There needs to be unification in the organizational structure of the district-level People’s Council apparatus and the concurrent system at the commune level

Inadequacies in the concurrent regime

According to Decree No. 33, dated June 10, 2023 of the Government regulating allowances for commune-level cadres and civil servants when concurrently holding positions and titles of commune-level cadres and civil servants other than those of commune-level cadres and civil servants. Currently held positions are entitled to a concurrent allowance equal to 50% of the salary (level 1), plus a leadership position allowance (if any) for the concurrent position or title in case that locality reduces its payroll by 1 person. according to boundaries. This regulation is causing concern for the team of officials who perform concurrent duties at the grassroots level, including the positions of party secretary (or deputy party secretary) and chairman of the commune People’s Council.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Tu Anh – Party Committee Secretary, cum Chairwoman of the People’s Council of Tan Huong commune (Tan Ky): Commune-level authority does not have the right to decide to increase or decrease staffing. On the other hand, in reality, the person holding the concurrent position of Party Secretary (or Deputy Party Secretary) and Chairman of the Commune People’s Council still “carries on his shoulders” two different jobs, tasks and responsibilities. In particular, for the role of Chairman of the Commune People’s Council, his responsibility in deciding on the policies and guidelines of the Commune People’s Council is very high; While the concurrent regime is not allowed, this is an inadequacy that needs to be considered for amendment: People who concurrently hold any title are entitled to allowances for that title.

Also reflecting this situation, Mr. Nguyen Thuc Thanh – Party Committee Secretary, cum Chairman of Dai Son Commune People’s Council (Do Luong) said: The position of Chairman of the Commune People’s Council is through election and is a leadership position, but the Whether or not you are eligible for allowances depends on the number of civil servants. In fact, if the number of civil servants in a commune increases or decreases, the task of chairperson of the Commune People’s Council must also be performed by the concurrent party secretary, not when the number of cadres and civil servants is sufficient according to the quota, then the task of chairperson of the People’s Council must be performed. The commune is assigned to another person to take charge; On the contrary, when there is a shortage of staff, the commune party secretary will be assigned to work part-time.

Inadequacies in the allowance regime for the position of Party Secretary (or Deputy Party Secretary) cum Chairman of the Commune People’s Council are occurring in many localities. In localities that arrange a sufficient number of commune-level officials and civil servants according to administrative unit regulations, the position of Party Secretary and Chairman of the Commune People’s Council is not entitled to a part-time allowance; In localities where the number of officials and civil servants is less than prescribed, the position of Party Secretary and Chairman of the Commune People’s Council is entitled to a concurrent regime. Although all Party Committee Secretaries who are also Chairman of the Commune People’s Council perform the same tasks and responsibilities, in terms of benefits, there are those who benefit and those who do not.

Expressing his opinion on this issue, Mr. Ngo Van Thanh – Vice Chairman of Nghia Dan District People’s Council said: Obligations and responsibilities must be associated with rights. Currently, many part-time “part-time” positions at the commune and hamlet level have concurrent allowances, in which the person holding the two positions of Party Secretary and Chairman of the Commune People’s Council has two independent jobs. independent or different but are not entitled to part-time status.

This inadequacy has been reported by many establishments and has been proposed and recommended by the District People’s Council at all levels many times, but currently it has not changed. Therefore, it is recommended that the province continue to propose to the Central Government to remove current difficulties and shortcomings and create conditions for the activities of the Commune-level People’s Council to operate with quality and efficiency.

It is necessary to unify the organization of the district-level People’s Council apparatus

The organizational structure of the standing People’s Council at the district level, according to regulations, is structured from 4 to 5 people, including: Chairman, vice chairman and heads of People’s Council committees (including socio-economic committee, legal committee). institutions and ethnic committees for localities with many ethnic minorities). From that structure, each locality in the province is currently applying two different arrangements; Some localities arrange standing committee members and Party committee heads to concurrently serve as heads of People’s Council committees; Some localities arrange specialized heads of district-level People’s Councils.

From practice in Thanh Chuong district, Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga – Vice Chairwoman of the District People’s Council said that: The Standing Committee of the District People’s Council plays a key role, determining the quality of the People’s Council’s activities; because the Standing Committee of the People’s Council decides to introduce the contents submitted to the People’s Council session for approval, directly verifies the contents submitted to the session or assigns committees of the People’s Council to verify; At the same time, urge, inspect and supervise the implementation of issued guidelines and policies…

Currently, the Standing Committee of Thanh Chuong district People’s Council is structured with 4 staff members, in which, the chairman, 2 committee heads are arranged concurrently and the full-time vice chairman of the People’s Council. The advantage is that all four positions are members of the district Party Committee’s standing committee, so when considering issues to include in the program of activities or making decisions, there has been early and complete approach in terms of policy.

However, in terms of difficulty, the two heads of the district People’s Council are currently holding two positions at the same time; One person is the head of the district Party Committee’s mass mobilization committee and chairman of the district Fatherland Front Committee and the other is the head of the district Party Committee’s propaganda committee and director of the district political center; This means that the position of Head of the People’s Council is the third position. This places higher responsibility on the deputy heads of the District People’s Council who are responsible for advising and organizing the activities of the People’s Council. Although standing meetings of the People’s Council and deputy heads of the district People’s Council are invited to participate in an advisory role, however, they do not have decision-making authority.

Vice Chairwoman of Thanh Chuong District People’s Council Nguyen Thi Quynh Nga also stated the opinion: District-level People’s Council activities need to aim at depth like the National Assembly and Provincial People’s Council; To do so, there must be specialized agencies and specialized and specialized people. Although the operating mechanism of the People’s Council is to expand democracy through the activities of groups of delegates, People’s Council delegates and decisions by the majority of People’s Council delegates, currently the delegates are basically part-time (35/38 delegates) with many areas of expertise; Therefore, in activities, many in-depth contents need to be researched and fully referenced to the regulations and legal basis firmly in order to make decisions or draw correct, accurate, and demanding conclusions. There must be specialized agencies and people in charge. Therefore, in the context of streamlining staffing, it is recommended that the competent authorities research and have uniform regulations in arranging district-level People’s Council heads in a specialized manner to increase professionalism in operations. actions of the People’s Council, avoiding each locality doing the same thing as currently.

Sharing the same concern about the organizational structure of the district-level People’s Council, Ms. Le Thi Theu – Vice Chairwoman of the Tan Ky District People’s Council stated the practical activities of the Tan Ky District People’s Council: The process of implementing supervision activities of the committees, not The head of the committee also participates in every content, but in many cases he delegates authority to the deputy heads of the district People’s Council. Meanwhile, the positions of deputy heads of the district People’s Council are equivalent to those of the deputy heads of professional departments of the district People’s Committee. When working as head of the supervision team, the authority and position will be different from the position of the head of the committee, especially at the grassroots level – the subject subject to supervision, the Party Committee Secretary and the Chairman of the Commune People’s Committee are members of the district Party Executive Committee. Therefore, along with paying attention to arranging full-time heads of district-level People’s Council committees to ensure professionalism in the operations of district-level People’s Councils, the province needs to research and have a policy of arranging party committees for leaders of People’s Council committees.

Mentioning from another perspective, Mr. Luu Van Hung – Vice Chairman of Que Phong District People’s Council said that currently, the total number of People’s Council delegates at all levels is large, but the quality of activities is somewhat limited, even with some delegates. Since being elected, he has not once discussed, questioned, or contributed opinions to the meeting’s contents. In addition, contacting to capture information, thoughts, and wishes of voters, and urging the resolution of voters’ petitions, has limited delegates who cannot fulfill the function of representing the will and wishes. legitimate expectations of voters and people.

Therefore, Vice Chairman of Que Phong District People’s Council proposed that competent authorities need to research to increase the number of full-time delegates and reduce part-time delegates in the next election. On the other hand, to increase full-time delegates, it is necessary to uniformly regulate the arrangement of heads of specialized People’s Council committees associated with the member-level structure; If the heads of the People’s Council committees are arranged concurrently with members of the Party Committee’s standing committee, it is necessary to increase the number of deputies or full-time members of the People’s Council committees.

Besides the inadequacies in the arrangement and structural arrangement of the standing apparatus of the district-level People’s Council, we have recorded feedback from the grassroots that the current operations of the district-level People’s Council apparatus are using the same People’s Committee office. Therefore, the competent authorities need to arrange a full-time civil servant to serve the work of the People’s Council.

An issue that is also of concern to the Central Government is the need to research and increase the number of full-time People’s Council delegates along with unified regulations on the structure and personnel of full-time People’s Council delegates to ensure presentation standards. qualifications, capacity, moral qualities and operational skills; contributing to improving the quality of district-level People’s Councils in particular and People’s Councils at all levels in general in a professional and specialized manner.