By Date

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.

The frequency and severity of extreme wildfires are on the rise in the United States, causing unprecedented disruption and increasingly challenging the country’s capacity to contain losses and damages. These challenges are set to keep growing in the context of climate change, highlighting the need to scale up wildfire prevention and climate change adaptation. This paper provides an overview of the United States’ wildfire policies and practices and assesses the extent to which wildfire management in the country is evolving to adapt to growing wildfire risk under climate change.

Artificial intelligence will have profound impacts across health systems, transforming health care, public health, and research. Responsible AI can accelerate efforts toward health systems being more resilient, sustainable, equitable, and person-centred. This paper provides an overview of the background and current state of artificial intelligence in health, perspectives on opportunities, risks, and barriers to success. The paper proposes several areas to be explored for policy makers to advance the future of responsible AI in health that is adaptable to change, respects individuals, champions equity, and achieves better health outcomes for all. The areas to be explored relate to trust, capacity building, evaluation, and collaboration. This recognises that the primary forces that are needed to unlock the value from artificial intelligence are people-based and not technical. The OECD is ready to support efforts for co-operative learning and collective action to advance the use of responsible AI in health.

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.

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.

The Digital Government Review of Romania evaluates the efforts made by the government to transition towards digital government. It provides in-depth analysis and actionable policy recommendations to improve institutional governance, digital investments, digital talent and skills, government service delivery and the strategic use of data, including open government data. The findings can help Romania use digital technology and data to make its public sector more responsive, resilient and proactive in serving citizens and businesses.

This Public Communication Scan of the United Kingdom, the first such scan of an OECD Member country, brings new insights to the OECD’s work on understanding how public communication contributes to democratic governance. The scan analyses how the United Kingdom’s Government Communication Service (GCS) is building a more effective communication function amid changes to the information ecosystem and how it can help make policymaking more responsive to citizens' needs. The analysis and recommendations in this Scan highlight opportunities for the GCS and the UK Government to align ongoing communication reforms with actions to promote more inclusive and people-centred communication that contributes to greater engagement, improved public trust, and better policy outcomes.

This paper provides a critical review of public sector innovation measurement approaches and related gaps. It explores alternative approaches to measure public sector innovation measurement which respond to different use cases, and paves the way for operationalising a measurement framework for public sector innovation. The paper proposes creating a continuous stocktake of public sector innovation measurement activities in Member countries, improving existing frameworks or creating new frameworks to guide public sector innovation measurement more systematically at country level, and identifying indicators that would be most useful for cross-country comparability.