Deputy Minister of Home Affairs: "Many localities have the mentality of waiting for regulations on merging departments and branches"

On the afternoon of August 20, at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Home Affairs, responding to the content of the draft decree on specialized agencies under the provincial People's Committee, the Ministry's leader said that with 17 departments and branches currently organized uniformly nationwide, there is a proposal to divide them into three groups.

The first group is the 4 departments proposed to remain the same: Justice; Natural Resources and Environment; Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs; Health.

The second group is 10 departments regulated in the direction of assigning authority to the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the People's Council of the same level to maintain stability or merge, including the departments of: Planning and Investment; Finance; Transport; Construction; Agriculture and Rural Development; Industry and Trade; Education and Training; Science and Technology; Culture, Sports and Tourism; Information and Communications.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Trong Thua at the press conference on the afternoon of August 20. Photo: Vo Hai.

The third group is the agencies proposed to be assigned to the provincial level to proactively maintain stability or pilot the merger. Specifically: Department of Home Affairs with the Organizing Committee; Provincial Inspectorate with the Inspection Committee; Provincial People's Committee Office with the Office of the National Assembly Delegation and Provincial People's Council.

The Ministry of Home Affairs also proposed to regulate some specific departments such as the Department of Planning and Architecture under the People's Committees of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; the Department of Foreign Affairs, Tourism and the Ethnic Committee will have criteria for establishment set by the Government. Based on the criteria, the provinces will take the initiative to establish them or not.

Deputy Head of the Department of Organization and Personnel (Ministry of Home Affairs) Dao Thi Hong Minh said that the draft is being received, explained and completed by the Ministry to submit to the Government for promulgation of a decree.According to her, after organizing a wide consultation, the general spirit is "The merger or retention of specialized agencies under the Provincial People's Committee is decided by the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Committee.Provincial Party Committee or City Party Committee".

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Trong Thua said that recently, some localities have taken the lead in restructuring professional agencies. At the end of June, Lao Cai province mergedDepartment of Transport and Department of Construction become Department of Transport - Construction."Many localities have reported that because the departments have not yet made arrangements, people have a wait-and-see mentality," said the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs.

Regarding the issue of the number of deputies after restructuring the organizational apparatus, Deputy Minister Nguyen Trong Thua said that restructuring and merging is normal because the goal is to serve the most effective and efficient administration.IfScientific calculation, reasonable arrangement, the post-merger apparatus will be able to maximize its effectiveness.

According to the leader of the Ministry of Home Affairs, current regulations do not allow more than 3 deputy directors of provincial departments and no more than 4 for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. However, when merging two departments together, depending on each specific case, the locality can allow a gradual reduction of the number of deputies or wait for other work arrangements.

Chief of the Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs Vu Dang Minh said that the total number of people downsizing according to Decree No. 108 of the Government (from 2015 to present) is nearly 40,000 (in 2015: over 5,700 people; in 2016: nearly 12,000; in 2017: over 12,500 people and in the first 7 months of 2018: over 9,400 people).

Of which, the number of people retiring before the age is 34,500, accounting for more than 86%; enjoying the policy of immediate severance of employment is over 5,200 people, accounting for 13%; enjoying the policy of severance of employment after studying is 29 people, accounting for 0.07%; enjoying the policy of transferring to organizations that do not receive regular salary from the State budget is 40 people, accounting for 0.10%.

Vo Hai