Committees and boards

Committees and boards are political bodies elected by the City Council for four years at a time. They steer and develop their respective City departments or municipal corporations. The responsibilities of committees and boards are defined in their rules of procedure.

The City Council can delegate a committee’s responsibilities to divisions: for example, the Social Services Committee has a Family Division, Divisions for First and Second Adult Services Appeals, Senior Citizens’ Appeals Division, and a Swedish-Language Division. The Education Committee has both Finnish-language and Swedish-language Divisions.

The members and alternate members of committees and boards are elected by the City Council. A committee member does not have to be a City Council member. Each committee or board member has an alternate, who represents the member in case he or she is unable to attend a meeting. Each committee also includes a representative of the City Board, who can participate in the discussion but not in decision-making. The numbers of committee and board members varies.

The agendas and decisions of committee meetings are publicly available. The meetings, however, are closed to the general public.

Housing Committee
Housing Production Committee
Zoo Board
Personnel Centre
Board of the Personnel Development Services municipal corporation (Oiva Academy)
Board of the Helsingin Energia municipal corporation
Board of the Port of Helsinki municipal corporation
Board of the Helsinki Region Transport municipal corporation
City Museum Board
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Board
City Art Museum Board
City Planning Committee
Real Estate Committee
Cultural and Library Committee
Municipal Election Central Committee
Sports Committee
MetropoliLab Board
Youth Committee
Education Committee
Board of the Commercial Services municipal corporation Palmia
Rescue Committee
Construction Committee
Board of the Swedish-language Workers’ College
Social Services And Health Care Committee
Board of the Finnish-language Workers’ College
Board of the Payment Management Services municipal corporation
Audit Committee
Technical Services Committee (Procurement Centre, Construction Services and Wholesale Food Market)
Public Works Committee
Environment Committee
Committee of Early Education and Care

Working groups and advisory boards

A working group is a body comprising a number of persons of trust appointed by the City Board to execute temporary tasks or long-term duties for no longer than the duration of the City Board’s term in office.

An advisory board is a body comprising a number of persons appointed by the City Board to investigate or prepare a certain matter or a cluster of matters, or to monitor a certain activity.

Business Development Advisory Board
Energy Efficiency Advisory Board, members, information on activities
City of Helsinki and University of Helsinki Collaboration Advisory Board
Personnel Fund Working Group
History Working Group
Hitas Housing Advisory Board
Helsinki Zoo and University of Helsinki Advisory Board
Immigration and Integration Advisory Board
Street, Place and Institutional Names Working Group
Rescue Services Advisory Board
Police Affairs Advisory Board
Veterans Affairs Advisory Board
Ordinance Working Group
Equality Working Group
Healthy and Safe City Advisory Board
Employment Working Group
Sports Prize Working Group
Elections Preparation Working Group
Council for People with Disabilities, members, disability policy programme
Elderly Citizens Council, members, information on activities
Voluntary Work Advisory Board, information on activities

Municipalities’ joint advisory boards:

Helsinki Metropolitan Area Advisory Board