No.123 Attendance at the House of Councillors Administrative Oversight Committee

On February 14th, at the request of the National Mayors' Association, I attended the House of Councillors' Administrative Oversight Committee as a witness.
The committee's areas of responsibility include administrative oversight, administrative evaluation, and investigations related to administration, and the theme for this session was "Division of Roles between the National and Local Governments."
Along with me, Professor Hiroaki Inatsugi from Waseda University and Professor Kimiye Tsuchiyama from Hosei University were also called as witnesses.
I have been to the National Diet Building several times, but this was my first time entering the annex where the committee is held. Since it was a valuable opportunity, I thought about taking a commemorative photo, but I was not granted permission to take photos inside the committee room or outside the building.

The meeting will start at 1 PM, and we entered the spacious committee room that you may recognize from television broadcasts. First, three witnesses were given 10 minutes each to present their statements.
From me,

1. Response to COVID-19 (Current Status of PCR Centers and Vaccination)
2. Regarding the Reorganization of the Health Center
3. About Wide Area Support During Major Disasters
4. About Environmental Measures

I have raised issues based on examples of the division of roles between the national and local governments.

1. Regarding this matter, during the early stages of infection when the testing system was inadequate, the national government announced a policy to expand the testing system, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced the establishment of PCR centers in all cities and towns. However, ultimately, only a document was circulated instructing each municipality to set up their own centers. As for vaccination, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare ordered all municipal mayors nationwide to carry out vaccinations, but medical institutions were unevenly distributed, making it difficult for some regions to implement the directives as instructed.

Regarding point 2, it was reorganized in conjunction with the amendment of the Public Health Center Law to the Community Health Law in 1994, reducing the number of public health centers in the Tama area of Tokyo from 17 to 12. In 2000, Tokyo formulated the Second Action Plan for the Reform of the Bureau of Sanitation, and as part of administrative reform, the number was further reduced from 12 to 5.

It is necessary to steadily promote decentralization reform in the future. However, in the reform process so far, there are cases where, even if the operations themselves have been delegated, the transfer of authority and financial resources has been insufficient. Moreover, it is not simply a matter of letting local governments handle everything; I would like to reconsider that in emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be more rapid and efficient for the national and prefectural governments to handle matters in a unified manner.
After the statements from the three individuals, we received questions from a total of eight questioners, one from each political party, and the three witnesses provided their respective answers.
Among the committee members, there were familiar faces, including locally elected representatives, members I had previously worked with in the Youth Mayors' Association, former mayors, and members I had met at events, which allowed for a friendly questioning session.

Actually, when I was first asked to take on this request, I hesitated about whether I should accept it. I was directly asked by the Secretary-General of the National Mayors' Association and couldn't refuse, so I decided to attend. However, after it was over, I felt that it was a valuable experience and I was glad to participate. I also thought that it might have helped to some extent in raising the profile of Inagi City among the members of the House of Councillors.
From now on, I will continue to voice opinions from the local level to the prefectures and the national government.