Inception Report – Action plan – Asturias, Spain, 2022 – 2023
- Action Plan: Action plan – Asturias, Spain, 2022 – 2023
Overview
Name of Evaluator
Manuel Antonio Muñiz Pérez
Member Name
Asturias, Spain
Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title
Action plan – Asturias, Spain, 2022 – 2023
Section 1.
Compliance with
co-creation requirements
1.1 Does a forum exist?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The Open Government Forum, established the 30th of June 2022 by a group of members of the Principality of Asturias government jointly with a diversity of civil Asturias society representatives, meets the OGP requirements to be considered as a multi-stakeholder Forum. It satisfies additional requirements such as the interested parts were selected using a fair and transparent procedure (its creation was opened up to prior public consultation along 2021 at the Participatory Web Site http://www.asturiasparticipa.es). Additionally, its mandate, membership and structure is public and clear. Moreover, their functions, components and meetings’ agenda are published in a separate website at the Asturias Government TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More Web Site.
However, the compliance with the regularity requirement is not clear. Given the short period of time since the Forum was established, there is no evidence of subsequent meetings of this Forum neither the Forum Permanent Commission to develop the Action Plan presented in November 2022.
Provide evidence for your answer:
20220630-ACTA-FORO-firmada.pdf
BOPA-Foro-de-Gobierno-Abierto.pdf
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Publication at the Regional Official Gazette (BOPA): Decree 52/2021, which regulates the organization and functioning of the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum.
Proceedings of the meeting for the establishment of the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum (30-06-2022).
Link at the official website for the Open Government Forum at the Principality of Asturias Transparency Portal: https://transparencia.asturias.es/web/gobierno-abierto/transparencia
1.2 Is the forum multi-stakeholder?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The Open Government Forum is composed of representative members of the Principality of Asturias Government (Regional Minister of Presidency, General Director for Public Governance, Citizen ParticipationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More, Transparency and Agenda 2030, and representatives of other regional Departments) and representatives of several entities that, according to this monitoring body, are a representative sample of civil Asturias Society (Chambers of Commerce, University of Oviedo, Professional Association of Architects, Red Cross, Federation of Asturian Municipalities and other civil society organizations).
The seven representatives of Asturias civil society in the Forum are diverse and recognized as essential entities by the regional civil society. The number of entities might have been higher. However, the Forum dimension depends on the initial interest of the civil society members, since their participation was voluntary. This remains without prejudice to its functioning through working groups that could serve as a link to other representatives and associations that were not official part of the Forum.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Publicacion-BOPA-procedimiento-seleccion-miembros-FORO.pdf
Publicacion-BOPA-nombramiento-miembros-FORO.pdf
20220630-ACTA-FORO-firmada1.pdf
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Proceedings of the meeting for the establishment of the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum (30-06-2022) .
Publication at the Regional Official Gazette (BOPA): Resolution of the selection procedure for the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum membership (25-10-2021) .
Publication at the Regional Official Gazette (BOPA): Resolution of the appointment of members making up the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum (25-5-2022) .
1.3 Does the forum hold at least one meeting with civil society and non-governmental stakeholders during the co-creation of the action plan?
Unclear
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
There is no evidence of subsequent meetings of the regional Open Government Forum neither this Forum along the plan co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive..., once this organism was established the 30th of June 2022.
However, the monitoring body is aware of several meetings of the General Director for Public Governance, Citizen Participation, Transparency and Agenda 2030 (representative of the regional government in the Forum) with the presidents of the three Forum working groups (Transparency, Participation and Simplification) throughout July and August 2022. The holding of this meetings leads the monitoring body to think that the requirement of the Forum subsequent meetings among the government representatives and civil parts involved in the plan co-creation process would be satisfied (even the meetings were not organized through a Plenary Forum call as such).
Moreover, there is evidence of subsequent e-mails between governmental and non-governmental members of the Forum. These e-mails are related to the contracting the monitoring team (18/10/2022) and the request for the diffusion of the civil participation opened up at the Transparency Website in order to develop the Action Plan commitments (20/10/2022).
Provide evidence for your answer:
Copia-de-Agenda-Gobierno-Abierto.xls
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Events schedule of the General Director for Public Governance, Citizen Participation, Transparency and Agenda 2030.
1.4 Has the action plan been endorsed by the stakeholders of the forum or steering committeeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru.../group?
Unclear
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Although the documentation provided by the regional government must include the list of non-governmental stakeholders supporting the Action Plan finally submitted to OGP, there are no documentary evidence on an explicit approval or endorsement of the Action Plan by these non-governmental actors before the final submission of the plan.
Section 2.
Recommended practices
in co-creation
2.1 Does the government maintain a Local OGP website or webpage on a government website where information on the OGP Local process (co-creation and implementation) is proactively published?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Principality of Asturias Government has a rich tradition in transparency and civil information activities, as shown the creation of the Principality of Asturias Transparency Website (https://transparencia.asturias.es/ ) in 2013. This is a tool to support the exchange of relationships between the regional government and its citizens. This website comprises three pillars or blocks, related to Transparency, Participation and Open Data respectively, while the Civil Participation Website is included in the second block (http://www.asturiasparticipa.es/ ).
Concerning the Local OGP process, the inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... of the Principality of Asturias in the OGP has been disseminated through the Transparency Website. Moreover, an exclusive web-space related to the Open Government Forum has been developed inside the Transparency Website. Currently, the Forum membership composition and its operating rules are available at that website. Additionally, all initiatives of civil society participation related to the Action Plan co-creation have been posted at the Transparency Website.
All the aforementioned websites are open-access spaces. However, the Forum website, where all the subsequent information related to the plan could be published, is not in a prominent location on the Transparency Website neither it is easy to find. It would be strongly recommendable changing its current location (inside the organization chart of the regional Ministry of Presidency) or even better, opening a new location where all the information related to the Action Plan 2022-23 and its milestones were posted. Since at the time of this report elaboration the submission of the Action Plan to OGP is only very recent (15 days), any specific information concerning it has been published yet. Nevertheless, the publication of the Plan and its Inception Report is scheduled in the near future. Moreover, it is also planned to give this information to the general public through the media and social networks.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Link to the regional government publication related to his accession to the OGP (the Principality of Asturias Transparency Website, where the Civil Participation Website is included):
https://transparencia.asturias.es/
Link to the specific website devoted to the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum:
https://transparencia.asturias.es/ast/detalle/-/categories/694424?p_r_p_categoryId=694424&_com_liferay_asset_categories_navigation_web_portlet_AssetCategoriesNavigationPortlet_articleId=1196235&articleId=1196235&title=Foro%20de%20Gobierno%20Abierto%20del%20Principado%20de%20Asturias&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Ftransparencia.asturias.es%2Fast%2Fgeneral%2F-%2Fcategories%2F694424%3Fp_r_p_categoryId%3D694424
2.2 Did the government provide information to stakeholders in advance to facilitate informed and prepared participation in the co-creation process?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Information related to the aims and significance of the Principality of Asturias accession to the OGP was provided to the stakeholders at the Open Government Forum establishing meeting. Moreover, the government informed the stakeholders about his commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... to draw up an action plan to be submitted to the OGP in November 2022, finishing its implementation in April 2023. Subsequently, there is evidence of e-mails exchanged between government representatives and civil members of the Forum, related to the co-creation documentation requirements.
Regarding the general public, participation processes were opened up at the Civil Participation Portal, where the relevant documentation was available. Moreover, at least two meetings between government representatives and civil associations were held, in order to inform about OGP and asking for civil participation in the design of the Action Plan.
Provide evidence for your answer:
20220630-ACTA-FORO-firmada2.pdf
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Contents related to OGP in the proceedings of the meeting for the establishment of the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum (30-06-2022).
Link to the events schedule of the Principality of Asturias on the 12th August 2022, where there is evidence of a meeting held between the Director-General for Public Governance, Citizen Participation, Transparency and Agenda 2030 and several civil associations:
https://www.asturias.es/agenda?p_p_id=buscadoragendaacuerdosweb&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&_buscadoragendaacuerdosweb_articleId=1734358
2.3 Did the government ensure that any interested member of the public could make inputs into the action plan and observe or have access to decision-making documentation?
Unclear
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The Principality of Asturias government has implemented different channels to provide a space for the citizens to participate in the design of the Action Plan. On the one hand, public consultation has been opened up at the Transparency Website (at least with respect to Commitment 1). On the other hand, several meetings with civil associations have been held.
However, it is noteworthy that there has been a complete lack of participation by the general public through this channels. That fact suggests the need for changing the procedures to foster the general public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... in the co-creation of the Action Plan.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Informe-proceso-participativo-Biblioteca-Juridica.pdf
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Report of the Participation Process at the Transparency Website to create a law digital library during October and November 2022.
Link to the events schedule of the Principality of Asturias on the 12th August 2022, where there is evidence of a meeting held between the Director-General for Public Governance, Citizen Participation, Transparency and Agenda 2030 and several civil associations:
https://www.asturias.es/agenda?p_p_id=buscadoragendaacuerdosweb&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&_buscadoragendaacuerdosweb_articleId=1734358
2.4 Did the government proactively report back or provide written feedback to stakeholders on how their contributions were considered during the creation of the action plan?
No
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Monitoring team is not aware of any proactive and formal feedback procedures with the non-governmental interested parts neither governmental response to these groups.
In this respect, OPG monitoring team assume that the main explanation for the lack of feedback is the short time allotted to design the Action Plan.
2.5 Was there an iterative dialogue and shared ownership between government and non-governmental stakeholders during the decision making process, including setting the agenda?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The collaboration between the government and the non-governmental stakeholders when designing the Schedule of the Action Plan and selecting the final Commitments was implemented by the three working groups set in the Open Government Forum.
There is evidence of individual meeting held between the government and each working group during July and August 2022. OGP monitoring team understand that those meetings were focused on sharing and agreeing the priorities that lead the key strategic issues of the Action Plan 2022-23. There is no evidence of subsequent meetings in this respect. Probably due to the tight deadline, the subsequent technical process to define each commitment was developed through informal channels, such as the exchange of e-mails.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Copia-de-Agenda-Gobierno-Abierto1.xls
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Events schedule of the Director-General for Public Governance, Citizen Participation, Transparency and Agenda 2030, where there is evidence of the individual meetings held with each working groups at the Open Government Forum.
Various mails between government agents and working groups.
2.6 Would you consider the forum to be inclusive and diverse?
Moderately
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The establishment and operating rules of the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum intends to be diverse and sufficiently representative of the regional civil society, as shown the membership of seven Asturian associations and institutions with a diverse profile.
However, a higher level of inclusiveness in its composition is missed. In this respect, it would be strongly recommendable to consider those groups having more access difficulties to information and digitalization (i.e., immigrants, aged people). Nevertheless, it should be noted that the Forum composition depends on the voluntarism of the concerned civil actors.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Link to the specific website devoted to the Principality of Asturias Open Government Forum:
https://transparencia.asturias.es/ast/detalle/-/categories/694424?p_r_p_categoryId=694424&_com_liferay_asset_categories_navigation_web_portlet_AssetCategoriesNavigationPortlet_articleId=1196235&articleId=1196235&title=Foro%20de%20Gobierno%20Abierto%20del%20Principado%20de%20Asturias&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Ftransparencia.asturias.es%2Fast%2Fgeneral%2F-%2Fcategories%2F694424%3Fp_r_p_categoryId%3D694424
Section 3.
Initial evaluation
of commitments
1. Commitment :
Expand and improve the open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... sets relating to Asturias available on the central government open data portal (datos.gob.es).
1.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The commitment includes directly measurable quantitative elements (an increase in data provision by 25%) and others that in spite of being qualitative and subject to value judgements, could be assessed by external monitoring committees.
1.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevanceAccording to the OGP Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should include a clear open government lens. Specifically, they should advance at least one of the OGP values: transparency, citizen partic... to OGP values?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
An increase in the quantity and quality of information available is one of the most reliable bases on which to forge a transparent governmental system and accountability. In this respect, the initiative is to be praised, even though a greater involvement of civil society is missed when setting the needs for specific data, beyond the voluntarism of the regional administration.
1.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., policies or requirements.
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
This commitment is particularly relevant, insofar as all kind of efforts in terms of data accessibility, variety, homogeneity and usability will undoubtedly contribute to give more visibility to governmental actions and the citizens’ judgement on those actions. However, the commitment is a continuation of ongoing policy related to the transparency, normalization and dissemination of information.
1.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
is a positive change to a process, practice or policy but will not generate a binding or institutionalized change across government or specific institution(s).
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
This is not a particularly innovative commitment in normative terms. Although the usefulness of this commitment is beyond dispute, its compliance does not seem to require additional legislation. However, it would require, not least, to develop a strong political and administrative will to improve the accessibility, intelligibility and usability of information.
1.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
As previously mentioned, it would be strongly recommendable to match this commitment with appropriate levels of citizens’ involvement when setting the needs for sector specific data.
2. Commitment :
The creation of a catalogue of public information of the Administration of the Principality of Asturias.
2.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Establishing a catalogue where the contents published by the regional administration were described is a verifiable commitment, as far as all the information would be merged into a single document. However, the commitment definition leaves some issues open, basically related to the document format (it is mentioned only a “reusable” format) and to the detail of the catalogue contents (it is mentioned only the elaboration of a “comprehensive” catalogue, without specifying the items included).
2.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The commitment is aimed at centralizing all data into a single repositoryAccess to relevant information is essential for enabling participation and ensuring accountability throughout the OGP process. An OGP repository is an online centralized website, webpage, platform or .... Currently, the information it is scattered in many different places and formats. Merging all the information into a single document enable citizens to be better informed about the information published by the regional government, just consulting the catalogue. This strategy if easily framed in the OGP values, since, in case of meeting the commitment, the time required by interested stakeholders to access the information would be greatly reduced, and the transparency would be significantly improved.
2.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislation, policies or requirements.
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
As it is mentioned in the justification for this commitment, it is an initiative that will make existent legislation operative. The proposed commitment contributes to improve the conditions for access to public information, promoting institutional transparency processes. Moreover, OGP monitoring team understand that this commitment would complement other proposed commitments by the Principality of Asturias government to make information useful and accessible to the citizenship.
2.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
is a positive change to a process, practice or policy but will not generate a binding or institutionalized change across government or specific institution(s).
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
It is not a commitment that needs of significant institutionalized change. It would require the coordination of the Units for Transparency of each regional governmental Department, in order they provide the information to be included in the catalogue using a standardized format.
2.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
As noted before, it would be recommendable to be more precise in the description on the contents and format/s of the catalogue, specifying in great detail the information to be included (items, key words, data dictionary, etc.). Moreover, no mention of any measures envisaged to guarantee the universal access to information and to avoid the technological discrimination, as provided in Article 5.2 of the regional Law 8/2018, 14th September, of Transparency, Good Governance and Interest Groups.
3. Commitment :
Development of an Asturian digital legal library.
3.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Activities are clearly and explicitly described when drafting the text of this commitment in the Action Plan. Next details can be found in the Action Plan document:
– The problem to solve the dispersion of Asturian legislation in several non-consolidated databases.
– The scheduled activities that will consistently feed into significant improvements of this issue: consolidation of Asturias legislation, grouped by profiles and thematic areas, encoded using pdf and epub formats and, finally, made it available to the citizens through a free and open access platform.
The verifiabilityOGP commitments should be clear and specific enough to enable measurement of their progress. Verifiable commitments include specific activities that can be monitored. Following an action plan’s subm... of activities is clear when considering their development in the terms described in the commitment.
3.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
This commitment is according with the open government values, in particular with the transparency principle. The creation of a regional law library improves the legal framework to guarantee the right that citizens have to be legally informed. Moreover, the commitment represents significant progress in terms of the quality of legal information disclosed into the general public.
Additionally, consultation process is fostered in a period (2023-24) when several governmental job selection processes are scheduled. In this respect, it expected that around 370,000 applicants would directly benefit from the legal information provided by the regional government.
The commitment is also tangentially related to the participation and accountability actions, since better information would promote the control of civil society over the governmental regulatory activities.
3.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
a new regulationGovernment reformers are developing regulations that enshrine values of transparency, participation, and accountability in government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or reforming ..., policy, practice or requirement.
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The creation of a regional consolidated library represents a new practice in terms of the information available to the citizens. The way in which data are made available to the public means a new approach to display the regional law information.
Although this practice would need of existing legislation, OGP monitoring team understand that the creation of this library would be a significant and innovative milestone that would change profoundly the way to inform about the regional legislative actions.
3.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:
will result in a change of the rules, practices or policies that govern a policy area, public sector and/or relationship between citizens and is binding or institutionalized across government or specific institution(s).
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The commitment represents an innovative practice that leads to change the way in which regional public authorities would provide information on their legislative activity to the public.
Once digital library was created, OGP monitoring team consider that the activity of regional public employees involved in this informative process must require new protocols and operating rules in order to make the consolidation and publication procedures easier.
3.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
Setting a timeline or schedule of different steps for the implementation of the commitment would be extremely helpful. The design of intermediate steps would facilitate to fit the tight deadline to develop the commitment (4 months to be implemented), aiming at a permanent monitoring and automatic adaptation at the pace of the commitment implementation.
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