Mikhail Mishustin, whose candidacy is being considered by the State Duma for the post of Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, spoke about the main directions and priorities of state policy in the field of supporting families and saving people.
Speaking to the deputies, he called improving the quality of life of people in each region, fulfilling social obligations in full and ensuring national conservation in general as one of the priorities for the further work of the Government.
“In our country there are about 24.5 million families, where 30 million children are growing up. And for us, the most important thing is their well-being. A comprehensive system of state support has been created, starting from a woman’s pregnancy and the birth of a child, until he reaches the age of 17,” he said Mishustin.
Thus, he recalled, the amount of funds provided for in the federal budget for social measures for families this year is about three trillion rubles, but it is necessary to improve existing assistance instruments.
“Increasing targeting and paying special attention to families with many children. We will launch a new national project “Family”, which will preserve the most popular existing mechanisms, primarily the proven effectiveness of maternity capital. At the initiative of the Head of State, we will extend the program until the end of the decade,” listed the candidate for the post of prime minister.
In this context, he recalled that for several years maternity capital has been provided in a convenient form – upon the birth of a child, without the personal participation of citizens, “quickly, without collecting documents and certificates,” which became possible thanks to the introduction, on behalf of the President, of the principles of the so-called social treasury, which imply that state assistance should be provided automatically or on the basis of only one application.
“About 40 federal measures have been transferred to this format. By the end of the year, we will extend it to the remaining ones, and from next year we will focus on simplifying the receipt of regional benefits. We have begun this work. Just the other day, the Government approved uniform requirements for the assignment of support at all levels. In essence, established a general procedure for interaction between authorities and citizens, regardless of place of residence,” Mishustin explained, emphasizing that the main thing here is “people’s opinion, feedback.”
Another priority area is the housing issue.
“The same maternal capital is most often used to solve this problem. People often resort to borrowed funds. Therefore, on the instructions of the President, we will continue the program for issuing family mortgages for another six years – while maintaining the basic parameters,” Mishustin assured.
He also confirmed that families with the birth of a third and subsequent children will still be able to receive the required 450 thousand rubles to repay a housing loan by the end of 2030. The Government has submitted a corresponding bill to the State Duma.
An equally important area is education.
“Together with the regions, we will intensify the work on updating and repairing preschool and general education institutions, and in those settlements where the problem of lack of places is especially acute, we will continue to build them, including at the expense of federal funds. As the President said in his Address (to the Federal Assembly) “Our priority is to ensure that children receive knowledge in comfortable conditions, develop in creativity and science, and master technology from a very early age,” Mishustin emphasized.
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Mishustin has headed the Russian Government since January 2020; before that, he headed the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation.
According to the Constitution, the Government resigns its powers after the inauguration of the elected President of the country. Vladimir Putin, re-elected to the main leadership post in March of this year, took the presidential oath on May 7, after which the Cabinet resigned, but its members, including the Prime Minister, continued to perform their duties until the approval of the new Government.
According to the Basic Law of the Russian Federation, the State Duma approves the Chairman of the Government, his deputies and federal ministers. The exception is the so-called power bloc – the heads of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, whose candidacies are submitted by the President to the Federation Council for consultations on them.