3. Accelerating progress in social improvement, focusing on improving the well being of the people.
Energetically solving problems in people's lives, ameliorating social conflicts, strengthening social management, and creating a happy and peaceful social environment plays an important role in promoting social harmony and successfully hosting the Olympics. We must continue to put people first, and improve the lives of the people by making the distribution of basic public services more uniform, dealing with 59 important matters for the masses, and striving to achieve the objectives of no zero-employment households, no dangerous urban housing, no cases of significant complaints going unheard, no gaps in the provision of relief services and the elimination of late or non-payment of wages.

Making development of education a priority. We need to increase spending on education, help 100 primary schools reach the recently issued standards for school operation, further improve operating conditions at rural schools and weak schools, develop rural preschool education, and upgrade compulsory education in the mountains. We need to improve our policy for assisting rural students, urban students from families with financial difficulties and special-education students, and ensure that the children of migrant workers in Beijing receive compulsory education. We need to continue organizing urban teachers and university students to go to the countryside to support rural education. We need to do more to strengthen the teaching corps. We will set up 40 advanced studies workstations for rural primary and secondary school teachers and ensure that 1,000 key rural teachers engage in advanced studies there. We need to increase the salaries and benefits of rural teachers, especially those in the mountains, and further improve the working and studying conditions in mountainous areas. We will vigorously promote competence-orientated education, steadily carry out curriculum reform, reduce the study load of primary and secondary school students, improve the quality of education, strengthen school physical education programs and mental health education, and raise the overall quality of students. We need to accelerate the development of vocational education centers and model schools and coordinate secondary and higher vocational education. We need to carry out the "quality project" and "innovation project" in institutions of higher learning. We will accelerate the development of the Shahe and Liangxiang university zones. We need to increase continuing education such as on-the-job training and community tutoring. We will step up the development of activity bases for instilling good moral values in students, intensify and improve ideological and political work for university students, and improve the education network for minors consisting of a combination of school, family and society.

Further expanding and promoting employment. We need to diligently implement the Law on Promoting Employment, improve support policies such as microloans and instruction in starting a business, and fully support the establishment of small businesses and self-employment. We need to improve the dynamic employment assistance mechanism for zero-employment households, help households solve employment problems when they arise, ensure that at least one member in families with able-bodied workers has a job, and reach the goal of no zero-employment households. We must do a good job in helping workers laid off from state-owned enterprises such as the Shougang Group find new employment, guide and encourage college graduates to work for local or rural employers, and increase the number of mentally and physically handicapped persons in the workforce. The registration of rural workers looking for nonagricultural employment will be subject to a dynamic management system, coverage of employment policies will be further extended into the countryside and 70,000 rural workers will find nonagricultural jobs. We need to create 2,000 full-employment communities (villages), focusing on strengthening the village-level system of employment services. We need to strengthen efforts to foster highly skilled personnel, focusing on job skill training for rural residents and people who have particular trouble finding employment. We must enforce the Labor Contract Law and the Law on Labor Dispute Mediation and Arbitration, improve the mechanism for coordinating labor relations and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers. We need to improve the system for monitoring the payment of wages, the system of wage payment credibility and the system of reserve requirements to guarantee wage payments in enterprises, resolutely stop enterprises from falling in arrears on paying wages, and do everything possible to eliminate this problem.

Accelerating development of a social safety net that covers both urban and rural areas. This year the municipal government is budgeting 6.21 billion yuan to be spent on social security, an increase of 860 million yuan over last year. We need to continue to improve the basic health insurance system for urban employees, adjust the burden of payments for this insurance, and increase the proportion of medical expenditures, especially for medicine at community clinics, that can be reimbursed. We need to improve the medical insurance policy for the elderly and the young, solve the problem of reimbursement for medicine at clinics, and increase the number of major diseases covered by insurance. We need to increase government subsidies and improve the contribution model and the compensation policy for the new type of rural cooperative medical care system. We will introduce a policy on medical insurance for urban dwellers of working age without medical insurance coverage so that everyone is covered by the urban and rural medical insurance system. We will implement the use of a single card for medical insurance and reimbursement of medical bills. We will gradually develop individual accounts for basic old-age insurance and increase basic old-age benefits for employees retiring from enterprises. We will implement the reform plan introducing a new type of rural social security old-age pension system, find a way to provide social security benefits to elderly urban and rural residents currently without them, give 700,000 qualified senior citizens 200 yuan per month in retirement benefits, and basically make the urban and rural old-age pension system universal. We will conscientiously try to solve the problem of poor social security coverage for impoverished people who are not qualified for subsistence allowances, improve the system of social relief, strengthen measures for providing relief to low-income residents, make the social-relief system universal, and don't let anyone slip through the cracks. We need to step up development of old-age benefits and welfare facilities and raise the level of retirement services. We will vigorously develop charity undertakings.

Resolving the housing problems of the masses through multiple channels. We need to accelerate efforts to improve the system of low-rent housing. The municipal government will raise 2.9 billion yuan this year for building and purchasing 500,000 square meters of low-rent housing and expand the scope the low-rent housing guarantee program to include low-income families that have difficulty finding housing. We need to improve the development and management of affordable housing and build three million square meters of affordable housing. We need to increase the supply of low- and medium-price housing and small and medium-sized retail housing, focusing on building 4.5 million square meters of housing with limited size and price. We need to improve the mechanism for coordinating and carrying out development, speed up the approval process, ensure that project launch, land supply, capital investment, tax exemption and reduction, and work responsibility measures are fully implemented, and complete housing and make it available to the recipients as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality. We need to coordinate efforts to protect urban historical and cultural zones and efforts to solve the housing problems of the masses. We will renovate 40 hutongs and 1,400 courtyards. The municipal government will allocate 580 million yuan for resolving the dangerous housing situation of 10,000 households, fulfill its responsibility to renovate dilapidated housing, improve housing conditions in five kinds of dangerous buildings, and strive to reach the goal of eliminating dangerous housing in urban areas. We will complete urban renewal of 300 old neighborhoods. We need to further improve regulation of the real estate market, adjust the structure of land supply, strictly implement the policy on managing housing credit, quickly develop the market for existing homes and the rental and leasing market, and cool off the rapid rise in housing prices.

Promoting reform and development of public health programs. We need to formulate and implement specific plans and measures for reforming the pharmaceutical and health system. We need to improve the system of public health services, become better able to prevent and control major diseases, launch thoroughgoing patriotic health campaigns, promote a healthy lifestyle, and raise the overall health level of the city's residents. We need to strengthen community health service functions, promote the system of getting patients to visit community health service facilities first, the system of referring patients in both directions between major hospitals and community health service facilities, and the model of family physicians, and expand Chinese medicine services. We need to improve the medical services system, accelerate construction of suburban medical centers, complete the standardization and basic equipping of all community health service centers and clinics, strengthen the contingent of community medical personnel and shift high-quality medical resources to the suburbs. We need to improve hospital services and management, and see to it that measures are implemented to make it easier for the people to get medical treatment. We will improve the system for guaranteeing the supply of medicines, and will allocate 200 million yuan from the municipal treasury for expanding the list of basic medicines used in community clinics, increasing the types of medicines available, and selling medicines with zero price difference in urban and rural areas. We need to resolve the issue of the low basic benefits and lack of retirement pension plan for rural doctors. We need to attach great importance to the health of women and children and family planning work to keep the birthrate stable and low. We need to work out a plan for setting up a system of medical services for the elderly and system for the prevention and cure of mental problems.

Continuing to give priority to developing public transportation. We will increase public spending, and upgrade surface transportation while accelerating construction on the rail transit lines. We will give priority to building transport hubs and bus storage and maintenance yards, make it easier for riders to change buses, and improve transport efficiency. We will further integrate urban and rural passenger transport, upgrade 200 kilometers of rural roads, open 25 new rural passenger transport routes, and extend public transport to all incorporated villages. We will gradually extend the policy of low fares to all rural villages based on the principle of comprehensive progress, all levels of government sharing the burden, and step-by-step implementation. We will organize the implementation of the fifth-stage measures for relieving urban traffic congestion, develop a comprehensive traffic information platform and an intelligent traffic management system, and improve management in order to provide the city's residents with quick and convenient public transport services.

Making great efforts to develop cultural programs. We need to strongly advocate core socialist values and step up efforts to develop a culture of harmony to foster a more civilized atmosphere in society. We need to formulate a new plan for developing local community centers and build neighborhood and rural multipurpose community centers and cultural activity rooms in incorporated villages. We need to successfully carry out activities such as the Theatrical Performance Spark Project Weekend Theatrical Performance Program and taking national art to the schools, carefully stage a series of Olympic cultural performances, and train leaders of local cultural activities. We need to continue developing reading-rooms for the benefit of the people. We need to speed up work on important cultural facilities such as the National Theater Company of China, the second phase of the Capital Library, the Beijing Municipal Center for Local Records, and the Beijing Municipal Culture and Art Center. We need to accelerate the conversion of profit-making cultural institutions into enterprises, foster the creation of outstanding cultural works, and make the culture market thrive. We must protect fine ethnic and folk culture and launch a survey of cultural relics and intangible cultural inheritance. We need to integrate the capital's cultural resources, give full play to their overall strengths, vigorously develop radio, film, television, the press and publishing and make philosophy and the social sciences thrive. We will increase science popularization efforts, with the focus on raising people's awareness of energy and water conservation and environmental protection, to raise the people's scientific level. We need to launch an extensive exercise campaign for the general public and ensure all incorporated villages have exercise facilities. We need to further raise the city's overall strength in competitive sports and strive to do well in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Comprehensively improving the level of social management. We need to work out a master plan for social improvement in the capital, improve the system of organization and leadership, encourage and support the development of all kinds of social organizations, establish a community-based system for maintaining public order that has social organizations as its backbone and draws its legitimacy from the participation of outstanding members of society. We need to give priority to primary-level work and community building, look for a new kind of community management system, build a contingent of social workers, improve the mechanism for the qualifications, pay raises, training and supervision of community workers, standardize the use and management of funds for public welfare undertakings in communities, and improve the buildings where community workers work and serve the public. We need to improve policies for government procurement of community public services, and make innovations in the way the government provides public services. We need to develop an information system, improve the system of housing rental and leasing and of residence registration, and improve services to and supervision of the floating population. We need to improve the system of addressing public complaints registered by means of letters and calls, improve primary-level work in this area, make full use of such platforms as centers for resolving social conflicts, the information system for addressing public complaints registered by means of letters and calls, and the system of non-emergency relief services, open up channels for the masses to make appeals concerning matters affecting them. We need to improve the mechanism for linking civil, administrative and judicial mediation, strengthen the development of industrial mediation and social mediation organizations, and get lawyers and other social resources to fully play their role in order to more effectively ameliorate social conflicts. We need to take the initiative in helping people solve their problems, deal with conflicts between people appropriately in accordance with the law, give priority to dealing with complaints that have been raised repeatedly, strive to solve conflicts in the embryonic stage and at the primary level, and achieve the goal of dealing with all major problems the first time appeals are made.

Making an all-out effort to safeguard the current state of unity and harmony. We need to launch an extensive campaign to promote national unity and progress and accelerate the economic development of ethnic minority villages. We need to support the efforts of patriotic religious groups to improve themselves, and better manage religious affairs in accordance with the law. We need to take further steps to encourage returned overseas Chinese, their families and overseas Chinese to participate in the development of Beijing. We need to strengthen work related to Taiwan and promote scientific and cultural exchanges and cooperation between Beijing and Taiwan. We must protect the legitimate rights and interests of women, children and the physically and mentally challenged. We must diligently implement the fifth five-year plan for educating the masses about the law and actively develop a system of pro bono legal services. We must support the work of mass organizations such as trade unions, the Communist Youth League and women's federations. We need to make full use of national defense education facilities and the mass media in launching a vibrant campaign to encourage government agencies and the public to support the army and give preferential treatment to families of service personnel and martyrs, urge the army to support the government and respect civilians, and support the army and the people in working together to promote cultural and ethical progress; reinforce the army reserves for national defense; continue to do a good job of finding jobs for ex-servicemen; work hard to help military families find employment for military spouses and schools for their children, and constantly work to consolidate the unity between the army and the government and between the army and the people.

4. Strengthening the government's self-improvement efforts.

Deepening reform of the administrative management system and strengthening the government's self-improvement efforts are necessary for applying the Scientific Outlook on Development, key links in carrying out government functions well and optimizing the development environment, and important guarantees for carrying out scientific development and promoting social harmony. We must further strengthening the government's self-improvement efforts and strive to make the government more service-oriented.

Diligently studying and implementing the guidelines set out at the Seventeenth National Party Congress. We need to firmly ground their work in Beijing's actual conditions, study, understand and implement the spirit of the Seventeenth Congress, actively participate in activities concerning studying the Scientific Outlook on Development and putting it into practice, and constantly make themselves better able to lead scientific development. They need to firmly grasp the objective laws of the capital's economic development, strive to grasp the basic method of overall planning and all-round consideration, strive to make our decision-making more scientific and democratic, and break new ground in all aspects of their work in a spirit of reform and innovation.

Constantly becoming better able to administer government in accordance with the law. We must fully implement the resolutions of the Municipal People's Congress and its Standing Committee and conscientiously accept the oversight of the People's Congress. We need to carefully listen to the comments of the democratic parties, the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, persons without party affiliation and mass organizations, accept the democratic oversight of the CPPCC Committee, the news media and the general public. We need to fully implement the State Council's Program for Advancing All Aspects of Government Administration in Accordance with the Law, strengthen administrative oversight, standardize administrative practices, improve and strictly enforce the government performance management system and the administrative accountability system, and take stronger action against abuse of power and dereliction of duty. We will accomplish this year's legislative tasks, straighten out the administrative law enforcement system, and raise the level of administrative law enforcement.

Focusing on changing the way the government works. We need to actively pursue reform of the administrative system, improve the social management and public service functions of the government, streamline and standardize all types of discussion and coordination bodies and their functional organs, and formulate a master plan reforming government institutions by category. We need to deepen reform of administrative examination and approval and continue to standardize administrative examination and approval procedures and cut the number of items requiring administrative permission. We need to make innovations in the mechanisms, systems and service methods of government management, and improve services for the general public, enterprises and society. We need to implement the State Council's Regulations on Ensuring Openness in Government Information, and improve the working mechanisms, institutions and standards for ensuring openness in government information to strengthen transparency and public trust in the work of the government.
Strengthening efforts to improve our work style. We need to do extensive investigation and research to understand prominent problems in our work and problems the people are most concerned about, and identify and extensively apply the successful new experience and methods we have come up with in practice in order to more closely conform all aspects of our work to objective conditions and more fully fulfill the people's wishes. We need to increase communication, coordination and cooperation between departments, increase administrative efficiency, and deter passing the buck and arguing over trifles. We need to always be realistic and pragmatic, streamline meetings, issue fewer documents and make sure our work gets results. We need to always do our work economically, lower administrative costs, and oppose extravagance and waste. We need to strengthen the contingent of civil servants, strengthen civil servants' sense of public service, and serve the people wholeheartedly.

Effectively promoting clean government. We must strengthen oversight and restriction of the exercise of powers, leading cadres, management and use of human, financial and material resources and key work positions. We need to standardize the exercise of powers related to public resources such as transfer payments, land requisition and transfer, government procurement and transfer of state assets. We need to undertake intensive inspection into law enforcement, clean government and productivity, strengthen institutions, and energetically search for new ways to prevent and eliminate corruption at the root. We must resolutely correct unhealthy practices that infringe on the interests of the masses, and prosecute cases involving illegal acts and indiscipline without letting up.

Fellow Deputies,
Ensuring that Beijing hosts unique, high-level Olympic and Paralympic Games and making it one of the most thriving, civilized, harmonious and livable cities in the country is the great trust of the central authorities, and the aspiration of the people and the nation, as well as our most sacred mission and a duty-bound responsibility. Let us rally closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary, hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, thoroughly apply the Scientific Outlook on Development, vigorously promote the spirit of reform and innovation, realism and pragmatism, and uniting to forge ahead, and work hard guided by Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents to constantly press ahead with the capital's reform, opening up and modernization under the leadership of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC!