Poverty Alleviation of the Ministry of Civil Affairs

　　【Funding】  In 2011, the central government allocated 40.4 billion Yuan of subsistence allowance funds for the urban poor, up 10.5%; invested 34.5 billion Yuan of subsistence allowance funds for the rural poor, up 28.3%, put in 13 billion Yuan of medical assistance funds, up 18%, and allocated 10.4 billion Yuan of living subsidies for the New Year’s Day and Spring Festival of the poor.

　　【Civil relief】  1. Urban minimum living security system: As of the end of 2011, the urban minimum living security system covered a total of 22.768 million urban residents, accounting for 5.1% of the non-agricultural residents of China. The average subsistence allowance standard for the urban poor was 288 Yuan per person per month, the monthly subsidy for each poverty-stricken people was 225.9 Yuan and the total investment in this field was 60.7 billion Yuan, respectively 14.7%, 19% and 17.6% up over the previous year.

2. Rural minimum living security system: The rural minimum living security system covered a total of 53.135 million rural residents, accounting for 6.0% of the total agricultural people of China. The average subsistence allowance standard for the rural poor was 1718 Yuan per person per month, the monthly subsidy for each poverty-stricken people was 95.2 Yuan and the total investment in this field was 60.7 billion Yuan, respectively 22.4%, 29.7% and 36.4% up over the previous year.

3. Rural five-guarantee support: A total of 5.52 million people were covered by the rural five-guarantee system, including 1.803 million people for centralized support, accounting for 33% of the total. A total of 11.85 billion Yuan was issued for the five-guarantee support in 2011, up 26%. The average aid standard for the objects of the five-guarantee system was 3400 Yuan per person for centralized support and 2470 Yuan per person for the scattered support, respectively 15.2% and 17.5% up over the previous year.

4. Medical assistance: In 2011, China provided medical assistance for 88.87 million person-times, including the assistance for people to participate in the cooperative medical system and the medical insurance system for 62.87 million person-times and direct relief for 20.60 million person-times. A total of 18.66 billion Yuan was issued as medical assistance funds, of which 2.1 billion Yuan was issued to support the poor to participate in the cooperative medical system and the medical insurance system and 16.56 billion Yuan was issued as direct relief funds. The hospitalization aid fund was 1781 Yuan per person and the proportion of pocket cost assistance for hospitalization according to relevant policy was up to 50% on average.

5. One-time stipend for the urban and rural poor: To implement the spirit of the 141st executive meeting of the State Council, in January 2011, we issued one-time stipend for the urban and rural poor before the Spring Festival jointly with the Ministry of Finance to deliver the festival condolences of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to the poor. In December 2011, we issued one-time stipend for the urban and rural poor for the New Year’s Day jointly with the Ministry of Finance and doubled the subsidy according to the instruction of the central government leaders.

　　【Relief policies】 1. The mechanism for the linkage of social assistance standards and price increases was generally established. As of the end of 2011, 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) including Beijing and Tianjin had established the mechanism for the linkage of social assistance standards and price increases and issued nearly 6 billion Yuan to reduce the impact of rising prices on the basic living of the poor. At the same time, 22 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) including Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Chongqing and Xinjiang adjusted the subsistence allowance standards based on the actual situations of local areas.

2. Medicaid policy was improved. The government strengthened the study of relief policies for the people suffering from occupational diseases, the severe mental patients, AIDS opportunistic infections patients and the people with severe disabilities. Various regions carried out the experimental work of improving subsidies for children's leukemia and congenital heart disease patients, gradually expanded the coverage of the pilot work for major child diseases in rural areas and issued a total of 51.33 million Yuan of major disease relief funds for leukemia and congenital heart disease patients.

3. The coverage of temporary relief was further expanded. 26 provinces across the country fully implemented the temporary assistance system, timely identified the objects of the temporary relief system and issued the relief funds, effectively alleviating the temporary difficulties and sudden hardship of the masses. Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan and Shaanxi set up provincial special funds for interim relief and the implemented socialized distribution.

　　【Relief mechanisms】Establish the mechanism for scientific formulation and adjustment of subsistence allowance standards. In conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance and the National Bureau of Statistics, it developed and issued the “Guidance on Further Standardizing the Development and Adjustment of Subsistence Allowance Standards for Urban and Rural Residents” (Min Fa [2011] No. 80), clarified that we should adhere to scientific, reasonable, dynamic and standardized development and adjustment of urban and rural subsistence allowance standards and put forward the basic living expenditure approach, the Engel coefficient method and the consumption expenditure ratio method to provide a policy basis for the scientific development and adjustment of urban and rural subsistence allowance standards.

　　Establish a mechanism for the linkage of social assistance and security standards and price increases. In conjunction with the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the National Bureau of Statistics, it issued the "Notice on the Establishment of A Mechanism for the Linkage of Social Assistance and Security Standards and Price Increases" (Fa Gai Jia Ge [2011] No. 431) and required that when the monthly growth rate of the basic cost of living index (consumer price index) reaches a critical condition, the linkage mechanism must be launched to provide temporary price subsidies for the poor; when the index drops to below a critical condition, we should stop issuing subsidy. The temporary price subsidies should be provided for a certain period of time and we must timely operate the subsistence allowance standard adjustment procedure to adjust and implement the new standards for the minimum living security system.

　　Promote the establishment of a mechanism to check the economic status of cross-sectoral low-income families. Based on the assessment of the pilot work of economic status checking of the first batch of 33 urban families in the country, we identified 15 demonstration units for economic status checking of the first batch of urban families in the country, made arrangements for the pilot work in the second batch of 110 pilot areas and issued the “Data Standard for Information Exchange on Economic Status Checking of Low-income Families”.