The State Council, or cabinet, on Sunday issued a circular announcing measures to strengthen supervision and check the implementation of Communist Party and government policies in a bid to ensure their efficient implementation.

The circular was issued out of concern that lax supervision in parts of the country had hampered effective implementation of major policies and measures taken by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council and thus undermined "government implementation capability and credit".

Relevant organs should report implementation situations within limited periods after important documents were released or important meetings were held, the circular said.

As to issues with senior officials' instructions, one should deal with the case and submit a report before the deadline, the circular said. If there was no deadline, then a report should be made within 30 work days.

If the deadline could not be met, one should quickly report the reason for delay and progress in dealing with the case.

The State Council will publicize the performance of government bodies in executing major decisions and policies. As part of this process, it will commend excellent work and urge rectification for failures.

Apart from self-supervision, government organs at various levels should voluntarily accept supervision from the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, as well as from the media and public, the circular read.

The General Office of the State Council also stressed the role of government websites, saying these could "be used to notify the public of progress in solving controversial or difficult issues, responses to public concern, and as a means to invite public supervision".

Modern information technology should be applied to improve efficiency of supervision and inspection work, the circular added.

According to the circular, the leaders of government bodies would be considered the people with ultimate supervisory responsibility so as to ensure work was carried out in a smooth and orderly way.

(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2008)