Internal Affairs, Communes, Housing, and Urban Policy Committee at House of Representatives Examines Government Bill 72.18 on System of Targeting Social Support Programs Beneficiaries
The Internal Affairs, Communes, Housing, and Urban Policy Committee at the House of Representatives held a meeting on Friday, July 3rd, 2020, under the chairmanship of the Committee's Chairperson Moulay Hicham El M’hajry, with Minister Delegate to the Minister of Interior Noureddine Boutayeb. The meeting was devoted to the presentation and examination of Government Bill 72.18 on the system of targeting social support programs beneficiaries and the creation of the National Register Agency.
In his presentation of the Bill, the Minister Delegate noted that "this law derives its goals from the high Royal directives set out in the speech of His Majesty the King on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the Sovereign's accession to the throne of his glorious ancestors, which called for a comprehensive and in-depth restructuring of national social support and protection programs and policies, and for the reform of the national healthcare system. Hence, the Government drew inspiration from the Royal speech and drafted Government bill 72.18, which focuses on harmonizing its contents to reinforce the structure of the social services and improve their profitability under a holistic national system of registering families to profit from the social support programs and other social services supervised by public administrations, local authorities, and public institutions in implementation of Article 31 of the Constitution, which stipulates the mobilization of all available means to enable easy and equal access of citizens to the social services provided by the Government, public institutions, and local authorities."
On the same occasion, Mr. Boutayeb presented the four pillars that enable this system to reach its goals. These pillars are the National Population Register, the Consolidated Social Register, the protection of the personal data of the people enlisted in the registers, and the creation of the National Register Agency.
Also, the Minister clarified that the first pillar concerns the National Population Register, which aims to enable the identification of the people who want to profit from the social support programs supervised by the public administrations, local authorities and public institutions, and to check their identities and the veracity of their information and data.
As for the Consolidated Social Register, it is, following the Government bill, a technical mechanism to rate families based on their social and economic data (such as their type of housing, its number of rooms, and their annual expenses related to water, electricity, phone and gas bills, and other information), which should be declared by the representative of the family. The rating that constructs the basis of enlisting families in the Consolidated Social Register will be based on indicators and data that considers the social and economic changes of the families and updates them regularly according to field research conducted by the High Commission for Planning (HCP).
Concerning protecting the personal data of people enlisted in the registers, the Minister Delegate stated that the Bill gave huge importance to protecting the privacy and personal data, and stressed the importance of adhering to the provisions of Law 09.08 on the protection of individuals with regard to personal data processing.
The fourth pillar, however, stipulates the creation of a public institution called "National Register Agency," which has legal personality and financial independence. The Agency undertakes the management of all the operations related to the Consolidated Social Register and National Population Register. It ensures the safe and continuous work of the online platforms created for this purpose, to provide the services of enroll in the registers. The Agency also updates the personal and rating data, checks the veracity of the families' social and economic information, provides services for this purpose, and sets the lists of the families eligible for the social support programs.
In their commentary on the presentation of the Minister Delegate, the Committee members representing the parliamentary groups and caucus unanimously stated that this Bill is a concrete reaction to the directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI as taking such actions to rationalize and focus the support on the vulnerable groups is imperative to facilitate the easy and equal access of citizens to social services.
The deputies noted that "this bill is a milestone in Morocco's long journey towards promoting the social dimension and providing services and programs that preserve the citizens’ dignity." The deputies qualified the Bill as a "big strategic project" that will strengthen trust with the citizens, ensure the convergence between social projects and programs, and consolidate social justice by targeting the concerned groups. Besides, the deputies stressed “the need to coordinate and institutionalize communication between public administrations, local authorities, and public institutions at the regional and central levels, and to clarify further the rating operation that is based on social and economic data."
Additionally, the Committee members qualified the legislative text as a "structuring and fundamental project," that falls under legislative initiatives to redress certain imbalances in the social protection system. They also noted that "COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of rapid response to target the social categories eligible for support."
In their remarks, the deputies called for allocating significant human resources and a special budget for this project, in addition to focusing on the technical aspect, which is a cornerstone in the construction of this social project. According to them, digitization will enable the exchange of information and data between the different centers to update and preserve citizens' data.
Besides, the deputies stated that "this action complies with Morocco's international commitments regarding social protection and the achievement of holistic and sustainable development, considering it the reference for this project." The deputies concluded that "the creation of the Consolidated Social Register will improve the positive effects of social programs on target groups as it involves a comprehensive system of family registration and is, hence, an introduction to the institutionalization of the right to development."
In the same respect, the participants called for "the establishment of effective mechanisms to ensure coordination and convergence between the different systems and programs, to prevent the misuse of social services, avoid double profit, deprivation of social services or any possible fraud as the digital storage of data will facilitate the efficient management of support and social services." They also highlighted that “the sole purpose of data collection, storage and updating is to create a secure and robust central digital database."