Parliamentary Vice-Minister - Seimu Jikan

Special-class national civil servants. They were placed in ministries and agencies before the central government reorganization in January 2001, but were abolished when the National Deliberation Activation Act, which aimed to reform the Diet system, was enacted in July 1999.

One Parliamentary Vice-Minister was placed in each ministry and agency headed by a Minister of State (two in each of the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and International Trade and Industry), who assisted the Minister as head of the agency, participated in policy and planning, handled government affairs, and acted in his place when the Minister was absent. Parliamentary Vice-Ministers were appointed and dismissed by the Cabinet at the request of the Minister as head of the agency, and lost their position when the Cabinet resigned en masse. Parliamentary Vice-Ministers were given a status similar to that of a vice minister, and were considered to be in charge of coordinating between politics (directly the ruling party of the Cabinet) and administration (each ministry and agency), but it was difficult for them to fully fulfill their role between the Minister, who had strong legal authority, and the general civil servants overseen by the administrative vice-ministers.

[Kazukazu Hirata]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

特別職の国家公務員。2001年（平成13）1月の中央省庁再編以前の省庁に置かれていたが、国会の制度改革を目的とする国家審議活性化法が1999年7月に成立し、中央省庁再編とともに廃止された。

　政務次官は、各省、および国務大臣を長とする庁に1名（大蔵・農林水産・通商産業の各省は2名）ずつ置かれ、その機関の長である大臣を助け、政策および企画に参画し、政務を処理し、大臣不在の場合にその職務を代行した。政務次官の任免は、その機関の長としての大臣の申し出によって内閣が行い、内閣が総辞職するとその地位を失った。いわゆる副大臣的な地位を与えられ、政治（直接には内閣の与党）と行政（各省庁）の調整のための職とされていたが、法令上強い権限を有する大臣と、事務次官が統括する一般職公務員の間で、十分にその機能を果たすことが困難であった。

［平田和一］

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