General Assessment of the Current State of State Power Control Through the Questioning Activities of National Assembly Deputies

In 2010, the first turbine of Son La Hydropower Plant will generate electricity. To do that, we must do a good job of resettlement. Accepting the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Deputy Prime Minister immediately held a meeting with relevant sectors, levels, and localities to implement the work raised by the monitoring delegation. After that, the Government Office sent us a report on the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. After 4 months, that comrade reported to us on how it was done. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan also had a document of more than 20 pages reporting on the previous questioning on preschool issues, university entrance exams, universities with foreign elements, and education with foreign elements. Minister Pham Khoi Nguyen reported on environmental issues and asset management, land, land exploitation... These are things that have been done... I would like to give some examples like that to say that the effects and efficiency of the questioning session are not only within the President, but also outside the President, in real life [78, p.2].

At the 12th National Assembly, after the National Assembly deputies questioned, the Ministers and heads of sectors answered carefully and had specific solutions to implement, which have been effective in practice, such as the issue of using the stimulus package to help our country's economy quickly escape the impact of the financial crisis, the issue of licensing and managing golf course investment projects and new urban area construction projects has been rectified, the inspection of planning implementation, licensing of construction of medium and small hydropower projects, the management of rice export has made remarkable progress, awareness of environmental protection and pollution prevention in production and business has been raised, the progress of infrastructure construction, especially urban traffic infrastructure has been gradually improved...

The 13th National Assembly, at each session, has a report on the implementation of the National Assembly's resolution on questioning and answering questions from the previous session as well as an inspection report by the National Assembly's committees on the implementation of the resolution on questioning and answering questions by ministries, branches, and the Government...

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Therefore, it can be said that the questioning activities have had a positive impact, creating changes in the activities of Central agencies. However, there are still issues that have been questioned but the situation has not changed much in reality. There are many issues that have been brought up repeatedly in many consecutive sessions but there has been no change, not meeting the requirements. Delegate Nguyen Dinh Xuan said, "The reason why the delegates keep asking the same questions is because the situation of the old issues has not changed much."

Through questioning, the National Assembly has a practical basis to grasp the law enforcement situation of competent state agencies, inspect and evaluate the quality of operations and management and operational responsibilities of individual heads and agencies in the state apparatus. From there, it is the basis for the National Assembly to express its confidence or distrust in those elected or approved by the National Assembly, and the basis for the election of positions in the next National Assembly. In fact, through questioning activities, National Assembly deputies and people across the country have their own comments and assessments of the capacity of heads of ministries, branches, and members of the Government. Those who do well and those who do not do well are recognized and evaluated more objectively.

The effectiveness and efficiency of the supervision of questioning activities will not be high without sanctions for questioning activities. The highest sanction that questioning activities can lead to is the issuance of a resolution on the response to questioning, which is the basis for a vote of confidence or dismissal.

However, the actual operation of the National Assembly shows that the National Assembly has not taken seriously the resolution on questioning and answering questions. The resolution reflects the National Assembly's viewpoint and attitude on answering questions from the questioned person, clearly defining the responsibility of the person answering the question with the issues raised by the National Assembly deputies and the directions and measures proposed to solve the issues questioned by the deputies. This is the basis for binding the responsibility of the person answering the question with the issues raised by the National Assembly deputies.

raised. The actual activities of the 12th National Assembly show that after each question-and-answer session, the chairperson of the meeting makes a general conclusion. The secretariat will extract the minutes, record the solutions and promises sent to the person being questioned for further research and handling, and send them to the National Assembly agencies to monitor the implementation. These documents are not yet of high legal effect. In the 12th National Assembly, there were 2 Resolutions on questioning and answering questions at the 4th and 6th sessions. At the 4th session, this was the first time the National Assembly issued a resolution on the questioning activities of the National Assembly. However, the resolution was still general, not specifically stating the issues under the responsibility of the person being questioned.

The reason why the questioning activities of National Assembly deputies still lack the implementation of sanctions (issue resolutions on questioning and answering questions) is because there are currently no specific regulations in relevant legal documents. Legal consequences from questioning and answering questions have emerged, but there is still a lack of order and procedures to handle these situations. In fact, in some questioning sessions, some Ministers answered in a way that did not satisfy both the questioners and the public, avoiding the main issue and not clearly defining their personal and organizational responsibilities and remedial measures. The National Assembly could not pass any resolutions because there were no specific laws to carry out the process. Furthermore, the National Assembly cannot dismiss or remove those questioned by the National Assembly when they have committed violations in state management activities because there are no specific regulations on how many times of criticism, blame, and resolution on answering questions can vote of confidence for Government members.

3.3. GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT SITUATION OF STATE POWER CONTROL THROUGH QUESTIONING ACTIVITIES OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEPUTIES

3.3.1. Some achievements in controlling state power through questioning activities of National Assembly deputies

Based on the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of state power control through questioning activities, it can be seen that the questioning activities of National Assembly deputies in recent times have had positive changes.

Question content

About the quality of information

The recent questionings by Vietnamese National Assembly deputies have shown that the deputies have invested efforts to update specific, accurate, rich, and diverse information from many different sources to make comments, assessments, and urgent, appropriate requests.

On the content of the questions

It can be said that the content of the questions of the National Assembly deputies has focused on the outstanding and urgent issues, with many problems and limitations in the management and operation of the socio-economy that are of interest to the people and voters nationwide. The questions mainly focused on a number of areas such as investment, finance, banking, agriculture and rural development, transport construction, health care, education, land, environment, etc., showing the close connection between the practical requirements of socio-economic development and parliamentary activities, between voters' opinions and the questions of the National Assembly deputies.

Questioning methods and skills

The way and skills of National Assembly deputies in exercising the right to question have been significantly improved. The questions are generally short, concise, with clear content, referring to macro issues, and correctly identifying the subjects of questioning. Within the prescribed time, the majority of National Assembly deputies have raised short, clear questions, going straight to the issues of concern and requiring Government members to clarify the current situation, causes, responsibilities of the leaders, solutions, and time needed to overcome them. The majority of the questions have clear evidence, logical arguments, and convincing reasons. Some National Assembly deputies have persistently pursued their questioning content through each session. At the direct questioning sessions, deputies have analyzed, discussed, and debated with the questioned person to develop the content of the questions, get to the bottom of the problem, clarify personal responsibilities, and require solutions, policies, and

policies and laws to satisfactorily resolve difficulties, shortcomings and limitations in practice in a truly sincere and constructive spirit. Every time a member of the Government answered a question incorrectly and unsatisfactorily, there was a debate and dialogue to clarify the issue. It was from the debate that many limitations and shortcomings in the policy and legal mechanisms, in the management mechanisms of the Government and ministries and branches were clarified. On that basis, lawmakers and policy makers made regulations that were in line with social reality.

Clarify the responsibilities of the person being questioned and provide remedial measures

In the questioning activities, the respondents' recognition of individual responsibilities has improved. The practice of answering questions by recounting achievements, avoiding responsibility, blaming the mechanism, or especially complaining that the minister's authority is limited, but responsibility is unlimited, has been replaced by the ministers quickly admitting their own shortcomings, even though the fault was not caused by the ministers themselves. The ministers directly answer questions, limiting the situation of authorizing the Deputy Minister to answer as in some previous sessions of the National Assembly. Many ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies have tried to show their responsibility to the National Assembly and the people through careful preparation to answer questions, more deeply recognizing the problems that are still weak, have not been done, have not been done well, pointing out the causes and solutions to overcome them. Ministers have realized their responsibilities in the areas assigned to them for management and administration, even though the mistakes were not caused by the ministers themselves but by their subordinates. Ministers have limited their responses to presenting advantages, avoiding responsibility, blaming the mechanism, etc. Instead, they have looked directly at the facts and quickly admitted their shortcomings.

The resolution is to express the National Assembly's viewpoint and attitude on answering questions of the person being questioned, clearly defining the responsibility of the person being questioned.

answer questions about issues raised by National Assembly deputies and propose directions and measures to solve the issues raised by deputies. This is the basis for binding the responsibility of the person answering questions to the issues raised by National Assembly deputies.

The level of implementation of proposed solutions and the results of practical changes on the questioned issue

The level of control of state power by questioning activities is reflected in the level of influence on the law compliance of state management agencies, the ability to prevent abuses of power by state agencies in the exercise of executive and judicial powers, thereby contributing to the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the people. Reality in recent times has shown that questioning activities of National Assembly deputies have had a positive impact on the activities of executive and judicial agencies. Through questioning, the heads of these agencies have clearly recognized their mistakes and shortcomings, proposed solutions to overcome them and reported on the implementation of those promises and measures, thereby making state management work more lawful and effective.

3.3.2. Some limitations in the effectiveness of controlling state power through questioning activities of National Assembly deputies

3.3.2.1. Questioning content

Question information

During the question and answer session, there are still questions that are unclear or based on public opinion, subjective feelings of the questioner, lacking information on the specific situation from the agencies and people responsible for providing official information. Much information is still lacking in selectivity. First of all, the questions are meant to answer and provide information. The worst thing when questioning is to question without enough information. This wastes the National Assembly's time and confuses the person answering the question.

Content of the questions

The issues of questioning are also widespread. The questions cover many aspects of organization and operation in the country's socio-economic system, from the trial of specific civil cases to issues of national livelihood, environmental protection, globalization, etc. It is very difficult to count the number of issues by group of issues such as issues of policies, issues of large and long-term macro scale with specific issues. Because the majority of questions of National Assembly deputies are questions of a combination of issues, tending only towards analysis, interpretation, and sometimes even in the form of commentary. Many questions only originate from the local level, one's own sector. In the questions raised by deputies, there are still questions that are not directed to the right authority. Or there are specific issues such as increasing traffic accidents, the responsibility of which is not only of one sector. It involves the import of vehicles, the production and assembly of vehicles (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the infrastructure system for traffic (Ministry of Transport), and the enforcement of traffic laws (Ministry of Public Security). Each ministry is only responsible for a part and answers questions within that scope of responsibility. However, in a session, not all ministries are allowed to answer directly to the National Assembly due to time constraints. Therefore, it is very possible that the answers to questions do not meet the requirements of the questions.

3.3.2.2. Questioning methods and skills

Many delegates still lack the necessary skills when participating in questioning activities. Questioning aims to clarify the responsibilities in management and operation of the state apparatus of members of the Government. Delegates must have the skills to analyze, synthesize, and select questions for questioning. During the questioning process, delegates need to have presentation skills, use language, and explain the questions to be asked. The capacity of parliamentarians to conduct good questioning activities includes the ability to have extensive contact with voters, the ability to quickly and correctly grasp the opinions and aspirations of voters, the ability to deeply analyze the thoughts and aspirations of the people, the ability to participate in

participating in discussions and debates in parliament, the ability to present opinions clearly and convincingly... However, many National Assembly deputies still lack these skills. In fact, this skill is still lacking in deputies, many questions are long, but the content is unclear, making it difficult for the person being questioned to answer the questioner's ideas. There are also deputies who ask questions as if discussing socio-economic issues, speaking for 7 minutes (while the regulation is only 2-3 minutes) without clearly stating what the question is about. Many questions of National Assembly deputies are still general and do not clearly define the problem, the ability to present questions is still weak, not attracting the attention of the listener. In addition, the method of carrying out the questioning form of the National Assembly deputies is still incorrect, many questions only stop at asking for information, there are cases where the answer to the question strays to another content, but the questioner does not ask to answer the question directly because of respect and fear, so the questioning and answering activities lack debate, lack of criticism, and lack of democracy. The way the deputies question is still just scratching the itch on the skin without delving into the cause and nature of the incident. When the minister answers incorrectly, no one debates to the end.

3.3.2.3. Clarifying responsibilities and remedial measures

The purpose of questioning is to clarify responsibilities, but in some questioning activities, this purpose has not been achieved. Many ministers have not yet accepted personal responsibility. Ministers answering questions also blame subordinate agencies or shift responsibility to the Party.

Current law stipulates that in case of disagreement with the content of the answer to the question, the National Assembly delegate has the right to request the National Assembly to continue discussing at the session, bring it up for discussion at another session of the National Assembly or recommend the National Assembly to consider the responsibility of the person being questioned (Article 11 of the Law on Supervision Activities of the National Assembly). Or in cases requiring investigation, the National Assembly can decide to allow the answer at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly or at the next session of the National Assembly or allow the answer in writing (Article 11 of the Law on Supervision Activities of the National Assembly).

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