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Organisation

The Prime Minister

The Prime Minister presides over the cabinet and is also Minister of General Affairs. The Prime Minister is accountable for the actions of members of the Royal House. He also plays an active role in international affairs.

Secretary-General

The Secretary-General is the Ministry's most senior civil servant. He or she is also head of the Office of the Prime Minister (KMP) and coordinator of the intelligence and security services.

The Senior Management Board is the Ministry's principal decision-making body at civil service level. The board consults on strategic and practical matters that concern the Ministry as a whole and that require direction at the highest level. These include both policy and operational management issues.

Office of the Prime Minister

The Office of the Prime Minister (KMP) advises and supports the Prime Minister in the performance of his duties. It runs the Cabinet and Prime Minister's Office as well as the secretariats of the Cabinet subcommittees.

Cabinet advisers

Ten Cabinet advisers advise and support the Prime Minister and run the secretariats of the Cabinet subcommittees. Each subcommittee prepares decisions on a number of interrelated policy themes, such as international and European affairs. The Cabinet advisers are assisted by a number of other advisers and deputy cabinet advisers.

Cabinet and Prime Minister's Office

The secretary of the Cabinet and Prime Minister's Office prepares the agenda for meetings of the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers for the Kingdom and drafts the decision list and minutes. He or she attends these meetings along with one of the deputy secretaries. The secretary is also responsible for the work of the Cabinet subcommittees and other committees. However, the Cabinet subcommittees' secretariat duties are carried out by the cabinet advisers.

Government Information Service

The Government Information Service (RVD) is responsible for media relations for the Prime Minister and the government and provides information on general government policy, the Prime Minister and the Ministry of General Affairs. It also provides information on the Royal House and advises its members on public relations matters. The RVD chairs the Information Council and coordinates, and advises on, interministerial information.

The RVD comprises the following divisions:

Directorate-General for the Government Information Service (DG/RVD)

DG/RVD is in charge of the day-to-day running of the Government Information Service. It provides communications advice to the Royal House, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and is responsible for their press relations and public information. It also coordinates communications policy within central government.

Royal House Division (CKH)

The RVD's Royal House Division coordinates public appearances by members of the Royal House, both in the Netherlands and abroad, including communications. It also manages the Royal House website Koninklijkhuis.nl.

Government Communications Division (CAR)

The Government Communications Division (CAR) provides information on behalf of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of General Affairs' senior civil servants. It deals with all aspects of communication on general government policy and ensures uniformity. CAR also arranges the Prime Minister's public appearances. In addition, the division runs the secretariat for the Information Council, an official advisory body that advises the Prime Minister Cabinet on government-wide communications policy.

Public Information and Communications Service (DPC)

DPC provides support to all ministries and central government implementing bodies regarding communications with members of the public and professionals.

It does this in two ways:

  • DPC carries out a number of central government communication tasks itself. It publishes central government information on the website Government.nl and coordinates national campaigns. DPC is responsible for central media procurement. It also supports internal communication through the central government intranet and helps to professionalise communications further through knowledge exchange and research.
  • DPC helps the various parts of central government in their communication activities by providing shared communications services and as a Communications Procurement Centre (see below).

DPC works on behalf of the Information Council, which comprises all of central government's communications directors. These directors set central government communication policy and supervise its implementation by DPC.

DPC is an agency of the Ministry of General Affairs and, as such, is treated as a separate entity in the Ministry's budget and financial statements. Around 140 communications professionals with knowledge of the market and understanding of the subject work at DPC.

Communications Procurement Centre

Since 2014 DPC has been one of central government's 20 procurement centres, which means that it concludes framework agreements for communications services for which there is high demand among central government bodies. To date, cCentral government agreements have already been signed for:

  • research: public opinion polling, communications research, web research and media analysis
  • photography and video
  • campaigns
  • media strategy and planning
  • hiring web editors and outsourcing web editing
  • hiring communications professionals.

Management team

Kristel Dirkx (Director)
Ronald van Oosteroom (Deputy Director)

DPC consists of the following groups:

Public Information

DPC/Public Information provides information on behalf of central government. It is responsible for developing and managing the websites Rijksoverheid.nl, Government.nl and Rijkshuisstijl.nl. It also answers all enquiries received by telephone or email.

DPC/Public Information has three groups:

  • Online Advice
  • Editing
  • Enquiries

Online Advice

DPC/Online Advice supplies products and services for the websites of central government organisations, including the central government online platform (PRO), the multimedia library and a website statistics system. Its advisers translate the ministries' wishes into functionalities for the PRO and ensure that the platform meets all the requirements and guidelines for websites.

Editing

DPC/Editing supplies information for the websites Rijksoverheid.nl, Government.nl and Rijkshuisstijl.nl. It ensures that the information is comprehensible, accurate, up to date, accessible and easy to find. Texts must also meet the requirements and guidelines for websites and content. The Editing group works closely with the Online Advice group and the ministries. It writes and manages content and advises the ministries on how to make sure that information is easy to find.

Enquiries

DPC/Enquiries is responsible for the Public Information Service. Members of the public and professionals can contact the Public Information Service if they have a question about central government policy. They can submit their questions by telephone (1400), email or X (@Rijksoverheid). All ministries have transferred their public information services to the Public Information Service.

The Public Information Service aims to offer a high-quality, customer-friendly, professional and fast service, providing the public with complete and accurate answers to their questions or referring them to another organisation. We continuously monitor how satisfied people are with our service and aim to score at least 3 out of 5 for email response and 4 out of 5 for telephone response.

Campaign Management

DPC/Campaign Management coordinates central government information campaigns. It oversees the entire development process, from planning to post-campaign evaluation, and manages contracts for the development and execution of campaigns.

Media Procurement

DPC/Media Procurement is responsible for all central government's media buying, including newspaper, radio and television advertising, as well as the administration that goes with it. Pooling media procurement saves costs. The group also advises on media campaign strategies.

Government Audiovisual Media Centre

The Government Audiovisual Media Centre offers advice on visual communication and the central government visual identity. It coordinates productions and assists in the conclusion of framework agreements for photography and video. All ministries and implementing organisations can request visual material to fit their communication needs. This may be a combination of different products or just the right animation, photo or infographic for the job at hand.

It also manages the central government multimedia library (MTRO), where all photos, videos and audio files from ministries and implementing organisations are stored and distributed.

Communications Research

DPC/Communications Research advises the ministries on how to carry out and use background research. It concludes framework agreements with research agencies that can be used by ministries. The staff also carry out their own research into the effectiveness of central government campaigns.

Academy for Government Communications

The Academy for Government Communications assists central government in developing the communications function. It helps communications staff maintain their professional knowledge, alerting them to trends in their field of work, developing learning pathways and interministerial knowledge networks and organising meetings. The academy also provides training for policy officers in collaboration with the PBLQ ROI training centre in The Hague.

A special service carried out by the academy is the management of the Communications Pool, a group of 40 strategic communications advisers and press secretaries. These are mainly self-employed communications professionals who have signed a framework agreement with central government. Ministries can hire these advisers if they are short of staff or for a specific strategic job or project.

Rijksportaal

DPC/Rijksportaal manages and develops Rijksportaal, the central government intranet, as well as providing a news service. Rijksportaal is an internal communications platform for all civil servants featuring news and information on a wide variety of topics, such as HR, facilities and procurement.

For more information

Contact Kristel Dirkx (Director) or Ronald van Oosteroom (Deputy Director)

Office of the Scientific Council for Government Policy

The Office of the Scientific Council for Government Policy supports the Council and its members in preparing and drafting reports to be submitted to the government. It carries out research in fields relevant to the Council's work and supervises external research commissioned by the Council.

The Office maintains contact with relevant people in public administration and science and promotes reports in administrative and academic circles. It also provides information on the Council's activities and manages its website.