Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee: Implement timely and transparent support for people in difficulty

On the afternoon of April 15, the Provincial People's Committee held a meeting to implement Resolution No. 42/NQ-CP dated April 9, 2020 of the Government on measures to support people facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic and discuss solutions to create jobs for workers returning to Nghe An from working abroad due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Comrades: Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Bui Dinh Long - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee co-chaired. Photo: Thanh Duy

Also attending were members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee: Cao Thi Hien - Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council; Major General Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of the Provincial Police and leaders of a number of provincial departments and branches.

DO NOT LET THE PROCEDURES BE COMPLICATED AND LONG-LASTING

Currently, in Nghe An, the total number of meritorious people and their relatives receiving monthly preferential allowances is 70,579 people, with an estimated total support amount of more than VND 105,868 billion; the total number of social protection beneficiaries receiving monthly social allowances is 133,637 people, with an estimated total support amount of more than VND 200,455 billion.

As of December 31, 2019, the whole province had 485,298 poor and near-poor households; of which the number of poor and near-poor households enjoying preferential policies for meritorious people and monthly social assistance was 8,767 (will receive support according to groups of meritorious people and social protection). Thus, the total support budget for this group is expected to be more than 359,398 billion VND.

Comrade Doan Hong Vu - Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs presented a report at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

7 groups of subjects supported under Resolution No.42/NQ-CP

1. Employees working under a labor contract regime who must agree to temporarily suspend the performance of the labor contract or take unpaid leave for 01 month or more due to businesses facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic, have no revenue or no financial resources to pay salaries, will be supported at a rate of 1,800,000 VND/person/month. The support period is based on the actual time of suspension of the labor contract or unpaid leave, monthly depending on the actual situation of the epidemic, calculated from April 1, 2020 and not more than 3 months.

2. Employers facing financial difficulties and having paid in advance at least 50% of the salary for the suspension of work to employees according to Clause 3, Article 98 of the Labor Code during the period from April to June 2020 are entitled to borrow without collateral up to 50% of the regional minimum wage for each employee according to the actual salary payment period, but not more than 3 months with 0% interest rate, maximum loan term of 12 months at the Social Policy Bank to pay the remaining salary and disburse directly monthly to the suspended employee.

3. Individual business households with taxable revenue under 100 million VND/year that temporarily suspend business from April 1, 2020 will be supported with 1,000,000 VND/household/month on a monthly basis depending on the actual situation of the epidemic, but not more than 3 months.

4. Employees whose labor contracts or employment contracts are terminated but are not eligible for unemployment benefits; employees without labor contracts who lose their jobs will be supported with VND 1,000,000/person/month on a monthly basis depending on the actual situation of the epidemic, but not exceeding 3 months. The application period is from April to June 2020.

5. People with revolutionary contributions who are receiving monthly preferential allowances will receive an additional support of VND 500,000/person/month. The applicable period is 3 months, from April to June 2020, and will be paid once.

6. Social protection beneficiaries who are receiving monthly social benefits will receive an additional support of VND 500,000/person/month. The applicable period is 3 months, from April to June 2020 and will be paid once.

7. Poor and near-poor households according to the national poverty line on the list as of December 31, 2019 will receive support of VND 250,000/person/month. The application period is 3 months, from April to June 2020, and will be paid once.

Resolution No. 42/NQ-CP of the Government

At the meeting, leaders of a number of relevant sectors discussed the implementation process, especially the allocation of the province's funding sources for implementation. Because according to Resolution No. 42, Nghe An belongs to the group of localities where the central budget only supports 50% of the actual expenditure as prescribed in the Resolution; the remaining 50% is balanced by the province from the local budget reserve, local financial reserve fund, and remaining salary reform funds.

Comrade Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council spoke at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

In addition, many discussion opinions agree that, among the 7 groups of subjects supported under Resolution No. 42, 3 subjects are people with meritorious services, social protection, and the poor and near-poor who have basically been specifically identified. However, for the remaining 4 subjects, the procedures, documents, and implementation organization must be specifically deployed, ensuring closeness, accuracy, and demonstrating the policy's objectives.

This is the issue that the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh and Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien requested relevant sectors to have close and specific solutions. Regarding this content, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long requested the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to draft a draft implementation guide to collect opinions from sectors.

Major General Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of the Provincial Police Department said that the implementation process should be noted to avoid cumbersome and prolonged procedures and to prevent policy exploitation. Therefore, according to the Major General, when the Central Government has instructions on implementing Resolution No. 42, the province should set a time for implementation and completion.

TIMELY, STRICT, TRANSPARENT IMPLEMENTATION

Concluding this content, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung emphasized that it is necessary to determine that the implementation of Resolution No. 42 of the Government is of great significance in ensuring social security and contributing to maintaining social stability.

The principle of implementation is to be urgent, timely, and meet the needs of the people, especially those facing difficulties. However, at the same time, it is necessary to implement strictly, publicly, transparently, and to properly and adequately target the beneficiaries of the policy; not to allow any exploitation of the policy; in case of violations, it must be strictly handled.

The work of reviewing and making a list of beneficiaries; the organization and implementation of support payments for these beneficiaries must be carried out closely, carefully, and under the supervision of the Fatherland Front at all levels with the participation of the People's Council at the same level and socio-political organizations.

Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee spoke at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

In particular, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee noted that it is necessary to promote the responsibility of leaders at all levels, including heads of enterprises in the beneficiary group, during the implementation process.

To ensure that after receiving instructions from the Central Government, the province can immediately implement, at the meeting, comrade Nguyen Duc Trung assigned specific tasks to relevant sectors.

In which, the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs presides over and coordinates with the Department of Finance and relevant units to absorb opinions at the meeting to complete the implementation plan in the province, focusing on assigning and coordinating implementation based on the functions and tasks of each sector.

“The review ensures that these are people who truly deserve support,” the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee pointed out. “First of all, we prioritize focusing on three basic groups that have been identified as meritorious people, social protection beneficiaries, and poor and near-poor households” because these are the truly disadvantaged groups.

The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall preside over and work with the Department of Finance to closely follow the province's recommendations to the Prime Minister to consider supplementing resources to implement the policy.

Based on the beneficiaries and resource requirements, the Department of Finance needs to clearly identify the province's resource capacity that can be allocated for implementation; thereby calculating and proposing to the Central Government solutions to supplement resources for the province.

Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee concluded the meeting. Photo: Thanh Duy

Emphasizing the role of communication work, the head of the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Information and Communications to advise and direct the organization of propaganda work, especially through the media to clarify and highlight that this is a support policy for people who are really facing difficulties.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee to guide the establishment of supervisory boards to supervise the implementation of Resolution No. 42 at all levels.

Regarding the solution to create jobs for workers returning to Nghe An from abroad, comrade Nguyen Duc Trung requested the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to continue to complete the contents to discuss and discuss more thoroughly in the coming time in order to be able to solve problems related to support in finding and solving jobs for this group.