Articles

The recommendations issued by the Audit Committee in 2017 led to measures except the fact that the dual role of elected representatives and office holders who belong to the Helsinki Group’s administration continues to be problematic.

The City divisions that were the most successful in achieving their binding operational objectives and targets were the Education Division and Central Administration.

The City’s finances were strong in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic will weaken the City’s finances in 2020.

The results obtained on enhancing the use of space and changing the measures used for this purpose have varied in different services of the City. However, taking the views of customers and staff into account has been found to be important in facility alterations.

The ownership steering of sports and cultural services is organised in an appropriate manner for the most part. At City level, the problem is that the division of labour between the mayor and deputy mayors has not been defined.

The objectives set for early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the City Strategy were achieved for the most part, but the staff shortage may undermine the achievement of the objectives in the future.

The integration of families with children has been promoted in the Education Division, but the division must increase the development of the skills of its own staff with regard to integration.

The accessibility of the built environment was actively promoted in the 2010s, but there is still a need to increase cooperation with disability associations. The realisation of the accessibility of the built environment according to plan should be ensured.

The quality of the City of Helsinki’s digital services is good for the most part when compared to the national quality criteria for digital services. However, there is room for development in the findability and functionality of the services.

The electronic health care services are high quality, but not all residents of the municipality are able to use them. Because of this, the availability of traditional service channels must also be ensured in the future.

Basic education currently has sufficient and functional digital environments, systems and equipment, but they must be developed and replaced. The digital and pedagogical skills of teachers have not improved as planned, and there is a lack of sufficient monitoring data on the development of pupils’ skills.

The quality control of the 24-hour care of the elderly can be considered to be satisfactory in the City’s own service provision and sufficient in purchased services.

The oral health care services of the City of Helsinki are high quality, but access to care has been difficult, particularly due to problems in making contact and the lack of non-urgent appointments.

The family centre model has increased cooperation between different professionals according to the objectives. Family centre work is just beginning in several areas of Helsinki, and there are still needs for development.

Not all large-scale traffic projects of the City have been implemented in such a way that it would be possible for them to stay within the original cost estimate or schedule.

The City is unable to monitor the great number of worksites to a sufficient degree or intervene in operations efficiently enough in the event of issues. Disturbances caused by street construction sites are assessed by major professional construction operators, but they are only responsible for roughly half of the excavation sites within the city.