Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks:

Good afternoon,

Please, take your seats. A few words to start with. Today, we will discuss the parameters of the social budget for 2013, but before we do this I would like to emphasise one issue. Despite tough budget restrictions and the need to consider the crisis phenomena in the global economy, we are still drafting a socially-oriented budget and are obliged to fulfill all of the commitments that we have made to our people during the election campaigns, meetings with the public and in the recently adopted documents.

Public sector employees, pensioners, students and families with many children expect us to pursue responsible and fair social policy. We will continue giving priority to consistent salary increase for teachers at schools and kindergartens, doctors, scientists, and, naturally, librarians and museum workers – in general for all social and cultural workers. This year, the average salary of school teachers will match the regional average. Next year, the salary of kindergarten teachers will follow suit.

A programme of step-by-step improvement of remuneration for public sector employees will be submitted to the government by August 1. Without a doubt, higher wages must be linked to the quality and efficiency of the work performed. Certainly, we do care about who teaches our children and provides healthcare services, so raising wages is not only raising the living standards of those working in education or healthcare but also attracting the most qualified professionals in the corresponding sectors, as well as promoting teaching and medical professions.   

The government has already adopted a number of decisions on implementing social obligations. Beginning January 1, 2013, scholarships for first- and second-year students with good and excellent grades, and who are most in need, will increase to up to 6,300 roubles. This funding should be planned for in the budgets for this and upcoming years, as well as funding for indexing pensions, benefits and payments. Starting in 2015, the average pension will be raised at least by 45%.    

Another important area in social policy is demographics. We are aiming to increase life expectancy to 74 years by 2018. For this purpose, we have to make consistent efforts in preventing and treating cardiovascular disease. Here is one encouraging statistic: in the six years since the launch of the Healthcare national project, deaths from cardiovascular disease have decreased by over 13%.

The issues that require particular attention are children’s health and promoting a healthy lifestyle. We will continue to work on protecting motherhood and childhood and supporting families with children. The federal law has introduced amendments into the Land Code, which apply to granting free land plots, including plots for individual housing construction, to families with three and more children. During the first six months of this year, 190,000 families applied to receive free land plots. However, only 93,000 plots have been planned to be transferred. This is not good, and such decisions should be implemented and regional officials make proper efforts in this regard.

A major problem here is the infrastructure for these plots. I will raise this question at meetings with top regional officials, as well as the issue of monthly regional payments to families upon the birth of the third child and beyond. And, certainly, while developing an effective policy, we have to consider both expert opinion and public opinion, including the opinion of members of professional associations and alliances operating in the social sector. There are many of them, several thousands.

Let’s get to work.