Every year on Budget Day (every third Tuesday in September) the government of the Netherlands presents the central government budget for the upcoming year. Much attention is paid to migration, agriculture and purchasing power. But what plans does the cabinet have for digitalisation?
Digitalisation
The budget documents of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations include these spearheads:
- The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations is committed to the digital transition of society in which everyone can participate.
- The focus is not on technology, but on the public values that can be reinforced with technology.
- A decisive, secure and transparent digital government is being worked on from a single government perspective.
- Civil servants will be better prepared and follow mandatory e-learning to increase digital resilience.
- By 2025, important steps will be taken to strengthen the digital government in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
King Willem-Alexander stressed the importance of digitalisation and digital resilience in the Speech from the Throne: ‘We must be prepared for attacks on our digital connections, roads, energy networks, ports and waterworks. But even at home, people need to arm themselves against a temporary outage of, for example, power and water. For the cabinet, resilience is an important issue.’
Government programme
Digitalisation is a key issue in the recently published coalition programme. The cabinet wants to respond proactively to technological developments affecting the government and society. The basics must be in order with safe and well-functioning systems, proper data exchange and smart use of technology such as cloud, quantum and AI. In addition, the government remains committed to safeguarding public values when using new technologies. The government wants to approach these plans as one government. It is therefore working with relevant partners on a Dutch Digitalisation Strategy.
Read more about Budget Day 2024
Read the entire Speech from the Throne.
