The conference, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, also announced results of the Satisfaction Index of Public Administration Services in 2017 (SIPAS 2017)

According to the PAR Index 2017, the central bank ranks first in the category for ministries and ministerial-level agencies, with a score of 92.36 out of 100 in effective administration reform, while the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs stands at the bottom of the rankings with 72.13 percent.

There are 12 ministries and ministerial-level agencies having PAR Index of more than 80 percent, including the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Seven others, including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Health and the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam, are rated between 70 and 80 percent.

The PAR Index of the 19 ministries and ministerial-level agencies average at 79.92 percent, in comparison to 80.94 percent of last year.

Meanwhile, the northeastern province of Quang Ninh is in the first place in the category of localities with 89.45 percent and the central province of Quang Nam is in the last place of the list, with 59.69 percent.

The average PAR Index of the 63 cities and provinces is at 77.72 percent, an increase from 74.64 percent a year ago. Some 32 of them recorded an index higher than the average figure and only three got an index of below 70 percent, compared to 15 in 2017.

In recent years, Quang Ninh has been a pioneer in piloting new initiatives in public administration reforms. For example, it established a provincial public administration centre in 2015, aiming to give instructions on administrative procedures and process applications of individuals and organisations. The centre also provides high-quality online public services. In addition, the province has launched a Facebook page, named DDCI Quang Ninh, to receive feedback and support firms via the social network.

The Government and local authorities’ recent efforts have helped reduce time people have to travel during the process of their application for a public administration service. A survey to measure SIPAS 2017 shows that 78.09 percent of respondents said that they only needed to travel once or twice to have the work done while 16.94 percent said they had to travel three or four times.

The survey also indicates that public servants continued causing difficulties for people and organisations or suggesting people pay informal fees on delivery of public administration services, said Pham Minh Hung, head of Administrative Reform Department at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

About 82.8 percent of respondents said they are satisfied with the state officials’ attitude and more than 80 percent of them are happy with the way the public servants listened to and replied them, Hung noted, adding that the average SIPAS was estimated at 81.81 percent.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh asked ministries, ministerial-level agencies, centrally-run cities and provinces to make effective use of the SIPAS Index to continue accelerating the public administration reforms and adopt solutions to improve the quality of public administration services.

Furthermore, he requested them to review and improve the management of public servants and the mechanism for the management of enterprises in the way that will not lead to an increase in the business conditions causing barriers to investment and business development.

They were also tasked to strengthen the inspection of the public administration reform implementation with focus on the recruitment, appointment and employment of state officials, their compliance with public administrative disciplines and regulations and their delivery of public administration services for people and enterprises.-VNA