Helsinki, 15 January 2024
Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centres) have handled their tasks well, albeit with room for improvement in the steering system and agency structure, states a newly published external evaluation report on the agency entity comprising the ELY Centres.
According to customers and stakeholders, the ELY Centres have mostly performed their tasks well. However, the steering and management system is complex, burdensome and dispersed, as well as characterised by disparate and non-uniform practices. The steering system should be improved to better support customer orientation.
Centralising the functions for which the ELY Centres are responsible has reduced their role as independent regional agencies and strengthened the guidance by ministries. The three competence areas (economic development, transport and the environment) operate very independently of each other; the synergies aimed for when the entity of ELY Centres was established have failed to materialise. The performance target indicators of ELY Centres mainly measure performance, and no systematic development work is carried out based on the results of the indicators.
Evaluation urges better cooperation between guiding ministries
The report recommends the harmonisation of cooperation between the ministries and steering instruments. The steering system must be enhanced to better support the active role and customer orientation of ELY Centres and to strengthen regional and local inclusion. The agency structure should be simplified and the independence and unity of ELY Centres or their successors enhanced to improve impact.
The results of the evaluation will be discussed by the cross-administrative steering and preparation group of the ELY Centres and the management group of the ELY Centres in early 2024. In addition, the results of the evaluation can be used in the reform of regional state administration being prepared in accordance with the Government Programme.
The external evaluation of the agency entity looked into what is working in the current ELY Centres and how the operations of the agency entity could be improved for greater impact. The evaluation focused on three entities: the management and organisation, steering and impact of the ELY Centres. The evaluation carried out by Owal Group Oy in the autumn of 2023 at the request of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment was the first of its kind.
Source – Finnish Government