The Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial People's Council proposed to abolish ineffective resolutions.

On the morning of June 9, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council had a working session with the Department of Finance on the implementation of a number of Resolutions of the Provincial People's Council on mechanisms and policies for socio-economic development in the province for the period 2015 - 2019.

Attending the meeting were members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee: Cao Thi Hien - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, Head of the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Department and comrade Hoang Viet Duong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council. Photo: Thanh Le

Resources are not commensurate with policy

Every year, based on the Central Government's decisions and the Provincial People's Council's Resolutions on mechanisms and policies, and on the basis of proposed funding needs of departments, branches and localities, the Department of Finance and the Department of Planning and Investment, based on the tasks assigned by the Provincial People's Committee, have compiled and submitted to the Provincial People's Committee a report to the Provincial People's Council to resolve on budget allocation to implement mechanisms and policies for investment in socio-economic development in the province.

The management, allocation, payment and settlement of implementation funds were carried out by the beneficiary units in accordance with current regulations. The support funds have contributed to the socio-economic development of the area and are highly appreciated by the beneficiaries.

In addition to the achieved results, according to the assessment of the Department of Finance, in the process of implementing the Resolutions on mechanisms and policies for investment in socio-economic development in the province, there are still many difficulties and shortcomings such as: The need for funding to implement policies issued by the Provincial People's Council is very large, especially to support basic construction works.

However, every year, due to the ability to balance the local budget, the budget allocated to implement the Resolutions has not yet met all the needs, the budget is allocated to many localities and units. The counterpart funds of investors and the ability to mobilize socialization are still limited, mainly focused on the state budget...

Comrade Nguyen Thi Thu Huong speaks at the meeting. Photo: Thanh Le

During the discussion at the meeting, the opinions of the members of the monitoring delegation reflected that some policies in the implementation process revealed shortcomings that needed to be revised, supplemented, abolished, and difficulties and obstacles in payment procedures that required reform of administrative procedures in disbursement. Through monitoring at the grassroots level, it was shown that the allocated resources were not commensurate with the policies, and there was still a situation of policy debt, etc.

“The policy’s objectives are good but it is not suitable and resources cannot be allocated for implementation. In my opinion, the development investment policy needs to be included in the public investment development plan for the 5-year period without allocating resources from regular expenditures. Thus, the province will have the conditions to allocate resources from local development investment sources, both proactively allocating resources and facilitating payment procedures,” said Pham Van Hoa, Chief of Office of the Provincial People’s Council.

Regarding the difficulties and problems in payment procedures, Mr. Hoa recommended that when the Department of Finance starts to collect opinions on policy issuance, it should study policy procedures to adjust procedures when issuing policies.

Many contents in Resolution No. 14/2017/NQ-UBND on a number of policies to support agricultural and rural development in Nghe An province have not been implemented in localities. Illustration photo: Thanh Le

Policy needs to have focus and key points.

Clarifying the contents of the Provincial People's Council's monitoring delegation's concerns, Director of the Department of Finance Nguyen Xuan Hai proposed: The Provincial People's Council assigns the Provincial People's Committee to direct the sectors to re-evaluate the Resolutions issued in effect during the period 2015 - 2019 with a term until 2020 to consider adjustment plans for the period 2021 - 2025.

In particular, special attention should be paid to considering the ability to balance resources when issuing policies and specific support regimes from the local budget for sectors, localities and units in the province.

"In the context of the province's budget still facing many difficulties, it is recommended that when issuing policies, they should be close to the situation and the province's budget balancing ability so that the policies can be effectively implemented in life" - the Director of the Department of Finance proposed.

Director of the Department of Finance Nguyen Xuan Hai clarified the contents of the monitoring delegation's concerns. Photo: Thanh Le

Concluding the meeting, Vice Chairwoman of the People's Council Cao Thi Hien and Hoang Viet Duong acknowledged and highly appreciated the Department of Finance for fulfilling its responsibility as a comprehensive agency in building policy mechanisms and the ability to meet resources, and at the same time being the agency directly receiving appraisal documents and advising on policy support payments to agencies, units and beneficiaries in accordance with the correct policies and beneficiaries, ensuring payments according to the schedule and items of the resolution of the Provincial People's Council.

The leader of the Provincial People's Council said that through supervision at localities and departments and branches, it was found that some resolutions were not implemented, some resolutions were partially implemented, many policies were still fragmented so the impact was not much.

Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien concluded the meeting. Photo: Thanh Le

Therefore, it is recommended that the Department of Finance coordinate with departments, branches and localities to study and review resolutions and contents of each resolution that are ineffective and ineffective in practice to propose the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council for adjustment in order to focus resources on policies in a focused and key direction to facilitate management and stimulate socio-economic development of the province.

At the same time, the Department needs to review and reform administrative procedures in payment settlement to ensure strictness but more convenience for units and beneficiaries; coordinate with departments, branches and localities to review the debt situation of policy mechanisms to balance timely payments to policy beneficiaries...