The Rhineland Regional Council (LVR)

• Quality for People
• Over 50 Years of the Rhineland Regional Council
• The Body Corporate of the Rhineland Regional Council
• Encounters Day
• Democracy "from the Bottom up"
• Local Self-Administration
• The Bodies of the Rhineland Regional Council
• Role in the Local Economy
• Rhineland Pension Funds
• The Finances of the Rhineland Regional Council*
• Personnel
• Social affairs
• Integration Office
• Health
• Orthopedagogy Networks
• Schools
• Regional Youth Welfare Service
• Culture in the Region
• Rhineland Regional Council Offices and Institutions

Quality for People

Our focus and our aims

The Rhineland Regional Council (LVR) is an organization incorporating 14 urban authorities and 13 districts. It provides services that are most effectively organized on a region-wide basis for the 9.6 million inhabitants of the Rhineland. These services cover a whole host of areas: in the areas of social welfare, health and education we help the disabled, mentally ill and other disadvantaged groups, while the regional youth welfare service covers all issues relating to children and young adults and our cultural office focuses focus on regional identity in all its facets in the region's various museums and specialist institutions.

The Rhineland Regional Council works at over 70 locations with a staff of around 14,000 people, Its wide range of services and high quality standard make it an indispensable service provider for all those who live here.
Rhineland Regional Council Offices and Institutions

The Rhineland Regional Council logo contains all the elements that are important to the work of the Rhineland Regional Council: the blue Rhine, the green countryside and a red bridge that links everything together. This image is closely associated with the motto of the Rhineland Regional Council: "Quality for People". This logo shows what we can do and what we consider to be important: to provide good services for the people of the Rhineland region.

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Over 50 Years of the Rhineland Regional Council

Regional self-governance in the Rhineland began in 1815 with the establishment of the Prussian Rhine province. The Provincial Rhineland Alliance came into being later on. In 1933, the autonomous regional administration was abolished by the National Socialists. In 1953 the North Rhine-Westphalian state Parliament decided to re-establish regional self-administration and formed the Rhineland and Westphalia-Lippe Regional Councils. The Rhineland Regional Council covers the North Rhine region.

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The Body Corporate of the Rhineland Regional Council

Population of Rhineland 9.6 million.
14 urban authorities 4.9 Mio.
13 districts with 151 communities 4.7 million.
More than half the population of North Rhine-Westphalia lives in the Rhineland, more than in most of Germany's federal states.

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Encounters Day

Every year, the Rhineland Regional Council hold an Encounters Day in the Archaeological Park in Xanten. This is the largest festival of its kind in Germany, each year bringing over 20,000 people together. People, both able-bodied and disabled, celebrate a special day there, making their mark in favor of integration and harmony.

Contact:
LVR-Presseamt (LVR Press Office)
Phone: 02 21-8 09 -77 40
Internet: www.tag-der-begegnung.lvr.de

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Democracy "from the Bottom up"

Democracy begins at grass roots level with citizens in communities, districts and urban districts.

Article 28 II of Germany's Constitution guarantees communities the right to rule on all local community issues independently within the parameters of the law. This is why public functions that can be performed "locally" are implemented at community level. If the scope or technical requirements of particular functions exceed the capacity of the individual urban authorities or districts, then these are provided by a regional organization. In the Rhineland, this regional organization is the Rhineland Regional Council.

An example:
In statistical terms there are six blind children for every 100,000 people living in the Rhineland region. No urban authority or district could reasonably provide these children with their own school. Instead, the LVR does this for them, providing for blind children and young adults at the Rhineland special needs school in Düren.

The Rhineland Regional Council, like the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Council, is one of 17 "higher associations of local government bodies" in Germany, but has the widest range of functions in this group. The areas or responsibility of the Rhineland organization are set down in the "Ordinance for Regional Councils", the local law relating to the formation of such authorities.

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Local Self-Administration

Like the communities, districts and urban authorities, the Rhineland Regional Council is part of the community self-administration scheme. While state administrative authorities are controlled "from the top", elected political representatives share in the administration of communities, urban authorities, districts and local government authorities. In the case of the Rhineland Regional Council, the controlling body is the Rhineland Regional Assembly.

For every 100,000 inhabitants, each urban authority and every district has one member of the Regional Assembly.
The composition of the assembly reflects the results of the local elections, balanced with mandates from reserve lists.

Contact:
Landschaftversammlung Rheinland (Rhineland Regional Assembly)
Landeshaus
Kennedy-Ufer 2
50679 Cologne,

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The Bodies of the Rhineland Regional Council

The Rhineland Regional Council has three organs:

• The Regional Assembly adjudicates on fundamental issues of principle, agrees the budget and elects the Director ("Regional Director") as well as the State Officials (senior public servants).
• The Regional Committee convenes in technical committee sessions to decide on issues that are not the sole preserve of the Regional Assembly itself.
• The Director carries out day-to-day administration, prepares the resolutions of the various committees and implements these. He is the legal representative of the Council. 
  

Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm
President of the
Rhineland Regional
Assembly

Harry Voigtsberger
Director of the
Rhineland Regional
Council

Since 2004, the President of the the Rhineland Regional Assembly, and therefore also President of the Regional Assembly Committee has been Dr. Jürgen Wilhelm (SPD), District Member for the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis District.

The Director of the Rhineland Regional Council since June 2008 is Harry Voigtsberger.

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Role in the Local Economy

The Rhineland Regional Council:

acts as guarantor to

• NRW. Bank (share 17.63 %)
• Provinzial Rheinland Holding AG (share 32.67 %)

holds part of the share capital of

• RWE AG (0.36 %)
• WestLB AG (0.18 %)
• RW Holding AG (0.14 %)

holds part of the ordinary capital of

• Rheinland Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (100 %)
• Rheinland Kultur GmbH (100 %)
• Rheinische Beamtenbaugesellschaft mbH (90 %)
• Kreiskrankenhaus Gummersbach GmbH (33.33 %)
• Haus Freudenberg GmbH (25.1 %)
• VkA Verband der kommunalen RWE-Aktionäre GmbH (8.84 %)
• Tagesklinik Altenburger Straße gGmbH (49 %)

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Rhineland Pension Funds

The Rhineland Regional Council is responsible for managing the Rhineland Pension Funds. The individual business areas of this public body with its own constitution, organs and budget perform the following functions:

• Civil servant pensions: Calculation and payment of pension entitlements to civil servants and other services for the members of the fund as well as allocation and reimbursement of base payments.
• Grants: Setting, calculation and payment of grant entitlements to civil servants on the basis of legal authorization.
• Pension reserves: Administration on a trustee basis of the pension reserves to be accumulated by the members of the fund according to § 14a BBesG (Federal Civil Service Remuneration Act) and the additional employer's pension liability capital voluntarily saved for future pension expenditure.
• Occupational pensions: Payment of occupational pensions as an additional old age, disabled and survivor's social security system for the employees of the pension fund members on the basis of collective wage agreement provisions (mandatory social security).
• Retirement pension supplements: Payment of retirement pension supplements from voluntary security contributions, which can be implemented by way of deferred compensation or availing of the so-called Riester pension.
• Personnel fees: Calculation and payment of the salary and remuneration, including the resulting monthly and yearly revisions for fund members. Calculation and payment of travel expenses: functions of the regional social welfare fund for families.

Contact:
Rheinische Versorgungskassen (Rhineland Pension Funds)
Mindener Straße 2,
50679 Cologne,
Phone: 02 21-82 73-0, Fax: 02 21-82 73-30 18
e-mail: info@versorgungskassen.de,
www.versorgungskassen.de

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The Finances of the Rhineland Regional Council*

The Rhineland Regional Council managed a total of around 5.7 million Euros in 2005. This so-called "administrative budgetary volume" comprises:

• the LVR's own budget of 3.2 billion Euro,
• the business plans of the clinics,
• regional resources in the social welfare and youth welfare areas,
• resources from the pension funds (RVK and RZVK),
• revenue from the company health insurance fund (BKK-LVR).

The Rhineland Regional Council finances its own budget of around 3.2 billion Euro mainly from its regional allocation: its members, the 14 urban authorities and 13 districts in the Rhineland divert 17.3 percent of tax income, including business tax, to the LVR. The amount of this percentage rate is set each year by the Regional Assembly. From the state the Rhineland Regional Council receives key allocations like the communities, urban authorities and districts, as well as general financial allocations from the state and federal government for performing particular functions. Other income comes from fees, revenue, contributions towards maintenance costs by third parties, interest from capital assets, rent and leases.
The expenditure of the Rhineland Regional Council mainly comprises payments to the disabled and to people requiring care, war victims and their families and special schools and youth welfare. With around 2.2 billion Euro in 2005 we use about 81% of the expenditure of the administrative budget, amounting to around 2.7 billion, for social welfare purposes.

*Based on 2005

Contact:
Kämmerei (Treasury)
Kennedy-Ufer 2
50679 Cologne (Deutz)
Phone: 02 21-8 09-34 12, Fax: 02 21-80 9-27 55

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Personnel

The Rhineland Regional Council is a public service provider with 11,989 positions* for men and women in around 70 departments in professions such as

• 6,970 positions for doctors, psychologists, nurses, care assistants, medical orderlies and administrative staff at the 10 Rhineland clinics,
• 1,565 positions for psychologists, pedagogical experts, therapists, education psychologists and administrative personnel in three orthopedagogy networks,
• 149 positions in central laundries,
• 208 positions in LVR InfoKom, an information processing and communications technology business,
• 181 service positions in Viersen,
• 270 positions for educators, social workers, psychologists and socio-educational specialists in the Rhineland Office for Survey and Real Estate,
• 34 posts in the vocational college of the Rhineland Regional Council (providing training in social and health-related jobs) and the Rheinisches Institut für Fort- und Weiterbildung in der Psychiatrie (providing training in psychiatric care)
• 538 positions for therapists in the 36 special Council-run schools and 2 schools for sick children as well as 1,809 teachers (figures at: 21.12.2004 based on the 2004/2005 academic year), who are employed by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia,
• 611 positions for archaeologists, art historians, landscape architects, experts in traditional and popular arts, archivists in museums and institutions dealing with regional cultural heritage.

Central Administration in Cologne employs 1,463 people*. The Rhineland Regional Council also has a further 1,412 positions for junior staff undergoing training, internships, voluntary workers, etc. (518 in the Rhineland Regional Council's core area, 778 in the Rhineland clinics, 108 in the orthopedagogy networks and 8 in the central hospital laundries).

*Figures: Employment plan for 2005

Contact:
Personalamt (Human Resource Department)
Ottoplatz 2, 50679 Cologne (Deutz)
Phone: 02 21-8 09-37 60, Fax: 02 21-8 09-30 18

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Social affairs

Support for people with disabilities

Individual aid from a single source: this is the motto of the Rhineland Regional Council, serving as the banner for its activities in support of people with disabilities. Enabling men, women and children with handicaps to lead a fairly "normal" life in which they can make their own decisions – this is the goal and statutory function of our aid.

We support people with handicaps from all walks of life. Here are a few examples:

• We fund outpatient support for those living in their own home or supervised accommodation in a residential home or group.
• The LVR supports workshops for people with disabilities in the Rhineland region and offers employment to around 26,000 men and women with mental, psychological or multiple disabilities.
• A comprehensive network of coordination, contact and consultation offices are available throughout the Rhineland region, offering expert information and support to people with disabilities.
• We fund the care and support of children with disabilities in day centres and support young people with disabilities in attending school and training.
• We support around 20,000 blind or sight-impaired people and around 5,900 deaf people every month with the statutory allowances.

The focus is on the individual and his/her needs and desires. For example: help with independent living. In a detailed discussion the wishes and aims of the relevant person and his/her individual strengths and the resulting need for support are recorded. This means that the personal situation and developmental prospects of the individual are the starting point for every application to the Rhineland Regional Council. This approach is referred to as person-centered aid planning. It may sound technical and bureaucratic, but in fact has the opposite effect: the tailoring of help and services to the needs of the individual person. Another key function of the Rhineland Regional Council is regional; planning: ensuring that people with disabilities all over the Rhineland region can find the support they require in good quality and local to their homes.

Contact:
Rheinisches Sozialamt (Rhineland Social Welfare Office)
Hermann-Pünder-Str. 1
50679 Cologne (Deutz)
Phone: 02 21-8 09-64 21, Fax: 02 21-8 09-61 52
e-mail: soziales@lvr.de

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Integration Office

Disabled people at work

The aims of the Rhineland Regional Council Integration Office is to achieve equal opportunities for disabled people at work and to increase awareness of their capabilities. We offer people with disabilities and their employers financial support, practical advice and individual supervision. For example, when an employer wishes to design a workplace suitable for a disabled employee, he can call on the technical advice service provided by the Integration Office free-of-charge. The Specialist Integration Services (IFD) support severely disabled employees and their employers in all issues relating to the workplace. One of the other key functions of the IFD is to provide help and support in finding a suitable job.

These services are funded by the equalization contribution that employers have to pay to the Integration Office if they employ fewer disabled people than required by law.

Another area of the Integration Office's work is the special redundancy protection for disabled people. Securing a job involves weighing up the interests of the disabled employee and the employer. The Integration Office can provide the right expert advice and financial resources in such situations.

War victims and their relatives, those damaged by vaccinations, members of the armed forces and civilian services and victims of violence who have entitlements arising from the Federal War Victims Relief Act, receive aid through the Main Direct Provision Department within the Rhineland Regional Council Integration Office.

Contact:
Integrationsamt (Integration Office),
Kennedy-Ufer 2, 50679 Cologne (Deutz)
Phone: 02 21-8 09-42 90, Fax: 02 21-8 09-24 43
e-mail: Integrationsamt@lvr.de

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Health

Community psychiatric services

The LVR performs important functions in the area of psychiatric care in the Rhineland region:

• We fund nine psychiatric hospitals (Rhineland Clinics) with a total of 5,870 beds.
• We finance non-clinical community psychiatric services, such as the 66 social-psychiatric centres.
• We provide advisory, planning and coordination functions for developing psychiatric care and addiction services (Addiction Coordination Centre).

Around 40,000 patients are treated in the Rhineland Clinics for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. The clinics have a broad spectrum of treatment services for children and young adults, older people with mental illnesses and addicts. Following a principle of "as individual as possible", the treatment services are to deal specifically with gender mainstreaming and migrant features. Another key area is the treatment of the criminally insane (forensic psychiatry).

More and more hospital treatment services are being supplemented by daytime clinics and specialist outpatient programs. We are working to increase the proportion of daytime clinics beyond the current level of 20%.

We also fund an orthopedic hospital, the Rhineland Orthopedic Clinic in Viersen, which has 160 beds.

Contact:
Dezernat Gesundheit, Heilpädagogische Netzwerke
(Department of Health, Orthopedagogy Networks)
Hermann-Pünder-Straße 1,
50679 Cologne (Deutz)
Phone: 02 21-8 09-66 19, Fax: 02 21-8 09-66 20

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Orthopedagogy Networks

Living in the community

We offer outpatient and residential support and advice services to over 2,000 people with psychological and multiple disabilities in over 40 towns and communities. Over 80 percent of them now leave in residential units of different sizes with non-disabled neighbours right next-door. The residents lead as normal a life as possible with the maximum independence and self-determination possible, supported by specialist staff trained in orthopedagogy , psychology and patient care.
Every person living in one of our facilities takes an active role in draw in up his/her own aid and support plan along with their supervisors and other closely involved individuals.

Our residents find employment and occupation in a workshop for disabled people or in separate, specialistled services outside the residence. The residential institutions have introduced a certified quality management system, aimed at ensuring the transparency and quality of their services.
In our vocational college in Düsseldorf and Bedburg-Hau we train specialist orthopedagogy and sociopedagogy staff so as to ensure a sufficient supply of trained personnel.

Contact:
Amt für das Netzwerk Heilpädagogischer Hilfen
(Office the Orthotherapy Support Network)
Kennedy-Ufer 2
50679 Cologne (Deutz)
Phone: 02 21-8 09-39 50, Fax: 02 21-8 09-39 51

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Schools

Education for children and young adults with disabilities

The Rhineland Regional Council runs 38 special schools and two boarding schools for around 7,300 children with physical and mental handicaps, speech difficulties and psychological illnesses. Most schools provide both primary and secondary I education up to certificate level in both secondary modern and learning difficulties/mental disability streams. Cologne has a high school for the physically disabled; the Rhineland-Westphalia Vocational College in Essen offers vocational classes in the dual system for more than 150 professions, a full-time school offering qualification for entrance to higher education, and a "networked remote university" for promoting the careers of hearing-impaired adults. Our schools employ around 1,580 teachers, who are supported by 330 therapeutic and care staff in the schools, the cost of which is borne solely by the LVR. The organization also funds school transport: 1,000 special bus lines operate in the region during term time on our behalf.

Contact:
Schulverwaltungsamt (School Administration Office)
Hermann-Pünder-Str. 1
50679 Cologne (Deutz)
Phone: 02 21-8 09-61 68, Fax: 02 21-8 09-62 47

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Regional Youth Welfare Service

Opportunities for children and young adults

The regional youth welfare service of the Rhineland Regional Council acts as a partner to the 89 youth welfare offices and independent youth support organizations. It provides advice and support, proposes and monitors model projects, develops aid to planning and contributes to the qualification of specialist youth service staff with a broadly-based training program. Every year around 6,600 people receive training in 200 training institutes. The Regional Youth Welfare Service provides lectures, training courses and consultation at local level. It awards operating licenses and provides advice to the around 5,900 daycare facilities for children and 400 education support facilities. The LVR also maintains five facilities of its own for young people with serious educational problems. The Regional Youth Welfare Service spends Euro 680 million per annum on services for young people in the Rhineland region. The members of youth service committees are supported in their work by further training opportunities and support staff. Also associated with the service is the Rhineland Residential Groups Association in which around 350 children and young people receive residential care at five locations.

Contact:
Dezernat Schule, Jugend, Landesjugendamt Rheinland (Rhineland Department of Education and Youth Welfare),
Hermann-Pünder-Straße 1
50679 Cologne (Deutz)
Phone: 02 21-8 09-62 17, Fax: 02 21-8 09-62 18

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Culture in the Region

The Rhineland is one of Europe's most lively regions in cultural terms and has enjoyed a long and varied history. The Rhineland Regional Council plays a key role in developing this cultural region. Our task is to preserve, promote, stimulate and supervise cultural activities.

Museums, Archives

The number of people from all over the world who visit the six Rhineland Regional Council museums each year is well over one million. These museums include the Rhineland Regional Museum in Bonn, the open-air museums in Kommern and Lindlar, the archaeological park and regional museum in Xanten and the Industry Museum with its six sites in Oberhausen, Ratingen, Solingen, Bergisch Gladbach, Engelskirchen and Euskirchen. The Rhineland Regional Council provides support and advice for the numerous community archives and museums through its Archives and Museums Office.

Monuments

The many significant architectural monuments, gardens and cultural amenities as well as other important historical sites around the Rhineland region are looked after by the Rhineland Historical Monuments Commission (Rheinisches Amt für Denkmalpflege ) in Brauweiler and the Rhineland Commission for Historical Sites (Rheinisches Amt für Bodendenkmalpflege), which has its headquarters in Bonn.

History, civilization, media

The history, language and life of the people of the Rhineland region are studied and documented in the Bonn-based Office of Rhineland Regional Culture (Amt für Rheinische Landeskunde). Educational media is available from the Rhineland Media Center in Düsseldorf. It teaches people how to handle new media in the e-nitiative.nrw project.

Participation in and support for cultural events

Interested parties who conduct and publish studies on regional history can count on the active support of the Rhineland Regional Council's cultural office. We have close links with the "Rhineland Association for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and Landscape" (Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz), which is located in the Rhineland Regional Council's Cologne headquarters. We also play a role in a number of important regional foundations, including the Max-Ernst Museum, the Prussian Museum, Schloss Dyck, Schloss Benrath, Lehmbruck Museum.

Rheinlandtaler medal

The care of cultural, local and cross-border activities would not be possible without the practical support of many men and women.
The Rheinlandtaler medal has been awarded for over 30 years to volunteers who demonstrate particular dedication to the cause.

Contact:
Dezernat Kultur, Umwelt (Department of Cuylture and the Environment)
Ottoplatz 2
50679 Cologne (Deutz),
Tel.: 02 21-8 09-37 85,
Fax: 02 21-8 09-36 79

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Rhineland Regional Council Offices and Institutions

Imprint:
The Director of the Rhineland Regional Council (LVR)
Fachbereich Presse (Press Office)
Kennedy-Ufer 2
50679 Cologne (Deutz),
Phone: +49 (0)221-809-0,
Fax: +49 (0)221-809-22 00

Editors: Uwe Steinkrüger, Peter Worms
Photos: Hans Theo Gerhards, Ludger Ströter, Harald Oppermann
Concept, Layout: assenmacher network Cologne
Printing: ICS Communication-Service Cologne 12/05
Central address for e-Mail: post@lvr.de
Internet: www.lvr.de

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