The municipality-state relationship

The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development’s role as coordinator of national policy aimed at the municipal sector
- The government’s goal is to facilitate a strong and effective municipal sector.

The government’s aim is to facilitate a strong and effective municipal sector, which can be a key player in social development locally and regionally and which can give residents good services, freedom of choice and co-determination, while safeguarding the security of the rights of the individual. The municipal sector shall have a regulatory framework that enables the local and regional authorities to perform their tasks as service producers, exercisers of authority, social developers and democratic arenas. The state’s government of the municipal sector must be balanced between considerations of equal services irrespective of location and considerations of municipal self-government. This means that local and regional authorities must be given room to prioritise services locally in line with local conditions.

As coordinating department, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development therefore has a responsibility to ensure that the government by the different ministries shall be coordinated, entire and consistent. Further, the different sector areas’ use of instruments shall be harmonised, so that the municipal sector is not given irreconcilable signals from government. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development works to ensure that the basic principles for governing the municipal sector are followed in the ministries’ preparation of matters that have consequences for local and regional authorities.  Much of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development’s coordination resources are therefore used to follow up individual cases in ministries’ areas, including through internal publications, government memoranda, consultations, participation in various working groups, in work on the national budget and through the consultation system between the government and the municipal sector through the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities - KS 

Instructions for Official Studies and Reports

The instructions for official studies and reports are aimed at the ministries and their underlying activities and their purpose is to ensure good preparation of public reforms, amendments to regulations and other measures. According to the instructions, the ministries shall involve the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development in work on matters that have administrative, economic or other consequences for local and regional authorities. The instructions give guidelines for work on consequence assessments, publications for affected ministries before general consultation, general consultation and white papers and propositions to the Storting. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development must be consulted if matters have consequences for the municipal sector.

Handling cases in the government

Cases that have economic or administrative consequences for local or regional authorities and that are to be handled by the government shall always be submitted to the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development for comment. The prime minister’s office has guidelines for preparation of cases for the government.

Budget work

The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development also has a central coordinating role in the government’s work on economic matters for local and regional authorities in the national budget. This covers chiefly tax revenues, framework funding in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development’s budget and earmarked funding in the other ministries’ budgets. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development shall facilitate coordination between the municipalities’ tasks and resources, as well as ensure that framework financing is the main form of financing for the municipal sector. It follows from the budget circular from the Ministry of Finance that changes in funding to the municipal sector must always be taken up with the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. 

Municipal proposition

In May each year, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development presents the municipal proposition to the Storting. This signals the government’s proposals for the economic package for local and regional authorities for the coming year. In the proposition, the government presents the overall policy for the local and regional sector and gives a collected summary of the planned changes in the ministries’ areas. This document gives the local and regional sector a complete overview of proposals for changes in the state’s policies, and the proposition is an important aid to the local and county authorities’ own budget processes.