Future Activities

The Administrative Reform Program defines methods of steadily promoting the Comprehensive Plan, which consists of a basic vision that indicates the basic direction of measures for the realization of the image of the future Ichikawa City 25 years from now, a basic plan that defines the basic measures to materialize the above basic vision, and moreover, a comprehensive 5-year plan that specifically defines the measures and projects that should be implemented during the coming five years based on the system of measures stated in the basic plan. 
Based on the premise of the City's Comprehensive Plan, the Program is to reform the organizations and procedures required for the most efficient and effective realization of the above Comprehensive Plan.
We have developed an action plan that defines a new Administrative Reform Program and its implementation plan, based on the opinions of Ichikawa City Administrative and Fiscal Reform Council and public comments provided by citizens.
We aim to further improve citizen satisfaction through the implementation of the above plan.

The environment surrounding public employees is changing at an unprecedented speed. External sources are requesting improvement of the abilities of individual employees in order to respond to increasingly diversifying citizens' needs. On the other hand, internally, rapid aging of the workforce is expected. 
Under these circumstances, the personnel and salary system will be reformed to increase city employees' job satisfaction so as to further improve public services to citizens, which is the main purpose of the activities of the city employees.

As for the public services that the City provides, it is necessary to further review the above without dwelling on the existing procedures from the viewpoint of review of work processes, so as to enable the provision of the best services at the lowest cost. In this regard, it is not necessary that the provider of public services is an administrative organization. Rather, it is necessary to use the power of the private sector (privatization, PFI, outsourcing, designated administrator system, etc.) for improving citizen satisfaction. 
Accordingly, we will review work processes to divide public services mostly into three categories, namely, "services that can be provided only by the public sector," "services that are better provided by the public sector," and "public services that can be provided by the private sector." For the management of "services that can be provided only by the public sector," external human resources will be introduced and used to the extent possible.
On the other hand, for "public services that can be provided by the private sector," role sharing between the public and the private sectors will be promoted through privatization, etc. and for "services that are better provided by the public sector," we will outsource large-volume routine work and work that needs to be done in a concentrated manner at specific times of the year. The management and operation of public facilities, in particular, will be carried out by using staff employed irrespective of the limit on the number of employees, including those under the Designated Administrator System and the Re-employment System. 
Accordingly, we have developed Outsourcing Standards by reviewing the "Standards on the outsourcing of works to the private sector" set up in 2003 in order to promote the management of work that meets the needs of the time and further improve citizen satisfaction.

We are reviewing the how the City should grant subsidies, including their roles and effects, from the citizens' viewpoint.
More specifically, we will newly set up a "public offering type" subsidy system, in which citizens make plans and proposals, in order to support various civic activities.
Moreover, we will review the subsidies currently being provided from the viewpoint of public welfare and fairness for their more effective use.

Ichikawa City has built a Comprehensive Administrative Network System on the basis of electronic settlement according to the 3-year plan that started in Fiscal 2002 in order to promote the simplification and improved efficiency of administrative management.
The operation of the system, which enables electronic documentation and settlement of proposals, will start in Fiscal 2003 for the increased efficiency and proper management of paperwork across the City Government.
We plant to work on the computerization of new accounting and finance-related office work to enable self-evaluation of administrative management from Fiscal 2004.