FY 2003 Policy Evaluation Report (Summary)

“FY 2003 Policy Evaluation Report” (Summary)

June 30, 2004
Ministry of Finance

Of the 42 “policy goals” (formulated on March 31, 2003; see Annex 1) established for FY 2003, the performance of policies for 39 goals were evaluated.

(Note

) The evaluation report for the remaining three goals that are under the authority of National Tax Agency (2-2, 2-3 and 2-4 in Annex 1) will be separately formulated and released by around the end of September of this year because the business year of the Agency is from July through June of the following year.

The evaluation was made as follows in accordance with the “Basic Plan on Policy Evaluation” by the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter referred as “the Ministry”).

) The policy for each goal was evaluated from the following four viewpoints in order to evaluate its multiple aspects.

i)	The degree of accomplishment of the goal in light of indices.
ii)	Whether the process of administrative operations for accomplishing the goal (the means and procedures of the measures/activities) was appropriate, effective, and efficient.
iii)	Whether the analysis of the results has been precisely made (especially, identification of what was wrong when the goal could not be accomplished).
iv)	Whether useful and active proposals were made concerning improvement of the policy itself or improvement of the operations of the policy evaluation system.

) The policies were evaluated on each of the above criteria by using phrase patterns, according to the “Description Outline and Evaluation Manual” that was created based on the opinions of external consultants.

) In addition to the evaluation on each of the above criteria, overall qualitative descriptions (a comprehensive review) were also given.

) Furthermore, with the aim of ensuring the objectivity of the evaluation and raising its quality, the evaluation made according to 1) through 3) above was discussed and reviewed by the Council on the Policy Evaluation in the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter referred as “the Council”; chairman: Taizo Nishimuro, Chairman of the Board of Toshiba Corporation; Vice-Chairperson of the Japan Business Federation).

Outline of the evaluation results

) The results of evaluation on each of the four criteria are roughly as follows.

i)	With regard to the “degree of accomplishment,” one goal was “accomplished,” 17.goals were under the status of “There was considerable progress toward accomplishment,” 18 goals were under the status of “There was progress toward accomplishment,”, and three goals were under the status of “There was a degree of progress toward accomplishment.”
ii)	With regard to the “process of administrative operations” it was “appropriate” for 25 goals and “largely appropriate” for 13 goals; it was “effective” for 11 goals and “largely effective” for 26 goals; and, finally, it was “efficient” for nine goals and “largely efficient” for eight goals and “not so efficient” for two goals.
iii)	With regard to “analysis of the results,” the analysis was “precise” for three goals and “largely precise” for 36 goals.
iv)	With regard to “proposals of improvement measures,” “useful and active proposals were made” for six goals, “useful proposals were made” for 12 goals, “active proposals were made” for seven goals, and “proposals were made” for 13 goals. Meanwhile, with regard to “improvement measures for the operations of the policy evaluation system,” “useful and active proposals were made” for one goal, “useful proposals were made” for nine goals, “active proposals were made” for three goals, and “proposals were made” for five goals.

	(Note	) For the outline of the evaluation results, see the List of Evaluation Results by Each of the Four Criteria in Annex 2 and the List of Evaluation Results by Goal in Annex 3.

) The “comprehensive review” and the “comment by the Council” based on the above were roughly as follows.

i)	The “comprehensive review” describes the valued points of FY 2003 administrative operations in relation to the accomplishment of goals. In addition, it requires further improvement of the current administrative operations by pointing out specific areas of improvement and points to pay attention, while also requiring the continuation/promotion of appropriate policy operations and administrative operations for attaining the goal according to the results.
ii)	The “comment by the Council” points out issues that have to be addressed in the future.
	(Note	) For the above outline, see the List of Comprehensive Review on the Degree of Accomplishment of Major Policy Goals and Comment by the Council in Annex 4.