The Committee on Social Policy and Labour granted a hearing to the information by the Accounts Chamber of Ukraine regarding the results of auditing provision of citizens with coal for domestic needs

Information Department
Published on 16 February 2012, at 14:30

Deputy director of the department of Accounts Chamber I. Stefaniuk, reporting at the meeting of the committee, noted: the Accounts Chamber arrived at the conclusion that the state does not have a single effective system for providing state social guarantees to privileged groups of citizens in regard to providing them with coal for domestic needs and granting compensatory reliefs in accordance with the Mining Law of Ukraine. Consequently, the same categories of population receive different privileges, which causes social inequity and unreasonable spending of state budget funds.

The representative of the Accounts Chamber stressed the imperfection of normative legal and organizational regulation of issues connected with provision and usage of state budget funds for providing the citizens with coal for domestic needs in 2010-2011.

During the discussion, members of the Committee stressed that there is no proper control on the part of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry after using state budget funds by state-owned enterprises.

Based on the results of discussion of the information provided by the Accounts Chamber, the Committee recommends that the Cabinet of Ministers should:

initiate public hearings together with parties to the social dialogue in order to discuss Government decisions concerning the application of norms of coal supply and necessity of their reconsideration and adoption of single scientifically grounded norms for supplying citizens with coal;

increase state budget allocations under the budgetary program “Restructuring of coal mining and peat extraction industries” considering the necessity to settle all outstanding debts in 2012;

introduce single mechanism of approaching and determining justly determined price for privileged coal and coal bricks; etc.

The Committee has also directed its recommendations to the Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, General Prosecutor’s Office, Joint representative body of employers at the national level and trade unions for conducting collective negotiations and social dialogue at the national level, parliamentary Committee on Finance and Banking, Taxation and Customs Policy and Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety.