Special Report: NPC, CPPCC Annual Sessions 2007

    III. Work related to you reached a new high.

    The Standing Committee conscientiously implemented the guiding principles of Decree No. 9 issued by the Central Committee in 2005 by formulating a set of regulations for supporting and ensuring the lawful execution of your duties. This will not only give more play to your role but also ensure that the work of the Standing Committee remains full of life.

    1. We carefully handled your proposals. During the Fourth Session of the Tenth NPC last year, you submitted 1,006 bills and the presidium referred them to seven special committees for deliberation. The concerned special committees conducted in-depth investigations and listened to the opinions you expressed in letters, phone calls, personal visits or forums. Those of you responsible for submitting some proposals were also invited to participate in preparatory work, formulation and deliberation for the draft law related to the bill they submitted. For example, the revised Law on the Protection of Minors incorporated your comments such as how to keep harmful information on the Internet away from minors, how to protect the legitimate rights and interests of rural children left behind when their parents go to the city to work and how to improve the safety of school grounds. Many of the 1,006 bills aided in formulation of legislation. Ten laws were deliberated and passed by the Standing Committee related to 100 of the bills, 7 draft laws related to 26 bills were submitted to the Standing Committee for deliberation, and another 51 legislative items related to 358 bills were included in the schedule for legislation work or the annual plan. Some other bills were referred to the State Council for study in order to formulate related administrative regulations. Explanations were made about your bills that called for legislation where conditions are not yet ripe. The reports submitted by relevant special committees on the results of their deliberation of your bills were deliberated and approved at the meeting of the Standing Committee and printed and distributed to all of you.

    2. We actively dealt with your suggestions. During the Fourth Session of the Tenth NPC you submitted 6,511 suggestions, and these were referred to 174 organizations to study and process. With the concerted efforts of everyone involved, 1,810 or 28 percent of the problems reflected in your suggestions have already been solved or are being addressed, and solutions have been found or work plans drawn up for 3,148 problems, or 48 percent of the total. Both figures were higher than the previous year. All the organizations processing the suggestions placed great value on the work. Even their top leaders became personally involved, maintained good communications with you and, strengthened their follow-up efforts. The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and 12 departments of the State Council, including the National Development and Reform Commission, reported to the Standing Committee in writing on the handling of your suggestions. Last year the Ministry of Water Resources handled all the 194 suggestions it was given and wrote a reply to you for each and every one of them. Working with other relevant departments, the Ministry of Water Resources did a great deal of work to solve the problem of inadequate safe water supplies in the dry rural areas of central Ningxia, a problem raised by the region's delegation of NPC deputies. The Ministry set up a special fund for water to meet the emergency needs during the drought and to ensure safe water supplies for 250,000 local people and made plans to develop enough safe water supplies within three years or so to basically solve the problem of inadequate safe water supply for 540,000 rural residents in Ningxia. The Ministry formulated a plan to solve the problem raised by the Macao delegation concerning the effect of the salt tide on water supplies in the region. Beginning last September, emergency measures have been taken to curb the salt tide during the dry season to ensure that Macao residents can drink clean water.

    3. We expanded your participation in the activities of the Standing Committee. The number of NPC deputies invited to the meetings of the Standing Committee as non-voting participants increased from 140-some to 185, and the number of deputies who participated in law compliance inspections and legislation-related investigations rose from nearly 400 to more than 500. Agendas, relevant documents and reference materials for the meetings were sent to the non-voting deputies in a timely manner. The Standing Committee held a forum for invited deputies before it met to brief them on its work, explain bills and listen to the comments and suggestions of the deputies concerning its work. Those of you who were invited to attend meetings and participate in activities carefully prepared before the events and were enthusiastic about speaking at the meetings, greatly contributing to the Standing Committee's work.

    4. We improved the organization of activities and services for you. We improved organization and services for your investigations and studies on special topics. You were free to form investigating groups on your own, chose your topics based on actual conditions, much better focused your investigations and studies and made them much more effective. All this played an important role in raising the quality of your bills and proposals. Statistics show that 1,874 of you, 63 percent of all NPC deputies, participated in special topic investigations and studies last year, nearly 10 percentage points higher than the previous year, and your investigations resulted in 183 reports. We organized you on inspection tours centered on the building of a harmonious socialist society and arranged for those of you representing Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to make inspection and research tours in Anhui, Hubei, Xinjiang and Jiangsu. We held five training sessions attended by more than 400 of you to study and discuss issues such as how to protect resources and the environment, how to build a new socialist countryside and how to make China an innovative country. Each standing committee of the people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government set up a liaison office for you, further improving the level of service for you.

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