Service Check of Local Government Consultations (DK0034)

The Government will set up a committee that is to implement a service check of statutory local government consultations and which is to look into the possibility of adjusting the rules governing local government consultations so as to plan for more expedient involvement of citizens and the business community in local government decisions without compromising on citizens’ civil rights.

Commitment 1. Service check of local government consultations

Commitment Text:

The Government will set up a committee that is meant to implement a service check of statutory local government consultations and which is to look into the possibility of adjusting the rules governing local government consultations so as to plan for more expedient involvement of citizens and the business community in local government decisions without compromising on citizens’ civil rights

Responsible institution: None specified

Supporting institution(s): None specified

Start date:   Not specified            End date: Not specified

Commitment Aim:

This commitment entailed establishing a committee to perform a service check on local government consultations. The committee was established by the Ministry of Economics and the Interior and headed by its previous undersecretary (undersecretary from 2001-2007), Ib Valsborg. Committee members included individuals from several ministries and local administrations, but none from the private sector or NGOs.

Status

This commitment was complete at mid-term

The committee ended its work in 2014 and released a report in March 2015 that gave specific recommendations on how to conduct municipal and local government hearings.

For further information, please see the IRM mid-term progress report.^{[Note 1: Denmark IRM mid-term report 2014-15, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Denmark_IRM%20Progress%20Report%202014-15_Final_eng.pdf]}

Did it open government?

Civic participation: Did not change

Investigating the functioning and status quo of local government consultations, via a committee tasked with recommending possible improvements to the consultation process, does not inherently generate policy changes per se.

The report released by the committee^{[Note 2: Service check of local hearings, March 2015, Ministry of Economics and the Interior, https://bibliotek.dk/da/work/870970-basis:51656725 ]} gave specific recommendations, such as showing restraint when adapting new local hearing procedures (recommendation 1, p. 11) and leaving the decision on whether to hold public hearings up to municipalities (recommendation 4, p. 11). The report indicates that local government hearings are already being performed to an acceptable standard - it posits that no change in municipal procedures is needed. Thus there is no evidence of any policy changes at the national level.

Carried forward?

Given that Denmark has not yet developed a third national action plan, it is uncertain whether this commitment will be carried forward. If it is carried forward, the following recommendations apply:

•       When establishing review committees in the future, the government should include formal and direct participation of civil society and other local stakeholders.

•       The government can provide guidelines and standards for local level consultation regulations;.

•       The government can enforce and implement the committees’ recommendations.

•       Inclusion of municipal and local actors in the consultation process for future action plans.