Support to Government's strategic decision-making

To support the Government’s strategic decision-making, the Prime Minister’s Office monitors the implementation of the Government Programme and produces material for Government’s strategy sessions.

Implementation of the Government Programme

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s strategic Government Programme envisages Finland’s future in the following terms: ’In 2025, Finland is an inventive, caring and safe country where we all can feel important. Our society is based on trust.’

Key projects and reforms

The Government’s objectives are to bring the Finnish economy onto a path of sustainable growth and higher employment and to safeguard sufficient financial resources for public services and social protection. With its five strategic priorities in the Government Programme, the Government is taking steps to follow through with essential reforms in the areas of employment, competitiveness, knowledge, education, wellbeing, health, bioeconomy, clean technologies, digitalisation, experimentation and deregulation.

The strategic objectives are materialised in the form of 26 key projects. The Government will also overhaul the pension system, implement a social welfare and healthcare reform, reduce the amount of obligations and functions in local government and reform central and regional administration.

On 28 September 2015, an implementation plan was launched to put the key projects and reforms into action. The plan specifies the schedule, measures and financial resources for the key projects and for core structural reforms.

Updated Government Action Plan 2017–2019 (published in English in September 2017)

The Government has allocated altogether EUR 1.6 billion to finance its programme of reform, of which EUR 1 billion is earmarked for the key projects. The decision on the resources between 2016 and 2018 for the key projects was made in the general government fiscal plan on 28 September 2015. The implementation plan will be executed within these financial parameters and within existing central government spending limits and other general government financial plans.

Breakdown of resources for the key projects

  • Employment and competitiveness, EUR 170 million
  • Knowledge and education, EUR 300 million
  • Wellbeing and healthcare, EUR 130 million
  • Bioeconomy and clean technologies, EUR 300 million
  • Digitalisation, experimentation and deregulation (procedures), EUR 100 million

By notification of the Prime Minister, the Government presented its key projects and reforms together with plans for their implementation to Parliament in early October.

Implementation monitoring

There is a designated minister for each key project, and each strategic priority is managed by a ministerial working group. The Government will secure the implementation and, where necessary, the readjustment of the key projects by means of active steering and monitoring in its stategic sessions.
Ministerial working groups and responsibilities for key projects

Moreover, the effectiveness of the key projects will be regularly monitored using specific indicators. The Government will gauge and fine-tune the implementation of the key projects every spring in tandem with the annual schedule for updating the general government fiscal plan.

The Secretariat for Government Strategy Work assists the Government and ministries in implementing and monitoring the key projects.

Secretariat for Government Strategy Work

Sirpa Kekkonen, Head of the Secretariat for Government Strategy Work, tel. +358 295 160 181
Jouni Varanka, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 160 177
Ulla Rosenström, Chief Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 160 188
Kimmo Hyrsky, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 160 191 
Outi Hiltunen, Administrative Assistant, tel. +358 295 160 180