Shou Xiaoli:

One last question. 

Hong Kong Bauhinia Magazine: 

Social assistance forms an important part of the social security system. Please update us on the work done to improve the social assistance system and ensure basic living for people in difficulty. Also, what will future work focus on? Thank you. 

Lu Zhiyuan:

Thank you for your questions. I will answer them. People pay much attention to social assistance, because it is an important part of the duty of civil affairs departments to secure citizens' basic living. It is also an important institutional arrangement for solving problems for those in difficulty, improving well-being and boosting social harmony. In recent years, the MCA has implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, focusing on the goal of improving the urban-rural coordinated, multi-tiered and categorized support system. We have continued to improve the institutions, innovate the mechanisms and ensure the implementation of all work, providing a safety net for ensuring the basic needs of the people in difficulty. We mainly have made efforts in the following aspects to ensure social assistance.

First, we have focused on ensuring basic living, creating a multi-tiered assistance framework to enable fuller coverage. We are expediting the building of a dynamic monitoring platform for the country's low-income population, improving the system of indicators for monitoring and early warning as well as gathering changing information regarding low-income individuals. Besides determining who is eligible for subsistence allowances and who live in extreme difficulty, we also have made thorough efforts to identify families on the verge of needing subsistence allowances and families facing difficulties due to necessary and unavoidable expenses, thus establishing a framework that offers multi-tiered assistance according to the level of difficulty encountered. 

Second, we have focused on making precise efforts and offering targeted assistance. We are enhancing information sharing with relevant departments. By comparing data, especially by integrating big data and field visits to gather information, we strive to pinpoint people eligible for policy support, supplementing the traditional approach where people apply for policy support. We are improving the mechanism for checking family economic situations and working to connect information checking systems across the country. We are guiding local governments to address weaknesses and implement special assistance in the fields of medical care, education, housing and employment, accurately matching supply and demand of assistance to effectively deliver assistance and support. Meanwhile, we are piloting service-oriented social assistance, improving the mechanism for aligning government assistance and charitable support to better meet the multi-tiered, differentiated needs for assistance. 

Third, we have focused on delivering solid results, fully leveraging the advantages of our systems to achieve synergy and efficiency. We have let the coordination mechanism of the joint conference on social assistance fully play its role and have effectively coordinated assistance resources between departments, pooling efforts to provide assistance. We have guided local governments to establish and improve a working mechanism where different departments offer categorized assistance and support to eligible people recognized by civil affairs departments. For example, human resources and social security departments provide employment related assistance. Education departments provide education assistance, and healthcare security departments provide assistance related to medical care. We have set up a working mechanism for helping low-income individuals, enabling unified information documentation, dynamic monitoring, tiered management, targeted policy and resources delivery as well as categorized support and results feedback. We have created separate assistance chains for each household or person, making assistance lists and boosting the well-being of people in need through support from different channels. 

We will continue to deepen reforms in social assistance, advance related legislation and establish and improve a social assistance system with Chinese characteristics that features full coverage, tiered and categorized support, resources coordination, comprehensiveness and high efficiency. We will enhance the dynamic monitoring and risk warning of low-income groups and set up a regular assistance and support mechanism, providing fuller and better support for people in difficulty through social assistance. Thank you. 

Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you, Mr. Lu and all other speakers. Thanks to the reporters for participating. Today's press conference is hereby concluded. See you all. 

Translated and edited by Zhang Rui, Wang Wei, Zhang Jiaqi, Wang Qian, Li Xiao, Li Huiru, Wang Ziteng, Huang Shan, Xu Kailin, Ma Yujia, Liao Jiaxin, Liu Sitong, Yuan Fang, Rochelle Beiersdorfer, and Jay Birbeck. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.