The next meeting of the Commission on Access to Information was held

A meeting of the Commission on Access to Information was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Information and Social Development Askar Umarov, with the participation of akimats of the regions and the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Shymkent.

Issues of ensuring the openness of the activities of akimats of Pavlodar and Zhambyl regions were considered at the meeting.

The Minister noted that this year the focus of the Commission's work will be on compliance with the Law "On Access to Information" in the regions. During the year, the Commission will consider the work in terms of ensuring access to information of all local executive bodies.

Minister A.Umarov recommended that akimats of Zhambyl and Pavlodar regions jointly develop and approve Action Plans for 2022 to eliminate and prevent further identified deficiencies and violations.

In addition, during the meeting of the Commission, the Minister drew attention to the main provisions of the Presidential Decree of April 7, 2022. "On holding meetings of heads of central executive bodies with the population", which provides for regular meetings of ministers with the population in the regions during the year.

Vice-Minister of Information and Social Development D. Kadirov in his report stressed the importance of universal and strict compliance with the requirements of the Law "On Access to Information".

Among the problems for the akimats of Pavlodar and Zhambyl regions, the untimely updating of information on the official website and portals of the "Open Government" was named.

"For example, important information for the population is not updated on the website, such as the schedule of reception of citizens, contact details, statistical industry data, information on the availability of vacant land plots," D. Kadirov stressed.

Another problem characteristic of the regions is non–compliance with the procedure for posting information on Open Government portals, as well as the lack of notifications about public discussions of draft laws and budget programs.

"Moreover, formal responses are provided to a significant part of the incoming comments and proposals to the draft regulatory legal act. Such as "Taken into account", "Taken into consideration" - said the Vice Minister.

In addition, the meeting noted the unsatisfactory work of authorized persons on access to information. Recall that since last year, the institute of authorized persons has been introduced in all state bodies.

Separately, the akimats of Pavlodar and Zhambyl regions were told about the need to intensify work in social networks and on the blog platform of the first heads of state bodies.

The importance of ensuring access to open meetings, as well as openness to the media, was also highlighted.