Organisation
With a staff of 400, the Ministry of Finance is one of the largest ministries at the Government Offices. In international terms, the Swedish Ministry of Finance is one of the smaller finance ministries in Europe.
Just under five per cent of all those working at the Ministry of Finance are political appointees. All the others are officials who remain in their posts even in the event of a change of government or minister.
The average age of ministry employees is about 43 and around half are women. 10 per cent have management responsibilities, 75 per cent executive responsibilities, and 10 per cent clerical responsibilities.
Most people working at the Ministry of Finance are economists or lawyers. There are also many political scientists.
The political staff
About 20 of the 470 people employed at the Ministry of Finance are political appointees.
The political executive is made up of two ministers: Minister for Finance Anders Borg and Minister for Financial Market Peter Norman.
The ministers are assisted by state secretaries, an assistant state secretary, political advisers and press secretaries.
The state secretaries, who are directly answerable to the ministers, are each responsible for certain policy areas. They assist the ministers in planning, coordination and follow-up of the ministrys activities.
The assistant state secretary, political advisers and press secretaries assist the ministers in their day-today work, providing back-up for appointments and contacts with the press.
Working procedures
The day-to-day work of the Ministry of Finance is conducted by the various departments. This is where matters of business are handled prior to government decision. The departments also manage contacts with the agencies answerable to the Ministry.
Work at the Ministry of Finance is laid out in a separate plan of activities for each department and division.These plans are drawn up by the departments annually and approved by the ministers and state secretaries responsible.
One of the ministries most important tasks is to prepare the groundwork for government bills in specific areas. The ministry also produces proposals for amending legislation and regulations.
When the Government needs to examine an issue in greater depth, it can appoint a committee or a oneperson inquiry. The task of a committee is to examine a specific issue within a given time limit. A committee is a government agency in its own right.
Each ministry sponsors a number of central government agencies. It is these agencies that are responsible for the day-to-day operations of public administration.
The Government decides on the objectives, guidelines and allocation of resources for the agencies activities. However, the agencies are free to decide for themselves on their course of action in individual cases.
