Dutch National Integrity Office; experiences and achievements EUPAN - HRWG

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Bruno Dixon
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1 Dutch National Integrity Office; experiences and achievements EUPAN - HRWG Warsaw, Poland September 13, 2011 Ms. S.F. Verheij Senior policy advisor 1

2 Agenda History of Integrity in the Netherlands National Integrity Office - History of establishment - Mission and vision - Activities - Vision on integrity Looking back; successes and failures Towards the future; challenges and plans 2

3 Integrity in the Netherlands Before 1990: integrity awareness non existent occasional awareness for integrity based on incidents no formalized integrity policy : setting the agenda accumulation of smaller and larger integrity breaches minister of Interior prioritizes it on political/administrative agenda : regulations & tools developing all kinds of rules & regulations focus mainly on hard controls : from compliance towards values fraud in construction industry serves as wake-up call provisions in CSA and more attention for soft controls; awareness/values : from values back to compliance? assess magnitude integrity problem: amount/ types breaches central registration misconducts, whistleblowers & reporting procedures 3

4 National Integrity System National Integrity System 4 Ministry of Justice National Police Public Prosecutor Ministry of Interior National Integrity Office Court of Audit Media Science Citizens Policy Investigation & prosecution Policy Support Monitoring Scrutinize Research Critical stand

5 Strengthening integrity within the Dutch public sector Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Preventive role; 3 tasks Steering: - Issuing legislation (Civil Servants Act) Signalling: - Evaluating and monitoring the state of integrity policy in all tiers of government Promoting and supporting: - National Integrity Office 5

6 History of National Integrity Office : triggers for establishment - aftermath of building fraud - policy evaluations: implementation deficit - changes in Civil Servants Act : Official establishment NIO - within department Public Sector Management of Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations 2009: NIO independent - difficult functioning in departmental political/policy environment - distance of prescriptive and evaluative roles ministry - UN convention against corruption 2003 (art.6) 6

7 Organisation of NIO Small core & extensive complementary network: independent advisors, scholars, leading experts Subsidized by the ministry of the Interior: annual budget 1,1 million euro 7

8 Mission and Vision Assisting governmental organisations in complying with integrity regulations by assisting them in developing their ethics and integrity policy Support is free of charge: - Service needs to be easily approachable - All governmental organisations (need to) have access to the information - Focus on organisations independence; no dependence on supplier of information - Organisations need to improve their own learning process 8

9 Activities Developing and providing ready-to-use instruments (riskassessment, dilemma training etc.), guidelines and manuals Collect & disseminate relevant knowledge (reports, research) via our website and annual Yearbook Enable knowledge sharing (hosting various platforms to share experiences and best practices, connecting experts, annual conferences) Signal new developments and priorities Note: NIO focuses on prevention only: no investigations in cases of misconduct 9

10 Vision on Integrity Good employeeship Behave as a trustworthy and professional civil servant Know the boundaries and limitations of your position Keep in mind that you represent the National Government Be careful with the authority (and discretion) you posses Good employership Protect civil servant from unethical seductions and temptations Raise awareness for ethical considerations Enable civil servant to voice ethical concerns Create a safe and transparent work environment 10

11 Vision on Integrity-management 11

12 Experiences Most organisations prefer pragmatic and ready-touse knowledge (tools, manuals and guidelines) Different topics need equal attention to establish a solid integrity policy (Integrity Infrastructure) Development of integrity policy (generally) follows the same path (General Ethics Management Lifecycle) Economy measures negatively influence the level of integrity 12

13 General Ethics Management Lifecycle 1. Ignorance / Denial 6. Balanced approach 2. Wake-up Call 5. Focus on prevention 3. Rules and Regulation 4. Recognition of limitations 13

14 Achievements Publication of different manuals, guidelines, brochures Development of: - integrity instruments - assessment tools - courses integrity management & confidential integrity counsellor - audiovisual material (cd s/ dvd s) Increasing amount of visitors website Annual integrity conference and yearbook General improvement of integrity level in organisations 14

15 Points of improvement Integrity is still a topic that requires ongoing attention (you re never done ) Organisations have improved but some stay behind or even deteriorate Organisations and their needs develop; constantly updated service is demanded Changing our role, from supportive to strategic Stronger focus on integrity of politicians Sustainable implementation Uphold the policy 15

16 Plans for the future Taking a role as sparring partner for organisations Focus on integrity of politicians Redesigning our role, base on achieved goals (i.e. becoming a more strategic partner) Finding ways to uphold the policy and implement in a sustainable way Indicating new challenges and trying to lift integrity to a higher level 16

17 Contact information Suzanne Verheij

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