Shcherbak N. Public Administration Reform: Parliamentary Dimension

The Dissertation is concerned with the relevant issues of public administration reform. Its main objectives are to modernize the activities of all public authorities; to improve the quality of the public (administrative) services provided to citizens; to increase the existing level of openness of state bodies and to promote the cooperation between the government and citizens. It is established that public administration reform has an important parliamentary dimension, considering the particularities of the legislative status of the Parliament in the state power system. In this regard, it is analyzed the legal status, key functions of the parliaments and their secretariats. It also described and compared the different models of the parliamentary public service in many European countries. This paper presents the international standards and practices of other European countries concerning the public administration reform and its parliamentary dimension as well as the recommendations of European Parliament, other international organizations regarding further modernization of activity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and its Apparatus. It is systematized and summarized the guidelines for improvement of human resources management (HRM) system in the State bodies and increasing the professional level of civil servants. In this regard, it is justified the necessity to develop the new comprehensive HRM Strategy as a crucial part of the modernization of the Secretariat of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It was identified the position and role of the training system for the key parliamentary stakeholders. In relation to this, the specific proposals regarding further modernization of this system are developed. Much attention was given to the moral and ethical paradigm of the public administration reform. The author provides an analysis of the key elements of this paradigm (i.e. public ethical standards, corporate culture, gender equality standards etc.). The “gender” is presented as a system of values established by the society and supported by different institutions. It is noted about the opportunity for different gender groups to have equal rights regarding their participation in all spheres of the public life. Following the above-mentioned, it is provided an analysis of the State policy aimed at ensuring gender equality as a well-structured system focused on the consolidation of the gender equality principles and the practical implementation of the developed gender strategies at all levels. Due to the conducted review, the practical recommendations regarding further implementation of the gender equality standards (in the framework of the public administration reform) were developed and argued. Furthermore, particular attention is paid to the importance of the leadership development in the public bodies aimed at successful realisation of the public administration reform. It is pointed out the new innovative approaches and tools for further implementation of the public administration reform (in particular, strategic planning and policy analysis). The author describes in detail the reasons for promoting policy 36 analysis tool as well as its introduction in the public sphere of other European countries. It is mentioned that the policy analysis is a well-known tool in the world. Following the recommendations of international and European organizations, to increase their effectiveness and to improve the decision-making process it should be implemented in all public institutions. The particular attention is paid to the activity of the different (national and international) scientific schools conducting the research on the different aspects of the policy analysis and its implementation in the public sphere. It is identified three main stages of the public policy analysis, i.e. perspective, retrospective, integration. Meanwhile, it is defined following steps for the public policy analysis: identification of the problem; data collection; elaboration of alternative solutions; tackling criteria; impact assessment, comparison of possible options; decision-making; ensuring support of follow on implementation. The author argues about the necessity of the elaboration of the new strategic plan for the Secretariat of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In this regard, the structure of the mentioned strategic document and its logical framework were presented and analyzed. The particular attention is paid to the formation of an effective team, promoting leadership and team management in the framework of the strategic planning.