Spending Review by AIReF Spanish Independent Fiscal Institution

1. Spending Review by AIReF • Spanish Independent Fiscal Institution Evaluating Public Policy 14th OECD Meeting Regional Network of CESEE-SBO 24th May 2018

2. First steps of the Spanish Spending Review (SSR) December 2016 • Commitment in the budgetary plan update sent to the European Commission to perform a Spending Review (SR) • 2017-2020 Stability Programme specifies that the first phase would cover the subsidies and public assistance • Ministers’ Cabinet agreement sets a multi-year process, covering the next three years . The results of this first review must be presented before the end of 2018. Subsequent agreements shall identify new areas of action • Preparatory meetings held with Autonomous Communities (regions) and central government April 2017 June 2017 June - August 2017

3. Designing SSR August 2017 • AIReF submitted the action plan that includes 7 projects: • 1. Evaluation of Strategy and Procedure • 2: Medication dispensed through prescription • 3: Active labor policies • 4: University education scholarships • 5: Promotion of talent and employability in R&D • 6: Strengthening business competitiveness • 7: Sociedad EstatalCorreos y Telégrafos, S.A. (Universal Postal Service. Appointed operator) • Ministers’ Cabinet agreement including: • formal approval • a statement to ease data collection January 2018 SR begins

4. Taking off the SSR • Designing the evaluations: • Assessing strategy, procedures, efficiency and efficacy: • Reviewing available public information and literature • Questions to be answered? • Identifying information and deliveries required • First meetings with stakeholders: data providers • Gathering external resources (procurement) • Scientific advisors • External PMO • Consultant companies • European Commission: (SRSS) Project 2 • Airef: remaining project • Gathering information: • Secured Data Room • Anonymization process (Micro data) • Understanding, cleaning and describing information • The challenge of homogenising: 17 Regions February 2018 March 2018 Ending June 2018

5. To be done • Field work • Completing information: Interviews and surveys • Applying quantitative and qualitative tools • Drawing conclusions • Focus groups • Coherence and integration • Assessing impact • Final report • Formal recipient: Ministry of Finance (Hacienda) • Designed to be useful: Stakeholders • Communication plan • Monitoring conclusions • Pointing next SR step December 2018

6. Evaluation´s Culture • European funds showed the need for policy evaluations in Spain • Carried out by many institutions but not enough institutionalized : • Difficulties to be implemented as part of public policies and budgeting • Need for rooting evaluations in the spending culture: impact and not only formal outcomes

7. Evaluations and evaluators EFFECTIVENESS GOALS OUTCOMES STRATEGY AND PROCEDURES EFFICIENCY Who should commission an evaluation? Who should do an evaluation? What is the aim of each actor/evaluation? RESOURCES NEEDS CLASSIC SR CHALLENGES

8. Why an Independent Fiscal Institution (IFI)? • Formal explanation • Commissioned by the Government • Endorsed by the European Commission (EC) • Institutional advantages • Independence and neutrality • Legally possible: Included in its mandate the assignment of ad hoc studies • Relationships with relevant stakeholders: EC, Central Government, Regional and Local governments • Material reasons • Staff expert in public spending and econometrics • A specialized evaluation unit created • Budget availability

9. Governance and working framework Checking conclusions Data and reporting Planning and executing Field work

10. Strengths and challenges ahead

11. Data challenge: a simplified example Homogeneous information Statistics DG SISPE Job seekers Benefits received Employment Offices Orientation Profiling Training Centers Courses Catalogue Anonymization process Non Homogeneous information Increasing granularity Social Security Employees Contracts Contributions Resources, Costs, Catalogue EFFICIENCY EFFECTIVENESS

12. An example of different evaluators State owned company Ministry of development. Define the service provision plan SPU European legal framework. EC reports to Parliament • Sectorial regulator. • Yearly cost accounting audit • Yearly postal rates review • Yearly control of quality indicators • Proposal for estimating the cost of SPU • Specific responses about UPS scope • Sectorial reports State aid SA 37977 2016 • Benchmarking and research: • UPU and EC databases • ERGP KPIs • Global postal industry report • Consulting sectorial reports Audit reports (2016)

13. Conclusions • Airef´s aim is contribute to foster policy evaluation culture in Spain • SSR is a work in progress: • Too early to draw conclusions • Past lessons learned • Foundations are sound • Following international standards • Rigorous (academic) work and policy oriented • Overseeing the past but thinking of the future: Forward looking vision • Achievements of the SSR should be judged taking into account the later use of their recommendations

14. www.airef.es @AIReF_es