The Ministry of Public Security will abolish 6 general departments and reduce 20 fire prevention and fighting police stations.

Headquarters of the Ministry of Public Security. Photo: Infonet

On July 2, reporting on the Government's direction and administration in the first 6 months of the year at the National Online Conference to assess the socio-economic situation in the first 6 months of 2018, Mr. Mai Tien Dung said that in the past 6 months, the Government has streamlined the payroll of administrative agencies by 4,294 people, public service units by 24,717 people, and commune-level civil servants by 5,767 people.

In addition, 15 departments under ministries and 189 departments and bureaus have been reorganized. "The Ministry of Public Security is reorganizing in the following direction: no more 6 general departments, reducing from 125 department-level units to 60, and reducing 20 fire prevention and fighting police departments," Mr. Dung stated.

Regarding administrative procedure settlement, the Minister and Head of the Government Office said that the one-stop shop and inter-connected one-stop shop models have been strongly implemented, with 30 modern public administrative centers established with 2 models (under the provincial People's Committee or the provincial People's Committee office).

Minister, Head of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung. Photo: Nhat Bac

Mr. Dung cited Quang Ninh province in drastically implementing the "four on-site" principle, including receiving, appraising, approving and returning results, thereby cutting 47% of the processing time compared to regulations, saving 70 billion VND for the budget and 25 billion VND for the people each year.

“Currently, Bac Ninh province has completed the steps to implement the “four on-site” principle in the third quarter of 2018. This is a model demonstrating the locality’s initiative, practically and effectively serving the people and businesses in the spirit of Resolution No. 18 of the 6th Central Conference,” Mr. Dung affirmed.

Regarding improving the business environment, Mr. Dung said that the Government has issued two decrees, reducing and simplifying more than 700 business conditions and specialized inspections in the fields of Industry and Trade and Health.

In the food safety sector alone, over 95% of specialized inspection procedures for imported food have been cut, 90% of products are allowed to be self-declared by enterprises, saving 7.7 million working days, equivalent to over 3,100 billion VND. In the science and technology sector, 91% of product groups have been transferred to the post-inspection mechanism.

Some ministries are slow to implement cuts in business conditions.

The report on the implementation of tasks and results of the Prime Minister's Working Group said that in 6 months, the Working Group worked with 17 ministries, agencies, 2 localities, 1 corporation; conducted 3 task inspections, 8 thematic inspections under the direction of the Prime Minister.

Through inspections, many tasks were accelerated, and some obstacles in mechanisms and policies were promptly resolved. In particular, thematic inspections on reforming specialized inspection activities and reducing business conditions have created positive effects in society and the business community.

The specialized inspection sector has shifted strongly to risk management, applied post-inspection mechanisms, reduced the list of goods subject to inspection, issued standards and technical regulations, attached HS codes to products and goods, etc.

"The ministries have developed a simple plan to cut down on overlapping, unreasonable, and unnecessary business conditions with a simple reduction rate of 43 - 55.1%," Mr. Dung said.

However, according to Mr. Dung, some specialized management ministries and conditional business management ministries are still slow to implement the requirements under the Prime Minister's direction.

“Up to now, of the 16 ministries, only the Ministry of Industry and Trade has submitted a Decree to cut 675/1,216 business conditions, the Ministry of Construction has drafted and consulted with Government members on the reduction decree. 13 ministries are in the process of reviewing and proposing plans but have not yet achieved a 50% reduction rate. There is one ministry that does not have a plan yet,” Mr. Dung cited and affirmed that there needs to be more drastic direction and active participation from ministries and agencies.