Agenda: Support for children who suffer from serious illnesses, pensions, adoption of an application-free procedure for payments for Heroes of Russia and Heroes of Labour, development of social infrastructure in the Arctic and the Far East.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
Let us begin with support for children who suffer from serious illnesses.
At a meeting of the Council for National Projects, the President stressed that we must develop and strengthen the work of the Circle of Kindness Foundation. It has been operating for less than two years, but even during this short period of time, it has helped almost 5,000 children with severe medical conditions that required costly treatment.
The Government will provide the Foundation with a grant of nearly 70 billion roubles. These funds will be used to provide children with medical care, if necessary, also outside the Russian Federation, as well as the medicines, medical devices and technical rehabilitation equipment they need.
It is very important that young people with rare, life-threatening illnesses throughout the country receive such support in a timely manner.
The next issue on our agenda is about pensions. The President said that the unconditional fulfilment of social obligations is our biggest priority.
Today we will allocate nearly 1.5 trillion roubles to the Pension Fund. That money will be used to provide pensions to citizens this year and next year, as well as special federal benefits for non-working pensioners whose income is below the regional minimum subsistence level. These funds will also be used to pay monthly benefits to people with disabilities and veterans.
It is important that people throughout the country receive state support without any disruptions.
The Government is improving access to public services through the social treasury system so that there is no time-consuming collection of certificates and benefits can be processed remotely.
As per the President’s instruction, we have drafted a bill that stipulates monthly cash benefits for citizens who have received prestigious titles for their service to the country, including Heroes of Labour and Heroes of Russia. The recipients will not have to submit an application.
Under amended legislation, people will no longer have to apply for such support. Nor will they have to submit any documents confirming their status. This will be done through an integrated system of inter-departmental online interaction. People will be notified about upcoming payments three business days in advance.
Heroes of Labour and Heroes of Russia will be able to choose between cash benefits or the so-called payments in kind. They can choose or change such benefits in any way convenient to them – over the telephone, by email or using the Government Services website.
The bill’s innovations are an important aspect of the Government’s efforts to create a user-friendly and easy-to-understand system for providing citizens with government services and social support measures.
Our agenda includes an issue concerning Far Eastern and Arctic regions.
The President has emphasised that it is necessary to facilitate the priority development of these Russian regions using new advanced state support measures and by establishing a better and much more competitive business environment there.
During our working trips to the Far East and the Arctic, we discussed most in-demand support measures for these territories in great detail, so that people could live in comfort there, start families and raise children.
For this purpose, we are establishing economic growth centres in various macro-regions. Today and until the end of the year, we will allocate an additional 500 million roubles for these projects. Next year, we will remit over 30 billion roubles to 16 Russian regions.
Federal funding will make it possible to build and renovate hospitals, outpatient clinics, sport centres, educational institutions and social facilities. We will also purchase medical and other equipment, and we will set up comfortable public spaces.
