NA question-and-answer session concludes

Hanoi (VNA) – The question-and-answer session at the 14th National Assembly’s sixth plenum concluded on November 1 with 135 questions raised for 19 cabinet members.

On the last day of the session, the deputies focused on matters related to climate change response, forestry land, illegal exploitation of rivers’ sand and soil, cashless payment, bad debts, the treatment of ash released from thermal power plants, waste in the lack of reusable school materials, and social insurance, among others.

Responding to questions regarding the environmental risks of using ash from thermal power plants as construction materials, Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha said that the Ministry of Science and Technology issued a decision on environmental standards for the materials on September 28 this year.

The ministry and relevant agencies have also released 15 criteria and specific technical guidelines to speed up the treatment of ash for use as construction materials, he said.

Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh added that his ministry has also researched measures to ensure the material will meet the criteria in Vietnam and verified the standards given by other ministries.

Regarding debts in social insurance for dissolved and bankrupt companies, Minister of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said that the ministry is advising the Government in drafting a decree to deal with the problem.

Over the abuse of support policies for revolutionary contributors, he said that authorised agencies have started legal proceedings against 49 cases involving 171 suspects, of whom 45 were sent to prison.

Answering questions on cashless payments, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Le Minh Hung said that in order to encourage cashless payments, the bank has issued 10 circulars directing the development of payment applications, along with a set of criteria for ATM and QR code payment methods.

Hung said that the bank has also removed regulations on the ceiling interest rate on deposits in VND under a 6-month term. He added that the bank will submit to the Government measures to restructure banks with poor performance.

Responding to the deputies’ question on waste in school materials and especially textbooks, Minister of Education Phung Xuan Nha acknowledged the shortcomings, including the management of textbook designs, which led to students writing directly in the books and making it impossible for them to be reused by the next year’s students.

He said that the ministry has applied a number of measures to minimise the waste, including holding training courses for students and teachers on using the textbook in an effective manner.

Appearing at the NA to clarify a number of issues of the Government’s responsibilities, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that in order to preserve and promote achievements reached over the past three years, it is necessary to complete the socialist-oriented market economy institution, in line with judicial reform and anti-corruption.

He said that in the future, the Government will work to control inflation, as well as ensure macro-economic stability, financial safety, monetary and food security, and also traditional and non-traditional security.

The Government will drastically restructure the economy, focusing on dealing with problems in the private economic development, and enhancing productivity and national competitiveness.

Concluding the question-and-answer session, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan summarised that the session took place in a democratic, straightforward, and responsible manner.

She spoke highly of the deputies’ questions and the short but clear answers of Cabinet members.

However, she also pointed to a number of unconvincing answers that failed to meet the requirements of deputies.

The NA leader asked the Government, the Chief Judge of the Supreme People’s Court, and heads of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, ministries and sectors to effectively implement tasks set in NA resolutions on specific supervision and question-and-answer sessions. –VNA