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.

Central government agencies and institutions are national. These include

• the Finnish Defence Forces
• the Finnish Tax Administration
• the Finnish Border Guard
• the Finnish National Agency for Education
• the Finnish Supervisory Agency
• the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
• the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom.

In addition, some independent organisations are under direct parliamentary control. These include the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), the Bank of Finland and the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority, which operates administratively under the Bank of Finland.