Effectiveness of Public Inspection and Enforcement Activity for Final Benefeciaries

Abstract

Significant efforts aimed at improving state inspection and enforcement activities are underway in Russia. The final benefeciaries of such public functions are usually citizens, as inspection and enforcement affect public health, the safety of property as well as other public values such as environment or cultural heritage. However, to date there have been no methodic approaches to evaluating performance of inspection and enforcement activities from a citizen perspective. The article presents the results of a sociological survey conducted based on the authors’ methodology, which aims at collecting citizen perceptions on effectiveness of inspection and enforcement activities and the reform in this area. The survey sample accounted for 1,010 adult respondents in 28 Russian regions. The study assumes that every citizen is a potential client of inspection and enforcement bodies, whether they have had any interaction with such bodies or not. Therefore, the survey aims at collecting public perceptions of public values safety (such as life, health, property and assets, and other interests) from various risks. The study also demonstrates how personal experience in protecting public values influences the perceptions about safety. The survey shows that only 30 percent of respondents evaluate their safety from risks (threats) as very good or rather good; the safety level among respondents who have experience in taking measures to protect such values is only 18.4 percent. Overall, the sociological survey suggests the possibility and the need to include the indicators reflecting the perspective of citizens as the final beneficiaries of inspections and enforcement activities in the list of indicators for inspection reform evaluation.