Hanoi (VNA) – Members of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on May 15 discussed a report on results of supervision over the responses to voters’ opinions and requests sent to the sixth session of the 15h NA, a report on NA’s ombudsman affairs to April, and a draft report summarising voters’ ideas sent to the NA’s seventh session.

Delivering a report on NA’s ombudsman work to April this year, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee’s Ombudsman Board Duong Thanh Binh said that voters spoke highly of the Party and State leaders’ performance in home and external relations affairs, as well as activities to celebrate the 49th anniversary of the liberation of the south and the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory.

However, they showed concern about the severe heat and drought across the country, especially in the southern region, along with the high risk of forest fires, continuous cases of food poisoning and labour accidents in some localities, the increasing prices of electricity, some fertilisers, and construction iron and steel, and the fluctuating gold prices that have a negative impact on the economy and people's lives.

The board asked the Government and the Prime Minister to direct relevant ministries, sectors, and localities to roll out active measures to prevent wild fires, inspect the gold market and gold trading businesses, and promptly clarify reasons behind serious labour accidents to handle violations if any, said Binh.

It also asked the Ministry of Health to exert more efforts in preventing food poisoning.

Reporting on the supervision report on the response to voters’ opinions and requests sent to the 15th NA’s sixth session, Binh said that 2,216 opinions and requests collected through voter meetings have been sent to relevant agencies. To date, 2,204 have been responded, reaching 99.5%.

NA Permanent Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man asked the board to clarify difficulties during the settlement of voters’ requests and give solutions to complete request responding work.

Chairwoman of the NA Committee for Social Affairs Nguyen Thuy Anh noted that the number of people asking for one-time social insurance payment has increased, reaching nearly 39% over the average in the first quarter of this year to 121,873 people. The situation requires stronger communications on insurance policies to labourers, especially as the revised Insurance Law includes stricter regulations on one-time insurance withdrawal, she stressed.

Regarding measures to strengthen the management and stabilisation of the gold market, Deputy Minister of Public Security Le Quoc Hung proposed that the State Bank of Vietnam design urgent market intervention mechanisms, supplementing regulations on the maximum difference between the buying selling prices of gold bars, promulgating regulations on responsibilities of relevant agencies in gold market management, strengthening inspection and market testing, and maximising control of input material sources and gold bar product quality.

The ministry also sಌuggested that the Ministry of Finance consider the issuance of regulations to control tax obligation during gold trading activities, and asked localities to strengthen management over gold bu🃏siness to prevent violations./.