GOVERNMENT OFFICERS ON SECONDMENT OUTSIDE GOVERNMENT SERVICE (Government policy on terms and conditions of service)

The following Question stood in the name of Mr Ho See Beng -

Mr Ho See Beng: To ask the Minister for Finance what is the policy of the Government in respect of the terms and conditions of service of Government officers who are or have been seconded for service outside the Government Service for the purposes of their confirmation or promotion to higher posts in the Service.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ho See Beng.

Mr Lingam: Question No. 4.

Mr Ramaswamy (for the Minister for Finance): Mr Speaker, Sir, the policy is that an officer's confirmation and his prospects for promotion should not be affected by his secondment for service outside the Government service. Although this is the policy and the intention, it is obvious that unless care is exercised over the length of the period of secondment, this may not happen in practice. The reason is that if an officer is seconded for an unduly long period of time, it may not be possible to assess his suitability for confirmation or promotion, especially if the nature of the duties of the post to which he is seconded differs vastly from that of the service to which he belongs. To ensure that the interest of the officer would not be adversely affected, it is the practice to limit the period of secondment in the case of probationers to within one year. Because of this precaution, no case is known where the confirmation or promotion prospects of an officer have been adversely affected by a secondment to a post outside the service.

Mr Tang See Chim (Choa Chu Kang): Sir, in view of the answer by the Parliamentary Secretary, what is he going to do to safeguard the interest of those permanent officers who are seconded?

Mr Speaker: Mr Tang, perhaps the Parliamentary Secretary will deal with it under Question 5.