Minister of Home Affairs: Institutional reform, overcoming the situation of officials being afraid of making mistakes

The ultimate goal of administrative reform is to serve people and businesses, create a healthy and cultural environment, and improve barriers and bottlenecks to attract investment.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra, Deputy Head of the Government's Steering Committee for Administrative Reform. (Photo: Van Diep/VNA)

On April 17, the Government 's Steering Committee for Administrative Reform announced the Public Administration Reform Index (PAR INDEX) and the People's Satisfaction Index with State Administrative Services (SIPAS) in 2023.

After the Conference, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee, gave a quick interview to VNA reporters about these results, as well as the shortcomings, limitations and issues arising in the coming time.

- Looking at the two indexes PAR INDEX and SIPAS Index in 2023, how does the Minister evaluate?

Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra: Overall, it can be said that the Administrative Reform Index as well as the People's Satisfaction Index on the services of state administrative agencies in 2023 have made more progress and positive changes.

The satisfaction index on the service of state administrative agencies compared to 2022 has increased by about 2% and the Administrative Reform Index in 2023 has also reached an average of over 80%.

Especially for the Provincial People's Committee, the PAR INDEX increased very high, reaching 86.98% and also increased by approximately 3%.

Thus, through these two indicators, we can clearly see that the results in implementing the goals of administrative reform and satisfaction with the service of state administrative agencies have had positive changes, truly making important contributions to the socio -economic development of the country in 2023 and contributing fundamentally to our continued building of a state administration that better serves the people.

There are indicators where we see very clear progress.

Firstly, regarding institutional reform, last year was also the year that the National Assembly, the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries and branches focused strongly and actively on institutional reform.

Second, the reform of the organizational apparatus has had clearer changes, focusing on arranging administrative organizations and public service units and is focusing on arranging administrative units at district and commune levels.

Third, the leadership and direction of all ministries, branches and localities have made more progress, so the results of leadership and direction have also had some improved indicators.

The fourth issue is related to a content that I see very clearly, which is promoting digital transformation, building e-Government, digital Government and digital administration, promoting digital economy, digital society and digital citizens. Those are the highlights in administrative reform in 2023.

PAR INDEX and SIPAS have recorded objectively, multi-dimensionally, relatively comprehensively, and in detail from many different perspectives.

That result is a pressure, but also a motivation, helping us to have more solutions and determination to continue promoting administrative reform.

Administrative procedures are publicly posted at the Public Administration Center of Tan Thanh District, which ranks second out of 15 districts, towns and cities in Long An Province in the Public Administration Reform Index (PAR INDEX). (Photo: Minh Hung/VNA)

- The SIPAS index has listed 10 areas that people expect to improve, including improving service spirit and attitude; quality of receiving and handling feedback and recommendations; as well as the capacity of officials, civil servants and public employees in handling work for people. What do you think about this? Are there still many barriers and bottlenecks?

Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra: Although ministries, branches and localities have made many efforts, innovations and breakthroughs in reform to maintain or improve high-ranking indicators in the rankings, we still see that administrative reform has some limitations and shortcomings.

Some ministries, branches and localities have not really paid attention to leadership in administrative reform, leading to a large gap between the leading ministries/provinces and the bottom ministries/provinces, up to about 10%.

This shows that the efforts are not really uniform in all ministries, branches and localities.

Administrative procedure reform has not achieved the desired results and is still a barrier and the biggest bottleneck in the process of improving the investment and business environment, serving people and businesses.

Public service reform, despite efforts, has not yet met expectations and ensured requirements. Because there is still a large number of cadres, civil servants and public employees who are afraid of making mistakes and responsibility and who avoid and push things away, affecting the role of public service in serving the people and businesses.

Another issue I see is that there are still limitations in administrative reform and organizational reform. Despite great efforts, our organizational structure is still cumbersome and multi-layered. We need to continue to promote the arrangement of the organizational structure to ensure streamlining and effective and efficient operation.

- According to the Minister, to reform administration and improve people's satisfaction, what do we need to do in the coming time?

Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra: From the above-mentioned shortcomings and limitations, in the coming time, with the responsibility as the standing agency of the Government's Steering Committee for Administrative Reform, we will actively advise the Government to focus on the following basic tasks.

One is to focus more than ever on institutional and policy reform. This is one of the important tasks for us to clear bottlenecks and create new momentum for development.

Second, continue to improve administrative procedures more strongly. These are still the most difficult and problematic issues for people and businesses in innovation.

Third is public service reform, this is an issue that still has limitations as I mentioned above. Therefore, in the coming years, there needs to be strong solutions so that we have a complete set of institutions, to strengthen public service discipline and encourage the staff and civil servants in their work, ensure public service culture and, moreover, attract high-quality, qualified and capable human resources into the public sector. Accordingly, it is necessary to overcome the situation where staff and civil servants are afraid of making mistakes, afraid of responsibility, do not dare to do and do not dare to take responsibility.

Next issue, I think more than ever we must promote digital transformation, apply information technology to build digital government, e-government, as well as digital government.

This task is extremely important. Only by promoting these contents can we solve the huge problem of implementing the goal of civil service reform, streamlining the organization, and making it efficient and effective in the requirements of the new situation.

The ultimate goal of administrative reform and measuring people's satisfaction index is to serve people and businesses, create a healthy and cultural environment, improve barriers and bottlenecks to attract investment and develop the country's socio-economy.

- Thank you very much, Minister./.

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