COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO CONSTRUCTIONAL CAPACITY OF SINGAPORE (Employment of technical men to do administrative work)

[Mr SPEAKER in the Chair]

Mr David Marshall asked the Minister for Finance whether, in the light of the finding of the Commission of Inquiry into the Constructional Capacity of Singapore that "the employment of technical men to do administrative work is a wasteful use of an extremely scarce resource", the Government would consider reorganisation of administrative work in all departments where technical and professional men discharge administrative functions.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: Mr Speaker, Sir, with your permission and with the agreement of the Member for Anson, I propose to table the answer.

Copy of answer handed in.

Mr Speaker: Of course, the formula would be that the Minister will publish the answer in the Official Report. He is entitled to do that even without asking for permission of the Member who asked the question.

Following is the answer:

(a) The quotation in the Interim Report of the Commission referred to by the Honour-able Member has specific reference to the circumstances existing in the P.W.D. and the City Engineer's Department. The Commission pointed out the adverse effect, from the point of administration, on the D.P.W. and his Deputy who are too involved with the daily routine administrative work of the department which could be equally well discharged by an Administrative Officer. In this connection, it was recommended that the former post of A.O. in the P.W.D. which was abolished in January, 1958, should be resuscitated. This recommendation of the Commission was accepted and the post of A.O. was created in January.

(b) The Honourable Member has suggested the extension of this finding to the other departments in which technical and professional officers perform administrative functions. This is not a new idea and is an important factor to be considered in any organisation. The fact of the matter is that the Head or his Deputy Head of a technical department would have to discharge a certain amount of administrative work which cannot he delegated to any one. Further, at the present moment, experienced administrative officers are scarce, insufficient to man all the posts in the establishments of Government, it is always a problem of getting on with what you have and not with what you would want to have. In the case of certain Ministries, such as the Health and Education Ministries, which have a preponderant number of professional officers, some officers who show a flair for administrative work can be posted for administrative duties.