Director of the Department of Home Affairs: Clearly see limitations to overcome and improve the ranking of the Administrative Reform Index

On the afternoon of July 10, the 21st Session of the 18th Provincial People's Council held a discussion session in the hall.

Concerns about the province's recent low results in administrative reform (PAR), the province's PAR indexes are unstable, and tend to fall in rank; the reasons for the falling indexes and solutions to improve the PAR indexes are issues that delegates are interested in and ask for clarification from provincial leaders.

Delegate Nguyen Duc Hong - Yen Thanh district raised the question: In 2023, administrative reform achieved many remarkable results. However, some indicators are still "fluctuating", requesting the Director of the Department of Home Affairs to provide solutions to improve the province's PAR Index.

Sharing the same concerns about the limitations of administrative reform, delegate Tran Ngoc Son raised the issue: Administrative reform has many positive changes but has not met the processing time requirements, the records and procedures of investment projects in some agencies and units are still slow; the PCI ranking results have decreased sharply compared to the previous year. According to statistics, the provincial competitiveness index of the province in 2023 reached 65.71 points, ranked 44th, down 21 places compared to 2022; The Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index in Vietnam (PAPI) in 2023 of Nghe An province reached 42.84 points, ranked 25th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide (down 8 places compared to 2022).

The delegate analyzed the indicators of people's participation at the grassroots level, transparency, accountability to the people, corruption control index in the public sector, public administrative procedure index, public service provision index, environmental governance index; of these indicators, only 2 indicators reached over 6 points, the rest were below 5 points. "In December 2021, the Provincial Party Committee issued Resolution No. 05-NQ/TU on promoting administrative reform in the province; The People's Committee issued the State Administrative Reform Program of Nghe An province for the period 2021 - 2030 and annually issues the State Administrative Reform Plan, how have the results of State administrative reform compared to when there was no resolution and how has it affected the PCI indicators. I request the Provincial People's Committee to clarify the reasons for the drop in the rankings of the administrative reform indicators and solutions to improve these indicators" - delegate Tran Ngoc Son asked.

As the Standing Committee of the Provincial Steering Committee for Administrative Reform, Comrade Nguyen Viet Hung - Director of the Department of Home Affairs clarified the contents of interest to the delegates.

The Director of the Department of Home Affairs said that the Department of Home Affairs is currently advising the Provincial Steering Committee for Administrative Reform to report on the 3-year summary of the implementation of Resolution 05 of the Provincial Party Executive Committee on promoting administrative reform in Nghe An province.

Resolution 05 of the Provincial Party Committee sets out many targets, including striving to bring the province's PAR Index to rank 15th out of 63 provinces and cities. The results of PAR work have changed a lot, such as: PAR INDEX 2021 ranked 17th, in 2023 ranked 15th, up 2 places; in 2023, Nghe An reached 88.48 points, ranked 15th out of 63 provinces and cities, up 1 place compared to 2022, ranking first among 6 provinces in the North Central region.

The index assessing the level of satisfaction of people and organizations with the services of State administrative agencies (SIPAS) increases annually; in 2023, it ranked 12th out of 63 provinces and centrally-run cities (up 2 places compared to 2022, ranked 2nd out of 6 provinces in the North Central region).

The results of administrative reform are clearly shown through the budget collection exceeding the target. For two consecutive years, Nghe An has been in the top 10 provinces and cities with the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction. Nghe An is one of the leading provinces in implementing Project No. 06/CP, which was commended by the Prime Minister.

However, besides that, there are many unsatisfactory provincial indicators and some component indicators are still low, the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and the Provincial Public Administration Performance Index (PPI) have dropped in rank. The PCI Index has dropped 21 places; from 23rd in 2022 to 44th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide in 2023.

Explaining the reasons for the limitations of administrative reform, the Director of the Department of Home Affairs stated: Although the administrative reform index has increased, some component indexes are still low. Besides the achievements, administrative reform still has some shortcomings and limitations. Administrative procedures in some areas are still cumbersome and complicated; the use of public services is still low. Digital transformation, building e-government, and digital government still have difficulties and shortcomings.

There are still cases of officials and civil servants avoiding and shirking responsibility and showing signs of corruption and abuse of power and position.

Recently, a number of officials and civil servants who violated the law have been prosecuted and accused. Since the beginning of 2024, the whole province has handled violations of 27 officials and civil servants from the provincial to the commune level. This has significantly affected the overall efforts of the entire political system in administrative reform.

Clearly identifying limitations to overcome in administrative reform, especially improving and raising the ranking of PCI and PAPI indexes; as the Standing agency of the Provincial Steering Committee for Administrative Reform, the Department of Home Affairs has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Official Dispatch No. 4379, dated May 28, 2024 on overcoming shortcomings and limitations; implementing tasks and solutions to improve the indicators: PAR INDEX, SIPAS, PAPI, PCI in 2024 of the province. Along with that, the Department of Home Affairs is continuing to advise the Provincial People's Committee on a number of fundamental solutions to overcome shortcomings and limitations in administrative reform.

In which, it promotes the role and responsibility of sectors, levels and leaders in improving administrative reform indicators; mobilizing collective intelligence and determination of the entire political system.

At the same time, continue to improve the spirit and responsibility of cadres, party members, civil servants and public employees; encourage cadres, civil servants and public employees to complete their tasks well, and strictly handle those who do not complete their tasks, violate discipline and public ethics; continue to do a good job in personnel work, transfer cadres with poor public opinion, build a professional, honest, modern administration serving the people.