Central government

Central government comprises the ministries and the national agencies operating in their administrative branches. Central government implements the laws passed by Parliament and acts in accordance with them. It is also responsible for developing the public administration. 

Ministries

Ministries act as the administrative and political experts in their administrative branches. Ministries implement the Government's decisions in their own administrative branches. Ministries play a central role in the drafting and developing of legislation before the laws are submitted to Parliament for approval. Ministries are also responsible for developing, steering and supervising the agencies in their own administrative branches. Ministries also develop public services in close cooperation with regional state administration and municipalities. 

Central government agencies

There are central government agencies in the administrative branch of each ministry. Central government agencies are responsible for administrative, supervisory, permit, development and research tasks. Central government agencies may also have extensive information management and registry duties. Many of the central government agencies are responsible for developing specific sectors and for making the information produced by the sectors publicly available. 

The Bank of Finland and the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) are under direct parliamentary control. Under the Constitution of Finland, the Bank of Finland operates under the guarantee and supervision of Parliament. It is part of the Eurosystem administrating the euro currency, which comprises the European Central Bank and the central banks of the euro area countries.

The Financial Supervisory Authority is administratively part of the Bank of Finland but it makes its decisions independently. Kela is an independent social insurance institution, which is supervised by Parliament. It has its own administration and finances.