Gov't to transfer personnel functions to new Cabinet bureau+

TOKYO, Feb. 3 Kyodo - The government decided Tuesday to transfer the personnel functions of senior officials at some administrative entities to a new Cabinet Secretariat office next year in a bid to give the Cabinet a stronger grip on the civil servant personnel system and to streamline administration.

The envisaged transfer to the new bureau, set to be established in April 2010,
is a key plan included in a four-year road map for civil service reform, which
was endorsed at a morning meeting of a Cabinet task force led by Prime Minister
Taro Aso.
By providing the personnel information of senior officials such as vice
ministers to the bureau, the government is seeking to facilitate administrative
functions, which are now vertically divided and often face public criticism for
their inefficient and wasteful operations, and to manage them on the initiative
of the Cabinet.
The road map also proposes launching a new public service personnel system in
2011 with an eye toward eliminating the so-called practice of ''amakudari,'' in
which senior bureaucrats land postretirement jobs at entities related to the
sectors they formerly supervised.
In line with the plan, Aso later told the House of Representatives Budget
Committee that he aims to stop ministries making amakudari arrangements, as
well as the so-called ''watari'' (migration) system in which amakudari
repeatedly occurs, by the end of this year.
Aso added he would craft a fresh ordinance to ban the arrangements but failed
to elaborate on the specific timing.
Amakudari and watari practices have been denounced by the public as they enable
bureaucrats to benefit from hefty retirement allowances by moving from one
organization to another and they are also blamed for encouraging collusive bid
rigging.
The 2007 amendment to the national public servant law bans government
ministries and agencies from playing a mediatory role in finding jobs for
retiring officials. During a three-year transition period up to 2011, however,
it is possible for ministries and agencies to continue to engage in such
arrangements under an existing government ordinance.
Aso had been reluctant to scrap the ordinance but said last week that he has
''no intention of giving any authorization for such arrangements'' during his
term of office.
His latest comment took this a step further as he indicated his eagerness to
eradicate the arrangements even before the end of the transition period. But
the practice of amakudari itself will continue to exist under a job placement
center established last December.
It remains uncertain whether the government will be able to proceed in line
with its road map as it is facing lingering opposition from the National
Personnel Authority, an independent administrative entity in charge of managing
civil servants.
Masahito Tani, president of the authority, has claimed that transferring
personnel functions to the Cabinet side, which employs bureaucrats, could
violate the rights of employees and lack fairness. He boycotted a meeting of
the panel last Friday, which was postponed as a result until Tuesday.
But Aso decided on the transfer despite the backlash from the authority as
there is growing concern that a prolonged internal row in the government could
undermine his leadership.
''We would like to work hard on reforming the public service system,'' Aso said
at the meeting, telling ministers in attendance to make ''all-out efforts'' to
move on the reforms presented in the road map.
The panel's endorsement underscores Aso's pledge to press ahead with fiscal
expenditure cuts and civil service reform before raising the nation's 5 percent
consumption tax, a plan he has proposed in order to secure financial resources
to cover swelling social security costs.
He also asked the ministers to work out the issues over which the government
remains at odds with the authority, an organization that advises the prime
minister and the Diet on matters concerning national government civil servants,
notably recruitment and salaries.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said at a press conference, ''It is
unfortunate that the government could not gain full understanding from the
authority'' at Tuesday's meeting.
At a separate press conference, Tani said he wants ''to fulfill my duty to have
(the government) understand the (authority's) position,'' shrugging off
pressure from some lawmakers to step down.
The government plans to submit related bills to parliament in early March to
realize the transfer, but is expected to face another round of bickering with
the authority before the submission of the bills.
Aso told reporters in the evening, ''I understand there are various opinions
and will have Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura and administrative reform
minister (Akira) Amari coordinate the differences.''
Under the road map, the new office, tentatively called the Cabinet personnel
and administrative management bureau, would integrate functions of the Internal
Affairs and Communications Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Cabinet
Secretariat as well as the authority.
In the bureau, the posts of national strategy officer and political affairs
officer will be created in 2010 to serve as aides to the prime minister and
Cabinet ministers, respectively.
The road map will also abolish the amakudari practice of encouraging retirement
before the mandatory retirement age while promoting the recruitment of retired
government officials.