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On December 7, 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the 29th meeting of the Administrative Reform Promotion Council at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, discussion took place on the summaries of the FY2017 “Autumn Review” and other matters.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“I would like to express my gratitude to everyone on this Council for your cooperation on the fifth `Autumn Review` since the inauguration of the Abe Cabinet.

We must ensure that tax money, which comes from the people, is not used on wasteful expenditures or on measures that are of low priority. Moreover, improvements need to be made ceaselessly. This review that is open to the public represents an important opportunity for it.

Today, Minister Kajiyama gave a report on the points identified in the ‘Autumn Review.’ In the area of social security, which is of great interest for the people of Japan, this year dispensing fees were on the agenda and discussion took place on more efficient dispensing fees.

In addition, reviews are under way on a pilot basis in order to carry out policy making based on data and other evidence, namely EBPM (evidence-based policy making), more effectively.

As Deputy Prime Minister Aso also stated, these points will be accurately reflected in the formulation of the budget and we will work to further improve the programs.

I intend to fully take into consideration the points made by everyone here today in administering policies. I also hope that we will continue to have a ‘review’ outside of Tokyo following on from this year. In this regard, I ask for the continued cooperation of everyone in this Council.”