Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held the 15th meeting of the Local Sovereignty Strategy Council at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the general abolition of ministerial branch offices, introducing subsidies in the form of block grants, and other matters.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said, "Concerning the general abolition of ministerial branch offices, today, the Strategy Council set forth a vision. I would thus like to make maximum efforts to start designing the detailed arrangements and to submit the bill to next year's ordinary Diet session. While discussions on centralized road and river management had been at a standstill for some length of time, I would like concrete actions to be taken moving ahead. With regard to 'Hello Work' (public employment security office), comprehensive efforts of the national and local governments will be advanced nationwide. At the same time, a system of special zones, for instance, special Hello Work zones, will also be adopted. We will further accelerate these efforts from early next year and beyond. In order to ensure that these efforts for the general abolition of ministerial branch offices make further progress, I, too, will make sure to discuss this matter thoroughly with the ministers.
Concerning the introduction of subsidies in the form of block grants, as a result of the expansion of the recipient programs for the prefectural government portion and the introduction of ordinance-designated cities, the amount of the strategic grant for local autonomy in FY2012 was significantly increased to 675.4 billion yen. Together with the block grant for Okinawa's promotion, the amount becomes 832.9 billion yen and we have been able to exceed our goal of 800.0 billion yen. Along with the increase of the total amount, I believe coverage, too, will increase and the grants will be easier to use than last year.
I am convinced that these efforts will help move us further along with the local sovereignty reforms, which will allow regional matters to be decided by the regions.
I am resolved to continue to promote improvements in administrative services through the steady implementation of local sovereignty reforms, and I ask all Diet members for your further cooperation."