Budget Transparency (LV0032)

OPPORTUNITY PUBLIC INTERACTIVE FORM READ THE STATE
BUDGET FUNDS INVESTMENT and deliverables
DEADLINE:
2017 2 pusgads- 2019 1st half
WHAT ARE THE STATE AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST ISSUES WHICH HELPS MEETING THIS
COMMITMENT?
As one of the company's involvement and participation in the measures to ensure public information on the state
budget. And 2017, comprehensive information on the state budget for the FM's Web site was inserted into the text and
table format. It sets the objective of providing the public with transparent and easy to take a picture, in which areas and
to what extent is invested in taxpayers' money and what results are expected.
WHAT IS COMMITMENT?
From 2017, the state budget, and every year, in an interactive way will be disclosed in the annual state
budget for the FM's Web site. The commitment to the target group is the community - everybody.
The public will have the opportunity in a transparent and understandable way to find and keep track of what areas and to what extent is
invested in taxpayers' money and what results are expected.
HOW TO COMMITMENT will be introduced and the solution to these problems?
Ensure transparent public the opportunity to get acquainted with the state spending planned measures, as well as with the
objectives and results of the achievement of the.
FM Web site, starting with 2017, and every year, reflect the state budget in an interactive way, thus providing
information on the state budget as a policy implementation tool. Everyone interested will be available:
• interactive infographic budget, which will allow the user to get acquainted with the nine budget
investment areas (eg, health, education, social protection, etc.) and have diverted funding and find out
detailed information about the investment directions
5th
COMMITMENT
LATVIAN OPEN MANAGEMENT THIRD NATIONAL ACTION PLAN 29
in each of the sectors and sources of funding. Additional information will be provided on the outcome
expected from the state budget for investment in the area concerned
(http://www.fm.gov.lv/lv/sadalas/valsts_budzets/interaktivais_budzets);
• visualized ministries and other central institutions budgets both summary and detail. The user will be able
to get acquainted with the ministries and other central institutions activity and they shifted funding and get
an idea of the industry's performance as a result of the benefits to the public. This is reflected in policy and
resource management cards, which together are provided as comprehensive and revealing information
about the industry work in the field - goal, the achievement of inputs (in English. - inputs), expected
operating results (in English. - outputs) and the highest level achieved sectoral policies and quality
indicators (in English. - Outcomes)
(http://www.fm.gov.lv/lv/sadalas/valsts_budzets/interaktivais_budzets/valsts_
budzeta_vizualizacija).
Such reflections on the state budget will become clearer and more accessible to the public. In addition to the budget of the
underlying data may be published in the open data portal or to arrange them in the form of open data and describe the Open Data
Online 32 ( Linking the plan's commitment to 3).
HOW TO MEET COMMITMENT OGP VALUES?
Commitment to fully comply with the OGP values because of increased public participation in setting the budget and finance.
Improving access to information and better provision of information to the public will be given the opportunity to acquaint
themselves with information on the state budget in a convenient way. It will increase public confidence in state power, which is
based on transparency, public awareness of the processes of public administration and public administration the implementation
of tasks.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Linking with planning and international instruments
• Government Action Plan Declaration on Mara Kučinska led Cabinet planned activities of the
implementation of the measure no. 25.1. second subparagraph "To improve the law" On State Budget
2017 "and subsequent annual State Budget Law explanations promoting budgetary readability,
transparency, and increasing the budget expenditure linking with development planning documents with
the priorities and objectives"
• OGP principles introduction
32 Open data portal can fill the data set metadata describes the shape, which is about 10 fields
(Example: https://data.gov.lv/dati/lv/dataset/visr).
LATVIAN OPEN MANAGEMENT THIRD NATIONAL ACTION PLAN 30
INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVES
1. The 2018 state budget presented in an interactive way FM's Web site at
2018 1st half - 31.12.2018.
RESPONSIBLE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES
Ministry of Finance
MEASURE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELEVANT PARTNERS
Project "Fraud Prevention Movement # atkrāpies!" 33

5. Interactive Budget

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

Editorial Note: The Latvian government did not submit an official English translation of its 2017−2019 to OGP. Therefore, the original Latvian version as it appears in the action plan can be viewed below. For the full text of this commitment, please see the Latvia 2017−2019 action plan here: https://www.mk.gov.lv/sites/default/files/editor/atvertas-parvaldibas-plans2017.pdf.

Sākot ar 2017. gada valsts budžetu un turpmāk ik gadu, interaktīvā veidā tiks atspoguļota informācija par gadskārtējo valsts budžetu FM tīmekļvietnē.

Apņemšanās mērķa grupa ir sabiedrība – ikviens interesents.

Sabiedrībai būs iespēja uzskatāmā un saprotamā veidā uzzināt un izsekot, kādās jomās un kādā apmērā tiek ieguldīta nodokļu maksātāju nauda un kādi rezultāti sagaidāmi.

Milestone:

5.1. 2018. gada valsts budžets atspoguļots interaktīvā veidā FM tīmekļvietnē 2018. gada 1. pusgads

Start Date: 1 Jan. 2018

End Date: 31 Dec. 2018

Context and Objectives

This commitment aims to increase transparency and public awareness of the state budget. Currently, the state budget is available on the Cabinet of Ministers’ webpage during its development. It is also available before it is debated in Cabinet meetings [29] and on Parliament’s webpage. [30] After approval, the budget is published on the Ministry of Finance’s webpage. Aspects which concern NGOs are sometimes debated at the Council of Memorandum, and all amendments are published with annotations explaining the changes. The Ministry of Finance publishes information on the approved budget on its webpage. However, budget documents are often highly technical and frequently aren’t clearly linked to desired policy outcomes. Until 2017, the budget, tax amendments, and other related laws were published in PDF format, limiting the information’s reusability and hindering data searches. [31] Also, tables of figures did not give information on the planned results. [32]

As a solution, the Ministry of Finance partnered with the Latvian anti-fraud movement Atkrāpies! (consisting of ministries, government institutions, NGOs, and businesses) to develop an interactive tool to improve navigation of budget-related information and data. [33] The tool also will link budget figures with expected policy outputs and outcomes. This allows taxpayers to assess how their taxes contribute toward the public good. This commitment aims to be available for all state budgets which are published to the webpage of the Ministry of Finance, starting in 2018, and to transfer the data to an open data portal where it will be available in reusable formats. The commitment is relevant to OGP values of access to information and technology and innovation for transparency and accountability.

The commitment is specific enough to verify its completion. The budget tool and portal could moderately change access to budgetary information in Latvia. The tool could be a useful resource for media, CSOs, researchers, and policy analysts to monitor government policies and institutions; it will also provide data for informed policy adjustments. If budget information is put on the open data portal, policy analysts and researchers could access quality data and submit policy suggestions.

The commitment did not come from the co-creation process but was instead included as an initiative of the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry considered the tool a good example of cooperation with stakeholders in clarifying budget information and promoting good attitudes toward tax paying. Members of Atkrāpies! are interested adopting similar tools for their own tax-paying members. This tool could serve as an example for these stakeholders.

Next steps

While this commitment could improve access to budgetary information, it should be noted that while planning the action plan, civil society participants asked for a tool for transparent monitoring of government expenditures. This would involve not only monitoring the budget plan, but also its implementation. Participants argued that it would be beneficial to see when, to whom, and what services receive payments from the planned budget. [34] A commitment explaining public expenditures could be a good next activity in area of budget transparency.

Discussions at the Council of Memorandum [35] show that there is also a need to better explain the budget preparation process so that civil society understand when and whom to address for budget concerns and NGO funding needs. Therefore, the IRM researcher recommends that future action plans consider focusing on understandable, interactive formats, such as linking figures to planned policy results during the preparation stages of the budget process.

[29] State Chancellery, “Draft legislation of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia: Draft General Government Budget Plan for Latvia for 2019” (7 Mar. 2019), http://tap.mk.gov.lv/lv/mk/tap/?pid=40464329.

[30] Id.

[31] Ministry of Finance, “Explanations to the Law "On State Budget for 2017"” (31 Jan. 2018), http://www.fm.gov.lv/lv/sadalas/valsts_budzets/budzeta_paskaidrojumi/2017_gads2/www.visidati.lv/aptauja/1280243621/www.visidati.lv/aptauja/1280243621/.

[32] Ministry of Finance, “5.3.1. Valsts konsolidētā budžeta izdevumi funkcionālā sadalījumā, euro” (accessed 7 Nov. 2018), http://www.fm.gov.lv/files/valstsbudzets/2017-02-10_14_12_04_FMPask_AD_100217_bud2017.pdf.

[33] Atkrāpies, http://atkrapies.lv/.

[34] Providus, “Atvērtās pārvaldības partnerības plāns 2017-2019: vēlmju saraksts Latvijas uzdevumiem” (2017), http://providus.lv/article_files/3299/original/OGPidejuApkopojumsFINAL.pdf?1490952718.

[35] Cabinet of Ministers, “Meeting of Council of Memorandum, October 31, 2018” (Cabinet of Ministers’ YouTube Channel, 31 Oct. 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpCLCK6HQZE.

5. Interactive Budget

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

Editorial Note: The Latvian government did not submit an official English translation of its 2017−2019 to OGP. Therefore, the original Latvian version as it appears in the action plan can be viewed below. For the full text of this commitment, please see the Latvia 2017−2019 action plan here: https://www.mk.gov.lv/sites/default/files/editor/atvertas-parvaldibas-plans2017.pdf.

Sākot ar 2017. gada valsts budžetu un turpmāk ik gadu, interaktīvā veidā tiks atspoguļota informācija par gadskārtējo valsts budžetu FM tīmekļvietnē.

Apņemšanās mērķa grupa ir sabiedrība – ikviens interesents.

Sabiedrībai būs iespēja uzskatāmā un saprotamā veidā uzzināt un izsekot, kādās jomās un kādā apmērā tiek ieguldīta nodokļu maksātāju nauda un kādi rezultāti sagaidāmi.

Milestone:

5.1. 2018. gada valsts budžets atspoguļots interaktīvā veidā FM tīmekļvietnē 2018. gada 1. pusgads

Start Date: 1 Jan. 2018

End Date: 31 Dec. 2018

This commitment aimed to increase transparency and public awareness of the state budget. To do so, the Ministry of Finance (with the Latvian anticorruption movement Atkrāpies!) planned to develop an interactive tool to improve navigation of budget information and data. The Ministry also planned to publish data on all state budgets to its webpage starting in 2018 onwards, and to transfer the data to an open data portal where it will be available in reusable formats.

The Ministry of Finance reports that it has fully implemented the commitment. [24] It has rebuilt the budget data section on its webpage, [25] providing information on the development of the state budget, as well as the planned financial inputs and expected policy results. The new tool includes information on preparing the budget for the next fiscal year, including its timeline, related decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers, and the final document submitted to Parliament. [26] The public can also follow budget news using the hashtag #Budžets2020 on Twitter.

Starting in April 2018, anyone can now review how much funding is distributed to certain policy goals and which institutions are using public resources to achieve these goals. The policy areas included in interactive infographics are health, education, social security, defense, culture and recreation, economy (e.g., transportation, agriculture), and general government functions like foreign policy. [27] Each section provides subsections, responsible institutions, policy goals, inputs, outputs, and outcomes. For example, the social security section includes subsections on pensions, social protection during health problems, support to families with children, social protection for the unemployed, and social protection for persons with disabilities. [28]

The Ministry of Finance also began publishing open budget data on the open data portal using three levels of information:

1. The planned percentage of the budget in nine areas: social security, defense, economic activities, internal affairs and security, health, general government functions, education and science, and recreation and culture;
2. Information on budget inputs in subsections in each of these areas and the sources of income for these purposes; and
3. Information on planned outcomes for each area, available as an interactive infographic in Excel format. [29]

Overall, this commitment resulted in major improvements toward budget transparency. The Ministry of Finance’s new infographic provides NGOs, researchers, the media, and the public with access to much more detailed information on the proposed and approved budgets, as well as expected results. Before the action plan, Latvia’s budget was published on the Ministry of Finance’s webpage in a format that made it difficult to identify how much money was earmarked for certain policies. For example, the budget, tax amendments, and related laws were published in PDF format, limiting the information’s reusability and hindering data searches. Also, the tables of figures did not give information on the planned results. [30] As a result of this commitment, this information is now available in open format for analysis and reuse. Statistics show that budget data have been accessed more than 200 times within six months after publishing. [31]

[24] Ministry of Finance, email leter to IRM researcher, Oct. 2019.

[25] Ministry of Finance, “Valsts budžets” [State budget] (31 Jan. 2018), http://fm.gov.lv/lv/sadalas/valsts_budzets/.

[26] Ministry of Finance, “#budžets2020” [#budget2020] (5 May 2020), https://fm.gov.lv/lv/sadalas/valsts_budzets/valsts_budzeta_izstrade/_budzets2020/.

[27] Ministry of Finance, “Valsts budžets 2020” [State budget 2020] (accessed May 2020), https://www.fm.gov.lv/valstsbudzets/.

[28] Id.

[29] Ministry of Finance, “Finanšu ministrija: atrastas 4 datu kopas” [Ministry of Finance: 4 datasets found] (State Regional Development Agency, accessed May 2020), https://data.gov.lv/dati/lv/organization/finansu-ministrija.

[30] Zinta Miezaine, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): Latvia Design Report 2017−2019 (OGP, 2019), 28, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Latvia_Design-Report_2017-2019_EN.pdf.

[31] State Regional Development Agency “Datu kopas: atrastas 8 datu kopas: budžets” [Datasets: 8 datasets found: “budget”] (accessed May 2020), https://data.gov.lv/dati/lv/dataset?tags=bud%C5%BEets.