The France Services spaces, designed to respond to the feeling of relegation expressed during the “yellow vest” crisis in the territories faced with the withdrawal of public services in a context of acceleration of the digitalization of procedures, have they kept the promise then formulated by Emmanuel Macron to offer all fellow citizens “a place to find answers to your daily life questions” ? Do they have sufficient and sustainable resources to do so? These are the two questions that the Court of Auditors examined in an evaluation report (2020-2023), made public on Wednesday, September 4.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Access to public services in less than thirty minutes: what is the outcome of Macron’s promise?
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Now numbering 2,840 in France (including branches), these local reception centers offer, within a single window run by at least two multi-skilled agents, assistance with various administrative procedures (taxes, retirement, vehicle registration, pre-applications for titles, etc.). A sort of “service Swiss Army knife”, now involving eleven national partners (France Titres, France Travail, La Poste, the National Family Allowance Fund, the National Old-Age Insurance Fund, Mutualité Sociale Agricole, the National Housing Agency, etc.). In addition to this minimum offer, known as the “base”, local partnerships specific to each structure can be added.
Led by the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, the system is based on a network of local leaders (local authorities, La Poste, associations, etc.). In detail, 58% of users are over 55 years old and the majority of them are women (56%). Young people are poorly represented. Finally, 82% of requests are processed on site.
Reinforced network (doubling of the number of structures), increased attendance (although heterogeneous depending on the spaces), requests processed in continuous increase (1.17 million in 2020, 9 million at the end of 2023), listening and personalized support… The jurisdiction of rue Cambon first welcomes a program which “satisfies a majority of users” (more than 90%) at the same time as it “contributes to the social cohesion of territories”.
“Places of sociability”
Nearly 100% of the spaces are located within thirty minutes of transport, in accordance with the presidential commitment. They are mainly located in rural areas (63%) – 18% are in priority city districts. The Court also welcomes results that are superior to the previous experience of the Public Service Houses.
“Users find in France Services a “humanized and humanizing” service relationship”, welcomes the jurisdiction, which alleviates “the administrative burden”especially for people who are furthest removed from digital technology. Moreover, these spaces are perceived by many users “as places of sociability”exceeding initial ambitions. France Services “has an influence on the individual feeling of abandonment”the Court considers, which “undoubtedly contributes to the reduction of territorial divides”.
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