At the eighth session of the 13th National Assembly yesterday, National Assembly deputies continued their discussions on increasing salaries for poor and low-income earners.
NA deputies said the salaries paid to deputy leaders of State management agencies had drained the funds needed to increase payments for poor workers.
NA Ceputy Tran Dinh Nha from Thua Thien – Hue asked how the NA would cope with this.
He pointed out that there were 139,000 State management agencies nationwide with a huge number of leaders and deputies, which means huge spending on their salaries.
He said the number of deputy leaders in these agencies must not exceed three.
In terms of salary increases for poor and low-income earners, NA deputies agreed that in 2015, the NA should cut expenditure by 10 per cent.
They asked the Government to review a number of policies and the reason for failing to arrange funds for salary increases in order to offer them in the future.
Human resources
Most voters in HCM City, southern Dong Nai Province and northern Hai Phong City believe the State should not forget about improving the quality of human resources while developing the economy.
They also said social welfare policies should be assured and called for the introduction of judicial reforms and better schemes for drug addicts.
After hearing a Government report on socio-economic situation at the eighth session of the 13th National Assembly, Tran Anh Tuan, a voter from HCM City, said the labour market was currently unbalanced.
He said a large number of graduates were unemployed while many businesses still found it difficult to recruit labourers.
This was due to the gap between the training offered at most vocational training schools and the actual requirements of the development of the labour market.
He said at present, development was not commensurate with the development of science and technology and the needs of integration.
Tuan said to improve the quality of human resources, schools and employers must coordinate with each other. It was also necessary to strengthen State management on promoting the development of human resources and the co-operation with employers.
He said the completion of a forecasting system on workforce demand and supplying labour market information was the basis for co-operation between the education system and labour market.
The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community next year would create major challenges for unskilled labor, Tuan said, adding that schools should focus on soft skills for students so that they could quickly adapt to labour market integration in the world economy.
Voters from northern Hai Phong City said they were pleased at Party and State efforts on economic development and the maintenance of social security and political stability.
Dang Van Mam, former deputy secretary of the city's Party Committee, suggested the Government speed up reforms of administrative procedures, especially responsibilities of officials. Incompetent people should be rejected.
Furthermore, the Government should direct ministries and sectors to review elements related to public debt and tighten control to help clear it.
Pham Thi Hong, general director of Intimex Haiphong JSC, highlighted laws and strategies on supporting businesses, saying the Government should review specialised law, regulations and management agencies to help domestic businesses develop and better integrate into the regional and global economy.
Vo Thanh Duong, a veteran from southern Dong Nai Province's Long Khanh Commune, said relevant agencies should re-consider and approve supportive policies to deserving beneficiaries.
Nguyen Duc, chairman of the provincial Lawyers Association, said he was delighted at issues raised at the meeting, including wrongful conviction, the right of accused people to keep silent. This was an important step to accelerate the process of judicial reform.
Duc said the public was concerned about the implementation of the law on penalties for administrative violations, which took effect last July.
He said the law stipulated that only courts could send drug addicts to rehabilitation centres, not district authorities as previously. However, the Supreme People's Court and local law courts had not implemented the law, causing delays in sending drug addicts to rehab centres in HCM City and Da Nang.
Lieutenant Ngo Huu Kinh Luan, a voter from Cong An Nhan Dan (the People's Police) newspaper supported a separate mechanism to deal with drug addicts. One of them calls for those suspected of being drug addicts to be checked regularly and sent to rehab centres if necessary.
He said the police department and the departments of labour, invalids and social affairs would be in charge of compulsory detoxification.
