地方分権と創生 事務移譲を活性化につなげよ

地方分権と創生といえば聞こえはよいが、実態は、地方へ配分する予算の削減政策ではないでしょうか。
（スラチャイ）

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Decentralization of power imperative to revitalize regional economies
地方分権と創生　事務移譲を活性化につなげよ

A comprehensive set of policy measures must be adopted to revitalize regional economies, one of the main initiatives of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Decentralizing power from the central government to local governments would be an effective step to help achieve this.
　安倍政権が掲げる「地方創生」には総合的な政策が必要だ。地方分権も有力な手段となろう。

A governmental panel of experts on decentralization reform has compiled an interim report in which 129 of 935 administrative procedures that local governments want transferred from the central government’s ministries and agencies are deemed feasible.
　政府の地方分権改革有識者会議は、自治体が移譲を求めた中央省庁の事務９３５件中、１２９件が実現するとの中間報告をまとめた。

The Cabinet Office called on local entities to work out during the May-July period what administrative procedures and authorities they believe should be transferred to them. If combined with items that can be handled without changing existing laws and regulations, the transfer of such procedures and authorities to the local governments stands at 218, about 20 percent of the proposed 935 items.
　内閣府は５～７月、各自治体に事務・権限の分権提案を募集した。現行法制で対応可能な事務を合わせれば、提案の実質的な採用は約２割の２１８件に上る。

The government is set to finalize its decentralization plans by concluding by the year-end the screening process on about 660 pending items.
　政府は年末までに、提案の採否が未定の約６６０件について結論を出し、最終方針を決定する。

The transfer of administrative procedures from the central government to local governments will help reinvigorate regional economies and possibly enhance the administrative efficiency of local entities.
　中央から地方への事務・権限の移譲は、地域活性化に役立ち、行政効率化にもつながり得る。

On Friday, Shigeru Ishiba, state minister in charge of revitalization of local economies, called on other Cabinet members concerned to exert their leadership in “bringing to fruition the local governments’ proposals to the greatest possible extent,” noting decentralization of power “is absolutely necessary for reinvigorating regional economies.” The government should respond as much as possible to the demands of local governments.
　石破地方創生相は７日、「地方分権は地方創生に不可欠だ。（地方）提案の最大限の実現に指導力を発揮してほしい」と関係閣僚に要請した。政府は、権限移譲の要求にできる限り応じるべきだ。

One envisaged transfer of administrative authority to prefectural governments, including Tokyo and Hokkaido, is the licensing and supervisory power of tap water services in entities with populations in excess of 50,000. As a result of the declining population, tap water supply services in many areas are subject to integration to expand the service areas. The roles of prefectural governments have increased in this respect, and the transfer of the authorities concerned is quite reasonable.
　都道府県への移譲事務には、給水人口５万人超の水道事業の認可や指導監督がある。人口減に伴い、各地の水道事業は統合・広域化の傾向にある。都道府県の役割は増しており、移譲は妥当だろう。

The government also favors abolishing regulations under the Urban Parks Law to clarify that decisions to keep or abolish parks should be left up to the discretion of the municipalities concerned. This will help local entities devise community resuscitation programs on their own.
　都市公園法で制限されている都市公園の廃止は、市町村の裁量でできることを明確化する。各市町村が独自の街づくりを進めるうえで、プラスとなろう。

Balancing conflicting tasks

However, many items have been shunted aside in the interim report. For instance, easing regulations for establishing day nurseries, which has been strongly sought by local entities, has been frowned on by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
　中間報告では、結論が持ち越されたものも多い。地方の要望が強い保育所の設置基準の緩和には、厚生労働省が難色を示した。

The minimum floor space of day nurseries has been set on a uniform basis throughout the country. The health ministry permitted exceptions for 40 densely populated areas in big cities, where many children are on waiting lists, but only for the three-year period from fiscal 2012 to 2014.
　保育所の居室面積は、全国一律の基準が定められている。厚労省は２０１２～１４年度に限り、待機児童の多い大都市部の４０市区を対象に特例で基準を緩和した。

The city of Osaka, the only local entity that has made good use of the relaxation of this regulation, has reduced by half the minimum floor space for infants’ crawling, setting the space at 1.65 square meters per head. As a result, the number of children on the city’s waiting list fell by about 1,800 as of August this year.
　特例を唯一活用した大阪市は、乳児の「ほふく室」の面積要件を全国基準の半分の「１人当たり１・６５平方メートル以上」に緩和した。これにより、今年８月時点で約１８００人の待機児童が解消した。

If the special measure is done away with at the end of this fiscal year as scheduled, about 750 children will reportedly have to be removed from day nurseries. Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto sent a written request last month to Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yasu-hisa Shiozaki asking for the extension of this period.
　特例が今年度末に切れると、約７５０人が退所を求められるという。橋下徹市長は先月、塩崎厚労相に特例期間の延長を求める要望書を送った。

The easing of regulations regarding day nurseries helps support child-rearing services, a major countermeasure to the shrinkage of the population. The government should work out measures to ease day nursery-related regulations to enable local entities to secure a “desirable quality of day care services” suited to the realities of individual day nurseries.
　人口減対策の柱である子育て支援に保育所の基準緩和は有効だ。自治体が現場の実情に応じて「保育の質」を確保できるように、基準を緩和する方策を探りたい。

As for the transfer of the power to permit the conversion of farmland into residential land or other purposes, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry objects on the grounds of “keeping the nation’s overall farmland acreage intact.” It is extremely important for the government to seek a middle ground by working out a balance between the promotion of farming industries and providing local entities with sufficient leeway to undertake community redevelopment projects at their discretion.
　農地を宅地などに転用する許可権限の移譲も、「農地の総量確保」を掲げる農林水産省が拒んでいる。農業振興と自治体の自由な街づくりのバランスを取る形で、妥協点を見いだすことが大切だ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 9, 2014)Speech