Members of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee yesterday discussed the Law on the Organisation of the Government and the Law on the Organisation of local administration, — Photo hanoimoi.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Parliamentarians took a step towards streamlining the Government apparatus yesterday.

Members of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee yesterday agreed with the Government’s proposal on amending and supplementing several articles of the Law on the Organisation of the Government and the Law on the Organisation of local administration, focusing on streamlining the Government apparatus, decentralising power and reviewing State administrative institutions.

The committee discussed the draft law on amending a number of articles of the laws.

According to Lê Vĩnh Tân, Minister of Home Affairs, the issuance of new laws is necessary. After three years of implementation, a number of provisions of the laws needed to be amended to be relevant with the Party’s plans and stay in touch with reality, he said.

Regarding the organisation of the Government, the fact the Government was authorised to regulate the organisation of specialised agencies under provincial and district People's Committees has reduced the proactiveness of localities in running of specialised agencies in each locality, he said.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc's abilities under current regulations were still limited in establishing organisations within the structure of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, as well as those of provincial People's Committee, to serve as grounds for testing new management models.

Nguyễn Khắc Định, Chairman of the NA’s Legal Affairs Committee said many deputies approved amending article 23 of the Law on Organisation of the Government.

Accordingly, the Government stipulated the number of specialised agencies under provincial and district People’s Committee, deciding the criteria on the establishment, the minimum number of staff and the maximum number of deputy heads of an organisation.

The deputies said such a regulation would promote decentralisation and create flexibility for localities.

In the session, lawmakers also discussed reducing the number of vice chairman of People’s Council at provincial and district level and increasing the number of vice chairman of People’s Committee at communal level.

NA’s Legal Affairs Committee Chairman Định said the Law on the organisation of local administration issued in 2015 stipulated there are two vice chairmen at the provincial and district levels to enhance the efficiency of the People's Council's.

The committee proposed that the Government assess the impact carefully if the number of vice chairmen of provincial and district People's Committees was reduced nationwide and how to arrange new work for them.

Phan Thanh Bình, Chairman of the NA Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, and Children, said the most important issue was not reducing the number of staff but improving State management.

According to Bình, if the new regulation comes in, the effectiveness of supervising power will be reduced, especially in provinces that are striving to reduce the number of departments.

Speaking at the session, NA Chairman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said the reduction in the number of vice chairmen in elected bodies and an increase in government bodies was unreasonable.

“In fact, after 10 years of piloting of not having People's Council in some localities, they have been restored. Thus, it is necessary for the Government to assess the impact on the above-mentioned issues to be in accordance with the conclusions of the Politburo and the Central Government and meet the requirements of reality, ” she said. — VNS