Review of government agency structures advances to more detailed follow-up studies
The Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy has decided that the review of government agency structures will continue with follow-up studies on potential longer-term changes. The follow-up studies will be completed before the end of this year.
So far, the review has looked into agencies, institutions, service centres and other central government bodies governed by public law in all branches of government, as well as state-owned special assignment companies.
“The most important task of government agencies and administrative bodies is to serve the people of Finland. More than ten years have passed since the last comprehensive study of agency structures was carried out. The proposals put forth at that time led to a number of reforms that improved the effectiveness of public administration and saved taxpayers' money. Given the current state of general government finances, we need to reassess the way our agencies are structured. In the next few years, artificial intelligence will allow us to adopt completely new practices. The first stages of our review have produced promising proposals that we will now be studying further,” said Minister of Local and Regional Government Anna-Kaisa Ikonen.
“The review of agency structures is a natural continuation of the Government’s work to dismantle unnecessary regulation, centralise permit and supervision tasks and speed up permit processes, reduce operating expenses, develop digital service channels and take an AI leap forward in public administration,” Minister Ikonen continued.
According to the review, changes could be made to a variety of agency structures over the longer term. At this stage, however, the proposals require further study.
The proposals are:
- Combining central government data centres, service production and ICT service providers
- Centralising the responsibilities for information management and data administration in the different branches of government under a single agency
- Centralising finance and human resources management services and functions under the Government Shared Services Centre for Finance and HR
- Reorganising the structures of group-level services and setting a standard level for services
- Examining government structures and the division of responsibilities between ministries and agencies
- Further specifying the tasks of research organisations and reforming their organisational structures
- Simplifying the structures of rural administration
- More efficient processing of complaints
- Combining permit and supervision tasks
- More efficient administration of discretionary government grants
- Developing steering systems
- Reforming healthcare and social welfare services provided by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
- Transferring the administration of certain comprehensive and upper secondary education institutions to municipalities
- Mapping out and renewing basic registers and information resources
- Establishing a clearer division of responsibilities between competence development and working life development organisations
If the proposals are deemed feasible after the follow-up studies, they could lead to a savings of around EUR 100 million in central government expenses. The savings potential may also be higher than the preliminary estimate.
The ministries will carry out their follow-up studies based on the proposals before the end of the year. The Ministry of Finance will report to the Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy on the progress of the review at the start of next year.
Review of government agency structures part of additional savings measures decided on in 2025 government budget session
In its budget session in September 2025, Prime Minister Orpo’s Government decided to launch a review of government agency structures with the goal of reducing central government operating expenses by EUR 25 million from the start of next year.
The proposals put forth in the review require organisational changes of such a scale that the savings cannot be realised within the desired timetable. As such, the Government decided in its April spending limits session that the savings target would be achieved through permanent savings in operating expenses directed at all of central government from next year onwards.
Inquiries:
Tero Meltti, Director General, tel. +358 295 530 770, tero.meltti(at)gov.fi
Mikko Saarinen, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Head of Unit, tel. +358 295 530 047, mikko.saarinen(at)gov.fi