PARLIAMENTARY PENSIONS (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

6.02 p.m.

The Minister for Finance (Mr Hon Sui Sen): Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The Parliamentary Pensions Act was passed in this House and came into operation on 1st July, 1969. Subsequently in May 1970, an Amendment Act was passed which removed certain restrictions in the principal Act.

As a result of representations made by some Members, it is now considered equitable to propose further amendments to the Act.

Four principal amendments are being proposed in the present Bill.

The first is the amendment to section 6 of the Act. As section 6 now stands, where a Member of Parliament is for any period entitled to a superannuation benefit under any provident fund or pension scheme outside the Act, the period of such contribution will only be taken into account in calculating the length of his qualifying service but not for the purpose of computing the quantum of the pension payable to him under the Act. It has been argued that this provision is inequitable and equal treatment should be accorded service in Parliament by all Members whatever their entitlements under any other scheme. It has been further argued that, as representatives of the people, much of the M.P.s' work has to be done outside the normal office hours of their other employment during week-ends, and even during their holidays which they sacrifice so as to be of maximum service to the community they serve. It has, therefore, been decided that section 6 of the Act should be amended to enable all Members of Parliament, regardless of their entitlement under any other superannuation scheme, to take into account all their Parliamentary service for calculating the amount of their pensions.

The second amendment seeks to redefine the term "salary", so that even though the holder of the post of Speaker may not for any period be an elected Member of Parliament, his salary would still be taken to earn pension and gratuity. Hence, a new subsection (2) is added to section 2 of the principal Act.

The third amendment is the inclusion of a new subsection (3) to section 2 of the principal Act, which will provide for payment of full pension or benefit to a Member of Parliament who voluntarily refrains from receiving the whole or part of the salary that is due to him. As the law now stands, a pension is calculated on the basis of the salary actually drawn at the time of retirement. Members will realise that the operation of the present law will be such that if a Member of Parliament voluntarily refrains from receiving the whole or part of his salary due to him, he will automatically suffer a second penalty when his pension eventually comes to be calculated at the time of his retirement. The amendment, therefore, seeks to ensure his entitlement to full pension. The passing of this amendment will avoid an act of sacrifice being automatically followed by another.

The fourth amendment to the Act provides that the salary payable to a Political Secretary from the time he becomes a Member of Parliament will be taken into account when calculating the amount of Parliamentary pension eventually payable to him. This will put the Political Secretary in the same position as Parliamentary Secretaries, Ministers of State and Ministers, whose salaries in their respective capacities are similarly taken into account. As the law stands, a Political Secretary's pension will be based only on the allowance payable to him as a Member of Parliament.

The opportunity is also being taken to make two minor phraseological amendments to section 10 of the Act for the sake of clarity.

The amending Bill, when passed, is to be made retroactive from 1st July, 1969, which is the date on which the principal Act came into operation. This is to ensure that all benefits conferred by the amending Act may be enjoyed from the operative date of the principal Act.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Hon Sui Sen].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.