Performance

Parliament and the Government can use various means to guide social policy and the operation of the administration, the public provision of services and central government finances. The starting point is that the means of guidance are chosen and the effectiveness of the guidance is assessed on the basis of the principles of good governance and performance.

The basic criteria for the performance of central government finances and operations are laid down in the State Budget Act and the State Budget Decree. The criteria for performance are:

• what the social policy targets are as expressed in the form of changes in the state of society and the conditions of its members and the extent to which the set targets have been achieved (social effectiveness);
• what the costs are of achieving the social policy targets (cost effectiveness);
• what the operating performance is of central government and of the public provision of services. When the performance is being evaluated, also examined are:
  • outputs and service capacity and the quality of  outputs and processes (outputs and quality management)
  • economy, productivity and the cost effectiveness and profitability of charged and jointly financed operations (operational efficiency)
  • personnel and job satisfaction, and information, expertise and renewal.

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