The Better Regulation Delivery Office published the rating of Government’s openness
On March 6, 2017, the Better Regulation Delivery Office presented the results of an analysis of how the Ukrainian ministries fulfill the requirements of openness and availability of information regarding their activities. According to the study’s report, the Government fulfills, on average, only 65% of these requirements.
According to the report of the Government’s openness study, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine having 65 of 70 possible points and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine having 64 points are at the top of this rating. The outsiders are the recently created Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine and the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs – 23 and 19 points respectively.
“The available data are not only the increased openness and transparency of government agencies, but also a source of information necessary for business development. And there is good reason for our attention to the websites of ministries, because they have to be a tool to obtain the first-hand information and a platform for dialogue with the public and business,” the head of the Better Regulation Delivery Office Oleksiy Honcharuk said.
One of the undeniable advantages of all ministries is the work with open data bases, most of which are available on websites. However, there are some exceptions. For example, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine does not publish data on maximum amounts of electric energy consumption; environmental and radiation conditions in the area of nuclear power plants; reports prepared as part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. And the Ministry of Agriculture and Food did not publish the information on forest fires, forest monitoring data and so on.
The analysts of the Better Regulation Delivery Office estimated the openness of ministries based on seven criteria: implementation of the principle of information transparency, the work with open information, publicity of action plans and reports, anti-corruption expert review and public monitoring of law enforcement. The rating is based on the analysis of 18 websites of ministries.
According to Oleksiy Honcharuk, last year the BRDO Office initiated a systematic review of regulatory environment in six key sectors of economy, providing maximum transparency of the process and participation of all stakeholders. And the rating of Government’s Openness is the first indicator of the readiness of these bodies to the public dialogue with their target audiences.
The Better Regulation Delivery Office has developed recommendations to improve the transparency of data and sent them to each ministry. The BRDO experts will analyze the effect of recommendations and update the rating in two months.