Civil servants at the public administrative service centre of Ninh Thuan province handle procedures for people and businesses. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The percentage of Vietnamese using online public services only reached 18% in the first seven months of 2022, according to a report from the National Committee on Digital Transformation.
The information was revealed at a thematic discussion held in Hanoi on July 11 to review the accessibility and user-friendliness of 63 provincial e-service portals in 2023.
A survey of the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) showed that only 3.05% of the interviewees said they had created user profiles on the National Public Service Portal and more than 1% used the public service portal to conduct administrative procedures.
Experts attributed the limited usage to the incomplete implementation of online public services, saying that the service delivery functions have not yet been completed and the interface is not easy to use.
A research team of the Institute for Policy Studies and Media Development and the United Nations Development Programme Vietnam has pointed out five main shortcomings of provincial public services portals.
They said the functions on the portals are not working smoothly and the process of conducting electronic administrative procedures has not been optimised for users.
Speakers at the discussion in Hanoi on July 11 (Photo: vtv.vn) It is difficult for the blind and ethnic minorities to access public services portals, the team said, adding that that due attention has not been paid to protecting personal data and ensuring information security.
The team also mentioned inadequacies in connection of data, accounts and interfaces between online service systems of the central and localities.
The implementation of online public services still has many technical, human and process problems.
The team suggested that online public services need to be more friendly to people with disability. Specifically, the accessibility for these people should be improved by using reading software programmes and they should join in the assessment.
It is essential to strengthen the data connection between the National Public Service Portal and the provincial online service portals as well as devise regulations on technical standards for connection between online public service supply systems.
Ngo Hai Phan, Director-General of the Government Office's Administrative Procedure Control Department affirmed that the government always puts people at the centre and assess the service quality of state agencies on their satisfaction.
The Government, ministries and agencies are focusing on promoting reform and restructuring processes to further improve publicity and transparency levels, along with improving the handling of administrative procedures, thereby helping people access them more easily, especially the disadvantaged ones, he said./.
