Government set to end prior appointment requirement for administrative procedures

The Government will end the mandatory prior appointment in Public Administration offices through the modification of the Common Administrative Procedure Law.

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“To interact with the Administration it is not necessary to have a mandatory prior appointment,” stressed the Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Function, José Luis Escrivá, during his appearance at the Finance and Public Function Commission in Congress.

This change will be made through a draft bill to modify article 14 of the Common Administrative Procedure Law, a modification that will be brought “as soon as possible” to the Congress of Deputies to improve the relationship between citizens and public services, as indicated by the head of Public Function.

The end of the mandatory prior appointment is part of a new Public Administration model that Escrivá’s portfolio wants to promote in this legislature and which also includes the reform of the Public Administration web portal (www.administracion.gob.es) to organise it by vital events and in cooperation with all public administrations.

Use of AI in Administration

Likewise, he has indicated that they are working on pilot hubs, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), with special focus on the demographic challenge and groups with special needs. Sources from the Ministry have indicated that they seek to establish a network at the level between autonomous communities so that public employees can interrelate in a “more complete” way.

Likewise, the head of Public Function has indicated that they will seek to provide the General State Administration (AGE) with clear and easy language through a unique document manager for which they are also using AI. This will allow “evaluating the complexity” of the texts with the aim of making public documents more accessible to the citizen, Public Service sources have indicated.

Likewise, they will seek to promote the use of the 060 telephone number, with special attention to vulnerable groups, which have “difficult” relationships with the Administration.

New Cybersecurity Law and Digital Administration Agency

During his appearance, Escrivá also announced that in the next period of sessions they will bring to the Congress of Deputies a Cybersecurity Law to reinforce the cyber resilience of the public sector, although he assured that the Administration “is not bad in terms of cybersecurity.” This “lever” will improve the response capacity of the Public Administration to citizens.

Along these lines, he has indicated that another “lever” will be the creation of a Digital Administration Agency that functions as a catalyst to promote innovation at the service of citizens, robotising repetitive tasks and developing technologies with a broad vision of the Administration.

Likewise, it has announced the creation of a transversal operational unit capable of dealing with external shocks, such as a pandemic or the management of a recovery plan.

Evidence-based public policies

To favour the extension of public policies based on solid scientific evidence and subject to ‘ex ante’ and ex post’ controls, Escrivá has announced that a “key” role will be provided to the State Agency for the Evaluation of Public Policies in the prior evaluation and design of the different public policies, and the role of the Independent Fiscal Responsibility Authority will be strengthened in its subsequent control and evaluation.

In this sense, the head of the Public Service has indicated that it is being debated whether this agency will finally fit into the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Service or the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business, although, in principle, it is planned that fits within the Secretariat of State for Public Function of the Ministry of which it is the holder.

In addition, a system of indicators will be defined, an evaluation calendar will be established and capacities will be created in each of the ministries to promote the good design and supervision of public policies, which will be used to improve decision-making tools and processes.

Likewise, the capabilities of design, evaluation and improvement of public policies will in turn be reinforced with the application of new technologies: conceptual maps, semantic interoperability of all AGE data and generation of new quality data will allow the capabilities to be applied from generative AI to decision making, integrating all aspects of policy implementation into a single dashboard: budgets, contracting, processes, bodies, impacts, among others.

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