OECD Peer Review of E-Government in Denmark - ePractice.eu

E-government context
Government policy and leadership
Denmark has employed ICT in government for several decades, and has a long history of
instituting policies and programmes focused on effective use of this resource. The first notable move
in this area was the establishment, in 1959, of a publicly owned IT services company called
Datacentralen, which provided State government organisations with a wide range of data processing
and information systems design and operations services until its sale to Computer Sciences
Corporation Denmark in 1996. Public ownership of ICT providers is still a major feature of the local
government context for Danish e-government, aspects of which are examined in depth in Chapter 6.
During the 1970s and 1980s, following a pattern common in OECD countries, Denmark focused
mainly on achieving efficiencies through process automation. A good example of this type of
development was the introduction, in 1970, of the Central Income Tax System, which enabled
collection of income tax directly from employers, and became increasingly automated over the course
of several years. The 1990s brought a shift towards exploiting the power of ICT to develop what was
referred to as e-government by the later part of the decade. Today the Government is pursuing a
vigorous e-government programme spanning the whole of the public sector.
There is a favourable environment for development of e-government in Denmark. Past and
present governments have placed strong policy emphasis on making the best possible public and
private sector use of ICT, in pursuit of both social and economic goals. As part of the Government’s
broader focus on the use of ICT in the economy and Danish society, e-government enjoys good, albeit
indirect, political support. While e-government has not in itself been a “headline” policy of the
Government, it has been clearly positioned as a key element of policies aimed at developing the
Danish information society, modernising and increasing the efficiency of the public sector, and
improving the performance of the economy. It has also been regarded as an enabler of the upcoming
reforms of the administrative structure of the Danish public sector (the “Structural Reform”) that are
based on the recommendations of the Danish Commission on Administrative Structure.
While Denmark does not have a specific ministerial portfolio for e-government, it has placed
overall responsibility for Danish ICT policy (covering citizens, businesses and the public sector) with
the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MVTU). In 2001, following a review of the
public sector’s progress in developing e-government, the Ministry of Finance established both the
Joint Board of e-Government and the Danish Digital Task Force to increase the focus being placed on
overall e-government leadership, planning and co-ordination. These bodies now work on
e-government in close co-operation with the MVTU.
The Danish political system is characterised by a culture of compromise and consensus, and there
are good opportunities for public participation in the political process at both the national and local
levels of government. This tradition of compromise and consensus influences the culture and operation
of the public sector.
Public sector structure and management
The Danish public sector is divided into State and local government. State government comprises
both national and local functions and services. The structure of local government is based on a two-tier
system of counties and municipalities, with each municipality “belonging” to one of the counties.
However, the general rule is that municipalities are not subordinate to counties – both have their own
spheres of responsibility.
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