The conference was chaired by the VSS deputy general director Le Hung Son and attended by leaders and inspectors of local social security agencies.

According to a report delivered at the conference, in the first eight months of 2021, the VSS conducted scheduled inspections at 5,423 units, reaching 32.01 per cent of the plan.

The sector also conducted unscheduled inspections at 1,596 units.

Tran Duc Long, head of VSS Department of Inspection, said the inspection work has fallen behind schedule. Some localities blame the social distancing measures for delays in implementing plans.

A lot of units have not been equipped with laptops to conduct inspections as well as to apply technology, he said.

Only nine out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide have actively conducted inspections, realising 60 per cent of the target. Those include Binh Thuan, Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Ninh Binh, Ninh Thuan, Quang Ninh, Tay Ninh and Yen Bai.

Nine other provinces and cities have completed less than 20 per cent of assigned inspection tasks. Fifteen localities have not inspected local employees. Twenty-five localities have not inspected medical facilities covering health insurance and 30 localities have not conducted inter-sectoral inspections.

Despite shortcomings, Long said there were also several bright spots. The inspection work has retrieved 44.5 per cent of health insurance and social insurance debts.

Local social security agencies have discovered and proposed retrieving a large amount of money to the health insurance and social insurance funds.

More than VND4.7 billion of social insurance premiums spent for the wrong purpose has been recovered.

About VND875 million wrongly spent on unemployment insurance and over VND25.1 billion wrongly spent on health insurance have been retrieved.

At the conference, the Department of Inspection and the IT Centre instructed local authorities to implement the traditional inspection method combined with the database review method.

Participants focused on discussing the difficulties of inspection activities and proposing solutions to overcome and effectively perform assigned tasks.

Pham Xuan Toan, director of the social security agency of Binh Thuan Province, said inspections were a key factor for local authorities to balance management and implementation of social and health insurance policies.

The combination of inspection, IT application and the sector’s database has certainly proved effective, he said.

Citing an example from his locality, Toan said Binh Thuan used to be one of 20 provinces seeing overspending of the health insurance fund of up to VND200 billion. Thanks to effective inspection, the province’s health insurance fund now has a surplus. Upon detecting violations at medical facilities, the provincial social security agency has assigned the IT Department to collect data and report to the inspection team on healthcare facilities that show signs of violations.

“The database that the IT Department provides to the Inspection Department before conducting an unscheduled inspection will help inspectors to identify violations, so that the inspection is focused and effective,” he said.

Quang Ninh Province is home to a large number of businesses and employers. Through inspections, the local social security agency identified a number of violations, mostly evading social insurance participation or payments.

Nguyen Khac Thoi, deputy director of Quang Ninh Province’s social security agency, said the sector had reviewed the social security database and database of the tax agency to conduct unscheduled inspections at businesses showing signs of violations. More than VND351 million wrongly spent was recovered in the first eight months of the year.

Nguyen Canh, head of the inspection department under Lam Dong Province’s social security agency, said the agency had asked violating businesses to make a commitment to not to repeating violations.

IT application in inspection

The VSS will upgrade software on managing inspection work to better analyse the database and improve the quality of inspection activities.

Tran Duc Long, head of VSS Department of Inspection, asked local social security agencies to strengthen IT application in inspection.

VSS deputy general director Le Hung Son urged directors of local social security agencies to step up inspection work, focusing on quality as well as quantity, and strictly follow the sector’s database to timely identify units and individuals showing signs of taking advantage of policies and impose tough punishments.

Depending on the social distancing situation of each locality, the VSS will make adjustments to inspection plans, he said, adding that local authorities can be flexible in the inspection methods during social distancing.