Questions/Answers

Reasonable criticism of both valid legislation, which has been in force for more than 20 years, as well as the new version of the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service”, adopted in 2012 and twice postponed by the Parliament, has become an impetus for the definition of qualitatively new legal and organizational principles of the civil service and its comprehensive reform. In order to solve the existing problems of the NAUCS have been prepared and ensured the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On Civil Service" dated December 10, 2015, № 889-VIII, and the Strategy for the Reform of Public Administration of Ukraine for 2016-2020. The adopted Law introduced a distinction between political and administrative positions in the civil service, in particular the establishment of the institute of state secretaries to ministries, for all civil service positions. A three-step selection procedure involves testing qualification requirements, testing and interviewing. Senior Civil Service Commission was established. Annual public reports of executive bodies heads on the results of the activity of the relevant body with the participation of representatives of the public and mass media are introduced. Thanks to the cooperation with public organizations and European experts, as well as the consistent and continuous implementation of the Law and the Strategy, the following results were achieved: During 2016-2017, Senior Civil Service Commission conducted 208 competitions for the civil service category A. The winners of 152 competitions were determined, 137 were appointed (including 22 state secretaries, their deputies). 190 competitions were held and 132 winners were selected for the post of reform specialists. Among them there are many representatives of the public and business. The number of civil servants decreased from 295,709 in 2015 to 242,028 in 2017. Ukraine has risen by 34 points on the indicator "Transparency of state policy formation" (65th place) in the Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018. Also it depends on civil service.

Reasonable criticism of both valid legislation, which has been in force for more than 20 years and was a means of struggle between political elites, inter-party opposition and satisfying the interests of the bureaucracy, as well as the new version of the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service”, adopted in 2012 and twice postponed by the Parliament, has become an impetus for the definition of qualitatively new legal and organizational principles of the civil service and its comprehensive reform. In July, 2014 the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service (hereinafter - NAUCS) created a working group and with Joint efforts of the NAUCS, NGOs representatives and foreign experts were prepared and ensured the adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service” of December 10, 2015, №. 889-VIII (hereinafter - the Law) and the Strategy for the Public Administration Reform of Ukraine for 2016-2020 (hereinafter - the Strategy).

The Law and the Strategy based of the SIGMA program’s Principles of Public Administration. They are recognized as a set of standards and an assessment framework for the reforms of public administration in a number of countries. The Strategy defines the following reform areas: public policy development and coordination; modernization of civil service and human resources management; ensuring accountability of public administration; service delivery; and public financial management. Establishment of transparent recruitment, professional and career development processes, the preservation of a highly skilled and motivated civil service is indispensable for the effective provision of public services. Significant revision of tasks and functions of government agencies and automation of processes, which is currently carried out, will help attract to civil service highly competent specialists with relevant experience and skills. This will enable to achieve quality renewal of public administration, in line with the European standards and best practices in governance.

According to Strategy realization in 10 ministries defined as pilot, the working groups the functional review was conducted. Conducting functional reviews contributed to optimizing the internal organizational structure of ministries, through allocating in their structural subdivisions responsible for the quality of state policy formation, strategic planning and coordination of the implementation of the relevant policy (directorates). In addition, the NAUCS has developed the Concept of optimization of the system of central executive authorities. Optimization of the system of central government agencies will be done through horizontal functional analysis, which will help to discover the inefficiencies and inconsistencies at the whole-of-government level and strategically integrate all reform areas. For the identification of sectorial problems in individual public policy fields, eliminating combined functions of administrative service delivery and legal compliance control and oversight in respective area the vertical functional analysis will carry out by the end of 2020.

The Law stipulates that the civil service is carried out, in particular, observing the principle of ensuring equal access to civil service – prohibition of all forms and manifestations of discrimination, absence of unreasonable restrictions or granting unjustified advantage to certain categories of citizens when they apply for civil service positions and perform civil service. In addition, ensuring gender equality is an integral part of all measures at all stages of the implementation of the Strategy. The establishment of transparent recruitment, performance appraisal and motivation processes, based on the assessment of the competency level and taking into account the results of performance and merits, help increase the diversity of candidates for vacant civil service positions, select and promote the highly skilled staff and the attract the talented youth to the civil service. This, in turn, will contribute to improving the quality of public services provided to the population.

Due to the Law the pay remuneration model, which was based on an increase in the share of salary in the structure of wages – up to 70 % instead of the current 30 %, was able to significantly change. Two mandatory bonuses were left – for seniority and for rank. In turn, the incentive payments (those that depend on the head's will) amount to no more than 30 % of the salary. According to statistical information, these changes led to an increase in salaries of civil servants. In particular, the average salary of the chief specialist of the central executive authority and local state administration (regional level) in 2015 was 4,4 and 3,1 thousand UAH respectively. In 2016 it increased up to 6,8 and 4,7 (in regions respectively) thousand UAH, in 2017 - up to 12,6 and 6,9 (in regions respectively) thousand UAH.

Was distinction between political and administrative positions in the civil service, in particular, the institute of state secretaries to ministries was introduced, removed from the civil service of patronage services, assistants of deputies, etc. Introduced the institute of state secretaries to ministries, established an exclusively competitive procedure for appointment to all civil service positions. Guarantee of equal access to the civil service became the transparency of contests. A 3-step selection procedure involves testing qualification requirements, solution of situational tasks, cases and interviewing. In 2016 the Senior Civil Service Commission was established and includes 4 representatives of NGOs, science and educational institutions, experts of the relevant qualification (hereinafter – NGOs). The Commission approves the requirements for senior civil service positions, conducts competitive selection as well as assesses the validity of the proposals for the dismissal of these persons, carries out the disciplinary proceedings and brings the proposal assignment on the results.

The Law and the Strategy were positively evaluated by SIGMA experts. Structure of the documents consistent with the SIGMA program’s Principles of public administration. The Strategy adopted the following key components of the civil service reform, which will ensure the above-mentioned: 1) determination of civil servants positions, who are responsible for carrying out major national reforms and have the right to special conditions for remuneration; 2) effective implementation of the Law; 3) financial stability of the reform of civil servants remuneration system, taking into account macroeconomic indicators; 4) optimization of the number of employees in state authorities; 5) the formation of structural HRM units in order to develop modern HRM system with the coordination of the NAUCS; 6) creation of an integrated HRM information system in civil service; 7) reform of professional training system of civil servants; 8) strengthening the institutional capacity of the NAUCS.

For the effective implementation of the Law and the implementation of the Strategy, NAUCS actively engages international technical assistance and works closely with NGO representatives and all stakeholders. Also, with the assistance the Twinning project “Support to the Development of the Civil Service in Ukraine”, authoritative experts from Poland, Slovenia, Germany, Latvia and Great Britain were involved to this initiative. With the support of iGov teams and the Project Board of the National Reforms Council, without the cost of the state budget, have been launched an automated data collection portal on the quantitative composition of civil servants – ksds.nads.gov.ua. In October 2017, was signed a Memorandum on cooperation between the NAUCS and the Association for Innovative and Digital Education on the English language training for civil servants in accordance with EU standards on the portal of the Social Project for the Foreign languages training "Lingva.Skills" (www.lingva.ua). Already available the first successful results of such cooperation. At present, 31,638 civil servants and representatives of local self-government bodies from all regions of Ukraine are learning English at this portal. Together with the Association and international partners, NAUCS continues and works to create an effective ecosystem of training and testing foreign language skills.

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The initiative has involved all state authorities and civil servants (in 2015 – 295 709 persons, in 2016 – 268 378 persons, in 2017 – 242 028 persons). In addition, taking into account the provisions of Articles 19-21 of the Law, the scope of the initiative applies to all citizens of Ukraine, who want to take part in the competition for vacant civil service positions and comply the requirements. In order to implement the Law in all state authorities the NAUCS in cooperation with the international experts and representatives of NGOs provided adoption of all legal acts specified by the Law (41 legal acts - 24 orders and 1 resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and 16 orders registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine). The training on modern HRM instruments was conducted for state authorities with the support of the GIZ, EUAM Consultative Mission of the EU and within the framework of the EU Eastern Partnership Initiative. In order to discussion of problems and challenges, disseminate the best practices in HRM in state authorities, and develop practical recommendations, the Civil Service HRM Council under the NAUCS was established and include the heads of HRM units of central executive authorities.

To support the sustainability of the civil service reform, a Civil service vacancy portal (https://career.gov.ua/) was created. Also vacancies are published on the NAUCS website (http://portal.nads.gov.ua/view_doc.html?mode=ukr_map). An online testing system was created to ensure the transparency of the testing process during the competitions (system - http://guds.gov.ua:45433/users/sign_in; instructions - http://nads.gov.ua/page/testuvannya-2). In close cooperation with the Council of Europe Program the NAUCS has prepared the Concept for reforming the civil servants professional training system. At present, the NAUCS in joint cooperation with the Council of Europe develops the draft Action plan for its implementation. According to the Concept will be implemented a procedure for recognizing the results of training conducted by the NGOs, foreign organizations at the expense of such entities and funds of international technical assistance. In addition, in order to ensure the effective HRM in civil service, control over employment in the civil service, promote transparency of staff costs, with the support of the World Bank the Concept for the implementation of the HRM information system in state authorities have been approved. Currently, there is ongoing process of selection and procurement of necessary consultants, who will work on the technical requirements for this system, as well as procurement documentation.

The effective implementation of the PAR and the fulfillment of tasks stipulated by the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU are not possible without the civil service reform. Therefore, the implementation of this reform is actively supported by representatives of the NGOs, who are constantly hold communicative activities to discuss the problems and challenges facing the civil service. Public organizations are also provided to the NAUCS reports with recommendations for resolving relevant issues, gaps or shortcomings. The reform of the civil service is one of the main priorities and supported by the President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister of Ukraine. The process of reforming the civil service is financed by the state budget and attracted by international technical assistance projects. Also, on December 19, 2016 the Financing agreement governing support to Ukraine’s PAR was signed between the European Commission and the Ukrainian Government. The agreement provides for non-repayable financial assistance worth EUR 104 million (EUR 90 million as sector budget support and EUR 14 million as technical assistance) to be given over 5 years to support various areas of PAR, including civil service reform.

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In accordance with the Strategy, annually the NAUCS conducts monitoring and evaluation of the fulfillment of tasks to achievement of objectives of the Strategy. The Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine monitors the reliability of the monitoring results and reports, as well as coordinates the preparation of the annual report on the progress of the public administration reform. The annual reports are considered by the Coordination Council on public administration reform and published until April 1 on the official website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. To receive timely information on the state of public administration reform (hereinafter – PAR) are being prepared and considered at meetings of the Coordination Council semi-annual and quarterly reports. In particular, on February 24, the meeting of the Coordination Council took place, in which the Report on the implementation of PAR in 2016 was presented - https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/news/249777403. Also, this year is carrying out the SIGMA program assessment of PAR in Ukraine in accordance with the Principles of public administration - http://www.center.gov.ua/pres-tsentr/novini/item/2906-розпочалась-експертна-місія-програми-оеср-sigma-з-метою-встановлення-даних-в-рамках-проведення-оцінки-стану-справ-у-системі-державного-управління-україни, http://www.center.gov.ua/en/press-center/articles/item/2876-assessing-the-state-of-affairs-in-public-administration-system-in-ukraine.

57 meetings of the Senior Civil Service Commission and 208 competitions to the civil service positions of the category “A”, including state secretaries of ministries and their deputies, heads of local (oblast and region) state administrations as well as heads of central executive authorities and their deputies, were held during 2016–2017. Winners of 152 competitions as well as second candidates by the outcome of 69 competitions were identified, 137 winners of the competitions were appointed. Government has appointed 22 state secretaries and their deputies. 190 competitions were held and 132 winners for the positions of experts on reforms were selected. Many representatives of public organizations as well as business are among the winners of competitions. The automated data collection portal on the quantitative composition of civil servants, which was developed for the first time in Ukraine, works almost in real time and covers 898 government authorities (129 executive authorities and 769 judiciary authorities). According to this portal and information provided by the state authorities the number of civil servants decreased from 295 709 persons in 2015 to 242 028 persons in 2017. Concept for the implementation of the HRM information system in state authorities have been developed and approved.

The key performance indicators for the evaluation of the achievement the civil service reform objectives until 2020 is determined by the Strategy and Medium-term plan for the Government's priority actions until 2020. In particular, the Ukraine must achieve the following results: - Indicator “Government effectiveness” of the World Governance Indicators - over 50 percent of countries; - Indicator “Effectiveness of the public sector” of the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum - joining the top 50 countries of the world; - Indicator “Transparency of government policymaking” of the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum - entering the top 50 countries of the world. In general, the systematic and consistent implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service” as of 10 December, 2015 No 889-VIII and the Strategy of Public Administration Reform of Ukraine for 2016–2020 contributed to increasing Ukraine by 34 points according to the indicator “Transparency of government policymaking” (65-th place from 138 countries) in the Global Competitiveness Index 2017–2018.

During the preparation and implementation of the Law and the Strategy, the NAUCS quite tightly worked with NGOs experts that were included to the Expert Advisory Council on Civil Service Reform under the NAUCS, as well as the Public Council under the NAUCS. Civil platform “New Country” (“Nova Krayina”), the public initiative “Reanimation Package of Reforms”, the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform, the charitable foundation “CCC Creative Center”, etc. were among such civil society organizations. These organizations were included to the Coordination Council on PAR. The joint work of the NAUCS and public representatives was a powerful factor in promotion the draft law on civil service. For example, hundreds of activists supported the adoption of the draft law in social networks. At the same time the action “Push! No 2490” was held under the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Public activists encouraged people’s deputies to support the draft law. Also, according to the Law the established Senior Civil Service Commission consisting of 4 representatives of NGOs. In 2016 and 2017 the NAUCS has carried out the election of these representatives. It has published on its website the list of the NGOs and a list of those, who meet the requirements (in 2016 – 20 candidates; in 2017 according to the change of the work place of the two members of the Commission selected by the election results – 21 candidates). Due to the decision of the Commission the representatives of the media, public and international organizations may take part in its meetings. Besides this, the Law established another important innovation - the annual public report of the heads of state authorities on the results of the activity of the relevant state authority with the participation of representatives of NGOs, experts in relevant areas and the media.

The involvement of the civic society and international experts at all stages of the development and implementation of the initiative as well as the continuity in the implementation of the reform has become a successful factor in the implementation of the civil service reform. The involvement of leading staff of the country in order to support the continuation of reform as well as to make the decision necessary for changes. The recruitment system is based on the principles of transparency and objectivity. More professionally competent civil servants.