)

Get political support in government and parliament for this top ten

Independent watchdog `Actal´

Departmental admin burden ceilings for a net result

Awareness: citizen perspective central: ask citizens whether they notice the reductions

What are we proud of:

By means of the complaints office, we are able to help people with administrative burdens in a very practical way

There is close cooperation with local government (Association of Netherlands municipalities) to reduce burdens on the local level

Government has approved a norm of simplicity to make forms easily understandable for citizens

Digid: electronic password for government services is used by 6 million people

Uniform Citizens Service number: enables government organisations to exchange information about citizens more easily

International activities

Cooperation with other European Countries to exchange knowledge, good practices and experiences

What a relief network: www.whatarelief.eu: focuses on better services with less bureaucracy for citizens

Learning team on reducing administrative burdens of

citizens within the European Public Administration Network: more than 18 countries participate

• European Union: lobby European Commission for more attention to the administrative burdens of citizens: New EU-legislation must include information about

consequences for citizens

Thank you for your attention!

For more information:

www.whatarelief.eu

Peter RemPeter.rem@minbzk.nl+31 70 426 7487