NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (standing) delivers a speech at the opening of the session. — VNA/VNS Photo Trong Duc

The Standing Committee session, which opened on Monday morning, has the question and answer session on the agenda to focus on the implementation of NA resolutions and orders.

The ministers and sector leaders to be questioned on Thursday are from the ministries of planning and investment; agriculture and rural development; information and communications; justice; public security; construction; science and technology; labour, invalids and social affairs; finance; industry and trade; transport and the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs. They also include the Chief Justice of the Viet Nam Supreme People's Court, the Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Auditor General.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, on behalf of the Government, will attend the Q&A session.

The committee session will last until Friday. The committee is scheduled to give feedback on five draft laws including the Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on State Audit; the revised Securities Law, the revised Labour Code, the Law on Reserve Force and the Library Law.

Participants will also consider a draft of a resolution explaining several articles of the Planning Law and conduct a thematic supervision of the enforcement of policies and laws on the use and management of State funds outside the State budget during the 2013-18 period.

A report on legislators’ supervision of legal enforcement regarding fire prevention and control for the 2014-18 period will be tabled for discussion.

The committee will also consider the implementation of resolutions on thematic supervisions from the beginning of the tenure to the end of 2018.

On socio-economic affairs, the committee will offer opinions on the supplementation of the State budget estimate for Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, as well as on the NA’s draft resolution on the exemption of permitting fees for mineral resources and water exploitation.

From Monday, the NA will replace disposable plastic water bottles with glass ones in its meetings as part of the national effort to protect the environment.

NA vice chairman Phung Quoc Hien directed discussions on the draft Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on State Audit.

The draft law distinguishes between the duties of inspection and audit agencies to avoid overlaps. However, according to Nguyen Duc Hai, Chairman of the NA’s Financial and Budget
Committee, overlaps between inspection and audit have been reported at all levels. The draft law's regulations to remove the overlaps remain vague.

Auditor General Ho Duc Phoc said the State Audit of Vietnam and the Government Inspectorate have signed a collaborative mechanism to address the problem.

“Collaboration is key to address overlaps,” he said, giving as an example the audit sector's move to cancel its plan to audit medical equipment and medicine after finding that it was already in the inspection plan of the Government Inspectorate.

NA vice chairwoman Tong Thi Phong asked which agency will act as a co-ordinator in the case of an overlap. She proposed the State Audit and the Government Inspectorate report the overlaps to the NA Standing Committee if they cannot be addressed.

Le Thi Nga, chairwoman of the NA’s Judicial Committee, proposed anti-corruption measures to ensure transparent audit results.

In the afternoon, NASC members discussed measures to grant more autonomy to the State Securities Commission of Vietnam, which is currently under the management of the Ministry of Finance.

VNS