The impact of legislation on the transparency in information published by local administrations

Abstract

The Infoparticipa methodology was introduced in 2012 to achieve improvements in the transparency of public administration in Spain, supplementing the lack of legislation in this regard. In 2015, the evaluation indicators were adapted, taking into account the obligations regulated by the Spanish and Catalan transparency laws. The entry into force of both laws in December 2015 should have achieved a change in the quantity and quality of information that local public administrations publish on their websites. However, the data corresponding to the evaluations of the municipalities of Catalonia in 2015 and 2016 do not provide evidence in favour of this hypothesis. Although the last assessment is more demanding, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the comparison of the results shows that despite the time granted to municipalities to adjust to the law, the information they provide to citizens is still insufficient in many cases.