Japan to Consider Govt Agency Reorganization

August 3, 2018

Tokyo- The Japanese government is expected to consider reorganizing some administrative agencies as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party plans to urge it to discuss the matter, informed sources said Thursday.

The LDP plans to put forward the request in the form of an interim report on administrative reform proposals, before the party's leadership election next month.

Senior members of the LDP's Headquarters for Promoting Administrative Reform Thursday agreed to adopt the interim report within this month.

The LDP apparently wants to divide the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and slim down the Cabinet Office, the sources said.

At a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga did not rule out the possibility of such reorganization, saying it is important to respond to the needs of the times.

The health ministry oversees a wide variety of areas, including medical care, child welfare, public pension and labor. It was responsible for work-style reforms and measures against passive smoking, major items on the legislative agenda during the last parliamentary session.

The ministry was criticized during the parliamentary session over a series of blunders, including the discovery of flawed data related to work-style reform legislation.

Some LDP members have argued that the ministry has too many tasks to be handled by a single body.

The Cabinet Office is also responsible for a wide range of areas, including economic and fiscal policy, science and technology, disaster management and consumer affairs. Its tasks have been increasing.

Large-scale administrative reform was last carried out in Japan in 2001, when the health ministry and the Cabinet Office were created as part of the government's reorganization into 13 agencies. Jiji Press