The Situation of Social and Health Services of General Interest in the European Union
 


04/2006 - 06/2007

Contact: huber@euro.centre.org

The European Commission has as of June 2008 published the final synthesis report of the Study of Social and Health Services of General Interest (SHSGI) download PDF (5.5 MB), more (European Commission)

Aims
To improve the knowledge of both operators and the Commission of the situation of social and health services of general interest in the EU and the application and impact of Community rules on the development of these services, the European Commission intends to establish a monitoring and dialogue tool in the form of biennial reports.

Results
The study will contribute to this initiative by
  • Mapping the situation of social and health services of general interest within the European Union; this core element comprises the tasks of fact finding and analysis with regard to the organisation, regulation, delivery and financing of social services and of reporting on major employment trends related to them
  • Describing the on-going evolutions within these services across the European Union; this mainly refers to trends of modernisation in social services, the changing role of public authorities and modes of governance
  • Reporting on the uncertainties and debates on Community legislation and European Court of Justice case law, and its application;
  • Contributing to an exchange of innovative practices within the European Union;
  • Reporting on strategies and procedures for improving and monitoring quality assessment and quality management in social services, including a mapping exercise of initiatives regarding the establishment of quality standards throughout the European Union.
Social service sectors in focus
The study has a focus on the following five social service sectors:
  • Long-term care, care for the elderly, care for disabled persons;
  • Social integration and re-integration (with a focus on migrants and drug addiction);
  • Labour market services focusing on disadvantaged and disabled persons;
  • Child care (with a focus on services offered to families for children, including afternoon care for children at school-age);
  • Social housing.
Main activities
  • Identification of the state-of-the-art of social and health services of general interest with respect to modernisation and employment issues, debates regarding the application of Community law and policy, and the development of quality criteria;
  • In-depth analysis of these issues in eight Member States;
  • Comparative analysis of modernisation trends and modes of governance in the field of social services of general interest;
  • Bringing in expert views and reviewing debates on the application of Community rules, the impact of European Court of Justice jurisprudence and related policy issues, with a focus on missions of general interest and public service obligations, the modes of organisation and financing of social and health services of general interest;
  • Comparative analysis of the development of quality criteria and exchange of good practice examples.
In-depth Country Studies
The study comprises eight in-depth country studies covering the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. These country studies have been conferred to experienced experts or experts teams from research institutes in the countries covered.

Inquiry addressed to European-level stakeholders
In order to obtain up-to-date information and opinions, a questionnaire has been distributed that addresses a broad range of EU-level stakeholders. These have been invited to activate and take on board the broad knowledge and experience available in their respective networks, i.e. within their national, topic- or group-specific member organisations.


Final Conference
Conference Programme
Participants

Presentations
Ziomas
De Jong
Jönnsen
Huber
Rabau
Summary of Results
Housing Observatory
Zaidi


Project partners
  • European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna
  • International Centre of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy (CIRIEC), Liège
  • Monitoring Unit of the Observatory for the Development of Social Services in Europe at the Institute for Social Work and Social Education (ISS), Frankfurt/Main
Project management: Manfred Huber (European Centre, Vienna), Barbara Sak (CIRIEC, Liège), Mathias Maucher (ISS, Frankfurt/Main)
Financed by: European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities