Streamlining staffing is not yet associated with improving quality and restructuring the team.

In the 5 years from 2016 to 2021, the country reduced budget expenditure by more than 15,000 billion VND thanks to streamlining the apparatus and reducing staff. This figure is considered not high and not commensurate with the investment in infrastructure and application of information technology by ministries, branches, agencies and units to reduce the number of people working in the political system.

Not by mechanical reduction, but by reducing excess places, people with weak capacity, merging units with similar functions and tasks; increasing places with shortages based on job positions, Hanoi city has exceeded the targets of streamlining the payroll by 10% or more. Of which, 1,473 civil servant payrolls were reduced (equivalent to 15.6%); 12,890 career payrolls were reduced (equivalent to 10%) compared to 2015; 280 heads and 560 deputies were reduced; 840 people were reduced; many headquarters after the rearrangement were recovered and had more effective use plans.

These results have contributed to facilitating and reducing compliance costs for people, organizations and businesses, contributing to improving social security, investment and business environment in the city. In particular, the city has organized a pilot implementation of the urban government model, helping the government apparatus of Son Tay districts and town to be more streamlined, operate more quickly and smoothly.

Mr. Vu Duc Bao, Head of the Hanoi Party Committee's Organization Committee (Photo: Vietnamnet)

Mr. Vu Duc Bao, Head of the Hanoi Party Committee's Organization Board, said that the city has a mechanism to encourage the transfer of public service units to an autonomous mechanism. Reality shows that in the process of organization and implementation, these units have promoted efficiency, financial autonomy, budget autonomy, and staff autonomy.

Hanoi has a policy of expanding units and fields with the spirit of only subsidizing administrative and state management units, while remaining units that can be socialized and can create autonomy will be resolutely focused on directing.

"This is the key to streamlining the payroll and reducing the number of civil servants and public employees in many fields, quickly and effectively," Mr. Vu Duc Bao emphasized.

Practices and methods in Hanoi show that streamlining the payroll must be associated with reducing focal points; restructuring the staff, civil servants, and public employees, not simply reducing the number of people working in agencies. As the leading agency in streamlining the payroll, the Ministry of Finance has linked staff streamlining with streamlining the organizational apparatus and administrative reform.

Deputy Minister of Finance Ta Anh Tuan.

Deputy Minister of Finance Ta Anh Tuan said: “Streamlining the payroll must be associated with administrative reform. Administrative reform here is in all aspects, from institutional policies to how to reduce the tasks of the state so that society can perform them. That is streamlining the apparatus, streamlining the payroll. Along with that, reforming modernization, especially digital transformation”.

In a broader view, implementing Resolution 39, by June 2021, over 27,500 civil servant positions had been reduced; nearly 243,000 public employee positions had been reduced, exceeding the 10% reduction target set by Resolution 39 of the Politburo; 8 district-level administrative units and 557 commune-level administrative units had been reduced. Also during this period, the basic salary was adjusted 4 times, increasing by 29% within 6 years. If not streamlined, the salary fund for the apparatus would be 392,600 billion VND, but due to streamlining, the actual salary expenditure was 377,200 billion VND. Of which, the amount to be spent on the streamlining policy is 9,270 billion VND.

Thus, not counting the salary increase, the reduction of budget expenditure by more than 15,000 billion VND thanks to streamlining the apparatus is not very effective. This result is also not commensurate with the investment in infrastructure and application of information technology by ministries, branches, agencies and units to streamline the payroll.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Ha, former Head of the Party Base Department, Central Organization Committee said: “We have spent a huge amount of money to build technical infrastructure for information technology, so now we do not need as many people as before. Therefore, along with determining the job position of each title, the standards of the job position of each title, we must strongly combine and use digital platform information technology, so that we can reduce it”.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra also frankly stated that in reality, the overlaps and interferences in functions and tasks between ministries and ministerial-level agencies have not been completely resolved; the principle of assigning only one agency to take the lead in implementing a task and take primary responsibility has not been promoted.

However, some localities have not properly implemented regulations on organizational arrangement; the review and streamlining of staff has not really been associated with improving the quality and restructuring of the staff, civil servants and public employees.

To overcome the limitations, implementing Conclusion No. 40 of the Politburo on improving the effectiveness of staff management of the political system in the period of 2022 - 2026, Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra said that it is necessary to synchronize the entire political system so that in the period of 2021-2026, the entire political system will streamline at least 5% of the civil servant staff and at least 10% of the public employee staff, but still ensure the quality of work.

“The reform of the civil service system must involve innovation in the management of payroll, decentralization, and delegation of authority. It must separate contracts from payroll. It must focus on building a quality civil service and attracting talented people to the civil service. In our practical context, the challenges in the next 5 years will outweigh the advantages,” the female Minister analyzed.

Streamlining the payroll must be associated with reducing the number of focal points. Without restructuring the organization and restructuring the staff of civil servants associated with administrative reform, the payroll will not be reduced. In addition, it is necessary to encourage socialization and give autonomy to public service units. In addition, it is necessary to promote the role and responsibility of leaders in streamlining the payroll and using staff, or in other words, using people effectively must be considered a particularly important solution.

In particular, leaders need to be given more authority in recruitment, and also take more responsibility if subordinates do not complete their tasks. Only then can we effectively implement the major policy of the Party and State to streamline the payroll and improve the quality of cadres and civil servants, which is an important factor for the country to develop stably and sustainably./.