Publicity and transparency at the provincial level

Citizens' right to freedom of access to information and the responsibility to be public and transparent in the organization and operation of state agencies are universal global issues. The right to access information is stipulated by the Constitution, while public and transparent information is stipulated by law. Internationally, there are also treaties, conventions, action plans, binding declarations or recommendations to countries on the issue of access to information and public and transparent information.

In our country, the right to access information belongs to the group of basic rights of citizens and people as stipulated in the Constitution (1992 Constitution, amended Constitution in 2013). To implement, the State has concretized the Law on Access to Information (2016). The Law specifically regulates the publicity and transparency of all types of information created, received, and held by State agencies (except for cases classified as confidential). Information must be public and transparent, in the sense of being complete, timely, specific, accurate, clear, easy to understand, easy to access, and can be viewed, listened to, recorded, copied, and photographed (Legal documents must not only be public in terms of content, but must also be public in terms of soliciting critical opinions and opinions of the main affected subjects. Socio -economic reports must publicize data sources from the statistical sector or specialized sources, with indicators that must be compared with the general level of the region and the whole country according to regulations). The most widely accessible and accessible form of publicity is publicity on mass media, especially electronic newspapers, television, and websites. The contents and methods of publicity and transparency are also specifically stipulated in the Law on Anti-Corruption, the Law on Grassroots Democracy, and the Press Law. The Law on Government Organization and the Law on Local Government Organization also stipulate the responsibility for publicity and transparency in the organization and operation of administrative levels. Specialized laws (Budget Law, Bidding Law, laws on education and training, health, science and technology, construction, etc.) also stipulate the contents of publicity and transparency by sector. Publicity and transparency are the principles and methods of operation and operation of the rule of law and democratic regime, and are the fundamental driving force for the development of the country and each locality, creating the foundation for preventing and combating corruption at all levels and sectors.

Currently, the international community and our country do not have an annual national and provincial level assessment and ranking index on the level of access to information. In 2019, Vietnam scored 76/150 points, ranked 78/123 countries (has issued the Law on Access to Information). Currently, Vietnam's score and ranking have improved. Regarding transparency, the international community and our country do not have a common index to assess and rank the national and provincial levels. However, there are some indexes with components on transparency.

Publicity and transparency in anti-corruption. Vietnam's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2024 reached 40/100 points, ranking 88/180 countries. There is no score for the "Transparency" category, but this content is the foundation for anti-corruption, so it is basically understood similarly (usually above the level of corruption perception). Our country also has a budget transparency index of 51/100 points, higher than the world average (45 points), ranking 57/125 countries (2023). In addition, Vietnam's stock market and real estate market are also internationally assessed to have scores and transparency rankings above the world average.

Publicity and transparency are 1/10 of the corruption prevention content of the provincial anti-corruption index (Paca Index), with a maximum score of 6 points/30 points for the prevention content. In 2023, the highest scores were in the contents of Non-cash payment, Rotation of civil servants and public employees, and Implementation of the code of conduct, reaching 92-95% (compared to the maximum score). Control of assets and income of civil servants and public employees is also in this group, but public opinion is concerned about the level of trust. Publicity and transparency (public sector) reached nearly 90%. Administrative reform, implementation of regimes and standards are also equivalent to this level. The contents of Digital transformation, implementation of Directive No. 10/CT-TTg dated April 22, 2029 of the Prime Minister on strengthening the handling and effective prevention of harassment and inconvenience to people and businesses in handling work reached over 60%. The lowest is Controlling Conflicts of Interest, reaching under 50%. Thus, transparency is the content with a relatively high score, 15% higher than the general score for prevention content (75%) and 20% higher than the general score of the anti-corruption index (nearly 70%). Up to 29/63 provinces and cities achieved the maximum score.

Son La province is in the group of provinces that achieved the maximum score (100%) in terms of publicity and transparency, 27.50% higher than the Paca Index (72.52%) and 20% higher than the prevention content score (80%), ranking first in the country and the Northern Midlands and Mountains region.

Transparency and publicity are also facing some issues. The Law on Access to Information and the Law on Anti-Corruption both specify the list of information that must be disclosed and made public. However, the assessment of transparency and publicity at the provincial level in general and Son La in particular is a summary and generalization, not specific to the prescribed categories, so it is difficult to orient improvements appropriate to each category. Public opinion is also concerned that the assessment of transparency and publicity is biased towards publicity, while there are not enough specific parameters for transparency.

Budget transparency. Regarding budget transparency, there are independent national (OBS) and provincial (POBI) indicators. OBS is hosted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) and POBI is hosted by the Budget Transparency Alliance. The contents include (1) Budget development orientation, (2) Draft budget, (3) Budget estimate, (4) Citizens' budget (basic, concise, easy-to-understand content), (5) Periodic implementation reports (Quarterly, 6 months, yearly), (6) Audit report.

In 2023, at the national level, the OBS index reached 51% of the maximum score (100), higher than the world average score (45%), ranking 57/125 countries, up 14 places compared to 2020. The provincial POBI index (just announced in 2022) is higher, averaging nearly 70% of the maximum score, a significant increase compared to 30.5% in the first year of announcement (2017), but an insignificant increase compared to 69.09% in 2020. And only over 50% of the provinces have fully disclosed, reaching 75% or more, but no province has achieved the maximum score.

Son La province's POBI index reached 78.24% (2022), significantly higher than the national average (70%), but also significantly lower than the top provinces (90-95%). In terms of position, Son La ranked 29th, above the national median, but ranked 12th in the bottom group of the TD&MNPB region (the region with the highest average score in the country, reaching nearly 80%).

Provincial budget transparency is one of the core contents of transparency, although it has improved over the years, it still raises some issues of concern. The budget transparency index is significantly lower than the general transparency index with a rate of 70%/90%, Son La is 78%/100%. The new budget transparency is simply the revenue and expenditure estimates and the revenue and expenditure finalization, while the effectiveness and existence in the use of public finance and public investment are still unclear. There is very little information on provincial public financial audit. In the provinces as well as in Son La, there are still some provincial departments and branches and most districts and communes (old) rarely publicize the budget on the unit's website, making it difficult to access.

Transparency content in the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI). Transparency has a maximum score of 10 points/100 points of PCI. Transparency has 9 contents (on the quality of the Provincial People's Committee website, the level of ease of access to important information, the level of transparency and tax negotiation, the level of policy stability, policy criticism...). National transparency index (2024): Median province 64.6%, the highest province 73.9%; lowest province 48.0%. Son La province 71.9%, in the top group, ranked 5th/63 provinces and cities nationwide and 3rd/14 provinces in the Northern Midlands and Mountains region (according to the old province). Son La province also has a top tax transparency index, with 25% of businesses often having to negotiate (to get tax reduction), while the national average is 40%, the highest provinces are over 60%. But Son La province is at an average level in terms of policy stability, policy criticism, quality, usefulness of the website, access to important information (land, bidding...)

Publicity and transparency in the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI). Publicity and transparency have a maximum score of 10 points/80 points of the index. The average Papi index of provinces in 2024 is 53.32% of the maximum score, the highest province is 62.31%, the lowest province is 44.15%. Of which, access to information is 33.46%; public list of poor households is 70.36%; local budget revenue and expenditure is 55.04%; public land use plan, land price list is 54.04% (Each component index is a maximum of 2.5 points).

Son La's transparency index is 53.61%, ranking 29th in the country and 8th in the Northern Midlands and Mountains region. Of which, access to information is 32.90%, the list of poor households is 70.18%, the local budget revenue and expenditure is 57.09%, the land use plan and land price list are 54.26%. In general, it is above and below the average of the provinces, the difference is not large, but significantly lower than the top provinces and significantly higher than the bottom provinces.

General summary of the public and transparent content at the provincial level of Son La in the whole country and the Northern midland and mountainous region.

Phan Duc Ngu

References: Annual report on anti-corruption results, thanhtra.gov.vn, State budget transparency in the context of digital economy, quanlynhanuoc.vn, PCI Index, pcivietnam.vn, PAPI Index, papi.org.vn.

Source: https://sonla.dcs.vn/tin-tuc-su-kien/noi-dung/cong-khai-minh-bach-o-cap-tinh-5580.html