Strengthen institutional integrity in Valencia (ES0073)

What is the problem/need that is desired to resolve with the commitment? We are in an especially important time for public institutions, which are being called upon to push forward the reconstruction after the COVID‐19 crisis and to transmit the order and safety necessary to favour the development, dialogue and defence of the common good. Within this context, it is essential for the institutions to generate the maximum legitimacy and confidence in the citizenship to be able to lead the agreements necessary to carry out this process and guarantee social cohesion. In the current economic and political situation, both in Spain and at the global level, there is the danger that disaffection towards democratic institutions will grow. To prevent this, it is essential to improve transparency and reinforce the ethical values of the public administrations. Thus, it is about trying to avoid any suspected tolerance of corruption and be able to guarantee that the institutions have a good reputation before the citizenship that contributes to a better democratic quality and social cohesion.

Objectives of the commitment The ultimate objective of the commitment is to generate bonds of trust among the citizenship and the institutions and improve their reputation and social legitimacy through developing an integral framework of integrity in the Valencian public administration aimed at reinforcing institutional ethics within the culture of the organisation.

Brief description of the commitment To build a Valencian system of public integrity that coherently institutionalises public ethics in the Valencian administration

How does the commitment contribute to solve the problem or cover the need? To achieve a good institutional quality and improve social cohesion and public debate, the citizenship must trust its institutions and identify with them. To achieve this, the public institutions must transmit a good reputation to the citizenship in the sense of prioritising ethical values in its functioning and avoid any suspected tolerance of bad practises that, at all levels, damage the image and perception of the citizenship regarding the operation of these institutions. To generate confidence, the international organisations have indicated the importance of having an integrity policy. In this regard, the system should complement the legal framework for transparency and prevention, the instruments and mechanisms to guarantee compliance with the standards and an ethical framework based on codes of conduct in order to guide in a positive direction the conduct of people at the service of the public administration and reinforce the ethical value of the institutions. In this way, it addresses the fight against corruption from a preventative approach focused not just on avoiding bad practices but especially on reinforcing the trust of the citizenship in the institutions.

Why is the commitment relevant with respect to the values of Open Government? It promotes, strengthens and improves the quality of participation in the public management, allowing the citizenship to participate in making public decisions with the objective of achieving better results and better democratic quality. Though the commitment especially delves deeper into transparency, accountability and integrity, it also contributes to foster greater connection between the institutions and citizenship, with query mechanisms, participation of agents outside the administration and instruments to promote and disseminate to make the citizenship and civil society participants in the culture of integrity. 170 It delves deeper into transparency, open data and accountability of Public Administrations through carrying out actions aimed at its improvement and the evaluation of the results of the plans and programmes. The commitment delves deeper into transparency and accountability as part of the broader notion of integrity and good governance and with the purpose of connecting transparency to generating relationships of trust between the public institutions and the citizenship. In this regard, a large part of the legal and procedural framework of the system have been driven by the framework of the transparency policy, and within the content of the ethics framework, which will have an essential role in the commitment to transparency and accountability. In addition, mechanisms have been designed to guarantee the evaluation of accountability and continuous improvement of the integrity system. It contributes to building a system of public integrity, strengthening the ethical values and mechanisms to bolster the integrity of the public institutions and reinforce the trust of the citizenship The commitment precisely is intended to complete a coherent and complete framework of institutional integrity in the Valencian institutions, thus integrating public ethics into the culture of the organisation and institutionalising a policy of integrity that complements legal, organisational and ethical instruments. Thus, the ultimate sense is to improve the social legitimacy of the public institutions and reinforce the trust of the citizenship. It raises awareness among society and civil servants about the values of Open Government, contributing to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda in order to advance towards a just, peaceful and inclusive society. The commitment strives to reinforce the values of public ethics in the culture of the organisation. Therefore, this commitment greatly values training and awareness raising about public ethics for the civil servants. Thus, it will also promote public ethics and the importance of the policies of integrity in the scope of the other institutions and public administration and in the private sector, through collaboration with other actors, like public universities and social actors. In addition, it contributes to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 16 (to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies), given that this commitment is linked to the prevention of corruption and bad practises, the development of effective and transparent institutions that are accountable .

Additional information In recent years, the Generalitat has already pushed forward important instruments that provide the base for a policy of integrity based on promoting transparency policies. Thus, the following instruments have already been launched:  Code of good governance for the senior officials of the Generalitat, approved by Decree 56/2016, of the Council of 6 May, which approves the Code of Good Governance of the Generalitat.  Approval and application of standards of incompatibilities of senior officials, with an office to control conflicts of interest (Law 8/2016 of 28 October, of the Generalitat, on Incompatibilities and Conflicts of Interest of People in Unelected Public Jobs, and Decree 65/2018 of 18 May of the Council that develops it.  Creation of the Valencian Anti‐Fraud Agency (Law 11/2016, of 28 November, of the Generalitat, Agency of Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption of the Valencia Autonomous Region).  Carrying out a pilot project of integrity pacts (citizen audit) in a public contract of the Generalitat (http://www.gvaoberta.gva.es/es/auditoria‐ciutadana).  Regulation and implementation of the system of alerts for the prevention of irregularities and bad practises (SALER), regulated by Law 22/2018, of 6 November, of General Inspection of Services and the system of alerts for the prevention of bad practises in the Administration of the Generalitat and its instrumental public sector.  Creation of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Prevention of Irregularities and Bad Practises and development of risk management tools for irregularities in the administration of the autonomous region.  Regulation of the framework of transparency of lobbying by Law 25/2018, of 10 December, of the Generalitat, regulating the activity of the lobbies of the Valencia Autonomous Region. 171 In addition, a Legal Project is now being processed regarding the public function in Valencia, which puts the emphasis on integrity and the codes of conduct of the civil servants and the protection of civil servants who report irregularities. This commitment strives to deploy these instruments and complete them with the adoption of a coherent and integral legal framework aimed at reinforcing public ethics within the culture of the organisation, which is not only aimed at preventing bad practises but positively guiding the conduct and action of the people at the service of public administrations. A system of integrity that coherently integrates the legal framework of integrity, framework of instruments and preventative procedures and the ethics framework based on codes of conduct.

Activities of the commitment Start date End date Approval of a new transparency and good governance law that establishes the basic content of the system of institutional integrity to be developed. September 2020 February 2021 Specific regulation, creation and implementation of the registry of lobbies for transparency in the lobbying activity before the public administrations December 2020 July 2021 Definition and design of the elements of the system of institutional integrity February 2021 December 2021 Creation of a public ethics commission as an enforcement body for the monitoring, effectiveness and evaluation of the Codes of Ethics and Conduct and the system of integrity as a whole November 2021 June 2022 Implementation of channels for the formulation and resolution of queries, dilemmas or complaints regarding the application of codes of conduct June 2022 December 2022 Preparation and approval of codes of conduct for public contracting and subsidies September 2022 June 2023 Carrying out courses and training materials for civil servants regarding public ethics and integrity January 2021 December 2022 Collaboration with local administration entities for promoting the codes of conduct and the frameworks of integrity at the local level January 2021 December 2022 Collaboration with public universities to promote integrity and public ethics January 2021 December 2022 Monitoring, evaluation and revision of the project January 2023 January 2024