The survey of the status of the permit service administration has now been completed. The survey was made by Deputy Police Chief Jarmo Nykänen of the Eastern Finland Police Department on the assignment of the National Police Board of Finland.
The report summarising the outcome of the survey includes a total of 56 recommended measures. They focus, for example, on the Police Board organisation and performance guidance, harmonisation of working processes of various Police Departments and sharing of best practices. Based on the recommendations, the Police Board will draft a plan of timetabled measures to implement the recommended development issues.
According to Hanna Piipponen, Head of Permit Service Administration at the National Police Board, the outcomes and recommendations of the survey work will also be used for a more general development of the permit service administration, such as various projects as well as development of performance guidance, meters and reporting.
– As regards the recommended measures, it is worth noticing that their implementation does not require more money, machines, technology or personnel. What is needed is new ways of thinking, organisation, doing and management, she adds.
More efficiency, performance and impact
The objective of the survey project focused on the status of the permit service administration was to assess how the administration should be developed to optimise its operative efficiency, performance and impact now and in the immediate future. The operating environment and its expected changes were also be taken into account in the survey.
The work in the survey involved interviews with the main parties related to the permit service administration, including their experts: various responsibility areas and units at the Police Board, Police Departments, National Bureau of Investigations, Police University College, Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, National Prosecution Authority, Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Finance. Various experts of the substance matters in the permit service administration were also interviewed.
The interviews charted problems in the work processes, legislation and organisation of the permit service administration, also highlighting development potentials. The analysis of the data from various information systems turned out to be a significant part of the survey work. This made it possible to find very many individual issues with differing practices in Police Department registrations or ways to apply legislation, orders or guidelines. Good work processes were also identified, to be adopted by various Police Departments more extensively.
This was the first time the status of the permit service administration was looked into so extensively on a nationwide scale.
The amount of applications for passports and ID-cards has begun to decline
New applications for passports and ID-cards have decreased in number ever since July.
The beginning of the school year marked a substantial decline in applications, and the backlog caused by the pandemic has eased significantly. It is estimated, that the amount of licence applications will stabilize within normal levels during the autumn.
