政務官 過去・現在・未来  [in Japanese] Reinforcement of Political Leadership by the Introduction of the State Secretary  [in Japanese]

The new positions of the State Secretary and the Parliamentary Secretary have been installed in each Ministry to reinforce the function of assisting the Minister with his/her political judgment. Under the old system, the Paliamentary Vice-Minister assisted the Minister in making political decisions by giving advice on paticular policies and plannings in accordance with the Minister's instruction. On the other hand, the new State Secretary controls and supervised related administrative branches in terms of policy-making and planning and and makes necessary policy decisions, in accordance with orders from the Minister, placing him/her second in line to the Minister with regard to decision-making. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Secretary gives the Minister advice on paticular policies and plannings in acordance with the Minister's instructions. Furthermore, both the State Secretary and the Parliamentary Secretary are to be in charge of coordinating administration and politics, and are authorized by the legislation by menbers of the Diet to participate and give answers to questions in committees and other Diet meetings in support of their Minister. How will this work out?