Responses to some recommendations on the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Vietnam

Responses to some recommendations on the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Vietnam

On October 19, 2023, the Ministry of Finance issued Official Dispatch 11449/BTC-HCSN to answer local questions about implementing the National Target Program for the period 2021–2025 according to Notice 392/TB-VPCP.

Responses to some recommendations on the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Vietnam

Some recommendations on the National Target Program for sustainable poverty reduction were answered by the Ministry of Finance as follows:

(1) Content of recommendation No. 10 (Vinh Long province): It is recommended that the Ministry of Finance issue clear guidance on support levels for projects, subprojects, and households when participating in implementing a project or sub-project to diversify livelihoods and develop a poverty reduction model for localities to soon implement.

The Ministry of Finance responded as follows:

Articles 21, 22, 23, and 24 of Decree 27/2022/ND-CP dated April 19, 2022 of the Government stipulating the management mechanism and organization of implementation of national target programs are amended and supplemented as specified in Clauses 12, 13, and 14, Article 1 of Decree 38/2023/ND-CP dated June 24, 2023 of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 27/2022/ND-CP stipulated:

(i) level of support, method of support from state budget capital for one (01) project, joint plan, production plan, project approval agency, joint plan,
The production plan determines the specific level of support but does not exceed the support level prescribed by the Provincial People's Council;

(ii) responsibilities of agencies in appraising and deciding on projects, linkage plans, and plans to support production development. Contents of project decisions, linkage plans, and plans to support production development, including detailed cost estimates, implementation funding sources, and counterpart capital of participating households (if any), level of)support, and progress of payment allocation from the central budget.

Therefore, it is recommended that localities base their decisions on the provisions of the above-mentioned documents and relevant legal regulations to organize and implement them according to those regulations.

(2) Content of recommendation No. 11 (Tuyen Quang province): The specific regulations on procedures for the Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs to receive documents and make payments to workers have caused difficulties in guiding and supporting local workers.

The Ministry of Finance responded as follows:

The content of Tuyen Quang province's proposal does not specifically state support for workers under which projects or programs. However, related to this content, currently, the National Assembly Delegation of Dien Bien province is making recommendations on procedures for payment of funds to support laborers working abroad according to the contract in Article 25 of Circular 15/2022/TT-BTC, which is not consistent with reality. The Ministry of Finance responded in Official Dispatch 10898/BTC-HCSN dated October 9, 2023, as follows:

“On August 15, 2023, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 55/2023/TT-BTC on management, use, and settlement of non-business funding from the state budget to implement national target programs for the period 2021–2025 (replacing 03 Circulars, including Circular No. 15/2022/TT-BTC), in which Point b, Clause 3, Article 25 stipulates: “b) In the case of workers who have completed the course and are waiting to leave the country: the Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs supports them on the basis of invoices.or receipts for training, vocational skills training, foreign languages, health examinations, passports, visas, criminal records, and related documents proving that the employee is eligible for support.”

It is correct to stipulate payment of support costs on the basis of invoices or receipts for workers who have completed the course and are waiting to leave the country according to the provisions of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 of the Government regulating invoices and documents.

In case an enterprise collects and makes payments on behalf of many employees when performing the above services without individual invoices and receipts for each employee, the enterprise is responsible for confirming the amounts collected and spent on behalf of the employees and photocopying the attached invoice or total receipt as a basis for payment of expenses."

The Ministry of Finance would like to provide information for localities to know and organize implementation according to regulations.

(3) Content of recommendation No. 12 (Ninh Thuan province): Guidance on spending norms in implementing the activities of "designing and organizing a database of employees" and "collecting, standardizing, and entering data" under Subproject 3 on sustainable employment support under Project 4.

The Ministry of Finance responded as follows:

According to Clause 5 and Clause 6, Article 73 of Circular 55/2023/TT-BTC stipulates: “- Expenditures for surveying, collecting, and making statistics on labor market information to serve the organization of job transaction service activities. do; collecting databases on finding people—job seekers, labor management associated with the national population database, and other databases; Follow Clause 4 and Clause 7 of Article 4 of Circular 55/2023/TT-BTC.

- Expenses for standardization, data entry, operation, and data correction: follow Clause 4 of Article 4 of Circular 55/2023/TT-BTC.”

Therefore, it is recommended that localities base their decisions on the regulations in Circular 55/2023/TT-BTC and related legal regulations to guide units in organizing and implementing implementation according to the regulations.

More details can be found in Official Dispatch 11449/BTC-HCSN 2023.

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