Yukio Hatoyama's "Yu-Ai" -- Message from the Prime Minister
(provisional translation of the Japanese version of the Hatoyama Cabinet E-mail Magazine, which is delivered on Thursdays)

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"Further strengthening the review of government programs"

At the meeting of the Government Revitalization Unit held last week, we decided to start the second round of review of government programs in April. I appointed Mr. Yukio Edano, a Diet member who took the lead in the review of government programs last year, as a Minister of State this time. I hope that he will further display his skills in this endeavor and I have great expectations of him.

Last year, under political leadership, we reviewed in front of the people where and how government budgets were used, grasped the situation, and made it clear whether there was waste and whether budgets were used effectively.

For the second round, we will target programs of incorporated administrative agencies and government-affiliated public interest corporations. We will examine not only the budgets but also the necessity, effectiveness, and efficiency of these programs, and whether each agency and corporation functions appropriately as an operating body. We will also conduct a fundamental review of the system of incorporated administrative agencies.

In order to firmly advance these activities, we have submitted to the Diet the bill to establish political leadership, to give the Government Revitalization Unit, along with a National Policy Bureau, legal status with bolstered authority.

We have also decided to have each government office reassess their own programs from scratch in a review of administrative programs. External experts, among others, will be called in to conduct an open investigation of each program's efficiency and effect from a taxpayer's viewpoint. The purpose of this is to build in each government office a mechanism for the review of government programs.

As we approach the end of this fiscal year, we will also take a scalpel to the tradition of year-end last-minute budget execution and using up of the entire budget, something for which we have received much criticism from the public. I have given thorough instructions to the staff of all ministries and agencies to strictly refrain from forcefully trying to use up their budgets even though the necessity of a program is unclear or from buying equipment when there is no necessity or urgency to do so.

The government revitalization is a significant task that the Hatoyama Cabinet has been charged with by the public. The Cabinet will exercise all its power in order to thoroughly eliminate waste in the government and restore the trust of the people.