Dutch gov't overambitious; Budgets for social probelms often unused: Court of Audit

The outgoing Dutch government was more ambitious than their officials could handle, resulting in extra budgets for tackling social problems often going unused. Acute staff shortages, complex regulations, and outdated IT are the main obstacles to achieving political goals, the Court of Audit concluded in its annual accounting of the government’s expenditure, the Volkskrant reports.

The Court of Audit noted that the current Cabinet “had great ambitions in many areas.” It planned to spend an additional 76 billion euros if it completed the entire four year terms, with extra money going to more sustainable agriculture and reducing CO2 emissions, among other things. The government also released billions more on several recovery operations, such as for Groningen residents affected by gas extraction earthquakes and the victims of the benefits scandal, and for emergency measures in the energy crisis.

But not all that money actually found its way to society. Last year alone, 7.2 billion euros remained unused, and that trend is likely to continue in the coming years, the Court of Audit said. The “under-exhaustion” is not limited to one department or implementation organization and implementation problems are persistent. Staff shortages are the biggest problem, with Defense, prisons, Education, the Tax Authority, Healthcare, and others not having enough staff to implement improvements or policies. The government currently has 32,000 open vacancies.

The Court of Audit mentioned the handling of the benefits scandal as an example. The Tax Authority must compensate the victims but is not actually equipped to do so. In addition to staff shortages, tax officials face complex regulations and outdated IT systems. And things will only get worse in the coming period. In the next five years, almost half of the Tax Authority employees will have to be replaced, partly due to retirement.

The Court of Audit also noted multiple instances in which it was unclear what happened with extra money the government made available and whether it had any results. The goals were often “vaguely defined” or extra money got “mixed with existing money flows,” making it impossible to measure the effect. For example, it is unclear whether 900 million euros for vulnerable regions actually ended up there and made a difference. The same applies to 1.6 billion euros for school leaders and teachers.

On the bright side, the Court of Audit found that the government dealt with the energy crisis “actively and controlled.” It implemented emergency measures well despite the time pressure.

The Court of Audit is also more optmisitic about the Ministries’ business operations. In general, the Ministers seem to have their departments in better order. After harsh criticism last year, the Ministry of Public Health has made considerable improvements, although is problems are far from eliminated.

The Court of Audit’s biggest concern this year is the Ministry of Defense. The department is dealing with “wars and violence on the borders of NATO territory” while also encountering personnel and material limits. Extra money does not immediately lead to “more strength” and “increased operational readiness,” which means that the Ministry booked little progress in the past year.