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This paper provides an overview of how social services are organised in European Union countries. With a special focus on Spain and countries with federal or semi-federal organisation, the paper starts by analysing social services from a legal perspective. It provides a comparative perspective on several concrete aspects of social services: sources of funding (national, regional, local, etc.), organization of service provision, expenditure, human resources, governance and coordination between institutions. The analysis finds that, despite differences across countries, there is no link between the existence of a comprehensive national social services laws and the comprehensiveness of the social service offer (the main differences concern family services and housing services in countries which consider housing as a right). There exist large differences in the contribution of central, regional, and local governments to social expenditure. Spending more on services does not necessarily imply spending less in cash transfers. Indeed, it appears that Nordic countries, that spend more on services as a share of their GDP, also spend more on cash transfers. Finally, the paper stresses the important role of the information technology and the horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms to improve service quality and accessibility.

The paper is the first in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The second paper is titled: ‘The environmental sustainability competence toolbox: From leaving a better planet to our children to leaving better children for our planet’.

The paper is the second in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The first paper is titled ‘Young people’s environmental sustainability competence: Emotional, cognitive, behavioural and attitudinal dimensions in EU and OECD countries.

Before the pandemic hit, the city of Bilbao had the highest economic growth in Spain from 2000 to 2018, driven by a shift from heavy industry to a service-based economy. It also benefitted from a burgeoning tourism and culture sector, thanks to developments such as the Guggenheim Museum in 1998. Plagued with high unemployment in the late 90s, unemployment started to drop until 2008. However, such promising trends were unable to shield the city from the 2008 global financial and later COVID-19 crisis. This study assesses inequality in Bilbao and how the COVID-19 pandemic and the city’s response and recovery measures have affected its inclusive growth agenda. It also examines how Bilbao’s approach to deploying a smart city strategy and localising the SDGs contributes to the city’s overall resilience and inclusive growth objectives.

Around one-third of the European Union’s budget is dedicated to cohesion policy, which promotes and supports the overall harmonious development of its Member States and regions. The success of this investment relies on effective partnerships among governments, stakeholders, and citizens. Citizens have a key role to play in shaping decisions on public investment, as well as in making public authorities more transparent and accountable. From July 2020-December 2021, the European Commission and the OECD partnered to explore how five authorities across Europe could place citizens at the centre of their investment decisions. This report summarises lessons learned throughout this project and, particularly, the results of applying innovative citizen participation methods to cohesion policy more broadly.

Spanish society values families and family life highly, but the way that families look and live has been changing drastically over the past decades. From being one of the countries with the highest fertility rates in Europe, Spain now has the lowest rate in the region and the legalisation of divorce and social acceptance of co-habitation has led to a decline in the traditional nuclear family model. At the same time, the share of mothers who are employed increased by more than 50% over the past two decades, though it remains below the OECD average. While family law has evolved quite strongly alongside these societal changes, family policy – i.e. the combination of benefits, services, tax breaks and leave arrangements that support family members in raising and providing care to minor children and other dependent persons – has undergone some changes but few major reforms. This report suggests ways to adapt Spain’s family policy to incorporate family diversity into the national policy framework, improve family well-being, reduce child poverty and make family life easier for all.

The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts peer reviews of individual members once every five to six years. Reviews seek to improve the quality and effectiveness of members’ development co-operation, highlighting good practices and recommending improvements. Spain has put the 2030 Agenda at the centre of its foreign policy and development co-operation. It works in alliances to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, internationally and in partner countries. Spain is valued for its work in horizontal and inclusive partnerships, and its ability to mobilise public sector expertise to capture and share knowledge. As Spain embarks on a comprehensive reform of its development co-operation strategy and architecture, this peer review provides a set of recommendations to improve strategic steering, streamline its administrative framework, strengthen human resources and fully mobilise its financial co-operation.

A first step to implement effective migrant integration policies is to know who does what in policy sectors key to integration. Responding to this need, this paper offers policy makers a tool to understand the organisation of public action in key sectors for integration - Employment, Education, Housing, and Health/Welfare – in a sample of 10 OECD countries: Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. The complexity of the division of powers among levels of government calls for coordination mechanisms between actors, whatever the level of decentralisation. Besides, it throws lights on subnational governments’ role in integrating migrants and enabling them to participate to local development for the benefits of all. The geographic differences that exist in migrant presence and outcomes mean countries should build on local authorities' knowledge of local realities, aptitudes to coordinate different policy fields at the relevant scale and cooperate with non-governmental organisations.

This study provides an in-depth assessment of Spain’s innovation system and the current state of knowledge transfer and collaboration. It identifies five priority areas for reform and long-term investment that should provide the basis of a new Roadmap. These include granting greater operational autonomy to universities and public research organisations in return for accountability on outcomes, putting in place a better integrated system of incentives that takes both individuals and organisations into account, and ensuring sustained investment in core capabilities to connect science and business. To put these reforms in motion and sustain them over time, a new type of covenant between science and society is needed in Spain today. This should be based on a ‘new deal’ between actors in the science and innovation system and society at large, committing to place the pursuit of concrete social benefits in return for more stable and predictable support.

This profile provides a concise and policy-relevant overview of health and the health system in Spain as part of the broader series of the State of Health in the EU country profiles. It provides a short synthesis of: the health status in the country; the determinants of health, focussing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the health system; and the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system. This edition has a special focus on the impact of COVID‑19. This profile is the joint work of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.