Urban Policy: the position in 2002

• Court of Audit investigation in 2001
• Interim evaluation in 2002

Urban policy was launched in 1995 to tackle specific problems in the major cities, such as public safety, unemployment, the high drop-out rate and quality of life issues. The government of the day believed that to solve the problems not only would central government and the major cities have to cooperate, but they would also have to work with residents, companies and a range of institutions in the cities as well. This would allow problems to be tackled on a broad front.

Urban policy is implemented in the cities. Central government is supposed to concern itself mainly with:

• formulating and monitoring the policy framework;

• improving the financial position of the participating municipalities by making additional funds available and, wherever possible, combining existing flows of funds from various ministries;

• gathering information on the progress made with urban policy and the results achieved.

Court of Audit investigation in 2001

It was the last point in particular that disappointed the Court of Audit in its review of urban policy published in March 2001. It was concerned that the minister did not have enough information on the implementation of urban policy to form a clear picture of the results attained. The former Minister for Urban Policy and Integration of Ethnic Minorities promised to review the policy approach, progress made and results achieved in an Interim Report to be published within a year.

Up

Interim evaluation in 2002

The Interim Report was published on 4 March 2002. In the Court of Audit's view, the promises made have not been honoured in full.

The Interim Report does present a picture of many social changes in the cities. It describes the administrative approach taken by the cities and contains a great deal of information. But the Court of Audit would like to have seen an all-embracing analysis of this material, including:

• explanations of disappointing results;

• a proper inventory and analysis of the incentives and impediments in urban policy: which factors contribute to the broad approach to tackling problems in the cities and which factors frustrate it?

• an answer to the question of whether any improvement or deterioration in the situation is due to the policies pursued or to entirely unconnected developments.

The last question is not easy to answer, and so the Court of Audit applauds the fact that the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations has launched an investigation into the effectiveness of the policy.

Other information missing from the Interim Report is what the participating cities have accomplished. The efforts they have made in the various areas of urban policy will only be revealed when the cities present their final reports in 2005. The Court of Audit considers information on what the cities have achieved to be particularly important for compiling a clear picture of the implementation and results of urban policy. Since the new covenants are due to be signed early in 2005, the minister plans to evaluate urban policy by the end of 2004, when the information from the final reports will not yet be available. The Court believes that the final evaluation of the period covered by the second set of covenants on urban policy should be conducted when the information from the final reports by the cities is available.

The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations responded positively to these recommendations in a letter of 30 January 2003 and agreed to adopt them. He sees the Court of Audit's report as giving further encouragement to continue on the present course.

Up