Arrange administrative units to ensure timely organization of party congresses at commune and district levels.

On the morning of July 16, under the chairmanship of comrade Le Vinh Tan - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Home Affairs, the online conference to review the work of the first 6 months of the year and deploy tasks for the last 6 months of 2019 of the Home Affairs sector nationwide took place. Attending at the Nghe An bridge were comrades: Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Dau Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Home Affairs.

Scene at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Thu Giang

Ensure progress of administrative unit arrangement

Right from the beginning of the year, determining the action motto of "perfecting institutions, streamlining the apparatus, tightening discipline, enhancing communication, promoting technology", the entire Home Affairs sector has proactively focused on directing strongly to carry out the tasks assigned by competent authorities and achieved positive results.

Notably, the sector has advised the Government to submit to the 14th National Assembly, 7th Session to review and give opinions on projects to amend and supplement the Law on Government Organization, Law on Organization of Local Government, Law on Cadres, Civil Servants and Law on Public Employees, and is focusing on developing a number of other law projects.

Resolving administrative procedures for people at the one-stop shop of wards and communes in Vinh city.. Documentary photo

Implementing Resolution No. 37-NQ/TW of the Politburo, the Ministry of Home Affairs has advised competent authorities to issue Resolution No. 653/2019/UBTVQH14 of the National Assembly Standing Committee and Resolution No. 32/NQ-CP of the Government on the arrangement of district- and commune-level administrative units in the 2019-2021 period and is actively organizing the implementation to ensure the completion of the arrangement plans in 2019.

According to reports from 61 localities, up to now, 20/713 districts and 623/11,162 communes are subject to rearrangement according to Resolution 653 of the National Assembly Standing Committee. Accordingly, the entire Home Affairs sector is focusing on advising on the correct progress, ensuring timely organization of Party congresses at district and commune levels in 2020.

Regarding streamlining the payroll, from 2015 to June 30, 2019, the Home Affairs sector reviewed and decided to streamline 41,515 payrolls. As of June 2019, the payroll of the Government management agencies had been reduced by 6.75% compared to the number assigned in 2015; 54/63 provinces had merged centers with similar functions to establish Centers for Disease Prevention and Control; 437/713 district-level units had merged district hospitals and medical centers.

Chairing the Nghe An bridge were comrades: Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Dau Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Home Affairs. Photo: Thu Giang

Heavy tasks in the last 6 months of the year

Concluding the Conference, Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan received 16 comments from localities, ministries and branches, and committed to providing written responses in the near future.

Leaders of the Home Affairs sector admitted that, besides the achieved results, there are still some shortcomings and limitations such as: Institutional and policy building work is slower than regulations, there are still cases of requests to withdraw or postpone submission deadlines, and the quality is not high.

The implementation of the arrangement and reorganization of specialized agencies in some pilot localities and the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels still has difficulties, obstacles and inadequacies that have not been specifically and promptly guided; the work of promoting, appointing, managing, using and rotating cadres and civil servants in some ministries, branches and localities is not in accordance with regulations, causing public outrage and reducing people's trust.

Some cadres, civil servants and public employees have not strictly followed administrative discipline and order when handling work related to organizations and people, and still have signs of causing trouble and harassment; staff work, situational awareness, and information processing have not been proactive and timely; the application of information technology in direction, administration, digital signatures and issuance of electronic documents... has not really achieved the set goals and requirements.

Determining the direction and tasks for the remaining months of the year, comrade Le Vinh Tan emphasized the need to focus on directing the work of building institutions in the state management field of the Home Affairs sector according to plan; continue to streamline the payroll and restructure the team of cadres, civil servants and public employees; and continue to promote decentralization.

In addition, it is necessary to step up inspection and examination work to promptly detect and resolutely handle violations in the performance of public duties; strengthen discipline and administrative order, and promote the responsibility of leaders in state administrative agencies at all levels.

Nghi Loc district officials discussed with residents of hamlet 1, Nghi Hop commune, about merging hamlets. Photo: Thanh Le

The sector also needs to focus on advising competent authorities to reorganize district and commune-level administrative units in the 2019-2021 period; advise competent authorities to demarcate administrative boundaries of provinces and cities with historical overlap; promote administrative reform; effectively implement the one-stop shop and inter-connected one-stop shop mechanism in a modern direction, creating convenience for people and organizations...