The Ministry of Finance responded to this issue as follows:

Implement Decision No. 90/QD-TTg dated January 18, 2022 of the Prime Minister approving the National Targeted Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction in the 2021-2025 period (Program); On July 28, 2022, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 46/2022/TT-BTC, in which:

Point a, Clause 1, Article 4 stipulates: Expense content and level of expenditure for capacity building training, training and retraining (including training, and fostering for capacity building for non-operators) in charge at commune, village, hamlet, squirrel, residential groups in wards and townships; persons not on the pay list of state agencies, public non-business units and enterprises) the guidance of the project owner agency, the sub-project shall comply with the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of the Circular No. 36/2018/TT-BTC dated March 30, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the making of cost estimates, manage, use and settle funding for the training and retraining of cadres, civil servants and public employees.

Levels of staff training and retraining

Articles 4 and 5 of Circular No. 36/2018/TT-BTC guide as follows:

- For expenses for organizing training of domestic cadres, civil servants and public employees and for organizing training courses for domestic cadres and civil servants:

+ Point c, Clause 1, Article 4 and Clause 1, Article 5 stipulate the expenditure on training of domestic cadres, civil servants and public employees with the following spending contents: Partial support for meals during the period of concentrated schooling; support travel expenses from the office to the place of study; payment of accommodation rental. Expenditure levels are based on budget capacity, agencies and units that send cadres, civil servants and public employees to study use their regular expenses and other funding sources to support cadres and public employees. Organizations sent for training must ensure the principle of not exceeding the current expenditure level of the Ministry of Finance, which prescribes the regime of working-trip allowances and conference expenses.

+ Point c, Clause 3, Article 4 and Point h, Clause 2, Article 5 stipulate expenditures on organizing training courses for cadres, civil servants and public employees with the following spending contents: Partial support for meals for students in concentrated study time; support travel expenses from the office to the place of study; paying for accommodation for students during concentrated school days. Support funds are used from recurrent expenditures and other funding sources of agencies or units that send cadres, civil servants and public employees to training. Expenditure levels are based on budget capacity, agencies and units that send cadres, civil servants and public employees to study use their regular expenses and other funding sources to support cadres and public employees. Organizations sent for training must ensure the principle of not exceeding the current expenditure level of the Ministry of Finance, which prescribes the regime of working-trip allowances and conference expenses.

- For the organization of training conferences, retraining and updating professional knowledge and skills:

Clause 2, Article 4 of Circular No. 36/2018/TT-BTC stipulates: "Expense for organizing training and retraining conferences to update professional knowledge and skills using training and retraining resources for staff, Civil servants and public employees shall comply with the spending contents and levels specified in the Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance stipulating the regime of working-trip allowances and conference expenses.”

According to the provisions of Article 12 of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC, in case delegates from state agencies, public non-business units and enterprises attend the conference and the conference organizing agency which meal is organized, it is entitled to additional expenditures to offset the difference between the actual expenditure and the level already collected from the accommodation allowances of delegates from state agencies, public non-business units and enterprises. In case of having to organize a meal, the contracted rate specified in Clause 4, Article 12 of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC is insufficient, the head of the agency or unit in charge of organizing the conference shall, based on the nature of each meeting and within the allocated budget, decide the level of meal support for this delegate higher than the monetary plan but not exceeding 130% of the above-mentioned monetary level; and collect money at the same time; meals from accommodation allowances of representatives of state agencies, public service providers and enterprises up to the maximum amount equal to the accommodation allowance specified in the internal spending regulations of the agency or unit presiding over the conference).

Thus, according to the above regulations, for cadres, civil servants and public employees who are sent to training and retraining in the country, they will be supported with a part of meal expenses during the period of concentrated study.

For cadres, civil servants and public employees who are sent to training and retraining to improve their capacity, the agency or unit hosting the conference with a gathering of meals will collect meals from the accommodation allowance of cadres, civil servants and public employees up to the maximum level of the accommodation allowance specified in the internal spending regulations of the agency or unit presiding over the conference; In case the actual expenditure level paid by the gathering organization is higher than the contracted amount in cash specified in Clause 4, Article 12 of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC, the difference between the actual expenditure but the maximum does not exceed 130% of the prescribed amount in cash.

Funding sources to support cadres, civil servants and public employees

According to Point b, Clause 1, Article 4 of Circular No. 46/2022/TT-BTC stipulating that funding sources are allocated in the program implementation estimate of the agency or unit assigned the task of training, capacity building training (including expenses for meals, travel expenses, accommodation rents for: Students; cadres, civil servants, public employees; people not on the pay list of the home agency Governments, public non-business units and enterprises; part-time workers at commune, village, hamlet, squirrel and residential groups sent to study; expenses incurred when organizing training, training and retraining in the form of distance learning and other related expenses).

According to the above provisions, funding sources to support cadres and civil servants who are sent to training, training and capacity improvement training are arranged in the program implementation estimate of the agency or unit approved by the Government assigning the task of training, fostering capacity improvement (including expenses for meals, travel expenses, accommodation rent).