Finland’s Interior Ministry is creating a new unit to coordinate the compatibility of eGovernment services between municipal and regional authorities.
The KuntaIT unit’s creation was among the main recommendations of a report by a working group, chaired by Katrina Harjuhahto-Madetoja, Director of Finland’s Government Information Society Programme.
The group’s members included the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, the City of Espoo, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministries of Finance, Education, Social Affairs, and Health. The group submitted its final report to Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen on 25 January 2006.
The document insists that closer information management co-operation between municipalities and Finland’s public administration could help to rationalise functions within public administration, improve the availability, quality and impact of public services and, finally, facilitate reform in service structures.
Harjuhahto-Madetoja said the overall goal should be to increase the efficiency of public administration and to ensure availability and quality of public services by relying on information and communication technologies. She also observed that public administrations gain more negotiating power over IT providers by banding together.
Quelle: Public Sector Technology & Management, 18.02.2006
