3. We improved our oversight methods, with the focus on getting better results.
Inquiries and interpellations are legal means by which the NPC oversees the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Last year, we focused our inquiries on the central government's final accounts, national food security, and deepening the reform of the pharmaceutical and healthcare systems. We conducted inquiries on these topics at a group meeting, joint group meeting and plenary meeting. These inquiries, which were reported or broadcast live on television and the Internet, attracted widespread attention and won a positive response from the general public, becoming a highlight of the NPC's oversight work. Members of the Standing Committee, relevant NPC special committees and working committees carried out careful investigations and studies and meticulously prepared in advance; the General Office of the Standing Committee strengthened organization, coordination and comprehensive arrangements; and main leaders of the relevant State Council departments solicited comments and realistically and truthfully answered inquiries at the meetings. There was a positive interaction between those who asked questions and those who answered them, thus ensuring the inquiries were successful. Inquiries on special topics have helped the State Council and its departments to improve their work, and also enriched the way the NPC does its oversight work.
Conducting investigations and studies on special topics has been an important way in which the Standing Committee has strengthened its oversight work over the past few years. Last year, we selected 14 topics on formulating the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, carried out four-month-long investigations and studies on them and produced a number of insightful and valuable research reports. These reports have provided the central leadership with important reference materials for making policy decisions and for researching and working out the plan, and they have also made necessary preparations for this session to examine and approve the Twelfth Five-Year Plan. In accordance with the guiding principles of the Oversight Law and the Budget Law, we postponed the practice of hearing and deliberating the budget implementation in the first five months of the year in June and rescheduled the hearing for August when we focused on examining the availability and use of funds for expenditures on key areas such as agriculture, education, science and technology, culture, health and social security, as well as the transfer payments from the central to local governments, thereby making the NPC's budget oversight more effective.
