The Government’s “The Administration Near You” program will add Social Security and the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) to the procedures that bring the population of small municipalities closer together. This was announced today by the Secretary General of Territorial Cooperation of the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Miryam Álvarez, after attending a session of this pilot program with the government delegate in Galicia, José Miñones.
The incorporation of Social Security and SEPE personnel into this program was possible after the agreement reached between the Ministry of Territorial Policy and the Ministries of Employment and Inclusion, on which both agencies depend. It responds to the initiative of the Ministry of Territorial Policy to include more services to this new way of relating to citizenship, and to the particularity of being services that are among the most demanded.
The pilot program “The Administration near you”, of the Ministry of Territorial Policy, is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and aims to bring the General Administration of the State (AGE) closer to the territory and facilitate citizens living in rural areas access to public services without having to travel to other localities. In Galicia it has reached 145 municipalities since it was launched in November last year.
Today, the Secretary General of Territorial Coordination of the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Miryam Álvarez, and the Government delegate in Galicia, José Miñones, learned in Parada de Sil (Ourense) the materialization of this initiative. The mayor of Parada de Sil, Aquilino Domínguez, also participated in the session.
All participated in the working session led by staff of the Government Subdelegation in Ourense, where the electronic services of the General State Administration were presented to the neighborhood of Parada de Sil. The session included an explanation of the service to the citizens and the practical demonstration on the operation, in addition to enabling the attendees to process the digital certificate, fundamental to communicate electronically with the Administration and manage public services.
During the meeting, the government delegate pointed out that this innovative initiative is part of the commitment of the Government of Pedro Sánchez to advance territorial cohesion, break the digital divide and guarantee the rural population access to public services. Under the premise of “inform, train and help”, it allows to bring the services offered by the AGE to neighbors throughout the territory, regardless of where they live.
In Parada de Sil, the delegate also thanked the collaboration of local governments, “because this program would not be possible without their involvement,” and of public officials who have been visiting the villages voluntarily since November.
Balance in Galicia
With today’s session in Parada de Sil, the program completed 45 municipalities in the province of Ourense. In A Coruña, the initiative reached 29 municipalities; in Lugo, 50 municipalities; and 21 in Pontevedra. In the different sessions, more than 1,700 digital certificates of different types were processed.
During the next few weeks, the staff of the subdelegations will approach 93 remaining municipalities of Galicia, until completing the 238 initially planned, all of them with a population between 500 and 8,000 inhabitants.
E-government
Currently, the General Administration of the State offers the possibility of carrying out most of the procedures and communications with its departments digitally, from basic procedures such as benefits, payment of taxes, driving licences, payment of public taxes, applications for study grants or certificates of working life, to the application for subsidies, which in many cases can only be managed telematically.
The catalogue of electronic services of the Government Delegation in Galicia offers 125 procedures in a telematic manner, among which are procedures related to the services of Foreigners, payment of fees, communication of mobilizations, validation of foreign university degrees or the presentation of complaints or suggestions to the Administration.