Nghị quyết 18-NQ/TW 2017 sắp xếp tổ chức bộ máy của hệ thống chính trị tinh gọn hoạt động hiệu lực

RESOLUTION
OF THE SIXTH PLENUM OF THE 12TH CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

ON CERTAIN ISSUES REGARDING THE CONTINUED REFORM AND REORGANIZATION OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM’S ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE TOWARD STREAMLINED, EFFICIENT, AND EFFECTIVE OPERATIONS

I - SITUATION AND CAUSES

1- Situation

In recent years, our Party has issued and led the implementation of various directives, resolutions, and conclusions on building the organizational structure of the political system, achieving many significant results. The organizational structures of the Party, the State, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and political-social organizations have been reformed; the functions, tasks, and working relationships of each organization have been defined and adjusted more reasonably, gradually meeting the requirements of building and improving a socialist rule-of-law state and developing a socialist-oriented market economy. The political system remains fundamentally stable and aligns with the Party Platform and Constitution; it ensures the leadership role of the Party, the management of the State, and the promotion of the people's right to mastery, significantly contributing to the monumental and historically meaningful achievements in the renovation, construction, and defense of the Fatherland.

However, the organizational structure of the political system remains cumbersome, with multiple levels and numerous focal points; its effectiveness and efficiency fall short of meeting the demands and tasks. The functions, tasks, powers, organizational structures, and working relationships of some agencies and organizations lack clarity and remain overlapping and redundant, etc.  The delegation of tasks, decentralization, and delegation of powers across sectors, levels, and within individual organizations are neither rational, robust, nor synchronized; leading to instances of overreach, substitution, or omission of duties. Efforts to streamline the political system's organizational structure in connection with downsizing personnel and restructuring the workforce of officials and public employees has yielded limited results. The proportion of supporting staff remains high, especially in administrative office sector; the number of deputy leaders is excessive; the appointment to honorary titles in certain central agencies is unreasonable. The mechanisms for controlling power are not highly effective; transparency, public accountability, and responsibility for explanation are limited. Administrative reform, particularly in administrative procedure reform progresses slowly and unevenly, failing to meet the requirements. Despite considerable investment in IT infrastructure to support governance, its impact on streamlining organizational structures, enhancing operational effectiveness and efficiency, and downsizing personnel has been inadequate. The number of people receiving salaries and allowances from the state budget is substantial, particularly in public sector entities, part-time staff in communes, villages or urban neighborhoods. Salary policies remain problematic.

The functions, tasks, powers, responsibilities, and working relationships of province-level Party committees and district-level Party committees have not been fully specified; a framework for working regulations of Party committees at all levels is lacking. The quantity, structure, and quality of Party committee members and members of Party executive committees at all levels remain problematic. The leadership capacity and combativeness of some Party committees and organizations remain weak, especially at certain grassroots levels and within state-owned enterprises and public sector entities. The management of Party members in many areas is lacking in rigor. Building Party organizations and recruiting new Party members in certain localities, non-state enterprises, and public sector units face significant challenges. Many village heads and urban neighborhood leaders are not Party members. The organization and operations of certain steering committees and committees responsible for protecting and caring for officials' health remain inadequate in some aspects.

The management, administration capacity, and operational effectiveness and efficiency of certain state agencies at both the central and local levels remain limited. Coordination among levels, sectors, and localities is occasionally inconsistent and lacks cohesion.  The distinct characteristics of urban, rural, and island governance have not been clearly delineated.  Local administrative units are generally small in scale, with many not meeting the prescribed standards, particularly at the district and commune levels. The quantity and composition of elected representatives are not well-suited, and their quality remains inadequate. The establishment of offices for province-level delegations of the National Assembly has resulted in some challenges related to personnel management and staffing. Many inter-sectoral coordinating organizations and project management units have overlapping functions and tasks, leading to low operational efficiency.

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2- Causes of limitations and shortcomings

The overall model for the organizational structure of the political system has not been fully developed, with certain components and areas failing to align with the demands and tasks of the new era. The awareness and sense of responsibility of some party committees and party organizations remain incomplete and lack comprehensiveness regarding the importance, urgency, and requirements for reforming and restructuring the political system, especially in addressing the direct impact of limitations and weaknesses on the leadership role, reputation of the Party, and public trust.

Leadership, direction, dissemination, and implementation of the Party's policies, resolutions, and conclusions, as well as State regulations on reorganizing and streamlining organizational structures and reducing staff numbers, have been neither decisive nor consistent. There remain issues of favoritism, avoidance, reluctance to address conflicts, and pursuit of vested interests. Dependence on subsidies, and reliance on the State are still widespread.  Some Party committees, authorities, and leaders at various levels lack strong determination, significant effort, and decisive actions.

The management of organizational structures and staffing remains loose and lacks centralized and unified oversight. Numerous sector-specific legal documents continue to regulate organizational structures and staffing. Additionally, certain legal documents governing organizational structures include provisions that are inconsistent with current requirements.

Mechanisms and policies to incentivize the streamlining of organizations and staffing are inadequate and lack assertiveness. The allocation of regular funding based on staffing numbers, rather than linking it to the results and efficiency of organizational operations, is one of the key causes of increasing staffing numbers.

Inspection, examination, and supervision have been insufficiently frequent; with a lack of strict measures against collectives and individuals—particularly leaders—who fail to fulfill tasks related to organizational restructuring, streamlining administrative apparatus, and staff reduction. There is also an absence of appropriate mechanisms for evaluating and promptly replacing officials and public employees who fail to meet task requirements.

Efforts to summarize practical experiences and conduct scientific research on the organizational structure of the political system have been undervalued and inadequately implemented. Interim reviews, comprehensive evaluations, and timely lessons-learned exercises, as well as recognition and rewards, have not been carried out effectively.

II- PERSPECTIVES AND OBJECTIVES

1- Guiding perspectives

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- Uphold organizational and operational principles while emphasizing Party discipline and State law compliance; strictly adhere to the principle of unified Party leadership in renewing, reorganizing, and managing the organizational structure and personnel of the political system.  Ensure centralized and unified leadership and direction from the Central Committee, while promoting proactivity, creativity, and initiative at each level, sector, and locality; clearly define the responsibilities of collectives and individuals, especially those in leadership roles.

- Ensure a comprehensive, synchronized, and interconnected approach; harmonize continuity and stability with innovation and development; link organizational restructuring with leadership reform, streamlining personnel, and reforming the wage system; restructure and enhance the quality of officials and public employees; attract individuals of integrity and talent; allocate sufficient resources and establish appropriate mechanisms and policies for those directly impacted by the reorganization process.

- Engage the entire political system with strong determination, significant effort, and decisive, effective action. Leadership must be concentrated and unified, with reforms carried out consistently, continuously, actively, and robustly. Reforms should focus on key priorities, follow clear timelines, proceed cautiously, and address both immediate and long-term needs. For matters that are clear and ready for implementation, proceed without delay. For new issues, those lacking clear regulations, or matters governed by outdated provisions, boldly implement pilot programs, adopt a "learning by doing" approach, and gradually refine and expand effective practices. Avoid both perfectionism and undue haste. Complex, sensitive, or unclear issues that elicit differing opinions should undergo further research and review to formulate appropriate policies and solutions.

- Adhere to the principle of "one agency performing multiple tasks and one task assigned to a single lead agency" with full responsibility for execution. The organizational model and scale must align with the nature, characteristics, functions, and tasks of each agency, unit, and locality.

- Strengthen political and ideological education to enhance the awareness of officials and Party members regarding innovation, restructuring, and staff reduction. Increase communication, advocacy, and persuasion to foster high unity within the Party and consensus in society, preventing hostile forces or malicious elements from exploiting, distorting, disrupting, or causing internal division.

2-Objectives:

General objectives:

Continue innovating and restructuring the organizational structure of the political system to be streamlined, effective, efficient, and aligned with the socialist-oriented market economy. This is aimed at strengthening the leadership role of the Party; enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of state management; improving the quality of activities of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and political-social organizations; promoting the people's right to mastery. Reducing staff size while restructuring and improving the quality and effective utilization of officials and public employees; reducing recurring expenditures and contributing to wage policy reform.

Specific objectives:

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- From 2021 to 2030: (1) Complete research and implementation of an overall organizational model for the political system that aligns with Vietnam’s specific requirements and conditions in the new phase while continuing to reduce staff size; (2) Clearly define the functions, tasks, and authorities of each agency and organization to eliminate overlaps, redundancies, or omissions of responsibilities within the political system; (3) Continue to specify and institutionalize Party directives, resolutions, and conclusions on innovation and reorganization of the political system through Party regulations and State laws; (4) Clearly delineate and implement governance models for rural, urban, island areas, and special administrative-economic units; (5) Basically complete the consolidation of administrative units at district, commune, village, and neighborhood levels in accordance with prescribed standards.

- For public sector entities by 2030: Effectively implement the roadmap, objectives, tasks, and solutions outlined in the 6th Plenum Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee on "Continuing to innovate the organizational system and management, enhancing the quality and efficiency of public sector entities."

III- TASKS AND SOLUTIONS

1- General tasks and solutions for the entire political system

- Ensure unified leadership by the Party in the establishment and management of the organizational structure and staffing across the entire political system. At the central level, the Politburo assumes direct responsibility, while at the local level, this responsibility lies with the standing committees of province-level Party organizations.

- Accelerate research, refinement, and implementation of an overarching organizational model for the political system that meets the requirements of building and improving a socialist rule-of-law state, developing a socialist-oriented market economy, and actively and proactively integrating internationally.

- Focus on reviewing, reorganizing, and streamlining internal structures within political system organizations, linked to downsizing staff, restructuring, and enhancing the quality of personnel, including officials and public employees.  Decisively reduce and refrain from establishing new intermediate organizations; dissolve or reorganize ineffective organizations. The reorganization must not increase the number of subdivisions or staff. In exceptional cases where new subdivisions are required at the department, agency, or equivalent level, approval from the Politburo is necessary.

- Review, supplement, and finalize the functions, duties, authorities, and interrelationships of entities within the political system to eliminate overlaps and redundancies. Assign multiple responsibilities to organizations and individuals where feasible, but ensure that each task has one designated lead organization or individual who bears primary accountability. Implement staff reduction measures in line with the set objectives. Establish and strictly manage staffing for political system organizations based on organizational classification, job position criteria, and scientifically determined personnel standards. Define the minimum staffing levels required to form an organization and the maximum number of deputy leadership positions permissible, tailored to the characteristics of each level, sector, and locality. Establish clear criteria, conditions, and policies for limiting the scope and number of honorary titles; reducing the proportion of support staff in each organization, particularly within office departments.

- Review, amend, supplement, and finalize regulations of the Party and the State on the organizational structure across levels, sectors, and localities to ensure consistency and uniformity. Boldly pilot new organizational models and role combinations to streamline structures, reduce intermediaries, and enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness; promptly conduct preliminary and final reviews to identify and expand successful, effective models.

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- Promote strong and reasonable decentralization and delegation between central and local governments, and between superior and subordinate levels, linking authority with accountability. Simultaneously, establish robust mechanisms for power control through Party regulations and State laws to ensure democracy, transparency, public accountability, and enhance monitoring and evaluation. Encourage dynamism, creativity, and proactive engagement of all levels, sectors, and localities in organizational restructuring, streamlining, and staffing optimization. Formulate specific and practical programs and plans to strengthen leadership, supervision, and enforcement of compliance with regulations on organizational restructuring and downsizing within the political system.

- Develop specific, practical programs and plans to strengthen leadership and direction in conducting inspections, audits, and supervision of compliance with regulations on organizational restructuring and staff streamlining within the political system.  Promptly recognize and commend organizations and individuals who perform effectively; impose strict penalties on organizations and individuals, especially leaders, who fail to comply, do not adhere to regulations, or fail to achieve objectives for streamlining organizational structures and staffing.  This shall serve as one of the key criteria for reviewing, evaluating, nominating, appointing, or dismissing officials.

- Continue robust administrative reforms and widely apply science and technology, particularly information technology; accelerate the development of e-government and smart cities; conduct reviews and evaluations to identify effective solutions for leveraging IT infrastructure, avoiding wastefulness, and contributing to streamlined organizational structures and workforce reductions.  Allocate sufficient resources for research on organizational structures and personnel management within the political system.  Revise regulations and implement reforms in the allocation of regular budget expenditures for organizations, agencies, and units within the political system.

- Enhance propagation and political-ideological education to foster unity in awareness and action within the Party and consensus across society. Allocate adequate resources and establish appropriate mechanisms and policies for public employees directly affected during organizational restructuring and workforce adjustments. Maintain vigilance and proactively implement measures to counteract subversive activities by hostile forces and malicious elements.

2- Specific tasks and solutions

2.1- For the organizational system of the Party

- The Central Committee shall regulate the functions, duties, powers, responsibilities, and operational relationships of province-level and district-level Party Committees and concretize them for grassroots levels; issue a framework for working regulations of Party Committees.  Based on the framework and specific characteristics and circumstances, Party Committees shall formulate their own working regulations and guide immediate subordinate Party Committees in drafting theirs.

- Research and develop regulations on standards, composition, numbers, conditions, and reasonable processes for selecting members of Party Committees and members of standing committees at all levels.

- Discontinue the operations of the Steering Committees for the Northwest, Central Highlands, and Southwest regions. Reorganize the Overseas Party Committee and the Party Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure both general compliance with Party regulations and accommodation of specific characteristics, thereby strengthening Party-building efforts and enhancing the leadership capacity and combat strength of Party organizations abroad. Transfer the Office of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform to the Central Internal Affairs Commission and reorganize it accordingly.

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- Adjust, supplement, and refine the functions, duties, powers, responsibilities, and operational relationships of Party Committees in administrative agencies to streamline the organizational structure and focus on a few key Party-building tasks, enhancing operational effectiveness and efficiency. For Party Committees in business sectors, continue to research and reorganize them to suit new conditions at both central and local levels, aiming to improve their practical significance and operational effectiveness.

- Review, amend, supplement, and refine the functions, duties, powers, responsibilities, and operational relationships of various types of grassroots Party organizations to strengthen the Party’s comprehensive leadership at the grassroots level.  Promptly address the lack of Party organizations in villages and urban neighborhoods and assess the roles of village leaders and heads of urban neighborhoods who are not Party members to develop appropriate solutions for assigning and recommending Party members for these roles.

- Research innovations and improvements in the organizational model of Party bodies within state-owned enterprises and public sector entities to enhance the Party’s comprehensive leadership and ensure strict management of Party members.  Accelerate the establishment of Party organizations and the development of Party membership in enterprises and public sector entities outside the state sector.

- Unify the offices of Party Committees to serve all advisory and supporting agencies of province-level Party Committees; assign heads of propaganda departments to concurrently serve as directors of district-level political training centers.  Basically merge the offices of the Party committees with the offices of the People's Councils and the People's Committees at the district level in areas meeting the required conditions. Pilot the dual-role arrangement for heads of agencies or the merger of certain Party and State agencies, as well as Party agencies and the Vietnam Fatherland Front agencies with similar functions and tasks, at the provincial and district levels in areas meeting the required conditions. Gradually implement the model where the Party Committee Secretary concurrently serves as President of the People's Council at all levels; implement the arrangement where the Party Committee Secretary concurrently serves as President of the People's Committee at the district and commune levels in areas meeting the required conditions.

- Review, amend, supplement, and refine the functions, duties, powers, organizational structure, and operational relationships of advisory and supporting agencies of Party Committees at all levels, from the central to local levels.

2.2- For the organizational system of the State at the central level

- Increase the proportion of full-time National Assembly deputies as targeted; study measures to reasonably reduce the number of National Assembly deputies concurrently holding positions in executive agencies. Establish reasonable quotas and ratios between leadership positions, standing members, and full-time members of the Ethnic Council and National Assembly Committees, aiming to reduce the number of deputy heads and standing members. Restructure and streamline the internal organization of the National Assembly Office to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in operations.

- The Government, ministries, and sectors should continue to innovate, consolidate, and restructure their organizational apparatus, focusing on macro-level management, strategy development, planning, legislative processes, mechanisms, and policy formulation. Enhance the capacity for leadership, administration, and implementation efficiency; strengthen inspection and supervision of compliance.

- Promptly review and decisively amend, supplement, and refine the functions, duties, powers, responsibilities, and operational relationships among ministries, sectors, and organizations subordinate to these ministries and sectors. Eliminate redundancy and overlap in functions and duties, enabling one organization to handle multiple tasks while ensuring that a single task is led and managed by one primary organization.  Review and reorganize inter-sectoral coordination bodies to reduce their number, especially those with dedicated support units.

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- Review tasks and authorities to strongly and reasonably delegate and decentralize powers between the Government and ministries/sectors; and between the Government, ministries/sectors, and local authorities. This aims to streamline the organizational system, reduce staffing levels, enhance operational effectiveness and efficiency, and foster proactiveness, creativity, and a high sense of responsibility at each level and sector, coupled with mechanisms for power control. Review, amend, and refine the Law on Local Government Organization to clearly define the duties, authorities, and responsibilities of province-level, district-level, commune-level governments. Specify mechanisms for delegation, authorization, and the execution of tasks and powers under delegated or authorized arrangements among different levels of local government.

- Accelerate administrative reforms, especially procedural reforms, closely linked to reorganizing structures, reducing organizational units, eliminating intermediate levels, and streamlining staff within ministries, sectors, and agencies under the Government. Ensure that operations remain democratic, transparent, professional, and oriented towards serving the people.

- For sectors organized along vertical systems, such as  taxation, customs, state treasury, and social insurance, continue restructuring organizations by grouping them regionally across inter-province-level or inter-district areas to streamline organizational units and reduce staffing levels. Further study and develop organizational structures that align with state budget decentralization, emphasizing the central budget's leading role and the local budget's proactivity.

- The Central Military Commission and the Central Public Security Party Committee are tasked with developing separate plans to review, consolidate, and restructure organizational systems to meet the requirements of building revolutionary, standardized, elite, and gradually modernized military and police forces. These plans must ensure the absolute and comprehensive leadership of the Party over the armed forces while aligning with the general regulations of the political system and the specific characteristics of each force.

- Continue studying to clarify the theoretical and practical basis for the multi-sector, multi-field management scope of some ministries and sectors, particularly those with overlapping functions and tasks. Propose suitable solutions and reorganize to streamline these entities in the next term.  Examples include merging similar sectors such as transportation and construction; finance and planning-investment; and addressing overlaps in ethnic and religious affairs, etc.

- Continue to study and gradually streamline investigative agencies to meet the requirements of criminal investigation and crime prevention, ensuring alignment with the organization and operations of the People’s Procuracy and People’s Courts in line with the spirit of judicial reform.

Review, amend, and refine regulations on the functions, tasks, powers, responsibilities, scope of operations, and working relationships of the State Audit Office and inspection bodies at all levels to prevent overlaps in task execution.

2.3– For local governments

- Continue to amend, supplement, and improve the institutional framework for local government development, clearly distinguishing the organizational structures of urban, rural, island governments, and special administrative-economic units. Proactively pilot models in areas with adequate conditions. Rationally reduce the number of People's Council deputies at all levels, especially those serving concurrently in state management agencies. Decrease the number of deputy Presidents of province-level and district-level People's Councils to align with their functions and tasks while enhancing the quality and efficiency of their activities. Implement these adjustments starting from the 2021–2026 term.

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- Examine, adjust, and reorganize the structure and operational mechanisms of local governments, contributing to advancing administrative reforms, especially simplifying administrative procedures in a democratic, transparent, and professional manner. Effectively implement the model of public administrative service centers and the single-window and interconnected single-window mechanisms at all levels.

- Amend and supplement relevant legal documents to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of commune-level governments. Establish a framework for the appropriate number of commune-level officials and public employees, clearly defining job positions, role standards, local characteristics, and ensuring staff reductions. Enforce unified regulations for cost reimbursement of allowances for part-time public staff at the commune and neighborhood levels.

- Develop regulations to merge the offices of province-level People's Councils, delegations of the National Assembly, and People's Committees into a single advisory and support office.

- Gradually reorganize and consolidate district- and commune-level administrative units that do not meet the legal standards. Encourage mergers and expansions of administrative units at all levels in areas with adequate conditions to improve management capacity, strengthen local resources, and enhance operational efficiency.  Promptly and resolutely reorganize and merge neighborhoods and hamlets that do not meet State standards.

2.4 - For the Vietnam Fatherland Front, political-social organizations, and mass associations

- Continue to refine the organizational structure of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations, linked to the renewal of content and methods of operation, focusing on grassroots levels and strengthening connections with members, while gradually addressing the issues of “bureaucratization of operations” and “bureaucratization of officials”; enhance coordination between the Vietnam Fatherland Front, political-social organizations, and related agencies and organizations. Actively implement and improve the quality of social supervision and criticism.

- Restructure and streamline internal organizations by refining the functions, tasks, authority, responsibilities, and working relationships of each entity. Decisively reduce overlapping, redundant, and inefficient divisions or departments. Reorganize or dissolve underperforming public sector entities. Reduce staffing levels and restructure the contingent of full-time staff at all levels. Link these efforts to reforms in state budget allocation mechanisms and financial management. Strictly implement cost-allocation mechanisms to encourage positivity, initiative, and autonomy, thereby enhancing the quality and effectiveness of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and political-social organizations. Increase the use of collaborators and volunteers.

- Pilot the concurrent holding of the position of head of the mass mobilization committee and chairperson of the Fatherland Front Committee at the provincial and district levels in areas meeting the required conditions. Summarize and evaluate the model of a joint advisory and operational body for the Vietnam Fatherland Front and political-social organizations at the district level, expand the pilot to the province-level level, and implement it at the district level in eligible areas.

- Review and refine institutional frameworks for the organization, operational mechanisms, and asset management of trade unions to align with new conditions.  Examine and amend financial management mechanisms and the funding structure for trade unions to ensure strict oversight, transparency, and increased effectiveness.

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IV- IMPLEMENTATION

1- The Politburo shall issue an Implementation Plan, disseminate the Resolution, identify urgent tasks and tasks to be completed according to a roadmap, assign specific responsibilities, and regularly inspect and oversee the implementation of the Resolution.

2- The National Assembly Party Delegation and the Government Party Committee shall lead and direct relevant agencies to promptly institutionalize and concretize the contents of the Resolution, focusing on urgent tasks.

3- Province-level and municipal Party Committees, Party commissions, Party Delegations, Party Committees of affiliated agencies under the Central Committee shall organize study sessions, thoroughly disseminate the Resolution, and proactively develop specific plans and proposals to implement the Resolution within their jurisdiction.

4- The Central Organization Commission shall take the lead in coordinating with relevant agencies to assist the Politburo and the Secretariat in regularly monitoring, inspecting, and urging the implementation of the Resolution and proposing periodic reviews and evaluations of the Resolution's implementation./.

ON BEHALF OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
GENERAL SECRETARY




Nguyen Phu Trong