Transparency and Accountability Improvement and Reinforcement Plan (ES0045)

This commitment corresponds to a coordinated strategy that combines the efforts of different actors for the improvement and reinforcement of transparency and accountability and open data. It is intended to overcome the fragmentation of sometimes scattered initiatives and ensure the continuous mid‐ and long‐term improvement.
 First, a project of the Transparency and Good Governance Council and several Transparency Commissions of the Autonomous Communities of Spain is included within the context of oversight and enforcement bodies to establish a system to accredit the transparency of public and private entities subject to the transparency law.
 Secondly, it includes an improvement project of the Transparency Website that features the continuous improvement and expansion of active transparency and the improvement of accountability, facilitating the monitoring of public plans and periodically informing the citizenry about its completion.
 Third, it includes a measure related to data openness and reusing information from the public sector.
 Finally, this commitment reflects good practises in sectoral fields. These practises in fields like budgetary economics, public employment and business registry are examples, without being exhaustive, of the joint and crossed effort of the entire public sector to improve transparency. Displaying these good practises is considered important as a way of involving public actors as a whole in the open government plans.

"What is the problem/need that is desired to resolve with the commitment? The evaluation and transparency and, especially, obtaining a high mark or grade as a result of it is one of the most effective ""engines"" to open the institutions and organisations. Unfortunately, in Spain there is still no homogeneous accreditation system, which has caused the emergence of multiple scattered, heterogeneous methodology systems that are not always compliant with the law. On some occasions, they have prevented the evaluation from having the desired effect. 55

Objectives of the commitment The establishment of a transparency accreditation and certification system of public and private entities subject to law 19/2013 on transparency, access to public information and good governance Brief description of the commitment The Council of Transparency and Good Governance is currently using a methodology called MESTA for the evaluations of the compliance with Law 19/2013. This methodology was developed with the now defunct AEVAL. After five years of applying it, MESTA is in a revision phase to adopt it to the legal bases and complement it with the experience acquired. The commitment consists of completing that revision with participation by public and private institutions that carry out transparency evaluations in order to create a version 2.0 of MESTA. It would be duly documented and accompanied by the necessary IT tools that could be used by both the Council of Transparency and Good Governance and other transparency guarantee bodies with evaluation powers to certify the entities within the respective territorial environment.

How does the commitment contribute to solve the problem or cover the need? By establishing a certification/accreditation, the organisations or entities evaluated are given an objectively distinguished position that will serve as a stimulus for them to comply with Law 19/2013 and advance in transparency.

Why is the commitment relevant with respect to the values of Open Government? Delve deeper into transparency, open data and accountability: Evaluation is a very effective stimulus for compliance with the Law and advancing the fulfilment of its objectives. It contributes to build a system of public integrity: Transparency is an anti‐corruption tool, because by advancing in this regard, it also means advancing in parallel with integrity

Additional information  Related information or further details of the commitment and its activities: Interpretation criteria/MESTA 1.0 Manual. https://www.consejodetransparencia.es/ct_Home/index.html  Commitment budget: The cost of IT tools and additional costs (meetings and conferences) still needs to be estimated

Activities of the commitment Start date End date  Establishment of the Work Group 15/10/2020 31/12/2020  Definition of evaluation modules (state and autonomous) 01/01/2021 30/06/2021  Functional analysis and IT application 01/07/2021 31/12/2021  Carrying out pilots/tests 01/01/2022 30/06/2022  Manual and legal formalisation definition 01/07/2022 31/12/2022"

2.2
"What is the problem/need that is desired to resolve with the commitment? The Website was created in 2014 in the framework of the 2nd Open Government Plan, and the Independent Reporting Mechanism considered it as a compromise and activity of key relevance for Spain, given that it is the main instrument for the development of the Law on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance and the Government's transparency policy. The OECD also considered it important to implement the Website as a significant step towards fulfilling the commitments established in the Transparency Law, increasing access to public information and allowing the organization of scattered information from different institutions in a more systematically way. Three years after the implementation, aspects of improvement were detected. Thus, the 3rd Open Government Plan included a project to improve the Transparency Website and the right to access, expanding and improving the quality of information and its cognitive accessibility, and simplifying and facilitating exercising the right to access by citizens. Now, the improvement of the Website is and should be a continuous and permanent task, in order to have it fully adapted to the requirements of the citizenry and the Public Administrations themselves.

Objectives of the commitment - Improvement of the information already published on the Website, facilitating its monitoring and visualisation (particularly the economic and budgetary information) and development and technological evolution of the architecture and internal structure of the Website. - Incorporation of new elements of information (frequently asked questions by the citizenry and content maps of the information generated by AGE that makes it easier to be found by the citizenry) - Accountability, facilitating the monitoring of notable public plans related to the sustainable development goals, regularly informing the citizenry of its fulfilment - Regular evaluation and improvement proposals. Brief description of the commitment Continuous improvement project of the Central Government's Transparency Website that includes the improvement of elements of active transparency, participation and accountability to the citizenry, facilitating the monitoring of public plans.

How does the commitment contribute to solve the problem or cover the need? The commitment corresponds to the main demands of civil society in relation to the Website, focused on the expansion of published information, the improvement of document management at the service of transparency, accountability of the plans that are approved and the improvement of document management linked with transparency. 57

Why is the commitment relevant with respect to the values of Open Government? It delves deeper into transparency, by improving and expanding active transparency on the Website. It also delves deeper into accountability through carrying out actions aimed at its improvement and the evaluation of the results of public plans and programmes It promotes and facilitates participation in public management by creating a unified space of access to the different citizen participation services.

Additional information Activities of the commitment Start date End date 1. It improves the published information 1.1 Improved monitoring of the financial and economic section 1.2 Other improvements 01/11/2020 30/09/2024 2. Incorporation of new elements of information 2.1 Publication of access resolutions by type 2.2 Publication of information that is most frequently requested 2.3 Publication of content maps 01/11/2020 30/09/2024 3. Accountability, providing monitoring of public plans 3.1 Design of a space on the Website and technological development 3.2 Selection of notable plans and key or critical activities 3.3 Incorporation of content into the Website 3.4 Regular monitoring of fulfilment of commitments 01/11/2020 30/09/2024 4. Regular evaluation and improvement proposals 4.1 Annual satisfaction survey 4.2 Workshops for improving the Website 4.3 Preparation of a citizen chat with commitments and quality indicators 4.4 Monitoring and evaluation of the degree of compliance 4.5 Regular updating of commitments and improvement plans 01/06/2021 01/06/2021 01/01/2021 30/09/2022 30/09/2022 01/06/2024 01/06/2024 30/09/2021 30/09/2024 30/09/2024"

2.3
"What is the problem/need that is desired to resolve with the commitment? The openness of public sector data and its re‐use entails multiple benefits for society, the environment and the economy. To obtain all these advantages, it is necessary to foment the ecosystem around the data.

Objectives of the commitment To promote data openness and the re‐use of the public sector information through the transposition of the (EU) Directive 2019/1024 “on open data and the re‐use of public sector information”.

Brief description of the commitment The first step to promote data openness involves carrying out the transposition of (EU) Directive 2019/1024 to the Spanish legal system to provide the necessary legal coverage, which would make it possible to expand the domain and scope regarding re‐use. It is intended to improve the provision of real‐time access to dynamic data through the appropriate technical means, increasing the supply of valuable public data for its re‐use, including those of public companies, organisations that finance research and organisations that carry out research activities.

How does the commitment contribute to solve the problem or cover the need? This commitment has a high transformational impact in the domain of fomenting the openness and re‐use of information from the public sector as it involves expanding the scope of the current legislation regarding re‐use, which will provide a stimulus for the data ecosystem and in the creation of added value.

Why is the commitment relevant with respect to the values of Open Government? Data openness allows citizens to have greater knowledge of the work carried out by public Administrations, and therefore, participating in the decision‐making with more information. This commitment will promote the information openness of the public sector. In turn, this will improve the transparency and accountability of the Public Administrations. Open data fosters transparency in administrative activity. This then strengthens the integrity of public institutions and serves to reinforce citizens' trust. The openness of information of the public sector promotes the flow of information among society, so that people can have greater knowledge of public administrations. In addition to re‐using the information, it provides great benefits to society, the environment and the economy, which can advance in fulfilling the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

Additional information Activities of the commitment Start date End date Incorporate the (EU) Directive 2019/1024 into the Spanish legal system 01/07/2020 17/07/2021"

2.4.1
"What is the problem/need that is desired to resolve with the commitment? 1. Difficulty identifying people, organisations and companies benefiting from subsidies that should comply with the transparency obligations imposed by transparency law. 2. The need to introduce additional information mechanisms that allow the citizenry to quickly understand the main figures and priorities that inspire the State's General Budgets. 3. Need for more complete economic and financial information for the citizenry regarding compliance with the obligations to supply information of the local entities and the result of the financial management, through the main financial figures in several financial years. 4. Need to have adequate tools to process the large volume of information stored on the Public Sector Contracting Platform so that its dissemination and processing are even simpler for all public and private agents involved in the situation and evolution of Public Contracting in our country. Problems of accessibility to the opinions of the Consulting Board of Public Contracting of the State that have been identified by users, both due to the information not being suitable to the international data standards, and the difficulties of locating the information through pre‐determined search criteria. Objectives of the commitment 1. Delve deeper into accountability and transparency through the identification of the large beneficiaries of subsidies in the National System of Subsidy and Public Aid Publishing . 2. Improve the presentation of the State's General Budget Law Project with an information tool that favours quickly understanding its priorities, objectives and figures. 3. Improve the access to the information about financial management and accountability in the Local Administration. 4. Contribute to a greater dissemination of the main indicators of the evolution in Public Contracting through the processing of the information contained in the Contracting Platform of the Public Sector in a comprehensive, useful and simple manner. 5. Reinforce transparency in the scope of public contracting, improving the forms of electronic access to the opinions of the Consultating Board of Public Contracting of the State through the implementation of freely accessed multi‐ function search systems.

Brief description of the commitment 1. Design and implementation of a new service in the National System of Subsidy and Public Aid Publishing, http://www.subvenciones.gob.es intended to show the list of private entities that receive over 100,000 euros per year and that, precisely for this reason (art.3.b), are subject to the publication obligations imposed by Law 19/2013 on Transparency, Access to Information and Good Governance. 2. Complete the presentation of the Project Law on General Budgets of the State with an additional information tool: an infograph, which allows evaluating, in a generic but effective manner, the importance of the presented accounts. 3. Publication on the Economic‐Financial Information Centre of the progress of the list of the local entities that have not complied with one of the obligations to supply information included in Order HAP/2105/2012, of 1 October, which establishes the obligations to provide information set forth in Organic Law 2/2012 of 27 April, on Budgetary Stability and Financial Sustainability, and the violations of the commitments acquired in the adjustment plans, with regard to providing monitoring reports and the most significant financial figures. 4. Offer the public summarised and aggregated information on the contractual activity of the Public Sector through the use of tools that allow it to be processed and presented in an understandable, useful and simple manner. 5. The improvement of the access to the opinions of the Consultative Board of Public Contracting of the State requires the simultaneous development of different actions: definition of a directory that allows finding the information through different criteria, review of stored documents in order to associate them with metadata allowing them to be indexed and adapted to formats that allow them to be reused, and development of technological tools that make it possible to search documents through selection criteria based on metadata. 6.

How does the commitment contribute to solve the problem or cover the need? 61 1. The identification of parties subject to the duty of transparency is the starting point in requiring its compliance. With this measure, a step is taken in raising the awareness of the private sector regarding its commitment to society. In addition, the transparency of private subjects promotes better transparency compliance in the public sector. 2. The publication of the infograph of the General Budgets will contribute to improving the quality of the information available to civil society in relation to the General Budget of the State Project. It will make them more accessible and understandable by the citizenry. 3. There will be more information to evaluate the management results and the situation of each local entity in recent years. 4. Once the need is detected to provide public contracting information to a broad collective, the actions are intended to cover this need through using the adequate tools and their programming. 5. The implementation of the described measures will improve the quality of the information access service of the Consulting Board of Public Contracting of the State by significantly reducing the time to find information that is specifically searched for.

Why is the commitment relevant with respect to the values of Open Government? It delves deeper into transparency, open data and accountability through carrying out actions aimed at its improvement and the evaluation of the results of the plans and programmes. It contributes to building a system of public integrity, strengthening the ethical values and mechanisms of integrity of public institutions and reinforcing citizens´ trust. It promotes, strengthens and improves the quality of the participation in the public management, allowing the citizenry to know the effects of public management carried out, making it possible to achieve better results and better democratic quality. To raise awareness among society about the values of transparency, contributing to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda in order to advance towards a just, peaceful and inclusive society.

Additional information Activities of the commitment Start date End date 1. Identification in the National System of Subsidy and Public Aid Publishing of the large beneficiaries of subsidies 1.1 Design of the solution 1.2 Implementation 01/10/2020 01/01/2021 31/12/2020 31/12/2021 2. Complete the presentation of the Project Law on General Budgets of the State with an additional information tool: an infograph, which allows evaluating, in a generic but effective manner, the importance of the presented accounts 2.1 Prepare the infograph every year in parallel with the preparation of the documentation that is accompanied with the Project Law. 2.2 Presentation of the infograph. Dissemination and publication on the Economic‐Financial Information Centre. 01/10/2020 30/10/2024 3. Improvements in the access to the information about 3.1 Publication on the Economic‐Financial Information Centre of the list of city halls and provincial councils and 01/12/2020 15/02/2021 62 financial management and accountability in the Local Administration semi‐public entities that have violated the obligations to provide information. 3.2 Publication on the Economic‐Financial Information Centre of the violations of the local entities of the commitments acquired in the adjustment plans, with regard to the provision of the monitoring reports and the most significant financial figures 01/02/2021 31/03/2021 4. Contribute to a greater dissemination of the main indicators of the evolution in Public Contracting through the processing of the information contained in the Contracting Platform of the Public Sector in a comprehensive, useful and simple manner 4.1 Study of needs and action project. 4.2 Development and implementation of the project. 4.3 Deployment and implementation. 01/10/2020 01/09/2021 5. Reinforce transparency in the scope of public contracting, improving the electronic access to the opinions of the Consultative Board of Public Contracting of the State. 5.1 Reclassify all documents of the Consultative Board of Public Contracting of the State, assigning them metadata that make them easier to be found and accessed by users. 5.2 Adapt the documents to the accessibility requirements established by the national regulations 01/10/2020 30/06/2021"

2.4.2
"What is the problem/need that is desired to resolve with the commitment? Expand and delve deeper into the knowledge of the civil service and facilitate access to the data. It will make possible the contribution to its analysis by the vast number of experts (natural and legal persons) interested in them who currently have limited access. This will allow access to distributed intelligence, thus multiplying knowledge. Objectives of the commitment 63 Open in a reusable and legible format by computer the selection and training data of employees that INAP has Brief description of the commitment Provide research staff, informants and people and organisations interested, in an open, computer‐readable and reusable format, with the INAP microdata (appropriately anonymised) regarding selection and training of civil servants.

How does the commitment contribute to solve the problem or cover the need? The provision of data about the selection and training of civil servants in an open and reusable format mobilizes the capacity and knowledge distributed throughout society, particularly in the academic and scientific community, in order to concentrate a growing part of them on investigation and innovation in this field.

Why is the commitment relevant with respect to the values of Open Government? It delves deeper into transparency, open data and accountability through carrying out actions aimed at its improvement To raise awareness among society about the values of transparency, contributing to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda in order to advance towards a just, peaceful and inclusive society.

Additional information Activities of the commitment Start date End date Open in a reusable and computer‐readable format the selection and training data of civil servants. 1. Detailed inventory of INAP data, with its technical characteristics 2. Adaptation plan for its dissemination 3. Delivery and dissemination 01/10/2020 30/06/2024"

2.4.3
"What is the problem/need that is desired to resolve with the commitment? Difficulty in the access to the data collected in the Business Registry. Many of the member States of the OGP are committing to the openness of their business registries and future registries of company owners as a necessary tool in the fight against corruption and tax evasion. The access to these registries is one of the priorities of the OGP, identified in the Paris Declaration. In Spain, information is currently only available to people to who pay to get it. This creates discrimination and inequality in terms of the access to information.

Objectives of the commitment Facilitate access to the information collected in the Business Registry The transposition of the European Directives will represent a change for our country in terms of access to the content of the Business Registry. 64 Brief description of the commitment Transposition of the Directive (EU) 2019/1151 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 as regards the use of digital tools and processes in company law.

How does the commitment contribute to solve the problem or cover the need? The transposition will represent a clear improvement in the access to Business Registry data, facilitating the publishing and access to information through digital media.

Why is the commitment relevant with respect to the values of Open Government? It delves deeper into transparency, open data and accountability through carrying out actions aimed at its improvement.

Additional information The transposition of the Directive (EU) 2019/1151 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 as regards the use of digital tools and processes in company law., which establishes that the basic corporate data included in the Business Registries must be provided before 1 August 2021, as a general rule (article 2). The Ministerial Order of 25 October 2019 establishes a special presentation, ascribed to the Second Section of the General Coding Commission, in charge of carrying out the transposition proposal. However, for the standards regarding disqualified administrators and the online presentation of documents, as well as that which allows electronically verifying the origin and integrity of the documents submitted online, the deadline for transposition will be 1 August 2023. The Directive entails the need to undertake significant changes in order to allow for the entirely digital constitution and the digitalisation of the business registries, as well as the interconnection of registries. In addition, the Directive entails an expansion of the information that the registries must provide for free through the platform and a change in the way in which the publishing of information can cause effects to third parties, either through the official gazette, or through the platform, and in the case of a discrepancy, the information from the platform will prevail. In relation to its processing, in December 2019, the preliminary consultation was carried out. In addition, in relation to the dates of the different phases of the pre‐legislative procedure, it must be taken into account that it is an indicative timetable, because it is very difficult to establish a detailed calendar, due to the complexity of the content to transpose and the numerous actors involved.

Activities of the commitment Start date End date Public information and request for mandatory reports 01/10/2020 31/05/2021 Subsequent proceedings 01/06/2021 31/07/2021"

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2: Plan to improve and strengthen transparency and accountability

Lead agencies: Council for Transparency and Good Government (CTBG), Ministry for Land Policy and Public Administration, Ministry for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Ministry of Treasury, and Ministry of Justice

For a complete description of this commitment, see: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/spain-action-plan-2020-2024/

Context and objectives

This commitment includes four broad actions to continuously improve transparency and open data. First, it promotes establishing a system to certify public and private entities subject to the Transparency Act using the MESTA methodology. [11] This commitment assumes that assessment and certification incentivizes institutional openness and understands the need for standards to assess compliance by obligated entities.

Second, it contemplates improving the Transparency Portal as an ongoing task, adapting to the needs of the citizenry and the administration. The 2017–2019 action plan included a commitment on the portal that aimed at uploading information in a usable format, improving accessibility, and promoting the use of clear language. According to Access Info Europe, the goal is to have a portal with more and better information by creating a broader information inventory that includes a content map to make information more accessible and in an open and reusable format. [12] These improvements would seek to facilitate, through the creation of a dedicated website, the monitoring of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) plans, the design of a list of government services, and other actions for ongoing improvement.

A third line of action aims to incorporate EU Directive 2019/2014 on open data [13] into the Spanish legal framework, laying down “a set of minimum norms that regulate the reuse and practical mechanisms to facilitate the reuse of documents held by the public agencies of the member States; documents held by certain public companies; and research data.” [14] In the opinion of Access Info Europe, a future prospect for this commitment is to create mechanisms for local entities to disclose information, either through a joint website or through the corresponding autonomous community. [15]

Finally, this commitment includes various initiatives relevant to specific sectors (grants and subsidies, budget transparency, financial management, and public contracting) that would strengthen transparency. These include the identification and publication of major beneficiaries of public subsidies who must proactively publish information on the subsidy repository, http://www.infosubvenciones.es. [16]

In addition, this commitment includes transparency initiatives for the state’s general budgets, improvements for access to information about financial management of local administrations, disclosure of summarised and aggregated information on public sector contracting, and disclosure of judgments by the Advisory Board for Public Contracting. It also includes an initiative to open up and eliminate fees to access the business register, as mandated by European Directive 2019/1151.

Potential for results: Substantial

As described in the action plan, there are a series of scattered, heterogeneous methods to assess adherence to the Transparency Act by obligated entities, who do not always comply with the law. [17] Thus, implementing this commitment promises to establish a standardized procedure to assess adherence using clear, lawful criteria. This will allow the Council for Transparency and Good Government and other agencies to better monitor and support regulation enforcement. It could also support identification of common challenges to address through the regulation and reforms proposed in Commitment 1.

In the opinion of civil society representatives, improving the subsidy repository is a major step forward in the enforcement of the law and possible data reuse, especially considering the great universe of beneficiaries at the national, autonomous, and local levels. [18] According to Transparency International, this is a key step for transparency in the private sector. [19]

On the other hand, developing a streamlined tool to present budget information, which civil society has demanded for years, would contribute to improving information quality and promoting citizen advocacy. This would not require the level of expertise that is currently needed to analyze published data. [20]

Opening up and eliminating fees to access the business register is a significant step in addressing the current call by various anticorruption CSOs and advocates to eliminate economic barriers (which do not exist in other European countries) and allow access to this information free of charge. This register includes key information to identify private interests (of individuals or businesses) which are or might be directly related to decision making, public money management, or public contracting. While a private developer already offers a free database of commercial records, having a government agency also provide a free registry would secure sustainable access to this information. [21]

The process to improve data and dataset tools should be ongoing. Therefore, including new areas in this commitment is a step in the right direction. A key aspect is the development of infographic materials, as these can be easily understood by the non-specialized public.

Opportunities, challenges, and recommendations during implementation

This commitment is an opportunity to complement several actions included in the action plan. The system for transparency certification proposed as part of this commitment should not only consider the assessment as an incentive for efficiency, but should also make MESTA a standard reference to facilitate the work of the CTBG. Disciplinary actions for noncompliance could be included as part of the reforms to the access to information legal framework proposed in the action plan.

Debates to improve the Transparency Portal and the need for public data promoted as part of this commitment could facilitate synergies to strengthen governance and citizen participation, inclusive development, and innovation in open data policy. ^[22]

Key to this commitment’s success is to ensure that the Transparency Portal reflects the data needs of the citizenry and to promote its reuse. This not only entails providing information to the citizenry but also ensuring the creation of a tool to respond to accountability findings and adopt corrective measures.

Thus, the IRM recommends the following during the implementation phase: