Tekijät

• SOSTE Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health

Asiasanat

administration, employment services, health services, local government services, medical care, medical centres, public services, social security benefits, social services, social welfare, social welfare expenditure, social welfare organizations, unemployed, welfare policy

Sisällön kuvaus

The sociobarometer is a wide-ranging survey charting expert opinion on the welfare of Finnish citizens, and on the present state of welfare services. Themes for the 2013 survey included the public service reform, use of social security benefits, welfare and health promotion, and employing the unemployed. The survey also studied the general well-being of the Finnish population, cooperation of municipalities and organisations in the National Development Program of Health and Social Services (Kaste), and the state of services provided by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) and employment agencies. The respondents were managers or management groups of municipal social services offices, municipal health centres (primary health care), employment offices, local offices of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, and chairs of municipal social services boards.

There were separate questionnaires for each organisational sector, with somewhat differing questions for each.

The questions common to all organisations studied opinions on the general well-being of the population in the municipality/area and whether there were sufficient resources to provide the required services at the time of the survey and 12 months after the survey.

Regarding service provision, the respondents were asked about cooperation and service provision strategies. The respondents were also asked to evaluate the social services provided by the municipality, and the customer orientation of these services. Furthermore, the offices of Kela were asked to evaluate how well different parts of Kela's customer service functioned.

Competitive procurement of services was investigated with questions about outsourced services, their oversight, and different strategies regarding outsourced services. The respondents were also asked to assess several suggestions regarding the new national public procurement law. Views of the the health and social service reform were surveyed by asking how well-integrated the services of the area were, and which areas would benefit the most from integration of the services. Furthermore, the respondents were asked how the basic level of services in the area could be improved.

Regarding long-term unemployment, the respondents were asked about the possibilities for different organisations to offer services for the long-term unemployed and how provision of certain services would affect the circumstances of the unemployed. Cooperation between social services and employment agencies was investigated. Employment agencies were also asked about the significance of vocational education in improving the employment situation and how effectively different organisations in the area could employ the long-term unemployed.

Promotion of health and well-being was examined by charting, among others, the role of various institutions and organisations in promoting health and well-being. Finally, views on the use and misuse of social security benefits were investigated.

The background variables included, depending on the organisation, name of the organisation, municipality/area, and statistical grouping of the municipality (urban, semi-urban, rural).