Several ministry-level departments, including those responsible for transport, agriculture, civil affairs, and healthcare security, have responded recently to issues of public concern.

Grain production to top 650 million tons this year

China's output of grain for this year is expected to see an increase in production, with the total volume to exceed 650 million metric tons, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Liu Lihua, an official with the ministry, said at a news conference that the bumper grain harvest was the result of improvements in planting, more environmentally friendly production methods and improvements in development quality.

Wei Baigang, director of the ministry's development and planning department, said that the ministry will make efforts to ensure farmers can reap every single grain.

The ministry will also coordinate with related authorities to implement a policy on the floor price for wheat and rice to guarantee benefits for grain growers, Wei said.

He said China had published the floor price for wheat for next year, and set it at 112 yuan ($15) per 50 kilograms, which is about the same level as the previous year. Wei said this had sent a positive signal on stable grain prices.

Living allowance for city dwellers hits 617 yuan

The average per capita basic living allowances for urban residents in China is 617 yuan ($87) a month, statistics for the first three quarters of this year showed.

The statistics, released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Oct 24, also showed that the average per capita basic living allowance for rural residents increased by 7.4 percent to 5,247 yuan a year.

By the end of last month, there were 42.83 million residents entitled to basic living allowances and the country's expenditure on basic living allowances was 11.65 billion yuan, according to the ministry's statistics.

Zhang Weixing, spokesman for the ministry, said it had made continuous efforts to guide local authorities on policies to improve basic living allowances and to cover eligible poor people.

According to the ministry, from June to September, a total of 928,000 households with 1.85 million people who were not entitled to the basic living allowances were removed from the scheme.

Another 965,000 households with 1.85 million people who were entitled to coverage were given the allowance.

Coding standards soon for healthcare security
China will speed up the testing of information service coding for healthcare security, with 15 coding standards expected to be gradually put into use next year.

According to Shi Zihai, deputy head of the National Healthcare Security Administration, the coding standard is like the "mandarin", or common language, of data coding.

As the basic language for exchanges of data between different systems, coding standards are crucial for improving China's healthcare security governance, Shi said at a training class held by the ministry on Oct 21 in Beijing.

China has established a healthcare network that covers more than 1.3 billion people, but the lack of coding standards has hindered the recognition and sharing of business data among different regions and departments.

According to Shi, the application of nationwide or region-level big data analysis will provide support for making policies in several areas, including the bidding for and purchasing of drugs and medical equipment.

Thousands of traffic signs improved nationwide

A total of 283,000 traffic signs have been added or adjusted on China's national expressways and highways, according to an official with the Ministry of Transport.

Related data on the internet and navigation systems had also been updated, Zhou Rongfeng, deputy head of the ministry's road network management department, said at a news conference in Beijing on Oct 24.

The ministry officially launched the work to improve traffic signs on the national highway network in March last year, Zhou said.

Over 18 months, 76,000 traffic signs on national expressways and 207,000 on ordinary national highways had been added or adjusted, Zhou said.

The changes will make travel more convenient for drivers as they will be able to more easily recognize road information and better understand traffic signs which will aid navigation, he said.