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Transparency and Accessibility in Municipalities: The Case of Social Services in Spain

Manuela Cañizares-Espada
Manuela Cañizares-Espada
, 
Clara Isabel Muñoz-Colomina
Clara Isabel Muñoz-Colomina
, 
Raquel Pérez-Estébanez
Raquel Pérez-Estébanez
 und 
Elena Urquía-Grande
Elena Urquía-Grande
   | 11. März 2021
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Online veröffentlicht: 11. März 2021
Seitenbereich: 31 - 54
Eingereicht: 28. Apr. 2020
Akzeptiert: 19. Jan. 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/cejpp-2021-0003
Schlüsselwörter
© 2021 Manuela Cañizares-Espada et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1

MTSS Evaluation ModelSource: Own elaboration
MTSS Evaluation ModelSource: Own elaboration

Fig. 2

Results data from the MTSS by Social Services AreasSource: Own elaboration
Results data from the MTSS by Social Services AreasSource: Own elaboration

Theoretical Lines of the Concept of Transparency

THEORETICAL TRENDS AUTHORS
Transparency = “Fundamental Citizens’ Rights” Muñoz Machado (1977), Ferreiro Yazigi (1999), Stiglitz (1999), Kopits (2000), Birkinshaw (2006), Curtin and Meijer (2006) and Naessens (2010), Guillamon, Bastida and Benito (2011).
Transparency = “Citizen Participation” à Democratic Reinforcement Muñoz Machado (1977), Frost (2003), Stiglitz (2003), Guerrero (2005), López Ayllón and Ruiz (2005), Parrado et al. (2005), Grau (2006), Hood and Heald, (2006), Bellver (2007), Florini (2007), Grimmelikhuijsen (2009), Ahn (2011), López et. al. (2011), Cerrillo-I-Martínez (2012), Lee and Kwak (2012), Savoie (2013), and Fariña (2015).
Transparency = “Information Availability” Ferreiro Yazigi (1999), Florini (1999), Florini et al. (2000), Matheson (2002), Islam (2003), Escudero and Llera (2004), Loya (2004), Baragli (2005), Guerrero (2005), Kaufmann (2005), López Ayllón and Ruiz (2005), Curtin and Meijer (2006), Hood and Heald, (2006), Florini (2007), Piotrowski and Van Ryzin (2007), Vergara (2007), Rivera (2008), Navarro et al. (2010), Cerrillo-I-Martínez (2012), Magdaleno and García-García (2014) and Fariña (2015).
Transparency = “Access for Citizens to Information” Wallin and Venna (1999), Kaufmann and Kraay (2002), Abramo, (2002), Frost (2003), Emmerich (2004), Armstrong (2005), Cunha (2005), Kaufmann (2005), López Ayllón and Ruiz (2005), Curtin and Meijer (2006), Torres et al. (2006), Piotrowski and Van Ryzin (2007), Naessens (2010), Bonson, Torres, Royo and Flores, (2012), Grimmelikhuijsen and Meijer (2014), Magdaleno and García-García (2014), Navarro et al. (2014), De Miranda and Cañavete (2015), Fariña (2015), Rebolledo, Zamora-Medina and Rodriguez-Virgili (2017), Alcaraz-Quiles et al. (2018) and Avidan, Etzion and Gehman (2018).
Transparency = “Accountability” à Decision Making Kopits (2000), Matheson (2002), Frost (2003), Meijer (2003), Emmerich (2004), Escudero and Llera (2004), Loya (2004), Schedler (2004), Baragli (2005), Guerrero (2005), López Ayllón and Ruiz (2005), Merino (2005), Fernández and Gómez (2006), Bellver (2007), Florini (2007), Sour (2007), Lizcano (2009), Naessens (2010) and Vila I Vila (2013).
Transparency = “Good Practices” à Fight Against Corruption Merino (2005), Bellver (2007), Grimmelikhuijsen (2009), Fariña (2015), Del Vasto et al. (2019) and Del Campo et al. (2020).
Transparency in the Public Sector = Market in the Private Sector Tejeiro (2004), Grimmelikhuijsen (2013).

Summary of Results Obtained from the MTSS calculus*

Nº of Present Indicators (max. 68) Nº of Municipalities (max. 38) PERCENTAGE PRESENCE OF INDICATORS (transparece or presence %) TOTAL AVERAGE OF DEGREE OF EASE (facility or accessibility with values between 1 and 5) MTSS INDICATOR (between 0 and 5)
33–35 2 (48%–51%) (1.94–2.07) (0.94–1.06)
23–25 6 (34%–38%) (1.68–2.06) (0.57–0.76)
16–20 7 (23%–32%) (1.40–1.68) (0.33–0.51)
7–13 17 (10%–22%) (1.19–1.65) (0.12–0.30)
1–6 6 (1%–9%) (1.06–1.19) (0.02–0.11)

Valuation of Model Coefficients (MTSS)

Beta t Sig.
Constant 5.557 0.000
Population −2.513 −1.792 0.082
Over_65_years 3.715 2.617 0.013
Debt −0.69 −1.864 0.071
Constant 4.453 0.000
Male 11.952 1.978 0.056
Female −17.014 −2.39 0.023
Over_65_years 5.627 3.225 0.003
R Square = 0.459

Level of Transparency by areas

B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) 0.16 0.022 7.211 0.000
MTSS by budget_area 0.42 0.245 1.718 0.095
MTSS by coverage_area 0.228 0.077 2.94 0.006
MTSS by environment_area 0.113 0.027 4.108 0.000
MTSS by activity_area 0.541 0.08 6.767 0.000
R square = 0.867

Total number of indicators of social services of the model MTSS (68)

Nº Indicator Description
ACTIVITY INDICATORS
A1 Index of people served in social services
A2 Index of people attended to in the service of autonomy and care of dependence
A3 Index of interventions per person served in social services
A4 Index of interventions per person attended to in the autonomy and dependency care service
A5 Percentage of home care for people under 64 years
A6 Percentage of home care for people over 64 and under 80 years
A7 Percentage of home care for the elderly
A8 Index of home help service coverage
A9 Index of hours per recipient of home help (agreed plan)
A10 Index of hours per beneficiary of home help (dependency)
A11 Percentage of attention with tele-assistance
A12 Index of perceptions of emergency economic aid
A13 Percentage of immigrants served by social services
A14 Index of emergency occupations for women suffering from gender-violence
A15 Index of occupations in shelters for the homeless
A16 Average resolution time for home help in social services
A17 Average time for effective start of home help in social services
A18 Average total waiting time for the provision of home help in social services
A19 Index of human resources (social workers) in social services
A20 Index of human resources (social workers and other technicians) in social services
A21 Index of human resources (administrative staff) in social services
A22 Index of workload of the service of autonomy and attention to dependence (recognition)
A23 Index of workload of the service of autonomy and care of dependence (PIA in spanish)
A24 Index of the workload of the home help service (dependence)
Nº Indicator Description
BUDGET INDICATORS
P1 Current expenditure on social services per habitant
P2 Capital expenditure on social services per habitant
P3 Percentage of current expenditure on social services
P4 Percentage of capital expenditure on social services
P5 Percentage coverage of current expenditure on social services, with current transfers received
P6 Percentage coverage of current expenditure on social services, financed by users
P7 Average amount of emergency financial aid
Nº Indicator Description
COST INDICATORS
CT1 Cost of information and individual counselling in basic care
CT2 Cost of home tele-assistance per assisted household
CT3 Cost of home care service: help provided at home (agreed plan)
CT4 Cost of home care service: help provided at home (dependency)
CT5 Cost of foster care for children, per child cared for
CT6 Cost per space in day centers for the elderly
CT7 Cost of daily accommodation of the immigrant population
CT8 Cost of an overnight stay in a homeless shelter
CT9 Cost of emergency floor accommodation (gender-based violence)
CT10 Cost of the service of autonomy and attention to the dependence by attended user
Nº Indicator Description
COVERAGE INDICATORS
CO1 Degree of coverage of the autonomy and dependency care service, with current transfers received
CO2 Degree of coverage of the home help service (dependence), with current transfers received
CO3 Degree of coverage of the home help service (dependency), with user financing
CO4 Degree of coverage of the home help service (dependency), with current transfers received and financing from users
Nº Indicator Description
ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS
E1 Childhood Index
E2 Adolescent Index
E3 Youth Index
E4 Old Age Index (over 64 years old)
E5 Old Age Index (80 or more years)
E6 Index of over-aging
E7 Population Dependency Index
E8 Percentage of immigrant population
E9 Annual population growth rate
E10 Municipal tax revenues per capita
E11 Current savings
E12 Non-financial deficit or surplus
Nº Indicator Description
TRANSPARENCY LAW INDICATORS
LT1 Annual and multiannual plans and programs for social services are published, setting out specific objectives, as well as the activities, means, and time frame for achieving them.
LT2 An updated Organizational Chart is published to identify those responsible for social services, as well as their functions and dependency relationships.
LT3 All contracts concluded in the field of social services are published, indicating the subject matter, the amount of the tender and award, the procedure used, any instruments through which it was advertised, the number of tenderers participating in the procedure and the identity of the successful tenderers.
LT4 The modifications of the Contracts formalized in social services are published (through a direct and specific link on the web).
LT5 The minor contracts concluded in social services are published periodically (at least quarterly) with detailed information on their amounts and the people awarded them (through a direct and specific link on the website).
Nº Indicator Description
TRANSPARENCY LAW INDICATORS
LT6 The list of the agreements signed in social services is published, mentioning the signatory parties, their purpose and, if applicable, the agreed economic obligations.
LT7 Subsidies and public aid granted in social services are published, with an indication of their amount, objective or purpose and beneficiaries.
LT8 The remuneration received by senior elected officials and, where appropriate, the General Directors and senior managers of social service entities is published.
LT9 The compensations received on the occasion of the abandonment of the positions in social services are made public (if there have not been any, it will be expressly indicated on the website).
LT10 The Register of Interest in the Activities and Assets of Senior Social Service Officers (provided for in the Law on the Basis of the Local System) is published.
LT11 The list of properties (offices, premises, etc.), both own and rented, occupied and/or assigned to social services is published.

Configuration of the Variable, Degree of Ease in Locating the Information by Indicator

Degree of Ease Significance Average Search Time per Indicator (minutes) Average Search Time per Indicator (seconds)
1 Not found Between 2.5 and 3 minutes 165 seconds
2 Very Hard Between 2 and 2.5 minutes 135 seconds
3 Hard Between 1.5 and 2 minutes 105 seconds
4 Easy Between 1 and 1.5 minutes 75 seconds
5 Very Easy Less than 1 minutes 30 seconds

Summary of the Regulations on Transparency and Right of Access in the Regulation of Spanish Transparency at Regional Level. Autonomous Communities in Spain

TYPE OF LEGISLATION OR REGULATION LAWS/REGULATIONS CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROCESS OF TRANSPARENCY
Regulation of Spanish Transparency at Regional Level. Autonomous Communities with Transparency Laws prior to Law 19/2013 GALICIA

* Law 4/2006, Transparency and Good Practices in the Galician Public Administration (2006)

* Law 1/2016, Transparency and Good Governance (2016)

 BALEARIC ISLANDS

* Law 4/2011, Good Administration and Good Government of the Balearic Islands (2011)

* Law 16/2016, Creation of the Office for the Prevention and Fight against Corruption in the Balearic Islands (2016)

* Law 3/2017, Amendment of Law 20/2006, Municipal and Local Government of the Balearic Islands, to introduce measures of transparency and participation (2017)

* Decree 1/2019, Regulator of the Commission for Access to Public Information Claims (2019)

 FORAL COMMUNITY OF NAVARRE

*Foral Law 11/2012, Transparency and Open Government (2012)

*Foral Law 5/2016, Modification of the Foral Law 11/2012, on Transparency and Open Government (2016)

*Foral Decree 7/2017, appointing the President and members of the Transparency Council of Navarre (2017)

*Transparency Council Agreement of Navarra, Approving the Rules of Organization and Operation of the Navarra Transparency Council (2017)

*Foral Law 5/2018, Transparency, access to public information and good governance (2018)

 EXTREMADURA

*Law 4/2013, Open Government of Extremadura (2013)

*Law 18/2015, Open Accounts for the Extremadura Public Administration (2015)
Regulation of Spanish Transparency at Regional Level. Autonomous Communities with Transparency Laws after Law 19/2013 ANDALUSIA

*Law 1/2014, Public Transparency of Andalusia (2014)

* Decree 289/2015, regulating the Administrative Organization in the field of Public Transparency in the Administration of the Autonomous Government of Andalusia and its instrumental entities (2015)

*Decree 434/2015, approving the Statutes of the Andalusian Council for Transparency and Data Protection (2015)

*Resolution 2016, creating a General Registry of Documents (2016)

 RIOJA

*Law 3/2014, Transparency and Good Governance of La Rioja (2014)

 MADRID

*Law 2/2002, Environmental Assessment of the Community of Madrid (2002)

*Law 7/2015, Abolition of the Advisory Council (2015)

*Law 10/2019, Transparency and Participation of the Community of Madrid (2019)

 REGION OF MURCIA

*Law 12/2014, Transparency and Citizen Participation of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia (2014)

 CATALONIA

*Law 19/2014, Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance (2014)

*Decree 233/2016, establishing the Interdepartmental Commission on Transparency and Open Government (2016)

*Decree 111/2017, approving the Rules of Procedure of the Commission on Guaranteeing the Right of Access to Public Information (2017)

 VALENCIA

*Law 2/2015, Transparency, Good Governance and Citizen Participation of the Valencian Community (2015)

*Law 2/2016, of 4 March, of the Generalitat, modifying Law 2/2015, Transparency, Good Governance and Citizen Participation of the Valencian Community (2016)

*Ley 5/2016, Cuentas abiertas para la Generalitat Valenciana (2016)

*Decree 56/2016, approving the Good Governance Code of the Generalitat (2016)

*Decree 105/2017, implementing Law 2/2015, on Transparency and Regulation of the Council on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance (2017)
Regulation of Spanish Transparency at Regional Level. Autonomous Communities with Transparency Laws after Law 19/2013 ARAGÓN

*Law 8/2015, Transparency of Public Activity and Citizen Participation in Aragon (2015)

*Decree 32/2016, of 22 March, of the Government of Aragon, approving the Regulations on the Organization and Operation of the Transparency Council of Aragon (2016)

 CASTILLA Y LEÓN

*Law 3/2015, Transparency and Citizen Participation of Castilla y León (2015)

*Decree 7/2016, regulating the Procedure for the Exercise of the Right of Access to Public Information in the Community of Castilla y León (2016)

 ASTURIAS

*Law of the Principality of Asturias 8/2018, Transparency, Good Governance and Interest Groups (2018)

 CANTABRIA

* Law 1/2018, Transparency of Public Activity (2018)

 AUTONOMOUS CITY OF MELILLA

* Decree no. 43, regarding the final approval of the Regulations on Transparency and Access to Public Information of the Autonomous City of Melilla (2016)

% of presence of municipalities in the different Social Services

B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) −0.077 0.017 −4.456 0.000
% total presence by activity_area 0.038 0.002 16.21 0.000
% total presence by budget_area 0.03 0.016 1.883 0.069
% total presence by coverage_area 0.068 0.012 5.657 0.000
% total presence by environment_area 0.022 0.002 9.863 0.000
% total presence by transparency law_area 0.03 0.002 14.563 0.000
R square = 0.984

Summary of the Regulations on Transparency and Right of Access in the International Sphere and their influence in Spain

TYPE OF LEGISLATION OR REGULATION LAWS/REGULATIONS CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROCESS OF TRANSPARENCY
At the end of the 20th century, only thirteen countries had a transparency law, now there are more than one hundred and twenty, and many more are in the process of being processed and approved.
International Laws and Standards

*Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)

* American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948)

*Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

* International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)

* American Convention on Human Rights (1969)

*International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976)

* OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (OECD Convention, 1997)

* The Inter-American Democratic Charter (2001)

*United Nations Convention against Corruption (2003)

* The Ibero-American Charter for Citizen Participation in Public Management (2009)

* Model Inter-American Law on Access to Public Information, AG/RES. 2607 (2010)

* Access to Public Information and Protection of Personal Data, AG/RES. 2661 (2011)

 International organizations have anticipated the scope of public information in their statements and other manifestations, from which legislators in many States of the world have drawn inspiration. Since 1766, there has been an expanding international public interest and concern in developing regulations for transparency and access to public information in each of the branches of government. The right of the citizen to hold public officials accountable is defined. It also addresses freedom of expression and freedom to disseminate opinions. A new concept limiting all these rights also appears, which is having national security. And finally, the most recent one develops the principles with which corruption can be fought (legality, integrity, transparency and accountability). Each State gives priority to transparency, which often coincides with the quality of its legal system. Sometimes the right of access is framed in a fundamentalist or a politically correct category, ignoring the international premises to which it is subject.
Transparency Laws in Scandinavian Countries

*Freedom of the Press Act, 1766 (Sweden)

*Act on the Openness of Public Documents of 1951 (Finland)

*The Freedom of Information Act of 1970 (Norway)

 Sweden is now known as the State of Transparency, because it was the first country to develop direct state regulation, the other countries saw that this was important and started to develop their own laws.
Transparency Law in United States *The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 1966 This law has undergone four reforms and the last one in 1996, to include access to electronic information (e-FOIA).
Transparency Law in Canada *Access to Information Act, 1985 The purpose of this Act is to enhance the accountability and transparency of federal institutions in order to promote an open and democratic society and to enable public debate on the conduct of those institutions.
Transparency Law in New Zealand *Official Information Act, 1982 This law helps New Zealand citizens, permanent residents and anyone in New Zealand to access information held by governments and government agencies. This promotes openness and transparency, and enables public participation in government.
Transparency Law in Austria *Transparency Act 2013 In Austria, on the other hand, transparency in politics and administration has no tradition. Official secrecy even has constitutional status. State information is in principle only classified as freely accessible and that official secrecy is only applied in exceptional cases to be justified.
Transparency in Western European Mediterranean Countries

*French Information Technology and Civil Liberties Act of 1978 (France)

*Law No. 2690 on the Ratification of the Code of Administrative Procedure and Other Provisions of 1986, (Greece)

*Law No. 241 of 7 August 1990 on the new rules on administrative procedure and the right of access to administrative documents (Italy)

*Law 65/93 of 26 August Access to Administration documents (Portugal)

 All these countries surrounding Spain have greatly influenced the process and the elaboration of the Spanish transparency law, not only because of their proximity but also because of the Mediterranean cultural similarities they share. Furthermore, the Spanish law was the last to be approved and therefore this is another important reason for influence.
Rest of Western European States

*Law No. 94-1724 (11.04.1994) on Publicity of the Administration (Belgium)

*The Freedom of Information Act, 2000 (United Kingdom)

* Freedom of Information Act, 2005 (Germany)

 The regulation in transparency that these European countries carry out, have great similarities since all of them are within the community legal environment of the European Union to which they all belong.
Normative Context of the European Union

* Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950)

* Council Directive on freedom of information on the environment 88/C 335/04 (1988)

* Council Directive 90/313/EEC, The Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment (1990)

*Declaration No 17 annexed to the Final Act of the Maastricht Treaty (1992)

*Decision 93/731/EEC18, Public Access to Council Documents (1993)

*Commission Decision, Public Access to Commission Documents 94/90/ECSC, EC, Euratom (1994)

*Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)

*Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998)

*Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) (2000)

*The European Code of Good Administrative Behaviour (2001)

*Directive 2003/4/EC13 on public access to environmental information (2003)

*Directive 2003/98/EC14 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the re-use of public sector information (2003)

*Green Paper - European Transparency Initiative (2006)

*Treaty of Lisbon (2007)

*Council of Europe Convention on Access to Public Documents (2009)

*Commission Decision, Code of Conduct for the Members of the European Commission C/2018/0700 (2018)

 Since the origin of the European Union, the founding treaties have contained statements on the transparency of the Community institutions. As it is consolidated, the Community regulations on transparency are being applied to other matters such as the environment, the press and equality.With the holding of successive European Councils, the foundations of transparency policy were laid, and the institutions gradually reached agreements in favor of transparency by approving codes of access to Council and Commission documents. These Codes of Good Conduct established the principles to be followed by Community officials in the process of applying for access to EU documents. This was a further major step forward with the advent of computer systems and the Internet, which made it easier to access European public information from any computer. The EU, through its official channels, has taken care to convey to the Member States the categorical maxims of transparency and the right of access to public information, defining a common supranational character committed to these values.
State Transparency Regulations in Spain

* Spanish Constitution (1978)

*Law 38/1995, The Right of Access to Information on the Environment (1995)

*Ley 33/2003, Patrimonio de las Administraciones Públicas (2003)

*Law 47/2003, General Budgetary Law (2003)

*Order APU/516/2005, Code of Good Governance for members of the Government and senior officials of the General State Administration (2005)

*Law 37/2007, The Re-use of Public Sector Information (2007)

*Law 19/2013, Transparency, access to public information and good governance (2013)

*Royal Decree 919/2014, Approving the Statute of the Council for Transparency and Good Governance (2014)

*Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, approving the revised text of the Law on the Basic Statute of Public Employees (2015)

*Law 3/2015, Regulating the Exercise of the High Office of the General State Administration (2015)

*Law 18/2015, amending Law 37/2007 of 16 November on the re-use of public sector information (2015)

*Law 39/2015, Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations (2015)

*Law 40/2015, Legal Regime of the Public Sector (2015)

*Law 9/2017, Public Sector Contracts, which transposes into Spanish law the Directives of the European Parliament and Council 2014/23/EU and 2014/24/EU, of 26 February 2014 (2017)

 The first Spanish law, which contains a reference to transparency and the right of access to information of citizens, is the Spanish Constitution of 1978, in Article 105. There is a gradual difference between Spain and contemporary and adjacent regulations with regard to the scope granted to its standards. Recent Spanish legislation is still reluctant to consider the right of access as a fundamental right, despite the powerful legal and institutional apparatus it has had in other regulations. Spain has received considerable impetus in this area because it is part of the European Union. It has benefited from the Community regulations that have been adopted on numerous occasions in relation to transparency.

Total Time Distribution per Search Phase

Distribution of Total Time by Phases Minutes Hours
Access to the website of the Town Hall 3.040 50.7
Location of the department or section 570 9.5
Location of MTSS indicators in social services / councils 1.818 30.3
Locating indicators in other web documents 420 7
Search for indicators in the web 5.760 96
Total Time 11.608 193.50
Total Data Searched 2.584
Average of Time per Search/Data 4.5 min
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