Resolution No. 56/2017/QH14 dated November 24, 2017 of the National Assembly on continuation of the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus toward streamlinedness and effective and efficient operation

RESOLUTION

On continuation of the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus toward streamlinedness and effective and efficient operation[1]

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

Pursuant to Law No. 87/2015/QH13 on Oversight Activities of the National Assembly and People’s Councils;

Pursuant to the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 14/2016/QH14 of July 27, 2016, on the oversight program of the National Assembly in 2017, and Resolution No. 20/2016/QH14 of July 28, 2016, on the establishment of a delegation to oversee the implementation of the policies and laws on the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus in the 2011-2016 period;

Considering Report No. 08/BC-DGS of October 12, 2017, of the National Assembly’s oversight delegation, on the results of oversight of the implementation of the policies and laws on the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus in the 2011-2016 period, and opinions of National Assembly deputies;

RESOLVES:

Article 1

The National Assembly agrees with the contents of oversight report No. 08/BC-DGS of October 12, 2017, prepared by the National Assembly’s oversight delegation, on the implementation of the policies and laws on the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus in the 2011-2016 period.

In the 2011-2016 period, the implementation of the guidelines, policies and laws on the renovation and strengthening of the organizational apparatus of the political system in general and the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus in particular has recorded important results, making a positive contribution to the overall achievements of the country. The legal system on the organization of the state administrative apparatus has been further improved. The state administrative apparatus has been step by step strengthened. The Government, ministries, central agencies and local administrations have made great efforts to implement the policy on the organizational reform, renovation of working methods, reform of administrative procedures, stronger application of information technology, and raising of the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of operation.

However, the legislation on the organization of the state administrative apparatus remains incomplete, overlapping, conflicting and inconsistent. The Government’s organizational apparatus has been adjusted slowly. The internal organizational apparatuses of the ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and specialized agencies under the People’s Committees still have numerous focal points and levels which are incumbent and operate ineffectively and inefficiently with time-consuming procedures. The results of socialization and grant of autonomy to public non-business units are limited. The payroll management in many ministries, sectors and localities is not strict; the structure of civil servants remains unreasonable, the number of deputy heads in some units still exceeds the permitted number, and the proportion between leaders, managers and holders of equivalent titles and assisting and advising civil servants remains imbalanced. The preparation and implementation of working position schemes are faced with numerous difficulties and obstacles and their feasibility is not high; the payroll downsizing fails to meet the set target.

The limitations and weaknesses in the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus are due to many causes, mostly subjective ones. The direction of the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus has not been really drastic and well coordinated, failing to bring into play the initiative and creativity of each agency, organization and locality. Some policies and guidelines of the Party have not been synchronously implemented, while their institutionalization remains slow and incomplete and their implementation is not highly effective. The inspection, examination, supervision, and handling of violations have not been carried out in a regular and serious manner.

Article 2

In the coming time, the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus toward streamlinedness and effective and efficient operation shall be further carried out in a comprehensive manner in synchrony with the renovation of the political system according to a specific roadmap and in association with the reform of administrative procedures, payroll downsizing and salary reform, focusing on the following tasks and solutions:

1. To continue improving the policies and laws on the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus, ensuring synchrony, comprehensiveness, timeliness and effectiveness. To expeditiously review and revise or promulgate legal documents on the organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus and payroll management, especially the Law on Organization of the National Assembly, Law on Organization of the Government, Law on Organization of Local Administration, Law on Cadres and Civil Servants, and Law on Public Employees.

To refrain from integrating regulations on organizational apparatus and payroll into laws, ordinances and resolutions of the National Assembly or the National Assembly Standing Committee which are not in the field of state apparatus organization; in case of necessity, strict appraisal, verification and impact assessment processes shall be carried out to provide the basis for the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee to consider and decide.

2. To continue reviewing and adjusting the functions, tasks and powers of the agencies in the state administrative apparatus:

a/ To review and clearly define the functions, tasks and powers of the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, ministerial-level agencies and local administrations at all levels in order to overcome the segmentation and overlap or omission of state management tasks, ensuring the uninterrupted,  synchronous, uniform and closely linked operation among their internal sections; to effectively enforce the principle that one agency performs multiple tasks, but one task is assigned to only one agency which takes the main charge and main responsibility for performing it. To clearly define the competence and responsibilities of collectives and individuals, especially the responsibilities of the heads;

b/ To promote assignment of powers and decentralization of tasks in state management among the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, ministerial-level agencies and local administrations and between superior administrations and subordinate administrations; to assign powers to subordinates, attaching powers to responsibilities, while intensifying the effective inspection, examination and control of power;

c/ To review and transfer a number of tasks which do not need to be performed by ministries, sectors or state agencies to organizations, individuals or enterprises. To implement the roadmap for reorganizing state enterprises and minimizing the State’s direct involvement in economic activities through these enterprises;

d/ To clearly define the tasks, powers and responsibilities and improve the operation quality and effectiveness of commune-level administrations. To build villages and street quarters to be really self-management units of the community, without taking over the tasks of the grassroots administration.

3. To continue to rearrange the organizational structures of the agencies in the state administrative apparatus according to specific criteria. The model and size of organizational apparatus must conform with the nature, characteristics, functions and tasks of each type of agency, unit or locality:

a/ To streamline the organizational structure of the Government for effective and efficient operation, meeting the requirements of building a democratic, modern, professional and dynamic administration. To study and devise a scheme on the organizational structure of the Government for the XV^thNational Assembly (2021-2026), which will rationally adjust sectors and fields under the management of ministries and ministerial-level agencies so as to determine rational numbers of ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies;

b/ To set specific criteria for the establishment of divisions, departments, general departments and equivalent units of the ministries and ministerial-level agencies based on the positions, functions, tasks, working relationships, number of working positions and number of civil servants and minimum number of attached focal points required for each type of unit.

Based on the general criteria and principles, the ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall reorganize their internal organizational structures so as to minimize intermediary levels, reduce focal points, staffs and the number of deputy heads and holders of “ham” (honorary) leadership or managerial posts; to reorganize the organizational apparatuses in a number of hierarchically organized sectors or sectors already decentralized to local administrations. “Vu” (departments with advisory functions under a ministry) will not be transformed into “cuc” or “tong cuc” (departments or general departments performing the state management of sub-sectors under the management of a ministry); and no new divisions will be established within the advisory departments of ministries or ministerial-level agencies; special cases where such establishment is needed must meet specific criteria set by the Government. All decisions on the establishment of new organizations, recruitment and appointment of officials, civil servants and public employees that fail to meet the set criteria and standards will be withdrawn or canceled;

c/ To clarify the functions, tasks, nature and operation requirements of the government-attached agencies according to the specific characteristics of their work in order to determine appropriate organizational models for these agencies, without imitating the organizational model of the ministries;

d/ To organizationally rearrange the administrative apparatus in the localities in the direction of reducing focal points and intermediary levels and promoting multidisciplinary management. Superior agencies and organizations will not necessarily have their subordinate agencies and organizations and vice versa; agencies and units of the same level in different localities will not necessarily have the same organizational apparatus.

Basing themselves on the Government’s framework regulations and their own specific conditions, local administrations shall review and reorganize the divisions within the specialized agencies of provincial- and district-level People’s Committees toward resolutely reducing focal points. To study the pilot consolidation of a number of agencies with similar tasks at the provincial and district levels in localities where conditions permit such consolidation. To pilot the consolidation of the Office of the National Assembly Deputies’ Delegation, the Office of the People’s Council and the Office of the People’s Committee at the provincial level into a general advisory and assisting office;

dd/ To review and reduce the number of steering committees and interdisciplinary organizations at both central and local levels; to disband organizations that are not operating or operating ineffectively. To reorganize full-time assisting units and offices of the steering committees and interdisciplinary coordination organizations; to maintain only the existing full-time assisting units which are really needed but must be streamlined and efficient.

From 2018, when establishing a new steering committee or interdisciplinary organization, its operation term must be specified. To resolutely refrain from establishing new steering committees and interdisciplinary organizations that give rise to the formation of full-time specialized divisions and increase of the payroll;

e/ To establish criteria for the classification and conditions for the establishment of public non-business units in order to quickly rearrange and reorganize these units by sector and field according to the demands of the market and society; no public non-business unit shall be arranged and organized for territorial administrative units. To socialize public services and promote the grant of autonomy to public non-business units, first of all higher education and vocational education institutions, health establishments, science and technology organizations, etc., in localities with high socialization potential.

4. To step by step merge or adjust the boundaries of district- and commune-level administrative units according to the prescribed criteria; to renovate the classification of administrative units to serve as a basis for determining the organizational structure and payroll suitable to the size and characteristics of each type of administrative unit. To review the criteria for and rearrange villages and street quarters in order to reduce their numbers and reduce the number of part-time officers and increase their performance efficiency.

5. To reduce the payroll in combination with restructuring and improving the quality of cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers, ensuring that by 2021, the payroll will be reduced by 10% compared to the assigned figure in 2015:

a/ To complete the criteria for determining the payroll of civil servants, the number of people working in public non-business units, the structure of civil servants and public employees of the ministries, sectors and localities in association with their functions, tasks, powers, scope and nature of their work, the criteria of the titles of cadres and civil servants, and on the basis of determining the working positions in a scientific and practical manner; to avoid imposing average payrolls on different ministries, sectors and localities. To revise the regulations on the maximum number of deputy heads in state administrative agencies.

To closely manage the payrolls in the agencies of the state administrative apparatus. To put an end to the self-approval and assignment of payrolls of civil servants and the numbers of people working in public non-business units which exceed those already assigned or appraised by competent agencies; to terminate the contractual use of employees to perform routine professional jobs in state administrative agencies;

b/ To renovate the assessment of cadres, civil servants and public employees to ensure correct, objective, fair and public assessment and put an end to the egalitarian and biased assessment. To develop criteria and indicators for assessing the performance of cadres, civil servants and public employees as a basis for determining those who will be removed from the payroll in a scientific, accurate and convincing manner;

c/ To harmonize the interests of the State, collectives and individuals in reorganizing the organizational structure and downsizing the payroll in association with restructuring and raising the quality of cadres, civil servants and public employees as well as attracting virtuous and talented people to work in the state administrative apparatus;

d/ To raise the responsibility of the heads in downsizing the payrolls and reorganizing the contingent of cadres, civil servants and public employees according to the working position scheme, ensuring the strict implementation of the Party Central Committee’s requirements on this issue, considering this a criterion for assessing the level of accomplishment of tasks of heads of agencies, organizations or units;

dd/ To step up the reform of the salary regime as well as other preferential treatment regimes and policies for cadres, civil servants and public employees. To apply the payment of package allowances to those who work on a part-time basis at commune, village and street quarter levels. For public non-business units, to step by step replace the payment of salaries from the state budget with payment from non-business revenues.

6. To continue to reform administrative procedures, computerize state administrative management, apply e-government and e-administration, renew working methods, reduce meetings and paperwork, and meet other necessary conditions for the reform of the state administrative apparatus.

7. To regularly inspect, examine, supervise, and handle violations in the implementation of the policies and laws on organizational reform of the state administrative apparatus; to regard the results of the organizational restructuring and payroll downsizing as one of the important criteria for evaluating the credibility of the heads of agencies and units and holders of posts elected or ratified by the National Assembly or the People’s Councils.

Article 3

1. The Government shall direct the ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and provincial-level People’s Committees to, within the ambit of their respective tasks and powers, quickly review laws, ordinances and resolutions of the National Assembly or National Assembly Standing Committee and other legal documents which have problems or shortcomings so as to promptly amend and supplement them or promulgate new ones according to their competence or submit them to competent agencies for promulgation.

At the 5^thsession of the National Assembly (in May 2018), the Government shall report the results of the review to the National Assembly. For laws, ordinances and resolutions of the National Assembly or the National Assembly Standing Committee whose amendments and supplementations have been clearly determined and meet the requirements on dossiers and procedures, they should be reported to the National Assembly Standing Committee for proposing the National Assembly to include them in the law- and ordinance-making program. For the contents that need further review and study, the roadmaps for their amendment and supplementation or promulgation of new corresponding legal documents should be clearly defined.

2. In 2018, the Government shall complete the promulgation of the following documents to serve as a basis for the organizational restructuring and payroll downsizing:

a/ The documents defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structures of the ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies and the criteria for the establishment of divisions, departments, general departments and equivalent units under the ministries and ministerial-level agencies (before July 2018);

b/ Documents defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structures of specialized agencies under the People’s Committees, which clearly specify the frame numbers of specialized agencies under provincial- and district-level People’s Committees and the frame number of their deputy heads; document guiding the work of advising, assisting and serving the activities of commune-level People’s Councils and People’s Committees (before July 2018);

c/ Documents on criteria for the classification and conditions for the establishment of public non-business units by sector and field;

d/ Documents on criteria for determining the payrolls of civil servants, the number of persons working for, and the structure of civil servants and public employees of the ministries, sectors and localities; criteria for assessing the performance of official duties of cadres, civil servants and public employees as a basis for identifying those who need to be removed from the payroll.

3. The Government, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies and local administrations at all levels shall, based on the criteria and regulations of competent agencies, take the initiative in reorganizing their apparatuses and downsize their payrolls.

For new issues without regulations or with regulations which are no longer suitable, they shall be reported to competent agencies for permission for pilot implementation to draw experiences; unclear, complicated, sensitive or controversial issues should be further studied and reviewed for proposing appropriate guidelines and solutions.

4. At the 10^thsession of the National Assembly (in October 2020), the Government shall report to the National Assembly on the results of the organizational restructuring and payroll downsizing in the system of agencies of the state administrative apparatus according to the contents of this Resolution.

Article 4

1. The Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, and People’s Councils and People’s Committees at all levels shall, within the ambit of their tasks and powers, direct and organize the implementation of this Resolution.

2. The Government shall promulgate a program of action for the effective implementation of this Resolution in association with the implementation of Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW and Resolution No. 19-NQ/TW of October 25, 2017, of the Party Central Committee, the XII^thtenure, on continuation of the renovation and reorganization of the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate efficiently and effectively and continuation of the renovation of the organizational system and management and improvement of the operation quality and effectiveness of public non-business units.

3. The Standing Committee, the Ethnic Council and Committees of the National Assembly, National Assembly deputies’ delegations, National Assembly deputies and People’s Councils at all levels shall, within the ambit of their respective tasks and powers, oversee the implementation of this Resolution.-

This Resolution was adopted on November 24, 2017, by the XIV^thNational Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 4^thsession.

Chairwoman of the National Assembly
NGUYEN THI KIM NGAN