LAPIKAS Lapland s proposal for a new local administration for growth and development
Approved by the Board of the Regional Council of Lapland on 30 March 2015 Approved Lapland regional model Proposal for the Lapland regional model trial in the project s control group on 30 March 2015 Authors: Arto Haveri Matti Hepola Sami Laakkonen Mika Riipi Marjo Säärelä Project s control group Board of the Regional Council of Lapland ISBN 978-951-9244-78-5 Publication series A44/2015 Rovaniemi 2015 www.lapinliitto.fi/lapin-aluemalli Cover image: Timo Veijalainen Images: Nina Kostamo Deschamps, visitrovaniemi.fi, Arto Komulainen, Timo Veijalainen, Adventure by Design, Hanna-Mari Valtonen Layout: Advertising Kioski
Democracy for local administration For the past two decades, a culture of centralisation and distancing has prevailed in Finland. Instead of steering from the top down, the relationship between the regions and the state must be changed into a region-oriented and contractual partnership that is based on trust. The current situation is absurd; the regions are responsible for the strategic whole, but most of the money and power of decision is held by the state. The regions are heard, but are they listened to? Lapikas, the new local administration model presented herein, will be built from the starting points of Lapland, but can be adopted throughout the country. At the moment, the view of the local administration in Finland is so disorganised that the next Government Programme must agree on looking into a complete reform of local administration during the next term of government. Lapland is offering to lead the way: The Lapland regional model will be implemented on a trial basis starting with the next municipal elections, and the experiences can later be utilised throughout the country. The key to the Lapland model is the right division of tasks: The democratic local administration is responsible for regional development and land use, and one state regional administrative authority is responsible for the supervision, steering and permits. Municipalities are still the engines of development and town planning, but the democratic local administration provides support with the changes in the municipal field and enables future dismantling of the current jumble of joint municipal authorities. In the Lapland model, power and money are returned back for the people of the region to decide on they know 4
best how to improve the region s vitality, development and well-being. Work and aims are agreed together with the state, which benefits the entire national economy and helps Finland into an upturn again. In the first phase, tasks related to regional development, vitality policy and land use are transferred from the state to the regional level. state /municipality interface strengthened regional administration state regional administrative authority In the long term, the aim is to decrease the number of joint municipal authorities by collecting tasks together for the regionallevel administrative structure. municipalities, joint municipal authorities Figure: Hourglass diagram of the new local administration Distant and fractured regional administration There is great and strong political will in Lapland to offer to be a trial region the initiative has the support of the people. As an Arctic region, Lapland is a special area in many ways. The special conditions of Lapland, such as the long distances, rich natural resources, sparse population, Arctic conditions and the Sami area pose great 5
challenges for all service production and integration from a national perspective. Only three per cent of the population of Finland live in the region, but its area covers one-third of the country. Effort has been made, through several centralisation decisions, to build Oulu into the administrative centre of Northern Finland, but Oulu is too far away in location from the everyday life of the residents of Lapland. The recent changes in the state s local administration have distanced the state s regional development tasks from the regions. For example, both the centralisation of the administrative tasks of structural funds and the specialisation of the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for nationwide tasks have been marketed as increasing efficiency. At the same time, however, local knowledge, commitment and approval have been sacrificed on the altar of rationalisation. With one administrative change after another, local administration has been driven to a situation where even the authorities, let alone businesses and citizens, no longer know where in the country the party responsible for each task is located and who to contact. Even the personnel in the state s local administration are tired of the constant changes and the fracturing administrative structure. According to the Arctic Policy of Finland approved in August 2013, the objective is to increase the emphases that support growth and competitiveness in the Arctic region while respecting the Arctic environment. The strategy treats the whole of Finland as an Arctic country but, in terms of geography and the conditions, Lapland plays the most crucial role as the Arctic region. The realisation of Lapland s development potential is the key to success in the national Arctic politics. 6
Finland is one of the nine European Countries with no democratic actors on the regional level. The other eight are Estonia, Cyprus, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Bulgaria. When one tries to justify Finland s one-level municipal administration with the small population, one must consider the geography, large area and long distances. The largest of the countries listed above, Bulgaria, is only slightly larger than the Region of Lapland. Lapland is two-and-a-half times the size of Estonia, three times the size of the Netherlands, which is known for its multi-level administration, and five times the size of Slovenia. Despite Finland s one-level solution, we have very many intermunicipal collaboration organisations and state administrative units compared to many other European countries. Lapland, for example, contains 13 joint municipal authorities. Multi-level self-government and development from the bottom up are the foundation of the European concept of democracy. In the European concept of democracy, the continuously strengthening principles of local self-government and principle of subsidiarity create a value base for the democracy of multi-level administration. According to the European Charter of Local Self-Government, local self-government shall be exercised by councils or assemblies composed of members freely elected by secret ballot on the basis of direct, equal, universal suffrage, and which may possess executive organs responsible to them (Article 3(2)). According to the principle of subsidiarity, public decisions should be made as closely as possible to the citizen, at the level that suits their nature. 7
Democratic local administration is an important part of the legitimacy of the administration, or its acceptance by the people. Democracy promotes operational efficiency by strengthening regional formation of will and social capital, and by giving visibility to Lapland politics, which is more than the sum of the operations of its municipalities. Democracy strengthens the position of local administration in the development of Lapland and supports its synchronisation as a part of the national development. The development is founded on the regional formation of will. In regional development, the residents of the region make decisions on how they want to develop the region and on what conditions it is achieved. It is a question of vitality, which also includes choices regarding services. A democratic structure promotes efficiency of operations. Correct division of tasks: regional administration takes care of development the state administration takes care of supervision Instead of a distant and fractured local administration, it is now time to move towards a model built 8
on the European principle of subsidiarity. The aim is an efficient, productive and effectual local administration, which is realised through regional administration and implements the will of the residents of Lapland through the principles of democratic administration while enabling development work from the bottom up. At the same time, the state s harmonisation aims are secured by the creating of a single strong local administrative authority, which is responsible for the fair treatment of citizens and actors and legality control in the region. Municipalities are still responsible for many local services and the local vitality in particular. Using the regional administration as the basis for organising crossmunicipal services will be evaluated separately. In the Lapland regional model, each municipality has selfgovernment by the residents as laid down in the Local Government Act and secured by the Constitution. State regional administrative authority A strong regional local administration needs to be partnered with a uniform state regional administrative authority. The current state organisations, the Regional State Administrative Agency and the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, will be disbanded. A new entity, the State Local Administrative Agency, will be established in their place. The agency will be responsible for tasks connected to supervision, equality, parity, justice, safety and preparedness, and the permit duties of the current regional state administrative agencies. It will also take care of the tasks related to the environment, nature protection and monitoring the state of the environment that currently fall to the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, and tasks of the traffic divisions with the exception of public transport. 9
The Local Register Offices and Employment and Economic Development Offices will be merged into the new State Local Administrative Agency. The aim is to take a one-stop service approach to businesses and other actors; this means, for example, that the role of the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (TUKES) unit in Lapland, which provides an important service in the extractive field, as part of the new local administrative agency must be looked into. It must be carefully considered as to which areas of the tasks of promoting entrepreneurship, business activities, a functional job market, availability of labour, and employment are deemed practical to transfer to the regional administration. Regional administration The new regional administration will be implemented by enacting a test act establishing a new regional administration in place of the current Regional Council, which is abolished. The regional administration of Lapland will be based on elections held in conjunction with the municipal election, electing the representatives for the regional parliament. The regional parliament elects the regional government from among its number. Regional parliament The regional parliament comprises 67 representatives elected in conjunction with the municipal elections in a general and proportional election by secret ballot. Eligibility to vote or run as a candidate requires domicile in one of the municipalities of the Region of Lapland. The Region of Lapland is one electoral district in the election. The regional parliamentary representatives represent Lapland and, through them, the will of Lapland on regional development is formed. The regional parliament is a body that takes care 10
of strategic-level decision-making: operational key principles, policies and economic frameworks. The main tasks of the regional parliament are confirming the partnership and growth pact between the state and the region approving the regional strategy approving the regional land use plan approving the budget appointing the regional government The regional parliament elects a chairman and the necessary number of deputies from among its number. The regional parliament will be convened by the chairman as necessary, approximately two or three times per year. The first regional parliament will be convened by the County Governor. The role of the regional parliament and regional representatives in the development of Lapland will be expanded by using other methods in addition to the meeting sessions, such as work seminars, online discussion platforms and teleconferencing. The regional parliament appoints the regional government in accordance with parliamentary principles after negotiations with political groups. The regional parliament also appoints the audit committee and other organs, which will be decided later. Regional government The regional government prepares and executes all the tasks of the self-governing region. One member is appointed by the Sami Parliament. The chairman of the regional government can be elected for a part-time or full-time position. The organisation of the regional bodies may include committees that are responsible for handling the permanent tasks given to them by the regional parlia- 11
ment. Committee members may be, but are not required to be, members of the regional government. The number of the committees is at the discretion of the regional government. The region and the joint municipal authorities it contains may have other bodies referred to in the Local Government Act and other legislation. The presenting official of the regional government will be the County Governor and, if necessary, other regional officials. Basic duties of the regional administration: Regional development and land use Regional development The region s current planning system will be clarified and lightened so that, for long-term and medium-term documents, the current regional plan and regional programme will be combined into a regional strategy, which will continue to be drawn up for each municipal election period for the regional parliament s approval. In Lapland, the strategy will contain a section on Sami culture prepared in close co-operation with the Sami Parliament. As a programme document, the new regional strategy will combine the long-term (orientation 20 30 years) content-related objectives for the regional structure and regional development for a more detailed and concrete current regional programme for the length of the council term. Together with the regions, the ministry will prepare uniform content structure and process instructions for all regions. The tasks and resources intended for the business vitality policy and developing the state s local administration will be transferred to the regional administration. This includes tasks in accordance with 12
the current European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund, and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, as well as national resources. The region s role in forming the will and the targeting of resources for regional development do not currently go hand in hand. Centralising the non-profit project financing tasks to one regional organisation increases the local perspective and makes the administration more efficient. One intermediary body simplifies coordination and harmonises the handling of project financing. Having different programmes under one roof improves the efficiency of the implementation of programmes and their administration. Transferring and collecting tasks connected to regional development from the state to the regional level will bring the tasks, which are currently scattered on various local levels and in different parts of the country, close to the municipalities in accordance with the one-stop service approach. A stronger counterpart for the business and development policy of municipalities can be found on the regional level. The municipalities will for regional strategic development will continue to be channelled through open strategic processes and the ownership and political steering of the joint municipal authority. Land use The original aim of the Land Use and Building Act increasing municipal decision-making will be strengthened. A steering system that functions on the regional level will be created for the municipalities. It will take care of the steering and advisory tasks related to land use and construction within the region. At the same time, the power to make an exception pursuant to the Land Use and Building Act will be transferred to the municipalities. Pure legality control tasks will be added to the tasks of the state 13
authority, clarifying the division of power. The state will use the jurisdiction connected to legality control, the regional level will steer and advise, and the municipality will exercise substance jurisdiction. The steering of land use and construction along with tasks connected to maintaining the cultural environment, which occurs on the regional level, will be placed in the new regional organisation. In terms of the planning and town plan system in the Land Use and Building Act, administration will be clarified and streamlined. All plans in accordance with the plan hierarchy the regional land use plan, master plan and town plan will be steered by the same regional organisation. The steering impact of the regional land use plan and master plan will be enhanced. The regional land use plan confirmation procedure will be abandoned. On state level, the national land use guidelines will be reviewed from the viewpoint of the local administration model, and their application on local level will be resolved through the procedure of settlement. The appeal procedure regarding the regional land use plan will be the same as for plans in general. The steering and advisory tasks pursuant to the Land Use and Building Act, which currently fall to the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, will transfer to regional local administration with the exception of exercising the right of appeal. The resources required for these tasks will be allocated to the region. No other great pressures to change the Land Use and Building Act will result from the task and power transfers. Issuing demands for correction regarding decisions on municipal master plans and town plans will be transferred to the region. The demand for correction provides the region with sufficient opportunities to perform the task of steering and advising on municipal town planning decisions. Exercising the right of appeal will remain the task of the state authority. 14
Other tasks Advisory, steering and support allocation tasks connected to water resources will be transferred from the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment to the regional administration. Tasks connected to regulatory control will remain with the state regional administrative authority. Water supply and its support functions will be taken care of in co-operation with the municipalities in the regional local administration. Because the tasks of steering and advising on land use will be transferred to the region, the water supply tasks will become more effectual. The flood risk management tasks will be transferred to the regional administration. They form a natural unit together with the land use tasks. The tasks related to the care and maintenance of waterways will be taken care of on the regional level in co-operation with the municipalities. The tasks connected to regulatory control will remain with the State Local Administrative Agency. Fire safety tasks will be taken care of by the state s local administration according to the current centralised model. Similarly, the State Local Administrative Agency will take care of the regulatory tasks that are the responsibility of the state. The public transport planning, financing and acquisition tasks of the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment have a strong connection to the public transport planning and traffic acquisitions of the joint municipal authorities (social and health care, educational administration). The nature of the educational, sports and youth policy task units of the Regional State Administrative Agencies makes it natural to place them under the will formation of the regions for those parts that concern development interaction, regional investments and strategic planning. Here, too, the control and licensing au- 15
thority tasks would remain with the state. The planning and integration tasks connected to natural resources, the living environment and innovation policy also have a natural connection to the regional formation of will. New resources for the division of tasks The new model can be fully adopted with the current resources. Gathering the programmes underneath one roof and the opportunity to use the new regional administration as a platform for organising cross-municipal services gives the model functional and financial enhancement potential. The new State Local Administrative Agency will operate with the current operational resources. Combining separate agencies, such as the Local Register Offices, into one agency will create savings potential for the actual operations and support services. For the new regional administration, the tasks transferred from the state will be transferred with the administrative human resources and the allocated financing appropriation. The regional development money sub-item, which was previously in the state budget, will function as the financing channel. The regional development money is a flexible vehicle, which can be used to channel all the resources transferred from the state as a compilation sub-item under the principle of transferable appropriation over several years. The sum of the sub-item is agreed in conjunction with the partnership and growth pact for terms of four years. The utilisation and more specific allocation of the appropriation are decided by the region itself. The municipalities would still participate in financing the regional administration according to the principles of a basic agreement that is similar to the current one. 16
As for EU programmes, the frameworks and their technical support that have been agreed for Lapland will transfer directly to the regional administration. At the moment, in the Region of Lapland, the financing in structural funds for 2014 2020 is divided as follows: the European Regional Development Fund (Regional Council of Lapland and the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment) MEUR 92.2, the European Social Fund MEUR 43, and it is estimated that approximately 7 man-years of human resources will transfer from the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. The allocation authority of funds for development of the Mainland Finland Rural Development Fund in 2014 2020 is MEUR 21.78, and the Rural Development Fund has approximately 7 man-years of transferring human resources. As regards other tasks, approximately 15 man-years would transfer to the regional level from the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for land use and water supply tasks. For the Regional State Administrative Agency, the estimate is 4 man-years. On the whole, this division of tasks means that approximately 33 man-years would transfer to the regional administration from the state s local administration. From dictating to agreeing: partnership and growth pact The new model must ensure the achievement of the state s objectives on the local level. For this purpose, a strategic partnership agreement will function as a tool between the state and the regional administration. The pact can be modelled after the currently valid growth pacts between the 12 biggest cities and the 17
state, in which the state and large city regions agree, in the way of a preliminary agreement, on the strategic development emphases for the term of government. A similar strategic partnership and growth pact will integrate, for each term of government, the Government Programme and the government s regional development and land use objective with the region s own formation of will, or the regional strategy. The implementation of the joint preliminary agreement will be monitored systematically in annual regional development partnership summits, where the results are evaluated together and the necessary reviews are performed to update and promote objectives. For the drafting of the partnership agreement, it is important to time the creation of the regional strategy so that its content is concurrent with the drafting of the partnership agreement. The state must be able to speak with one voice in the new partnership approach. For this reason, the contractual party representing the state will be the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, whose name will be changed to the Ministry of the Economy and Regional Development. This will increase the importance of regional development matters in the workings of the government in a whole new way. The Government Programme and the state s regional development and land use objectives Partnership and growth pact Regional strategy Regional land use plan Figure: The regional planning system and partnership and growth pact with the state 18
Future openings As regards the redistribution of the tasks and structure of the current local administration, the Lapland regional model can be implemented immediately. The new local administration model, which started in Lapland as a trial run, can be transferred from the top down to apply to the whole country, just like the comprehensive school reform. The model is empowering: as a new democratic level, it forms a platform that can be utilised in other structural reforms either in the whole country or with a focus on solving special issues for Lapland, such as the conditions for the ratification of the ILO Convention. The next government must settle the reform of social and health care structures. It will also have to consider the situation of the education organiser network and, possibly, collecting other services that are currently organised by municipalities for a wider population base. The Lapland model offers a ready-made democratic structure, which can naturally assume responsibility for organising these kinds of services that require a wider population base, while simultaneously boosting the public sector by abolishing the joint municipal authorities that were founded for the sole purpose of administering them. In terms of regional division, Lapland already functions as a single local administration unit, electoral district, police administration area and rescue administration area. Taking the objectives of administrative clarification and harmonisation into account, the conditions of Lapland necessitate looking into transferring, at a minimum, social and health care and vocational upper secondary education under the regional administration instead of the current four joint municipal authorities, just one would probably suffice. 19