Haaretz probe finds most gov't reports are gathering dust

Nearly every state office holds thick expert-drafted reports submitted with great fanfare but which do little but sit on desks and gather dust. From unimplemented educational and health care reforms to a plan aimed at expanding Tel Aviv's cemeteries, here are their key points, for the benefit of newly-appointed ministers and interested denizens alike.

In January 2005, Shlomo Dovrat submitted his recommendations to the committee on education reform he headed, which included reducing the school week to five days, raising teachers' salaries, investing heavily in preschool programs, and more. At the time, the education minister who appointed him, Limor Livnat, promised "a revolution that would shake the establishment." However, her successor, Yuli Tamir, proposed her own plan, "New Horizon," which sought to increase teaching hours for small groups of students but failed to incorporate Dovrat's core recommendations. Current minister Gideon Sa'ar has said privately he plans to modify the new plan again, but so far only half of the 800 schools slated to join the program have done so. (Or Kashti)

A major report on socio-economic disparities was submitted to the Knesset in 2002 by a commission headed by MK Ran Cohen. The panel recommended acting immediately to narrow income gaps by creating employment opportunities, reducing the number of foreign workers, enforcing labor and pay laws, increasing working-class families' access to social services, and increasing the presence of ultra-Orthodox men and Arab women in the workforce. The recommendations, however, have yet to be implemented in any significant way. (Dana Weiler-Polak)

Several reports have been released in recent years by Health Ministry commissions and working committees warning against a series of systemic health care problems. First and foremost among these are the growing shortage of doctors, nurses and hospital beds, as well as major gaps in the quality of health care offered in the country's center and periphery. Ministry officials said the situation has not improved since Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman took office - budgeting for hospital beds has remained unchanged, and no program has been drafted for narrowing discrepancies in health care services. (Ran Reznick)

In June 1997, after Israel joined the Convention on the Rights of the Child, then-justice minister Tzachi Hanegbi appointed a commission to examine the principles underlying children's status under the law. The commission interviewed dozens of experts and hundreds of children, and in 2004 offered its conclusions in six thick reports. Today, over five years later, the reports seem to have had little impact. Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, director of the Israel National Council for the Child, said bureaucratic obstacles and the absence of a budget have hindered the application of the majority of the commission's recommendations. (Tomer Zarchin)

The Environmental Protection Ministry has drafted a series of comprehensive plans in recent years, though most of them have yet to be executed or have been delayed due to either a lack of funding or the wide diffusion of authority between government offices. One key proposal called for banning heavily-polluting vehicles from entering central Tel Aviv, but was held up due to conflicts with the Transportation Ministry and bus companies. Another plan - for levying fines on littering in parks and taxing power plants for pollution emissions - has also yet to be put into practice. (Zafrir Rinat)

The public commission on air safety in Israel was initially headed by former air force general Amos Lapidot and later taken over by former transportation minister Shaul Mofaz. The report highlights a long list of failings committed by the Civil Aviation Authority over safety conditions at Ben-Gurion International Airport and in certifying flight supervisors. The report is apparently resting unopened on the desk of the current transportation minister, Yisrael Katz. (Zohar Blumenkrantz)

Religious Services Minister Yaakov Margi of Shas has inherited a pressing, complex issue: the paucity of burial sites in Israel, particularly in the greater Tel Aviv area. A state comptroller's report released in May warned that, "It is expected that no burial plots will remain in Yarkon Cemetery within only a few months." A long sequence of professional reports released since the 1990s warned of the impending crisis, though none were heeded. Last week the government took its first step in addressing the matter, reinstating the Ministerial Committee on Burial Affairs, headed by Margi himself. (Yair Ettinger)