Japan’s envisaged digital agency to take over ministerial budgets, personnel systems to effectively digitize government
The envisaged digital agency to be established next year to oversee each ministry’s various systems will be authorized to issue correction advisories to ministries that do not comply with the planned integration of the government’s information systems, according to the agency’s framework obtained by The Yomiuri Shimbun on Saturday.
By giving the agency such authority, the government aims to transfer the work and operation of relevant budgets to the digital agency, which are currently managed vertically without coordination among ministries and agencies.
Through this authoritative command structure, the agency will be tasked with accelerating the digitization of the entire government.
Under the government’s proposal, the envisaged agency will function as a general coordinator to compile policies to realize the integration of the government’s entire information system. It will also oversee the roles currently taken by each ministry. If any ministry does not let go of existing systems, the agency will issue correction advisories, effectively forcing systems to be integrated.
The agency’s authority to issue advisories and make general adjustments from a higher level than the ministries is modeled after the power exercised by the Reconstruction Agency, which is in charge of the reconstruction of areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
At present, each ministry develops and operates its own systems and servers, leading to a great deal of waste and a lack of uniformity in their specifications, including those used by local governments. This is partially responsible for the delay in the payment of the ¥100,000 cash benefit per person after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Through the initiative of the agency, the government wants to improve the efficiency of administration and increase convenience for residents.
Whether the digital agency will be a permanent organization or a temporary one with an abolishment date will be discussed in the future.
The agency will also work to consolidate the budgets and personnel of each ministry. Shared systems, such as employees’ attendance records, will be centralized and operated at the agency in the future. Technical staff currently working at each ministry will also be transferred to the digital agency.
The budget for system development will also be changed to a lump-sum allocation to the agency. These are aimed at eliminating duplication of systems and promoting the construction of a unified system.
“If personnel and budgets are stripped away, each ministry will have no choice but to follow the digital agency,” a senior Cabinet Secretariat official said.
The government will also promote the standardization of systems throughout the nation, including those of local governments. The agency will formulate specific policies for the nationwide introduction of shared cloud systems to exchange data online and support a shift to the active use of cloud systems in regional areas.
The agency will also be authorized to oversee the My Number card system. Currently, the relevant work and responsibilities are scattered throughout the Cabinet Secretariat, the Cabinet Office and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, among other offices. The digital agency will also be in charge of devising ideas to enable people to complete administrative procedures simply via their My Number cards.
A department specializing in setting rules for data distribution will likely be established within the agency to prepare for the use of data generated by the digitization of social and economic activities.
The government plans to incorporate a series of policies for the envisaged agency in its basic digital policies to be compiled by the end of the year.
