Officials must meet job position requirements, eliminating the situation of 'holding a seat' thanks to a rank.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra explains and clarifies issues raised by National Assembly deputies - Photo: VGP/NB

On the afternoon of May 14, continuing the program of the 9th Session, the National Assembly discussed the draft Law on Cadres and Civil Servants (amended). The discussion attracted the attention of many delegates, with the main content being the establishment of a new, modern legal foundation for the civil service regime, in line with the requirements of national governance innovation and the new development context.

Speaking and clarifying many important contents in the draft law, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra emphasized that this amendment to the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants aims at two major goals.

Firstly, it is to establish a legal basis for connecting cadres and civil servants from the commune level to the provincial level, aiming for a unified and consistent civil service regime from the central to the grassroots level.

This is an important condition to serve the work of arranging administrative units, reorganizing local governments and restructuring the staff and civil servants in a streamlined, quality direction, associated with specific job positions.

Second, the draft law aims to ensure consistency and synchronization between legal regulations and the Party's policies on personnel and civil service work. This amendment is an opportunity to comprehensively reform the civil service system towards modernity, transparency, and approaching advanced civil service systems in the world.

The National Assembly discussed the draft Law on Cadres and Civil Servants (amended) - Photo: VGP/NB

Job position is central, changing the mindset about "civil servant rank"

In response to some National Assembly deputies' concerns about the relationship between job positions and civil servant ranks, Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra emphasized that the draft law establishes a civil service regime based on the principle that job positions are the center, the core foundation, operating throughout the entire administrative apparatus to serve as the basis for determining staffing, allocating human resources, and being the sole basis for recruitment, employment, training, fostering, rewarding, and paying salaries.

“That is, the entire life cycle of human resource management in the public sector,” the Minister emphasized, saying that civil service ranks are a technical auxiliary tool to determine the level of professional qualifications in public service and are integrated into the system of describing the competency framework of job positions. Civil service ranks are no longer the target as they are now, so the Government has proposed to eliminate exams for promotion, and to eliminate ranking in order...

The Minister cited that currently, all cadres and civil servants go through an internship process, becoming specialists, then senior specialists, etc. According to the new regulations, those who are capable and qualified to be recruited for a job position will be considered for the corresponding rank. For example, if a position requires a senior specialist, a candidate who meets the requirements will be placed in the senior specialist rank right from the start, without having to go through the current sequential process.

"In short, civil servants who want to survive must meet the requirements of their job positions; eliminate the situation of keeping their positions based on ranks to motivate civil servants to strive and perform their duties based on their job positions," the Minister emphasized.

This is a fundamental change in public administration thinking, requiring careful preparation by professional agencies in designing competency frameworks and clear, transparent job descriptions.

“We have carefully, scientifically and controlledly studied international experience to ensure it is suitable for the requirements of developing a professional and modern civil service in Vietnam,” said Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra.

Regarding the policy for talented people in public service, this is also a new point to legalize the principle of considering talented people as a special subject in establishing the public service. Institutionalizing the policy of employing talented people is a strategic solution in the context of global knowledge competition. Currently, many fields such as digital technology, urban economic management, environment, public finance, health, education... are lacking high-quality human resources.

The Minister said he will advise the Government to clearly and specifically stipulate by decree the principles of special policies and mechanisms, flexible decentralization, synchronous connection, and interconnection from recruitment, use, and especially create an environment and public service culture for worthy dedication.

Another breakthrough in the draft law is the innovation in the way of evaluating officials and civil servants. According to the Minister, instead of qualitative evaluation as before, the draft has shifted to quantitative evaluation, with products and specific evidence according to job positions and assigned duties and responsibilities.

"In the coming time, the Ministry of Home Affairs will advise the Government to develop a set of assessment criteria based on digital technology, digital data, and experiences from countries with modern civil service systems, combining the application of KPIs with the characteristics of Vietnam's civil service and quantitative results according to job positions to ensure substantive, public, transparent, and accurate assessments, thereby serving as a basis for implementing the principle of no longer having a lifelong tenure mindset," Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra affirmed.

In addition to the above contents, the Minister said that he will study and absorb many suggestions from National Assembly deputies on issues such as: Classification of civil servants, addition of expert ranks; policies for cadres who are ethnic minorities, people working in particularly difficult areas; remote working mechanism... to promote flexibility and adaptability of the team.

Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra also emphasized that, on the basis of fully synthesizing the opinions of National Assembly deputies and closely following the Party's major policies, the Government will continue to perfect the draft Law on Cadres and Civil Servants (amended), ensuring that the law is effectively implemented, contributing to building a professional, modern, honest administration and better serving the people and businesses.

Thu Giang

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/can-bo-phai-dap-ung-yeu-cau-vi-tri-viec-lam-xoa-bo-tinh-trang-giu-ghe-nho-ngach-102250514191625182.htm