On the work carried out by the Ministry of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the implementation of instructions given by the Head of State in the Address to the people of Kazakhstan

Today, at a press conference at the Central Communications Service under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Aida BALAYEVA spoke about the work carried out by the Ministry of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the framework of the implementation of the President's Address to the people of Kazakhstan.
“The message consists of 11 directions, covering all important spheres of life of Kazakhstanis. Observing a clear continuity of the policy of the First President - Elbasy, the ideology of each of these vectors provides answers to the new challenges our country faces. In turn, the Ministry of Information and Social Development has started their active implementation. So, our department is assigned 5 key tasks within the framework of the Concept of the "Hearing State" and the further development of civil society. These include: 1) expanding the powers of public councils; 2) ensuring public access to information from state bodies and quasi-state structures; 3) introduction of public control mechanisms; 4) creation of a single legitimate institution of online petitions; 5) development of the sphere of mediation, ”the minister said.
Aida Balayeva dwelled on the main approaches to the implementation of the Address.
So, since the adoption of the Law "On Public Councils" in 2015, the institution of Public Councils under state bodies has been successfully operating in the country. Let us remind you that the work was carried out within the framework of the Plan of the Elbasy nation "100 concrete steps". Throughout the country, 234 public councils have been created under central and local government bodies, which include about 3.5 thousand active citizens representing the interests of various sectors of society. For all these years they have considered more than 19 thousand draft regulations. Public councils conduct independent monitoring, hearings on all socially significant topics.
Aida Balayeva: “All this not only showed the viability of the institution of public councils, but indicated its prospects. Therefore, the institute is currently going through a new stage of its development. In this regard, the Ministry in 2018 developed a draft law "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts on the Activities of Public Councils." The draft law is now under consideration in the Mazhilis of the Parliament, having previously passed extensive discussion with NGOs and the public. The changes mainly concern improving the mechanisms for forming councils, terminating the powers of members of the OC, expanding the rights and powers of public councils. "
In accordance with the instructions of the Head of State, the draft Law provides for the expansion of the powers of Public Councils not only to state bodies, but also to organizations of other forms of ownership under the jurisdiction of the state. A. Balayeva emphasized: “Moreover, the powers of public councils are expanding through their participation in tender commissions for public procurement of state bodies and organizations.” To date, the amendments are undergoing the approval procedure in state bodies, which will then be submitted for consideration by the deputies of the Mazhilis. With the adoption of the amendments, the transparency of state processes will be increased, this should increase citizens' confidence in the work of public administration institutions.

During the press conference, the minister dwelled on the issue of expanding the population's access to information from state bodies. As you know, President K.K. Tokayev in his Address noted the need to amend the legislation on access to information.
The Law "On Access to Information" has been in operation since 2015, through which the constitutional right of citizens to freely receive and disseminate information on the basis of the "open government" portal is implemented. Within the framework of the portal, there are 4 platforms - open data, open budgets, open legal acts and open dialogue. So, to date, more than 3.5 thousand sets of open data have been posted, 74 thousand draft budget programs and 64 thousand draft laws and regulations have been published, to which more than 65 thousand comments were left, more than 367 thousand applications were submitted to the blogs of the first heads of state organs.
About the relevance of the amendments, Aida Balayeva noted: “from the public there are reasonable complaints about the relevance of the posted data. It is not uncommon for government agencies to post data in a format that is difficult to understand, and answers to citizens' questions and comments are not posted in a timely manner. " The amendments to be made to the Law on Access to Information, in order to implement the instructions of the Head of State, provide for the solution of tasks both to strengthen control and responsibility, and to expand the scope of application of certain provisions of the Law.
Aida Balayeva: “For this, the Ministry of Information and Social Development will be endowed with the functions of an authorized body in the field of access to information. To control the implementation of legislation at the highest level, the Head of State will be annually submitted a report on the state of this area. " In addition, she noted: “Within the framework of the Draft Law, the organizations of the quasi-public sector, as the owners of information, are obliged to post open data, as well as the opening by the first heads of blogs on the Open Dialogue portal.
During the press conference, the Minister spoke about the development of the Law "On Public Control". “The head of state has been instructed to develop a law“ On public control ”aimed at increasing the transparency and accountability of government bodies and the quasi-public sector to society. I should note that today various forms of public control are regulated by a number of different legislative acts, such as public councils, public services, in the field of ecology, subsoil use, etc. However, there is no single structure-forming law, ”Aida Balayeva emphasized.
At the same time, the minister spoke about the ongoing work on the creation of legitimate mechanisms for online petitions, as well as on the development of alternative methods of resolving disputes through mediation mechanisms.
“Today the public interest in participating in the activities of the state is growing. More and more burning questions are raised every day. Therefore, in his Address, the President emphasized the need to provide an opportunity for expression of will for the broad masses of the population through online petitions, ”the minister said during a press conference.
About the relevance of the development of the institution of mediation, Minister: “We intend to rely on the best traditions of advanced countries such as the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland in the field of mediation. Now this work is being actively carried out. "