The Ministry of Home Affairs has reported on the current situation of organization, operation and solutions to improve the state administrative system in the 3-level government model.
According to the report, the Ministry of Home Affairs maintains a mechanism to quickly review and regularly update limitations and obstacles in operating the new model in 34 provinces and cities; continue to provide timely guidance and answers on institutions, authority, organizational structure, personnel, public services, data, administrative units and policies for those affected; products are a list of immediate handling tasks under the Ministry's authority, a list of tasks that need to be directed by the Government and the Prime Minister, and a list of reports to competent authorities.
In 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs will focus on guiding the standardization of job positions and the structure of commune-level cadres and civil servants. The focus is not on increasing staff according to average thinking but on correctly determining needs according to population size, natural area, task volume, urbanization level and local characteristics.
The product includes a framework for commune-level job positions, clarifying the capacity framework of cadres and civil servants in the new period, a set of criteria for determining payroll for the 2026-2031 period (in coordination with the Central Organization Committee), a mechanism for mobilization, assignment, and strengthening of in-depth professional cadres for the commune level, and guidance on evaluating cadres and civil servants in a substantive direction, taking results and products, and the level of satisfaction of people and businesses as the main measures.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, according to its functions and tasks, proactively coordinates with relevant agencies to create strong changes in the training of commune-level cadres and civil servants - a task of decisive significance for improving the quality of grassroots government activities.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, delegate Ta Van Ha - Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Society said that the quality of the contingent of cadres is not uniform, especially after expanding boundaries and arranging administrative units. A part of cadres have to access many new fields, while training, fostering and support have not kept up with practical requirements.
In addition, resources have not kept up with task requirements. The commune level currently undertakes more functions than before, but the staff, working conditions, digital infrastructure, data and funding in many places are still limited. When tasks increase but resources are not commensurate, pressure on grassroots authorities is inevitable.
The connection and data sharing between agencies is not really smooth, causing many administrative procedures to still have to be processed in the traditional way, reducing the efficiency of serving people and businesses.
According to the delegate, these difficulties are difficulties in the transition process, not limitations of the policy. The important thing now is to continue to improve the institution in accordance with the spirit of the General Secretary and President's direction: decentralization of power must go hand in hand with resource allocation; assignment of tasks must go hand in hand with assignment of tools and responsibilities; strengthen inspection and supervision but not let officials fall into the psychology of fearing mistakes and avoiding responsibility.
Therefore, resources must go hand in hand with authority. Assigning additional tasks to the commune level must simultaneously ensure reasonable staffing, financial resources, digital infrastructure, shared data and training of staff. It is impossible to require the grassroots level to do well without tools and conditions to implement.
At the same time, commune-level civil servants need to be standardized and retrained in a specialized and substantive direction, associated with the needs of digital development and international integration.
Standardization must be associated with innovation in the mechanism of recruitment, use and remuneration. Combining standardization of qualifications with reform of salary regimes and corresponding remuneration mechanisms.
