Gov’t mulls over raising efficiency of social well-being measures
The meeting discussed issues of improving the effectiveness of measures being taken to ensure social well-being and the development of additional mechanisms to support the most socially vulnerable groups, where the special focus will be on families with many children. The attendees considered specific proposals submitted by the public during household visits and meetings with large families in the regions of the country.
Yerbolat Dossaev pointed out that raising the well-being and improving the quality of life of Kazakhstanis is the top priority of the Government's work determined by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the State-of-the-Nation Address dated October 5, 2018. In this regard, the tasks of ensuring citizens' income growth and better quality of life are the focal point of the work being done by the central and local executive bodies.
The meeting specified the main areas of work: facilitating access to targeted social assistance, including by simplifying bureaucratic procedures; improvement of the mechanism of payment of allowances for large families in need of government support; the local executive bodies will consider the matter on expanding the coverage of large families' children to be provided with free hot meal at elementary schools, public transport travel, etc.; the possibility of increasing accessibility to municipal rental housing for particularly needy large families will also be considered.
In attendance were representatives of the Nur Otan Party, deputies of the Majilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan, the heads of the ministries of the socio-economic bloc, infrastructure development, and internal affairs, representatives of the expert community and NGOs. Also, local executive bodies participated in the meeting by teleconferencing.
Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Madina Abylkassymova reported that operational headquarters have been established in all regions of the country. The ministry meets with the population and initiative groups and checks the living conditions of families with children. To date, over 1,500 proposals on social protection, housing, education, health services, and other types of social services provided locally, have been submitted.
Zhenis Kassymbek, Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development, reported on the matters of housing improvement for citizens. He informed that real additional mechanisms to increase the affordability of housing, including for the most vulnerable social groups, are in the works.
Minister of Education and Science Yerlan Sagadiyev reported on the construction of new schools and the work being done to expand the coverage of primary school students with free school meals, as well as increasing the education accessibility in rural areas.
Minister of Health Yelzhan Birtanov reported on the work being done to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare services.
It was highlighted that the quota mechanism enables members of multi-child families, the most vulnerable social groups to undergo expensive procedures and get a wide range of medicines, dental services, etc.
Finance Minister Alikhan Smailov, in turn, reported on the social orientation of the budget. For 2019, KZT 4.8 trillion will be allocated to the social sphere, and this is 45 percent of all budget expenditures. At the same time, increasing the share of social expenditures is still a work in progress.
The next session of the working group is scheduled for February 21 of this year.
