The 'revolution' to streamline the apparatus, cutting 25 general departments

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the mid-term Central Conference, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong assessed: "Our country has steadfastly overcome all difficulties and challenges, continuing to achieve important, quite comprehensive and commendable results in many fields."

Among the outstanding results mentioned by the General Secretary, there is the arrangement of a "streamlined, clean, effective and efficient State apparatus".

This is also one of the key tasks during the 13th Congress term.

Looking back after 5 years of implementing Resolution 18 of the 6th Central Committee (12th tenure) on "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently", the Politburo acknowledged that "basically, the goals set for 2021 have been completed, especially the arrangement and consolidation of a number of organizations and restructuring of internal organizations, reducing intermediate levels, reducing focal points at the general department, department, division and team levels".

Talking about the arrangement of the apparatus within ministries and branches, reducing intermediate levels, and reducing the number of focal points at the general department level, the Ministry of Public Security was the pioneer nearly 5 years ago.

Speaking with VietNamNet, Lieutenant General To An Xo, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, said that in order to thoroughly grasp and take the lead in implementing Resolution 18 of the 6th Central Committee (term XII), the Ministry of Public Security proposed to the Politburo to issue Resolution 22/2018 on continuing to innovate and reorganize the Ministry of Public Security apparatus to operate effectively and efficiently. After that, the Government issued Decree 01/2018 on the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Public Security.

In August 2018, the Ministry of Public Security announced the abolition of 6 general departments including: General Department of Security (General Department 1), General Department of Police (General Department 2), General Department of Politics (General Department 3), General Department of Logistics and Technology (General Department 4), General Department of Intelligence (General Department 5), General Department of Criminal Enforcement and Judicial Support Police (General Department 8).

After that, the Ministry of Public Security arranged for the Guard Command and the Mobile Police Command to be converted into units equivalent to the department level.

Since then, the Ministry of Public Security has eliminated 6 general departments and 2 units equivalent to general departments; 55 department-level units.

In addition, the Ministry of Public Security also cut 20 Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Departments; 7 schools (1 college, 4 intermediate schools, 2 cultural schools); 1,014 department-level units (the Ministry of Public Security agencies reduced 316 departments; local police and fire prevention and fighting police reduced 528 departments, academies and schools reduced 170 departments and over 2,300 team-level units).

Recently, the Ministry of Public Security has reduced more than 30,000 staff, of which more than 19,000 retired, 4,100 stopped serving before their term, implemented a streamlining policy of more than 5,100 people, and streamlined more than 1,400 people according to the Government's decree.

Sharing with VietNamNet right after the reduction of the General Department, General To Lam - Minister of Public Security said that at first, most of the staff agreed but there were also many concerns. In particular, some retired cadres and veteran cadres, some of whom have spent their whole lives working for the General Department, have many feelings and memories, and when they heard that the General Department was no longer there, they were also concerned.

“Therefore, we organize the "Dien Hong Conferences" to solicit opinions, contributions, and analysis, and at the same time, have the opportunity to explain and clarify viewpoints and policies to create consensus. In the end, all levels support it. In particular, the Central Public Security Party Committee, in the collective vote, expresses opinions, from the leadership to the officers and soldiers. Therefore, everyone sees this as the right and effective thing to do, and the officers and soldiers agree and support it,” the Minister of Public Security emphasized.

At the conference summarizing the Home Affairs sector, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh cited that the Ministry of Public Security has general departments that were established 35 years ago, but 8 general departments were cut at once. After the cuts, everything has been "still smooth" and political tasks have been completed.

“This is a revolution in the organization of the police force. The organization is being reformed in a streamlined and synchronous manner, ensuring smooth and stable operations, reducing intermediate levels in management, and strengthening the direct leadership of the Central Public Security Party Committee and the leadership of the Ministry of Public Security over the police of units and localities in all aspects of work,” Lieutenant General To An Xo affirmed to VietNamNet.

After the Ministry of Public Security boldly cut the general department level in 2018, other ministries and branches remained "inactive".

At the beginning of the 13th Party Congress, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh continuously urged, directed strongly and required ministries and branches to "cut down on general departments and reduce intermediate levels".

For more than a year (from the beginning of 2022 until now), the Ministry of Home Affairs has been working hard to reorganize the apparatus within the ministries and branches.

The reason why the reduction of the general department took longer than the Prime Minister's request, as Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra shared with VietNamNet, was that when it first started, there were opinions saying it was difficult and entangled. This is a very difficult task, "the most difficult of all, but it is inevitable".

“During the recent process of restructuring the apparatus, my colleagues and I really lost sleep many days. In reality, there are historical general departments, which were formerly ministries, and now being reorganized into bureaus is not a simple matter at all,” Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra said.

But thanks to the Prime Minister's determination and the coordination and support of ministries and branches, the arrangement of organizations within ministries and branches has been basically completed.

Specifically, with the issuance of Decree No. 28/2023 on June 2, 2023 stipulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Government has completed the issuance of decrees on the organizational structure of ministries and branches (except for the Ministry of Public Security which has been reorganized, the Ministry of National Defense has separate regulations).

Before the internal organization arrangement, the ministries and branches had a total of 30 general departments and equivalents. Up to now, this number has only 13 general departments, a decrease of 17 general departments compared to before.

Specifically, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment cut four general departments: General Department of Environment, General Department of Geology and Minerals, General Department of Land Management, and General Department of Sea and Islands.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has two agencies equivalent to general departments: the Government Committee for Religious Affairs and the Central Emulation and Reward Committee, which have been rearranged to be equivalent to department level.

The Ministry of Transport also abolished the Vietnam Road Administration, separating it into the Vietnam Road Administration and the Vietnam Expressway Administration.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also converted four General Departments: Forestry, Irrigation, Fisheries and Disaster Prevention and Control into department level.

The Ministry of Science and Technology also transformed the General Department of Standards, Metrology and Quality into the National Committee for Standards, Metrology and Quality and no longer has the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park Management Board (equivalent to the general department level).

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also transferred the two General Departments of Physical Education, Sports and Tourism into the Department of Physical Education and Sports and the Vietnam National Tourism Administration; the Management Board of the Vietnam Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village was previously equivalent to the General Department level but was rearranged and no longer the same as the General Department.

The General Department of Population of the Ministry of Health was also arranged into the Department of Population.

After the reorganization and reduction of general departments, the ministries and branches now have 13 general departments and equivalent.

Among them, some ministries and branches still keep the same number of general departments as before. Specifically, the Ministry of Finance keeps 5 general departments and equivalents: General Department of Taxation, General Department of Customs, General Department of State Reserves, State Treasury, State Securities Commission.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs retains two agencies equivalent to general departments, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese and the National Border Committee.

Ministries and sectors that maintain one general department include: The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs retains Vocational Education; the Ministry of Industry and Trade has the General Department of Market Management; the Ministry of Planning and Investment has the General Department of Statistics; the Ministry of Justice retains the General Department of Civil Judgment Enforcement; the State Bank of Vietnam retains the Banking Inspection and Supervision Agency.

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment after cutting the remaining 4 general departments: General Department of Hydrometeorology.

According to the Minister of Home Affairs, in addition to cutting 17 general departments, 8 departments and 145 departments under the ministry and general departments were also reduced. Along with the reduction of the apparatus, the number of leaders that had to be arranged and resolved was over 500 people.

"For the first time in history, the apparatus has cut down many organizations within ministries and branches from the general department level to the department and division level," the Minister of Home Affairs emphasized.

Photo: Hoang Ha - Nhat Bac, Design: Ngoc Nguyen