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In many countries, public expenditure, including transfers, plays a major role in reducing income inequality. The report reviews the various ways that budgeting can be used to this end. A first includes taking a broad approach to results-based budgeting, taking social and distributional goals into consideration. A second relies on integrating distributional impact analysis directly into the budget process. The report discusses the concrete experience of eight OECD countries in this area, analysing how they are integrating distributional impact assessment in spending and budgeting decisions. Finally, it discusses the tools, frameworks and data that are needed to take distributional considerations into account as part of evidence-informed policy making.

Policy coherence relies on the development of strategic plans, the availability and use of relevant evidence and data, the right set of skills across the public administration, political commitment, and leadership. Effective policy coherence cannot be achieved without good co-ordination, which relies on sound co-ordination mechanisms, such as interministerial committees or councils, as well as information-sharing tools. The legitimacy and coherence of public policy is also grounded in the support that a government has from stakeholders and citizens. This policy paper offers a tailored policy framework for Romania that builds further on the other outputs of the TSI project 'Enhancing Policy Coherence, Transparency, and Co-ordination at the Centre of Government in Romania'. It includes tailored and actionable tools for improving policy coherence across government by strengthening policy development, co-ordination, and stakeholder participation.

This policy paper analyses the institutional mechanisms in place and under preparation in Romania to steer and co-ordinate policy development and action priorities relating to climate change. It also reviews the risks and opportunities for the newly created co-ordination mechanisms within the centre of government in this policy area, looks at how the co-ordination mechanisms for greening of the economy align with existing governance frameworks in terms of mandate, and discusses lessons learned from the framework for sustainable development. Drawing upon extensive consultations and peer input from OECD countries, this policy paper offers tailored recommendations for enhancing green governance in Romania.

This report analyses the performance of public administration in Ukraine through a set of standard indicators based on the Principles of Public Administration. The Principles set out what good public governance entails in practice and outline the main requirements to be followed by countries during the European Union (EU) integration process. They address the preconditions for a good public administration (good laws, policies, institutional capacity and procedures) and how an administration performs in practice. In its 2014 and 2018 Enlargement Strategies, the European Commission highlighted public administration reform as one of three 'fundamentals first' areas of the EU enlargement process. Given the European Council decision of December 2023 to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, this report provides data and recommendations on how Ukraine could better meet the standards set by the Principles. The report follows up on the 2018 SIGMA Baseline Measurement Report and provides comparative information on reform successes and remaining challenges. It covers the six thematic areas of the Principles (strategic framework of public administration reform, policy development and co-ordination, public service and human resource management, accountability, service delivery and public financial management). The report provides indicator values and comparison of overall trends across the administration.

Digital government is essential to transform government processes and services in ways that improve the responsiveness and reliability of the public sector. During the COVID-19 pandemic it also proved crucial to governments' ability to continue operating in times of crisis and provide timely services to citizens and businesses. Yet, for the digital transformation to be sustainable in the long term, it needs solid foundations, including adaptable governance arrangements, reliable and resilient digital public infrastructure, and a prospective approach to governing with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. This paper presents the main findings of the 2023 edition of the OECD Digital Government Index (DGI), which benchmarks the efforts made by governments to establish the foundations necessary for a coherent, human-centred digital transformation of the public sector. It comprises 155 data points from 33 member countries, 4 accession countries and 1 partner country collected in 2022, covering the period between 01 January 2020 and 31 October 2022.

This report assesses the use of online dispute resolution (ODR) in Latvia. It looks at the country’s efforts to modernise its justice system and develop dispute resolution mechanisms, identifies areas for improvement in line with the OECD ODR Framework, and provides examples of the application of ODR in other countries. The assessment is enriched by the application of the OECD ODR Framework to three specific types of claims – simplified and warning procedures, and consumer claims. It provides recommendations for successfully implementing ODR in Latvia and broadly modernising the justice sector to ensure better access to justice for all.

Finding sufficient funds to pay for more resilient health systems is challenging in the current economic context. COVID-19 has shown the need for additional targeted spending on public health interventions, the digital transformation of health systems, and bolstering the health workforce. Rising incomes, technological innovation and changing demographics put further upward pressure on health spending. This could result in health spending reaching 11.8% of GDP across OECD counties by 2040. This publication explores the policy options to finance more resilient health systems whilst maintaining fiscal sustainability. It finds that the scale of the additional health financing needs requires ambitious and transformative policy changes. Robust actions to encourage healthier populations and policies to reduce ineffective spending can put future health expenditure on a far gentler upward trajectory. These would enable spending to reach a more sustainable 10.6% of GDP in 2040. Better budgetary governance is critical. It improves how public funds for health are determined, executed and evaluated. Therefore, a focus of this report is on how good budgeting practices can increase the efficiency of current public spending, and also enable more ambitious policy changes in the medium to longer-term. Findings of this report are targeted at health and finance policy makers, with improved dialogue between health and finance ministries especially important when governments are operating in a constrained fiscal setting.

Open government data has become a vital instrument for addressing both longstanding and emerging policy issues. In particular, the recent pandemic and the green transition have underscored the need for governments to ensure access to timely, relevant, and high-quality data to foster resilience and facilitate a comprehensive whole-of-society response. This paper presents the main findings of the fourth edition of the OECD Open, Useful, and Re-usable data (OURdata) Index for 2023, which benchmarks efforts made by governments to design and implement national open government data policies. It encompasses over 670 data points collected from 36 OECD countries and 4 accession countries throughout 2022.

A risk management approach is important for promoting public integrity efficiently and effectively. This report reviews the current corruption risk management methodology in the Romanian central government through the lens of behavioural science. After introducing the Romanian corruption risk management methodology and analysing the challenges related to its implementation, the report provides four concrete avenues for its adoption and implementation. Behaviourally inspired strategies are designed to improve public officials' capacities, opportunities, and motivations to identify corruption risks, assess their probability and impact, and design more effective control measures.