Many government bodies should be further streamlined to improve efficiency, according to a new survey.

 

A poll conducted by the Beijing-based polling agency, Horizon Group, indicates that 67 percent respondents believed some departments remained overstaffed despite previous cutbacks.

 

But there were those who said that some departments needed more staff.

 

Bureaus in charge of general affairs, reform and development, financial services and tourism should be streamlined, according to the majority of respondents.

 

But public security, education and communication agencies needed more members of staff, they claimed.

 

The results were obtained from 4,128 residents in eight cities, seven small towns and some villages, aged between 18 and 60.

 

It forms part of the polling agency's report on the Chinese's evaluation of the government and its performance.

 

However, officials from the central government do not support the findings.

 

"Some local governmental agencies might be overstaffed, but not at the central government level," according to an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the country's product quality watchdog.

  

However, experts said governments should pay attention to the survey.

 

Statistics show that the average ratio of taxpayers to civil servants is 26:1, while the ratio is almost 20:1 in some western provinces.

 

"The ratio is lower than the world's average, but the number of civil servants in China is too large compared with the country's economic output," said Wang Jian, professor with the National School of Administration.

 

(China Daily February 10, 2006)