Financing activities of the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment
Follow-up completed: 06.02.2026The financing activities of the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment (SECLE) were audited in 2023, shortly after they had been launched. Based on the follow-up, the audit helped to develop the processes in SECLE’s financing activities. The audit has also strengthened the shaping of the role of the council steering SECLE and the links between the activities and the competence and employment services.
Summary of the follow-up
As a result of the audit recommendations, the role of the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment (SECLE) has been specified so that its primary focus is on strengthening the conditions for population-level impacts. Under the council’s active steering, SECLE supports the policy preparation by the ministries and the reform of the competence development system. The audit, which was conducted at the early stage of the activities, has had a significant impact on the processes in the financing activities. After the audit, SECLE’s internal control and risk management procedures have been found to be effective and comprehensive.
The follow-up has been completed. The report is available in Finnish only.
Recommendations of the National Audit Office
The Council of the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment strengthen its operational and strategic decision-making powers in steering the definition of the contents of SECLE’s focus areas, priorities and goals.
The Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment clarify SECLE's role and links to the competence system and employment services. The key issue in this is determining if SECLE is merely a piloting platform or if population-level impacts are also sought through it.
The Council of the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment take the initiative in ensuring that the experiences gained and lessons learned by SECLE are systematically utilised in the different processes of competence and employment services.
When SECLE allocates financing to competence services, the financing processes be not streamlined in order to achieve agility in a way that could jeopardise appropriate internal control. The financing terms should also be defined within the limits of the law in such a manner that services of different levels are available for all the target groups that could benefit from them and that the best practices, methods and networks are available for reaching learners in different groups.
About the audit
The task of SECLE, which was established in autumn 2021, is to ensure that the working-age population’s skills meet the changing needs of working life. The focus of the activities is on such groups as people with only basic education, older people and learners with an immigrant background.
The audit sought to ensure that the administration of financing allocated to continuous learning supports the achievement of the overall objectives set for the continuous learning reform.
The legislation defining SECLE’s activities was drafted rapidly, and SECLE was expected to allocate financing in an agile manner. The haste that characterised SECLE’s launch and the streamlining of its financing processes have exacerbated the risks associated with the financing activities. The budgeting schedules of appropriations have caused SECLE to launch its financing application processes rapidly, which has not optimally promoted SECLE’s impact.
SECLE’s steering is not underpinned by concrete goals, which has undermined the effectiveness of its activities. The authorities, public officials and stakeholders involved in steering SECLE have failed to adopt a common view of the steering. The NAOF recommends that the Council of the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment steer SECLE by setting concrete goals for its activities in the future.
Due to the shortcomings found in its steering, SECLE’s role as a pilot platform has remained unclear, and in the early stages, its activities have not focused on its main target groups. For these reasons, the impacts of its activities are at risk of remaining sporadic. The NAOF recommends that the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment determine if the Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment should remain a pilot platform or if direct population level impacts are also sought through it.
Contact persons
Sami Vuorinen
Principal Performance Auditor
Performance audit
Audit areas: Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Prime Minister’s Office