"On public services, citizens and businesses expect experiences similar to those offered by the large digital platforms with which they interact daily". This is one of the data that emerges from the "2019 Report to Parliament and the Government on the levels and quality of services offered by central and local public administrations to businesses and citizens", created by the CNEL and presented today in Rome in the “Parlamentino” hall. It was attended by, among others, Fabiana Dadone, Minister of Public Administration; Gianna Fracassi and Elio Catania, CNEL vice-presidents; Efisio Gonario Espa, speaker; Mauro Orefice, Chief of Cabinet of the Court of Auditors; Alessandro Faramondi, ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics); Enzo Bianco, ANCI (National Association of Italian Municipalities) ; Monica Gabrielli, Sogei (the Information Technology company of the Ministry of Economy and Finance); Enrico Deidda Gagliardo, University of Ferrara; Emanuele Padovani, University of Bologna. The real “citizen experience”, especially at the local level, is very different from the expected one, despite the fact that the costs incurred by the citizen continue to grow. In 2018 (the latest available data), in fact, the cost incurred by each citizen for local public services was 350 euros. The figure is the sum of costs for administrative services (205 euros with an increase of + 0.6%), the local police (37.50), territory and environment (32), social services (77), the only ones which recorded a decrease (-1%). To these must be added services that are difficult to account for per capita, such as education services, which on average amount to € 681 for each resident between 3 and 14 years; viability (640 euros per km of municipal road although with significant differences between the various territories) and the Waste service, which costs 337 euros per tonne of waste collected and disposed of, down by -4.4%, but against an increase in separate waste collection of + 11.3%, which reached an average (simple average) of 55.6%.

As far as the health is concerned, 150 million in health services were paid out of their own pocket by the Italians in 2017, for a total expenditure of 39.7 billion euros, and with an increase between 2013 and 2017 of 9.6% (RBM -Health - Censis). The phenomenon affects over 44.1 million people (2 out of 3 Italians) with an average disbursement of around 655 euros per citizen per year. Private healthcare spending affects all income groups, including incomes below 15,000 (Istat). Public services provided by as many as 12,874 public institutions in which almost 3 and a half million people work, including public employees serving abroad (embassies, consulates, cultural institutes, etc.) and the armed and security forces (equal to nearly 500,000 units).

"All the surveys have shown that over the last decade the blockade of the turn over has led to a lowering of the available workforce, an increase in the average age also at the expense of the new skills that would be needed. To this situation the effects of quota 100 are added - said CNEL President Tiziano Treu - A situation that has put above all the neighborhood bodies, the Municipalities, in serious difficulty, as they have had to face, in the years of the crisis, an impoverishment of human resources, with inevitable consequences, also in terms of services provided to citizens. For this reason we consider essential, as announced by Minister Dadone, the resumption of a hiring phase in the PA, to be implemented in a targeted manner, on the basis of real needs as required by current legislation. In addition to that, it would be important to accompany a supportive investment plan to the training and updating the skills of the staff in service. I’m telling this to the Minister, knowing fully well the difficulties in this regard being a bit short on funds and I wish her good luck".

Service levels are quantitatively higher in the large centres of the North, and lower in the municipalities of the South and in the small municipalities of the North-West. In order to adequately interpret these geographical differences, the inter-institutional organizational methods between the various law enforcement agencies should be studied in greater detail, since most of the indicators on which the analysis is based are process indicators influenced by contingent territorial situations. It may be appropriate to extend the introduction of indicators of equitable and sustainable well-being to Regions, Metropolitan Cities and Municipalities, also in order to allow citizens to evaluate the relative policies in a modern and effective adoption of accountability system. 

The administrative services of the 8,000 municipal administrations are the highest costs incurred by citizens and businesses with 205 euro per capita, with peaks of 305 euro in Liguria and the lowest figures ​​in Puglia, with 137 euro, with an increase of 0.6%. Municipalities with small territorial dimensions are generally much more expensive, a phenomenon that should lead to the urgent creation of unions of municipalities. The per capita expenditure index, which in the first instance approximates the efficiency of entities on administrative services, places Puglia, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna at high levels, while Liguria and Abruzzo at the worst levels. The small municipalities are confirmed as the most expensive ones, with allowances equal to about double the average municipalities and more than double the large ones. The 2019 CNEL Report on the quality of services offered by PAs analyses for the first time the performance of the municipal administrations of the regions with ordinary statute, both in terms of the financial commitment of the municipal administrations (the level of expenditure per service unit or per capita), and in terms of quantity and quality of the service provided to citizens through the data available on the OpenCivitas platform of SOSE SpA, a company of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and  the Bank of Italy. 

"The CNEL Report is a harbinger of important ideas for my mandate and for the action of the whole Government, which is particularly concerned with the enhancement of public administrations - said Minister Dadone - We are working with the primary objective of making the most of the competition revival season that we have started. We will recruit young people and give space to innovative profiles that can accompany public offices on the now imperative road to digitalization. True simplification and continuous training are two polar stars of our action, in order to really open the state machine to civil society and make services for the community more efficient, with more added value ".

Download the 2019 Report