1 Towards Government at a Glance Presentation for the regional high-level capacity building seminar MANAGING THE PERFORMANCE AND REINFORCING THE INTEGRITY OF CIVIL SERVANTS École Nationale dAdministration Rabat, May 2007 by Jürgen Blum, OECD

2 WHY WORK TOWARDS GOVERNMENT AT A GLANCE? individual countries to do robust benchmarking with common units of analysis lessons-learning of OECD and non-member countries concerning:...to guide public management reforms Sector efficiency and institutional effectiveness Observed relationships Absorptive capacity by providing a common language, GaG can support: formulating policy recommendations identifying good practices GaG provides the evidence basis for:

3 WHAT DATA ARE COVERED BY GOVERNMENT AT A GLANCE? government revenues inputs processes outputs and outcomes Human resources management Ethical infrastructure and oversight Public Sector Procurement Fiscal and budgeting practices Governance Structure Wide coverage of public management aspects Types of data

4 EXAMPLE 1 Process: HRM Arrangements - Openness of government posts PoliciesCountries In principle, all levels of posts are open for competition … … including posts at senior and middle levels Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, New Zealand, Slovak republic, Switzerl. … except the most top- level posts which are filled by appointment of the government Australia, Canada, Italy, Norway, Sweden Posts both at senior and middle levels are partially open for competition Korea, Luxembourg, UK No posts are open for competition … … both at senior and middle levels Japan, Spain … with the exception of some posts at middle level France, Ireland Source: OECD (2004), Trends in Human Resources Management Policies in OECD countries: An analysis of the results of the OECD survey on strategic human resouces management, Paris

5 EXAMPLE 2 Process: Management of Regulatory Quality Strategies used to reduce administrative burdens (P 32.3) Modification and streamlining of existing laws and regulations Information and communication technologies for regulatory administration Other streamlining of government administrative procedures System for measuring administrative burdens of regulation Reallocation of powers between government departments. Number of Countries Source: OECD (2006), Indicators of regulatory management systems quality, Paris.

6 HOW DOES GOVERNMENT AT A GLANCE COMPARE TO OTHER GLOBAL DATASETS? Existing aggregate datasets Government at a Glance utilitycommunicationpolicy formulation purposerankingbenchmarking and self- assessment type of data subjectiveobjective aggregatespecific

7 WHAT COULD BE THE BENEFITS OF GOVERNMENT AT A GLANCE FOR ARAB COUNTRIES? Evidence-based policy making Making objective reform progress visible to national and international stakeholders Building regional evaluation capacity Lesson-learning and identifying good practices among Arab and OECD countries: a common language Government at a Glance could provide the basis for:

8 WHAT COULD BE THE NEXT STEPS TOWARDS GOVERNMENT AT A GLANCE? Mapping out the existing data Focus on a core set of the most relevant data Pilot-approach based on a few interested countries

9 QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION What is the rationale for obtaining better specific measures of institutional arrangements and activities from your countrys perspective? What are the priority areas of interests for obtaining better government data? How could the preparation and collection of this data be managed realistically in the GFD process?