Hanoi (VNA) – The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) toppedagain among ministries and ministerial-level agencies in the PublicAdministration Reform Index 2017 (PAR Index 2017) which was announced at aconference in Hanoi on May 2.

The conference, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister TruongHoa Binh, also announced results of the Satisfaction Index of PublicAdministration Services in 2017 (SIPAS 2017)

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

There are 12 ministries and ministerial-level agencies havingPAR Index of more than 80 percent, including the Ministry of Information andCommunications, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministryof Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development.

Seven others, including the Ministry of Culture, Sportsand Tourism, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Construction, theMinistry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Health and the GovernmentInspectorate of Vietnam, are rated between 70 and 80 percent.

The PAR Index of the 19 ministries and ministerial-levelagencies 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 placein the category of localities with 89.45 percent and the central province ofQuang 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 77.72percent, an increase from 74.64 percent a year ago. Some 32 of them recorded anindex higher than the average figure and only three got an index of below 70percent, compared to 15 in 2017.

In recent years, Quang Ninh has been a pioneer in piloting new initiativesin public administration reforms. For example, it established a provincialpublic administration centre in 2015, aiming to give instructions on administrativeprocedures and process applications of individuals and organisations. Thecentre also provides high-quality online public services. In addition, theprovince has launched a Facebook page, named DDCI Quang Ninh, to receivefeedback and support firms via the social network.

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

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

About 82.8 percent of respondents said they are satisfiedwith the state officials’ attitude and more than 80 percent of them are happywith 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 TruongHoa Binh asked ministries, ministerial-level agencies, centrally-run cities andprovinces to make effective use of the SIPAS Index to continue accelerating thepublic administration reforms and adopt solutions to improve the quality ofpublic administration services.

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

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