Premier Li Keqiang underlined the significance of third-party evaluation at a State Council executive meeting on Aug 26.

The meeting was briefed about third-party evaluations which review implementation of the government’s major polices and measures on mass entrepreneurship and innovation, public goods and services, and poverty alleviation.

The Premier stressed at the meeting that third-party evaluation, a major administrative innovation of this administration, serves as an external supervisor which will further promote the implementation of the State Council’s policies and measures.

Three third-party evaluation agencies made presentations and delivered evaluation materials at the meeting.

The Premier praised their reports as the evaluations pointed out problems in implementing government policies and measures.

Government departments must seriously study the evaluations and give feedback regarding solutions to the State Council, he said.

The evaluations showed that some policies and measures concerning mass entrepreneurship and innovation were not efficiently implemented.

Departments must fully implement the policies and measures, he said, and noted that mass entrepreneurship and innovation will not merely boost employment but are major structural reforms for both the economy and society and will serve as a new growth engine.

The evaluations on public goods and services showed that problems remained in the implementation of major projects confirmed by the State Council.

To solve this problem the Premier said that governments at all levels should speed up efforts to transform government functions and put more efforts on regulation and services.

The State Council has made great efforts in streamlining administration and delegating powers to lower level governments while at the same time strengthening regulations in production and food safety.

Improper, unnecessary administrative examination and approval items must be scrapped, the Premier said, and government’s role in regulation must be enhanced.

The third-party evaluation agencies at the meeting also reported two problems in poverty alleviation efforts; the imprecise measurement of those categorized as living in poverty and the inefficient use of poverty alleviation funds.

The Premier required relevant departments to combine the statistics of those receiving subsistence allowances and poverty alleviation measures in an open, just, and transparent manner and integrate poverty alleviation funds for different projects for local governments.

The development of the economy is based on solid efforts he said before offering the apt phrase that fine words butter no parsnips.