What services should the state guarantee regardless of place of residence, and where does the line lie between their accessibility and economic efficiency?
  
These were the issues that Živilė Kindurytė, Deputy Auditor General, discussed at the Regional Policy Forum in Šeduva. The forum was organised by the Ministry of the Interior in conjunction with the Central Project Management Agency.
  
The discussion “Access to essential services in remote and rural areas. What is the optimal solution?” was attended by representatives from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Bank of Lithuania, local authorities and communities. The forum sought to find a way to reconcile the needs of the population with the limited resources of the state, municipalities and the business sector.
  
National Audit Office’s audits have repeatedly shown that access to public services in Lithuania still depends on where one lives. One of the conclusions of the audit “Promoting Active Ageing” is that social protection in old age cannot be a matter of “geographical luck”. A broader question was raised at the forum: can we agree at national level which services must be accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live, and how will we assess their accessibility?
  
“Efficiency is not simply about the lowest cost of providing a service. If we make savings by closing a service in one location, but this means a person has to travel several dozen kilometres as a result, we are simply passing on part of the cost to them. That is why we must assess not only how much it costs to provide the service, but also whether people can actually access it,” says Živilė Kindurytė, Deputy Auditor General.
  
Optimisation does not necessarily mean closure
  
The efficiency of a service network cannot be assessed solely on the basis of its running costs. By concentrating services in larger centres, we can reduce the costs of providing them, but for some residents, journey times and costs will increase. It is therefore important to assess the full impact of any decision.
  
Physical service locations can be complemented by digital and mobile services, transport schemes or other solutions. However, the most important thing is to assess the outcome – whether a person can actually access the service they need. This is particularly relevant for those whose ability to use digital services or travel independently to another town is limited.
  
Access to services – a matter of regional vitality
  
Access to essential services is one of the factors that determines whether people choose to live, work and build their future in a region. Therefore, decisions regarding the service network should be assessed not only on the basis of how much they cost today, but also on the impact they will have on the region in the future.

Photo credit: event organisers, photographer Rytis Šeškaitis.

More than three years after the National Audit Office’s audit “Municipal Waste Management”, two of the seven recommendations made have been implemented. The most important changes are still to come: more waste must be recycled rather than incinerated or disposed of in landfill sites; residents must be provided with better facilities for sorting waste; and waste management must be planned and evaluated on the basis of reliable data.
  
“Recent high-profile waste management incidents in Vilnius serve as a reminder that isolated crises are often the result of an inefficient system. Waste suitable for recycling in Lithuania is still, all too often, incinerated or sent to landfill, rather than being returned to the economy. For the situation to change, it is essential to develop the infrastructure for collecting food, textiles and other waste in a timely manner, to increase recycling capacity and to ensure reliable data for decision-making. The system must facilitate sorting, but residents themselves must also make more active use of these opportunities, as too much waste suitable for recycling still ends up in mixed waste bins,” says Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.
  
We are sorting more, but too little is still being recycled
  
Although residents are sorting waste more and more actively, a large proportion of recyclable waste is still being lost – it ends up in the mixed municipal waste stream and is ultimately incinerated or disposed of in landfill sites.
  
An audit in 2023 showed that although the proportion of residents sorting their waste rose from 40 percent to 60 percent between 2016 and 2021, a significant amount of waste suitable for recycling still ended up in mixed municipal waste – packaging and other secondary raw materials accounted for around a third of the total volume. In 2021, there were 240,200 tonnes of such waste in mixed municipal waste, but only 8.5 percent of it was ready for recycling. The vast majority was incinerated or sent to landfill. The audit also revealed marked differences between municipalities in the organisation of waste management. Average monthly expenditure per resident ranged from EUR 0.8 in the Rokiškis district to EUR 4 in the Molėtai district, while in 19 municipalities, waste collection services were not provided to all residents.
  
First concrete changes following the audit
  
The first concrete changes are already visible following the National Audit Office’s audit. All 60 municipalities have begun to apply uniform criteria for assessing whether waste management services are being provided to residents. This paves the way for a more consistent assessment of service availability across the whole of Lithuania.
  
Controls on imported municipal waste have also been strengthened – measures have been put in place to ensure that imported municipal waste is recycled rather than incinerated or disposed of in landfills.
  
The work required to increase waste recycling has not yet been completed
  
One of the most important changes still to come is increased recycling and reuse of municipal waste. At the time of the audit, 596,000 tonnes, or 44.33 percent, of municipal waste was being recycled annually in the country. By implementing the audit’s recommendations, the aim is to create the capacity to recycle an additional 128,200 tonnes of waste per year by the end of 2029. To this end, the waste recycling infrastructure must be modernised and expanded to enable greater recycling of textiles, furniture, plastics, packaging, bio-waste, electronic waste and other types of waste.
  
There is still a lack of data on waste management
  
Reliable and comparable data are essential for understanding how municipal waste is managed in municipalities and regions, and where changes are needed. Following the audit, guidelines were drawn up on how to complete and submit annual reports on municipal waste management systems in municipalities and regions via the Unified Information System for the Accounting of Products, Packaging and Waste (GPAIS). The data submission forms in GPAIS were also updated and the procedure for submitting information was amended. However, not all municipalities submitted their annual reports for 2025.
  
Data from all the country’s municipalities would enable a more accurate assessment of waste streams, the planning of necessary capacity and the taking of informed decisions regarding the entire waste management system.
  
Although the audit was completed in 2023, monitoring of the recommendations continues
  
The National Audit Office will continue to monitor how the audit recommendations are being implemented and whether the planned changes are being achieved. Detailed information on the progress made in implementing each recommendation can be found on the National Audit Office’s recommendation monitoring page.

In Lithuania, around 12 percent of pupils have special educational needs (SEN). More than 90 percent of them study alongside their peers, and young people with SEN who wish to do so are guaranteed the opportunity to continue their education at vocational education (VET) institutions. However, an audit carried out by the National Audit Office entitled “Educational Support in Schools” shows that although more than 90 percent pupils with SEN successfully obtain a vocational qualification, they rarely manage to integrate into the labour market – around 70 percent of pupils with SEN who graduate from VET institutions do not find employment.
  
“Vocational training must pave the way not only to a qualification but also to an independent life. Today, we see that for many young people with special educational needs, this path comes to an end upon completing their studies. Therefore, the most important next step is not only to ensure the opportunity to learn, but also to create the right conditions – a qualifications system, educational support, career guidance and employment services – so that the qualifications they have gained become a real opportunity to find employment and participate fully in society,” – says Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.
  
In assessing conditions at VET institutions, the auditors point out that educational support for VET institutions is not currently being evaluated. Although educational support for vocational education is funded from the state budget (in 2024, the ratio of allocated to utilised appropriations stood at 121 percent – 7.5 out of 6.2 million euros), information on its use is not collected at national level, and institutions do not report on it. This raises doubts about the quality and scope of the support actually provided, whilst policymakers lack the data needed to make informed decisions.
  
In order to ensure the availability of support, the National Audit Office recommends that the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport (MESS) assess the extent of educational support recommended by the Pedagogical and Psychological Service and actually provided to pupils by the VET institutions.
  
Despite the fact that the scope of educational support in special education institutions is not currently being effectively assessed, audit data show that as many as 69 percent of pupils with SEN, who completed 10th and/or 12th grade at general education schools in the 2024–2025 academic year, continued their education at special education institutions the following year. An even higher figure was recorded among those who studied at VET institutions solely under general education programmes – as many as 95 percent (448 out of 473) of them remained at these institutions to pursue vocational qualifications.
  
Obstacles to obtaining a qualification arise as early as the learning stage – some young people with SUP are unable to start or continue their desired studies because the chosen vocational training programmes are simply cancelled due to insufficient numbers of pupils. The audit report suggests, as one of the solutions, closer cooperation and coordination between VET training institutions, enabling them to pool resources or redirect students so that young people are not left without the opportunity to gain a qualification.
  
However, the greatest challenge for young people with SEN lies ahead once they have obtained their vocational diploma. According to the VET institutions, the main reason for unemployment is employers’ preconceived notions regarding the abilities of young people with SEN and their reluctance to employ them. Furthermore, there is a lack of financial incentives for businesses. The European Union emphasises that targeted subsidies and the development of social economy enterprises would ensure a decent standard of living and inclusive employment.
  
Vocational training is becoming increasingly adapted to the needs of people with SEN due to intellectual disabilities – in the 2025–2026 academic year, 75 percent (33 out of 44) VET institutions operating in the country were already running such programmes or modules, while the number of learners doubled (to 955 students). Most of them choose the specialisms of cook (390 students) and painter - assistant plasterer (216 students).
  
The initiative implemented in general education schools, which allows pupils to choose individual vocational modules (e.g. pizza making, vehicle diagnostics), is also having a positive impact. According to representatives of VET institutions, this helps children with SEN to transition from school to the labour market or further education.
  
However, the auditors point out that some of the programmes offered by VET institutions, such as wicker weaving or pottery assistant, are narrow craft specialisms in which demand for the workforce is minimal. To ensure that VET programmes aligned with contemporary trends and focused on the acquisition of practical skills are accessible to people with intellectual disabilities, the National Audit Office recommends that the MESS initiate a review and expansion of the Level II qualification descriptions within the Lithuanian Qualifications Framework (LTKS), in line with the needs of employers and the labour market, by including new qualifications.