Project to develop strategic leadership instruments in government - project work and objectives

The project to develop strategic leadership instruments in government (PAKURI) aims to strengthen the strategic nature of government policy and to enhance the executive capacity of the Government. The project builds on the OHRA reform introduced in 2015, when the Government of Prime Minister Sipilä adopted a new strategic government programme model.

Based on a visibility report published in autumn 2017, the strategic model for government was viewed positively in general, but implementation, in particular, was deemed to require further development. More clarity was deemed necessary in the relation between political actors and public officials and improvements were called for in policy impact assessments and in policies based on knowledge more generally.

Areas for improvement identified – recommendations due by the end of 2018

The aim is to ensure continuity in reforming the strategic government programme and to help in creating the conditions for the prime minister to lead the government as a collective body. The aim is to encourage an inter-administrative approach to leadership in the Government and to promote cohesion in the Government. The project will identify the best ways to ensure the best possible resources and instruments for government to carry out reforms.

The project will prepare concrete procedural and instrumental recommendations by the end of 2018 for use by the next government. The work identifies different sets of themes that will be used to make development recommendations for the next government. The main themes are:

  • more cohesion in policy and monetary processes
  • more effective implementation of the government programme and other policy coordination
  • stronger joint Government communications
  • systematic preparations across parliamentary terms.

The work is headed by State Secretary Paula Lehtomäki from the Prime Minister’s Office and State Secretary Martti Hetemäki from the Ministry of Finance. The project group is small and it works in a highly networked way. It works in close dialogue with the support and monitoring group, which has a representative from each parliamentary party. The permanent secretaries of the ministries will participate in preparing the recommendations in workshops in autumn 2018.

Sub-group to deliberate more efficient use of information on wellbeing

The project has a sub-group known as GDP+, which will examine ways to harness information on wellbeing more effectively for government decision-making purposes. The aim is to identify the types of situations for information use in decision making where the knowledge base should be broader than it is at present. This means broader use of information on wellbeing and foresight, for example.

The project will look at existing visual ways to summarise indicator information into a single graphic picture. In addition, concrete testing of an illustration of sustainable development in the form of a single graphic picture will be attempted by making use of national indicators.