EBPM Promotion Committee (1st)

Overview

Date and Time: Thursday, November 4, 2021 (2021) from 14:00 to 15:00
Location: Online
Agenda:
1. Opening
2. Greetings from the Chairman
3. Promotion system of EBPM
4. EBPM Initiatives by the Cabinet Office and Ministries
5. Efforts by the Committee for the Promotion of Integrated Economic and Fiscal Reform related to the promotion of EBPM
6. Efforts by the Administrative Evaluation Office for EBPM Promotion
7. Digital Agency's Efforts to Promote EBPM
8. Efforts by the Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Headquarters concerning the promotion of EBPM
9. Efforts based on the "Guidelines for Judging Provision, etc. of Statistical Data, etc."
10. Exchange of opinions
11. Adjournment

Materials

References

Relevant policies

Data Strategy

Minutes

Date

Thursday, November 4, 2021 (2021), from 14:00 to 15:00

Location

Held online

Attendees

Experts

Fumio Ohtake (Specially Appointed Professor, Behavioral Economics Unit, Department of Scientific Information and Public Policy, education Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Osaka University)
Hiromu Ohashi (Dean, School of Public Policy, The University of
Daiji Kawaguchi (Professor, School of Public Policy, The University of
KOBAYASHI Yohei (Senior Researcher, Economic Policy Department, Policy Research Division, Mitsubishi UFJ Research & amp; Consulting Co., Ltd.)

Members

Members of the EBPM Promotion Committee, including the Takeshi Fujii (Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary (in charge of domestic affairs))

Proceedings

Greetings from the Chairman
Promotion system of EBPM
EBPM Initiatives by the Cabinet Office and Ministries
Efforts by the Committee for the Promotion of Integrated Economic and Fiscal Reform related to the promotion of EBPM
Efforts by the Administrative Evaluation Office for EBPM Promotion
Digital Agency's Efforts to Promote EBPM
Efforts by the Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Headquarters concerning the promotion of EBPM
Efforts based on the "Guidelines for Judging Provision, etc. of Statistical Data, etc."
Exchange of opinions

The course of the proceedings

1. Greetings from the Chairman

Chairman, Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujii delivered an address. The summary is as follows.

Although the construction of organization has changed, I would like to ask all experts and members to continue to promote EBPM.
It has been a little more than one year since I attended the EBPM Promotion Committee for the first time. During this period, there have been two major environmental changes surrounding EBPM. One is that policy formulation aiming at a new society after COVID-19 has become necessary. There are situations in which responses to changes in which knowledge and experience do not work are required, and the significance of evidence such as objective data is increasingly being questioned. The other is the establishment of Digital Agency as a control tower for digital society formation. Digital Agency will promote EBPM, including the promotion of data utilization essential for the promotion of digital reform. Based on these two major environmental changes, I believe that it is necessary to further promote and strengthen EBPM.
I would like to make three points.
The first point is to revitalize policy discussion. Valuing careful dialogue with the people is the basis of the administration of the Kishida Cabinet, and open discussion should be actively conducted. We would like to see efforts made to revitalize policy discussion with stakeholders, hold evidence-based discussions, and brush up on policies.
The second point is the promotion of data utilization. In the future, the public and private sectors will develop environments for data utilization under the leadership of Digital Agency. We would like the Cabinet Office and each Ministry to more actively work on the validation and improvement of the effects of policies using data in accordance with the "Principles for Data Action in Administration" shown in the "Comprehensive Data Strategy."
The third point is the establishment of EBPM in budget formulation. As I stated at the EBPM Promotion Committee a year ago, EBPM is naturally integrated in budget formulation. I have heard that the logic model has been utilized in about 400 projects out of about 5000 projects in the budget process in fiscal 2021, but the efforts are still not sufficient. It is natural that the budget is formulated in a way that EBPM is integrated in all projects. Therefore, I would like the Secretariat for Administrative Reform and each ministry and agency to cooperate with the budget authorities and strengthen their efforts. goal
Including the efforts mentioned above, we would like to discuss response measures while sharing the status of EBPM's efforts and Issue in the Committee, so we would like to ask for your efforts.

2. Promotion system of EBPM

The Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Office explained the EBPM promotion system. (Material 1)

3. EBPM Initiatives by the Cabinet Office and Ministries

The Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Office, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, METI, and Ministry of Finance explained EBPM's efforts at the Cabinet Office and each Ministry. (Materials 2 to 5)

4. Efforts by the Committee for the Promotion of Integrated Economic and Fiscal Reform related to the promotion of EBPM

The Director-General for Policy Planning and Evaluation of the Cabinet Office (in charge of economic and social systems) explained the efforts of the Committee for the Promotion of Integrated Economic and Fiscal Reform related to the promotion of EBPM (Material 6).

5. Efforts by the Administrative Evaluation Bureau concerning the promotion of EBPM

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Evaluation Bureau explained the efforts of the Evaluation Bureau related to the promotion of EBPM.

6. Digital Agency's Efforts to Promote EBPM

Digital Agency explained Digital Agency's efforts to promote EBPM. (Material 7)

7. Efforts by the Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Office concerning the promotion of EBPM

The Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Office explained the efforts of the Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Office related to the promotion of EBPM. (Material 8)

8. Efforts based on the "Guidelines for Judgment on Provision, etc. of Statistical Data, etc."

The Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Office explained the status of responses to requests for the provision of statistics and other data by the Cabinet Office and each Ministry, and reported on the results of consideration of requests and proposals from users regarding the provision of statistics and other data received by the EBPM Promotion Committee (Material 9).

9. Exchange of opinions

The Cabinet Office requested that the Government as a whole and the Secretariat of the Administrative Reform Promotion Office make efforts concerning EBPM.
After that, an expert commented on the promotion of EBPM. The summary is as follows.

Expert Kobayashi

The Cabinet Office and each Ministry are making very concrete efforts, and I felt it was wonderful.
Securement, Development, and Utilization of Human Resources However, I think it would be useful to have lectures from experts, but I think it would be good if workshops could be held so that officials in charge of each ministry and agency could learn from each other.
The government is a user of evidence, but I think there is a Issue that the existing evidence is not arranged in a form that is easy for the administrative officer to use. It is also important to have a function that makes the existing evidence as easy to understand as possible and easy to use by someone who organizes and communicates it.
I think the guidebook is a very good initiative. I think it is also good that it is made by agile type. However, if it is made by agile type, it must be allowed to be corrected if there is a mistake. EBPM will not spread unless there is a situation in which failure is allowed. I think it would be good if we could spread a culture in which we can change the inside of administrative organization without fear of mistakes through making the guidebook by agile type.

Expert OTAKE

EBPM can be used not only for policy evaluation but also for policy recommendation. It is often misunderstood that when there is more than one outcome, for example, in the context of COVID-19, when there is a tradeoff between socioeconomic activity and epidemic control, EBPM cannot set the outcome alone. In actual policy formulation, I think that each policy has advantages and disadvantages in most cases. EBPM is required to incorporate such points into policy recommendations.
Ministry of Finance explained examples of initiatives for the utilization of tax data. I believe that such initiatives can be developed in other ministries. For example, the Hello Work of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and pensions. pensions's data is excellent data that can be obtained as panel information for individuals over a long period of time, and it would be good if it could be developed so that it can be utilized. Similarly, the utilization of medical care's receipt data has already been started, but it would be good if it could be made more user-friendly. In addition, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications's resident tax data can be extremely useful information by linking with local government's data. There is a problem of personal data protection, but I would like to see a framework developed so that it can be used.
The example of GIGA School Concept is a story in which the validation of policy effects is very difficult. It is difficult to understand the difference in effects after the testing is implemented uniformly throughout the country. I think it would be good if we could design a mechanism for validation at the preliminary stage.

Expert Kawaguchi

In particular, the efforts to utilize tax data described in Ministry of Finance's explanation are significant. Given the position of each ministry as a user of evidence, I think it is necessary to utilize external resources. Regarding design, which is a mechanism that can provide data to external parties, I would like each ministry to expand their efforts by referring to this example. Specifically, I would like you to consider a joint research system for the employment insurance of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and pensions. In addition, local government has more tax data, but there is a limit to what only local government can handle. I think it would be good to have a mechanism that can be promoted in cooperation with the person in charge of local government administration in Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Regarding the request to the person in charge of statistics in Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, it takes time because there are many exchanges from the request for the provision of government statistics to the provision of government statistics. In particular, it is a bottleneck to fill out all the use items.

Ohashi Intellectuals

It is important to expand the scope of EBPM's target measures for the spread, penetration, and quality improvement of EBPM. We would like the Chief Administrative Officer of EBPM in each Ministry to consider a path toward the spread and penetration of EBPM as a whole. At the same time, it is also important for the Secretariat of Administrative Reform to have a viewpoint in which the Cabinet Office and each Ministry are aligned, and we would like the Secretariat of Administrative Reform to proceed from such a viewpoint in order to improve the quality of EBPM. In addition, since the COVID-19-related project is a new project that is of high interest to the people, we would like the Secretariat of Administrative Reform to consider its efforts.
Regarding the use of administrative record information, I think it is very epoch-making that national tax and customs data are used in a form that can be identified by the ID of an individual business operator. I think other ministries and agencies should promote such efforts. On the other hand, in the field of medical care and nursing care, ownership of data may be distributed among individuals, medical institutions, local government, etc. I think it is necessary to devise a way to unify the form of opt-out in which individuals have ownership of data. Digital Agency may be involved, but in order to expand such efforts, I would like to see consideration of how ownership of data should be.
In addition, we would like the Administrative Reform Secretariat to work on exchanging data between the Cabinet Office and ministries.
Policy evaluation, administrative project review, and logic modeling are all aimed at improving policies, and it is necessary to consider how to integrate them and what kind of institutional exit should be made.

End