Goal is to cut bureaucracy and improve coordination, effeciency

TAIPEI: A restructured Executive Yuan will be in place starting from January 1, 2012 as part of the government's efforts to upgrade administrative efficiency, an official of the "Central Personnel Administration" (CPA) said yesterday.

"The structural overhaul is aimed mainly at cutting bureaucracy to allow for better coordination and improved efficiency and is not necessarily related to work force trimming, " said CPA Chief Secretary Chang Nien-chung.

He made the remarks a day after the Legislative Yuan passed at the 11th hour four critical bills that provide a legal basis for a major government overhaul.

The newly passed acts included amendments to existing organic laws for the Executive Yuan and other government bodies, as well as a new law that sets a ceiling on the number of government employees and a provisional statute for the adjustment of functions and structures of various government departments.

According to the newly passed legislation, the 37 agencies currently under the Executive Yuan's jurisdiction will be streamlined into 27, with the two existing institutions in charge of budget and personnel administration remaining intact.

Chang said the revised act caps the total number of civil servants at 173,000, down from the original maximum of 223,000.

At present, the number of formal government employees stands at 164,000, he added.

"Therefore, we will have a room for about 5 percent growth in the government workforce," Chang noted, adding that the quota will mainly be used to accommodate professional staff for disaster response, coastal patrol and judicial reform.

Under the revised laws, the Executive Yuan will have 14 "ministries" to handle interior affairs, external affairs, defense, finance, education, justice, economic affairs and energy, transportation and construction, labor, agriculture, health and welfare, environment and resources, culture, and scientific and technological affairs.

In addition, there will be eight councils or commissions dealing with development issues, mainland affairs, financial supervision, marine affairs, expatriate affairs, veteran affairs, indigenous peoples affairs, and Hakka affairs.

The government will also have three independent bodies - the "Central Election Commission", the Fair Trade Commission and the "National Communications Commission".

Jurisdiction of the central bank and the National Palace Museum will be moved from the "Presidential Office" to the Executive Yuan.

Chao Chin-lien, a department chief of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, said the provisional statute governing adjustment of functions and structures at various government agencies has prescribed incentives for early retirement or resignation of civil servants as part of the streamlining of the workforce.

Under the terms of the statute, civil servants who are willing to retire or resign within seven months after the new laws take effect will be offered additional severance pay equivalent to seven-months' salary, Chao said.

Those who want to retain their posts will be assigned to new jobs in line with their ranks and professional backgrounds, if their original agencies are merged with other departments or ministries, he said.

"Their work rights will be protected, but their work places may have to be changed and some department chiefs may have to be reassigned to non-leadership posts," she explained.

Noting that government restructuring is a massive and ponderous task, Chao said the relevant government agencies began the groundwork long ago and are drafting a raft of supplementary and complementary regulations to pave the way for organic restructuring.

Under the new laws, four new "ministries" will be created to handle science and technology, culture, the environment and resources, and health and welfare.

Ten existing commissions and councils will be merged with various new "ministries" or agencies. Among them, the Government Information Office will be merged with the "Ministry of Culture" and the "Ministry of Foreign Affairs", while the Sports Affairs Council will be merged with the "Ministry of Education", which will also take over the "National Youth Commission".

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 01/14/2010 page2)