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1.2 Accessible, High-Quality and Proactive Services

Social challenges

The government works for everyone, yet our public services do notsufficiently connect with the everyday lives of citizens and businessowners. Research shows complexity to be the biggest bottleneck.People generally do not interact with just one public serviceprovider but with multiple service providers. The transformation ofgovernment is, therefore, aimed at changing the context in whichpublic services are delivered based on people’s everyday lives ratherthan on the organisation of government. This emphatically adds anew dimension to public service. Another dimension being added isensuring the right balance between digital and non-digital services.

Results achieved by 2023

  • A status overview of questions and requests has been created and tested in the Mijn-portals of six municipalities, enabling citizens and business owners to view and track the status of their questions and requests and making interaction with the government easier and smoother.
  • Rollout of ‘Berichten over uw Buurt’ (neighbourhood Information). Over 9 million Dutch people receive email notifications about relevant government announcements that concern their neighbourhood. The emails are sent to everyone with a DigiD or who is 25 years old or older and has registered their email address in MijnOverheid.
  • In the Life Events Approach, services were improved based on perceived bottlenecks. For example, the personal “turning 18” overview on Rijksoverheid.nl (in Dutch) has been adjusted and updated, and the Name Checker has been implemented in the context of the life event “starting a business”.
  • The DigiToegankelijk Monitoring and Support Programme or DT TOP (in Dutch) was established to help organisations improve the accessibility of their websites and mobile applications. An important part of this is getting experiential experts involved in testing websites and apps. DT TOP also provides support through webinars and advice on internal policy and procurement. A dashboard and knowledge base have been delivered to support digital accessibility.
  • Government organisations have received support to improve the accessibility of mobile applications. Approximately 1,000 accessibility errors were resolved with vendors. Multiple apps have been phased out or are being rebuilt. Other apps, such as CoronaMelder, are no longer in use.

Goals & indicators

Goals and indicators
Goals Indicators
The design of public services is always focused on people’s perspectives. People should:

  • experience public services as fully responsive to their situation and context;
  • receive public services comprehensively and proactively in response to events;
  • experience public service as personal, close and reliable, regardless of the channel chosen.

A
government transformation is needed to achieve public services that are in line with people’s needs and lifestyles, reliable, personal and nearby. That transformation will follow two perspectives that are consistent with how public service can be viewed from people’s perspectives:

  1. People take the initiative to go to a service provider: the government service desk role.
  2. People proactively receive information from a service provider or automatically use schemes to which they are entitled: proactive service delivery.

Life events involving multiple service providers are often the trigger for people needing to arrange matters or make contact. They form a common thread along both perspectives and are also the flywheel for the elaboration of specific improvement actions in public service. Public services should also be user-friendly, understandable, transparent and accessible to everyone, both digitally and otherwise. Dutch citizens abroad should also have access to adequate digital services.

  • By 2024, online public sector information—including the rights and obligations of citizens—for all information areas provided for in the EU Single Digital Gateway (SDG) Regulation must be designed in accordance with the requirements of that regulation.
  • All government services are available digitally and non-digitally, reliably and transparently (connection with Data Control priority 3.1 “Data Control”). Work is underway to establish an oversight role for digital accessibility.
  • A full understanding of the needs of people who visit the IDO and those who do not has noticeably increased the support offered in public service for these groups of people.
  • Proposal for tools to increase reach among people in need of accessible support with public service based on a needs and target group survey.
  • Monitoring and testing of satisfaction of people helped by a government-wide service provider, for example, in a government- wide service desk. The available professional lines for government-wide service providers and the number of government-wide service providers have increased. People who need a government-wide service provider know how to find them.
  • Monitoring of visitor statistics to the revamped Overheid.nl website and level of satisfaction with public service information obtained.
  • 18-year-olds are proactively informed about rights and obligations and experience better services.
2. Citizens who are unable to keep up with the digital world or are not allowed to act on their own behalf, digitally or otherwise, can authorise someone to represent them for all digital services.
  • Connection of service providers to legal representation facilities such as the authorisation service and authority module. Everyone will be connected by the end of 2025.

What are our forthcoming actions?

To find out the goals we are setting for the upcoming year to provide accessible, high-quality and proactive services, see priority 1.2 actions.

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