Bolster waste-cutting effort
(From The Japan Times November 25 issue)

再仕分け終了、今後も不断の改革を

The Kan administration's Government Revitalization Unit on Nov. 18 ended the second part of a third round of budget screening. In the first part in October, the body screened 48 programs in eight special account budgets, which are almost unknown to the public. In the second part, it re-examined 112 projects — which had been scrutinized in earlier rounds of screening in November 2009, and April and May 2010 — to determine whether the ministries and agencies concerned have actually terminated or scaled down them in line with the unit's earlier recommendations, which are not legally binding.

The unit this time concluded that 26 projects should be scrapped and that 16 projects should not be financed with public money. The screening shed light on how bureaucrats skirted around the unit's earlier decisions that some projects should be abolished or drastically revamped. One method used was to change the names of old projects and request new budgeting. As for some different but similar projects that the unit had recommended for integration, bureaucrats demanded a bigger budget after integrating them under new names.

These results underline the need for continued screening by the waste-cutting unit. Some senior vice ministers and senior secretaries of ministries, who are also Diet members, strongly opposed the unit's recommendations. Bureaucrats must change their thinking and lawmaker-ministry officials must realize that their job is to strictly scrutinize bureaucrats' budget demands.

Senior vice ministers and senior secretaries who opposed the unit's recommendations say that projects in question are based on Cabinet decisions. Still, they need to consider whether the projects can achieve their purpose and whether that justifies their costs.

The Democratic Party of Japan's manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election stated that a strict review of the budget would save ¥16.8 trillion. The latest screening saved only about ¥300 billion. Finding necessary funding will remain a huge task for the Kan administration and the DPJ. They should study whether it would be worthwhile to give the unit sharper teeth by making its recommendations legally binding.

政府の行政刷新会議による事業仕分け第3弾後半戦が終了した。前半では一般には特別会計のうち8会計で実施されている48事業が取り上げられ、後半では過去に仕分け対象となった112事業が再仕分けされた。

今回の判定は26事業の廃止、16事業の予算計上見送り。過去の仕分けが反映されていない実態が明らかになり、事業名を変更した｢看板の掛け替え｣や廃止事業を統合して予算増額を狙う「焼け太り」などがターゲットとなった。

判定に反発する政務三役もいたが、官僚は考え方を改め、議員でもある政務三役は官僚の予算請求を厳しく審査する役目を認識してほしい。

民主党マニフェストは予算見直しにより16.8兆円捻出を目標としていたが、再仕分け効果は約3千億円。菅政権と与党にとって財源捻出は大きな課題として残った。判定に法的拘束力を持たせることも考慮すべきだ。