Local Impact Assessment

Choices have to be made whenever local authorities establish municipal by-laws. A local Impact Assessment help local authorities by making all the effects of policy choices clearly visible. This makes local Impact Assessments an important element of any policy-evaluation-cycle.

Making the right choice

Local authorities respond with their policy choices to whatever happens in society. In order to make the right choice it is extremely useful to understand all the effects, costs and benefits of proposed policy choices. A local Impact Assessment is an instrument that allows local authorities to visualise and calculate the effects of their policy choices. This enables them to quickly identify cost saving measures, reduce regulatory burdens, and improve service-delivery.

The results of a local Impact Assessment

A local Impact Assessment guides local authorities through an evaluation of existing policies: “Should policies be reformulated or adjusted to bring them more in line with stated policy goals?” It also guides local authorities through the optimisation of core procedures: “What can you do to optimise the processes in your organisation and how much will that save you in costs?” A local Impact Assessment also provides clear insight into the impact and possible risks associated with policy choices. Finally a local Impact Assessment gives an overview of the effects and costs of policy alternatives.

Developed in collaboration with and on behalf of local authorities

The local Impact Assessment method has been developed in close collaboration with the Dutch association of local authorities, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, as well as a great number of pioneering local authorities.

Reducing local red tape

Municipalities, provinces and other local authorities often are the first point of contact when they encounter constraining regulations or slow procedures. We support local authorities in their efforts to reduce unnecessary local regulatory burdens.

Local legislation

Municipal by-laws are one example of local legislation. Local rules and requirements are a cause of regulatory burden. In addition local authorities are responsible for certain national regulations. The way they handle this responsibility can also be a cause of regulatory burden.

Deregulation program

We have developed a deregulation program that is aimed at establishing appropriate rules and processes for local authorities. In this program we focus on cleaning up old regulations and superfluous requirements. We also investigate whether or not existing regulations and processes are still functional. To this end we ask the question: “What principles, choices and arguments support existing regulations or processes?” We quantify the regulatory burdens imposed by regulations on businesses and citizens, and the costs incurred by local authorities.

After completing our analysis, we formulate concrete improvement measures together with local authorities. Furthermore we quantify the effect of each improvement measure and identify what is required for their successful implementation.

Toward appropriate rules and processes

IIn our experience local authorities are nearly always able to significantly reduce regulatory burdens, simplify their procedures and improve their service-delivery. The implementation of improvement measures achieves results that are directly measureable. This means that there is always concrete evidence to measure the level of success of a deregulation program.

Improving public services

Good service-delivery by local public authorities can reinforce economic growth. The Mark of Good Public Services (MGPS) allows local authorities to significantly improve their service-delivery to businesses.

We developed the MGPS in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and in co-creation with a dozen pilot-municipalities, the Dutch association of local authorities, and representatives of various business associations. The MGPS methodology has been implemented in over 160 local authorities such as municipalities and provinces.

 “Outside in”

The MGPS is an instrument that improves your service-delivery based on 10 quality standards. MGPS projects move from the outside in. That means that customer experience take center stage. Customer experience is, quite simply, how customers perceive their every interaction with their local authorities. Businesses are asked: “When is the service-delivery of your local authority adequate?” Asking businesses this question provides concrete insights into the strengths and weaknesses of local authorities.

By engaging in a transparent dialogue with businesses, we formulate realistic improvement measures together. The result of an MGPS project always consists of a measurement report and an action plan. The measurement report spells out the current strengths and weaknesses of the local authority. The action plan defines the improvement measures that must be taken in order to significantly improve service-delivery to businesses. Local authorities receive a certification upon successful completion of a MGPS project.

Concrete results

By introducing the MGPS into your country, you can save on costs incurred by local public authorities, improve the ease of doing business, generate local economic growth and stimulate job creation. In addition, the MGPS can be instrumental in establishing standards for good governance and increase transparency and public participation.