ROUGHLY 200 MILLION EUROS was spent on preparing the newly abandoned social, health care and regional government reform at Finnish ministries in 2017–2019.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on Friday said the efforts will now focus on documenting and concluding the preparatory work, and winding down the long-discussed reform process in a controlled manner.
The preconditions for carrying out the reform are no longer in place following the surprise resignation of the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre) on Friday.
“The next government will decide whether or not to continue working on the reform. The next government will also make the decisions on how to take advantage of the work that has been carried out,” reads a press release issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
The Finnish government, it added, will provide further instructions to the institutions and organisations that contributed to the preparatory work – namely, the counties, ministries, service centres and the newly established National Supervisory Authority (Luova).
“The instructions currently under preparation include financial instructions prescribing where the granted funding can be used during the wind-down period.”
A total of 460 million euros in central government funding had been earmarked for preparing the social, health care and regional government reform. Most of the 200 million euros that has already been spent was granted for preparations at the level of counties and for carrying out the changes in information and communications technology systems necessitated by the reform.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: Uusi Suomi
