Proposing the Central Government to consider specific factors when assigning staff to Nghe An province

Working scene. Photo: Dao Tuan

On the morning of December 17, the Central Steering Committee's survey delegation on payroll management led by comrade Hoang Dang Quang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Organization Committee, had a working session with the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on payroll management in the province.

Co-chairing the meeting on Nghe An province's side was comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council.

Attending the meeting were comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; comrades of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee; representatives of Party committees and the Provincial Party Committee Office; leaders of the departments: Home Affairs, Health, Education and Training; Agriculture and Rural Development; leaders of Vinh city.

Nghe An currently has more than 60,000 cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers (excluding commune-level civil servants), of which 287 are directly managed by the Provincial Party Committee; 62 are members of the Provincial Party Committee; 879 are at the grassroots level and 10,389 are at the grassroots level.

SERIOUSLY AND RESOLUTIONALLY IMPLEMENT CENTRAL DIRECTIONS

Implementing the Resolutions of the Central Committee, Decrees of the Government and plans, projects and conclusions of the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on streamlining the payroll, reorganizing the apparatus to ensure streamlining, effective and efficient operations, Party committees, Party organizations at all levels, and collective leaders of agencies, localities and units in the whole province have seriously and synchronously implemented them, with high political determination and a suitable roadmap.

As a result, 100% of agencies, localities and units have developed a project to streamline the payroll associated with restructuring the staff, civil servants, public employees and workers in the period 2015 - 2021; at the same time, they have developed an annual streamlining plan and roadmap. To date, compared to 2015, the whole province has reduced 6,876 people (10%).

Comrade Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of Nghe An Department of Health spoke at the meeting. Photo: Dao Tuan

Based on the list of job positions issued by the Central Organizing Committee and the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have led and directed agencies and units to revise and supplement job positions (VTVL) in administrative agencies, organizations, and public service units in accordance with the approved list, requiring 100% of agencies and units to classify cadres, civil servants, and public employees according to VTVL, and at the same time set the goal of arranging and restructuring the team of cadres, civil servants, public employees, and workers in the direction of arranging the number of people working in professional and technical positions to account for a high proportion, at least 60% (for civil servants) and 65% (for public employees).

Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province attended the meeting. Photo: Dao Tuan

Members of the Central Organizing Committee delegation attended the meeting. Photo: Dao Tuan

Public service units are planned, arranged, and fundamentally, comprehensively, and synchronously innovated, ensuring streamlining and rationality; the number of public service units switching to an autonomous mechanism exceeded the set target (reaching 11.6%), operating more effectively and efficiently.

For the Party, the Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations at the provincial and district levels, in 2015, the total number of civil servants, public employees and labor contracts according to Decree 68/2000/ND-CP (contract 68) assigned by the Central Organizing Committee to Nghe An province was 2,093 positions. In 2021, the total number of positions assigned by the Provincial Party Committee to units and localities was 1,937 positions. Compared to the positions assigned in 2015, Nghe An province reduced 210 positions (reaching a rate of 10.03%).

Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training spoke at the meeting. Photo: Dao Tuan

Regarding the State sector, the total number of civil servants assigned in 2015 was 3,687. The number of positions assigned in 2021 was 3,311, a decrease of 376 (10.2%). The total number of civil servants assigned in 2021 was 55,780, a decrease of 6,290 (10.1%) compared to 2015.

Based on the assessment of the actual situation, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee also proposed to the Central Organizing Committee on the staffing for the 2022-2026 period.

Comrade Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Chairwoman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An province spoke at the meeting. Photo: Dao Tuan

Speaking at the meeting, representatives of the leaders of the units: Department of Health, Department of Education and Training, Department of Home Affairs, Provincial Party Committee Organization Board, Vinh City People's Committee clarified the current situation of management and streamlining of staff in conjunction with the implementation of job position projects in the past time. Along with that, they pointed out the difficulties, obstacles and inadequacies in the implementation of the Central's guidelines, resolutions and policies on this work.

Comrade Le Dinh Ly - Director of Nghe An Department of Home Affairs spoke at the meeting. Photo: Dao Tuan.

Comrade Tran Hoang Hoi - Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Organization and Regulations, Central Organizing Committee spoke at the meeting. Photo: Dao Tuan

Giving opinions at the meeting, members of the Central Organizing Committee's Working Group also raised a number of issues requesting further clarification from Nghe An departments, branches and sectors.

CONSIDERATION OF SPECIAL FACTORS WHEN ASSIGNMENT OF STAFF TO NGHE AN PROVINCE

Speaking at the meeting, Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Chairman of the Nghe An Provincial People's Council said that in 2021, despite many difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Nghe An basically achieved the set targets. The economic growth rate reached more than 6.2%, of which the agricultural sector reached 5.59%, the highest in many years. Industry and construction grew by more than 14%. The province's budget revenue is estimated at more than 18,000 billion VND, exceeding the set estimate. Import-export turnover skyrocketed, the plan for 2021 was 1.6 billion USD, but up to now it has reached 3.2 billion USD, especially the export turnover increased dramatically with more than 1.9 billion USD, while the target set for 2025 is from 1.7 - 1.8 billion USD. The number of projects attracting investment increased by more than 40%.

Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Chairman of the People's Council of Nghe An province spoke at the meeting.

In the difficult context due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the province is very flexible, operating uniformly from top to bottom in the fields of economy, culture, society, national defense, and security, ensuring flexibility to adapt to epidemic prevention conditions.

Going into the content of implementing policies and resolutions on streamlining payroll and arranging job positions, the Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee said that the province has implemented this work methodically, from planning, assigning tasks, monitoring, inspecting, supervising... Nghe An has established a Steering Committee on streamlining payroll and restructuring the team of cadres, civil servants and public employees. Any adjustment, no matter how small, in payroll must have the opinion of the Steering Committee to create unity. Thanks to that, Nghe An has reduced 10% in accordance with the spirit of Resolution No. 39-NQ/TW of the Politburo.

Despite being the province with the largest area in the country, a large population, and a large forest area, Nghe An has still resolutely and persistently led and directed the reduction of staff according to the direction of the Central Committee. The implementation of Resolutions No. 18 and 19 of the 12th Central Committee on "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently" of the Central Committee has been seriously, resolutely, and persistently implemented.

On behalf of the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, comrade Thai Thanh Quy proposed to the Central Organizing Committee's delegation: the assignment of staff to Nghe An should be considered based on specific factors such as: area, population, administrative focal units at district and commune levels, religious and ethnic characteristics and border areas. Nghe An is the province with the longest land border in the country with more than 468 km, the province has 82 km of coastline; 21 district-level administrative units, of which 11 are in the Western region.

From this reality, looking at some specific issues regarding management and allocation of staff, we can see that: forest management and protection in Nghe An still lacks 662 staff according to the regulations of the standards; the education sector still lacks nearly 8,000 staff. Regarding the health sector, Nghe An is the leading unit in implementing autonomy, reducing a large number of people receiving salaries from the state budget, but the establishment of a fixed staff will greatly affect the issue of life, social security, and health care for the people; impact the policy of increasing human resources for the health sector related to issues such as: health insurance, the number of people examining and treating patients, the doctor/patient ratio... Similarly, regarding the education sector, tightening the staffing standards creates an imbalance, a shortage of teachers, and the implementation of the policy of socializing education, especially in rural and mountainous areas, is difficult to implement. On that basis, Nghe An province hopes that the Central Working Group will pay attention and consider having an appropriate mechanism during the survey process.

The Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee also requested the Central Government to pay special attention to ensuring consistency and consistent direction from the Central Government, ministries, branches to provinces and cities in streamlining staff and restructuring the apparatus; avoiding overlap in issuing policies on streamlining staff and restructuring the apparatus.

Nghe An agrees with the plans to rearrange and reorganize social, political and professional organizations in accordance with the Central Government's direction, but also recommends that this issue should be implemented from the Central Government down to the grassroots level to create unity and synchronization.

Comrade Thai Thanh Quy once again requested that the Central Government, when assigning staff to Nghe An, should consider factors such as population, area, administrative units and specific factors to ensure suitability with the actual conditions of the locality.

NEW THINKING IS NEEDED IN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND STREAMLINED STAFFING

Concluding the meeting, comrade Hoang Dang Quang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Organization Committee highly appreciated the results of implementing political, socio-economic, defense and security goals of Nghe An.

Comrade Hoang Dang Quang - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Central Organization Committee gave a speech at the meeting. Photo: Dao Tuan

The Deputy Head of the Central Organizing Committee especially acknowledged the efforts and determination of the province in implementing Resolution No. 39 of the Politburo on streamlining the payroll and restructuring the staff, civil servants and public employees as well as the policies and resolutions of the Central Committee. The province has reduced the payroll by more than 10% in the context of a large locality with diverse social components and economic structures. The development of job position projects and the arrangement of the organizational apparatus have been increasingly streamlined; the number of public units switching to an autonomous mechanism has exceeded the target. The implementation of pilot models has ensured compliance with the regulations of the Central Committee.

However, comrade Hoang Dang Quang also pointed out some difficulties and limitations of Nghe An such as: the arrangement of the internal apparatus of departments, branches and sectors is still inadequate; the staffing standards are not suitable; the arrangement of surplus staff is still difficult; the transfer of public services to private services is still limited, this also comes from the unclear guidance mechanism of the Government; the management and allocation of staff in the health and education sectors are facing many difficulties and this is a common situation that requires the Central Government to make adjustments.

Comrade Hoang Dang Quang - Deputy Head of the Central Organizing Committee acknowledged and accepted the proposals of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee and will report to the Central Steering Committee for appropriate adjustments. Photo: Dao Tuan

Regarding the proposals of Nghe An province, the Working Group noted and reported to the Central Steering Committee for consideration and resolution. The Deputy Head of the Central Organization Committee suggested that Nghe An should continue to review, supplement, and perfect the functions, tasks, and powers of each department, branch, and locality to overcome overlaps and omissions of functions and tasks; correctly identify job positions and staffing according to regulations. Continue to arrange the organizational apparatus, streamline focal points. Complete the construction of a system of job descriptions of cadres, civil servants, and public employees in the political system in a systematic manner. Implement appropriate policies and regimes, and do a good job of ideological work for redundant cadres after the arrangement of the organizational apparatus, mergers, consolidations of agencies, organizations, and staffing reductions.

The Deputy Head of the Central Organizing Committee also suggested that the province review and assign appropriate staffing quotas to associations to ensure autonomy. It is necessary to strengthen inspection, direction, and supervision of implementation in the arrangement of the apparatus and streamlining of staff. It is necessary to have new thinking in the issue of arranging the apparatus and streamlining staff in the coming period, avoiding mechanical arrangement and streamlining, which is not in line with the development trend./.