STATISTICS BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

4.04 p.m.

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

The Statistics Bill seeks to amend and consolidate the law relating to statistics and to repeal the Statistics Act (Chapter 299 of the Revised Edition) which was enacted in 1921.

Hon. Members may recall that a Commission of Inquiry on Statistical Activities in Singapore was appointed ort 23rd May, 1968, to review and recommend improvements to the existing Government machinery for the collection and compilation of statistics. The Commission of Inquiry submitted its report in July, 1969, which was accepted by the Government. The Inquiry Report recommended, amongst other things, the repeal of the existing Ordinance and the enactment of a new Act. Besides doing away with references and expressions in the legislation which have become obsolete with the passage of time, the new Act should also reflect the operation of the decentralised statistical system. The National Statistical Commission which was set up on 7th January, 1972, studied the Inquiry Commission's recommendations and the result is the present Statistics Bill, 1973.

This Bill has two basic objectives. Firstly, it will provide the necessary legal authority to the decentralised statistical units for collection, preparation and publication of statistics. Secondly, and as recommended by the Inquiry Commission, the secrecy provisions will be amended to enable maximum use of compiled statistics.

Under clause 3 of the Bill, authority is given to the Statistics Department, Research and Statistical Units of Ministries and the National Statistical Commission to collect, prepare and publish statistics relating to a wide range of subjects contained in the First Schedule. Authority is delegated to the Chief Statistician, Directors of Research and Statistical Units of Ministries and the Chairman of the National Statistical Commission to issue requisitions to any person to furnish particulars and supply information to them. Such requisitions would be in writing, and the legislation specifies the manner in which the requisitions should be served. The Schedule of subjects on which statistics may be collected has also been greatly extended to embrace subjects important to policy-making.

This Bill also seeks, in clause 5, to amend the provisions on disclosure of information so that, without prejudice to the individual's interest, sufficiently detailed statistics can be made available for bona fide purposes, such as research and planning. The Inquiry Commission was of the view that present secrecy provisions were too restrictive so that available statistics are not put to the best possible use. It felt that the production of statistics per se would have little beneficial effect unless maximum utilisation is made of such statistical information. Under the present secrecy provisions, even general information such as addresses, products manufactured, or any other information which may be available from other sources cannot be disclosed by the collecting agency without previous consent of the affected individual. More important, it has not been possible to give as much detail as can be reasonably expected in published statistics. This is because the Chief Statistician has no powers to publish data where such data relates to a single individual or firm, lest it reveals its identities. In any developing economy, and typically one like Singapore, where frequently one company may constitute an industry, this tends to impair the comprehensiveness of statistical information.

The interest of the individual will be safeguarded in that in any compilation of any report, summary or other communication to the public of information obtained under this Bill, they shall be arranged so as to prevent any identification of individuals except with the previous consent of those individual persons. Moreover, the Bill provides that the Minister should avoid disclosing trade secrets, trading profits or any other information, the disclosure of which is likely to prejudice the person furnishing the return. The Minister is also given the power to further impose restrictions on the disclosure of information should he think it necessary.

The Bill departs from the present Act in that exceptions arc provided to the general rule on secrecy. These exceptions include compiled statistics on the operation of an industry which may be published, irrespective of the number of persons engaged in that industry, unless the industry is exempted by the Minister in charge. Information of a general nature, such as products manufactured, size of establishment, number of employees and addresses and any other information which could be obtained from other sources can also be disclosed. Information can also be disclosed where the individual person cannot he identified and an appropriate time has passed or if it is for the purposes of any proceedings for any offence under this Bill or any report of those proceedings. These exceptions, as provided in the Bill, are meant to maximise the use of statistics for research and analysis without prejudicing the interests of the individual.

In repealing the Statistics Act, the Statistics Bill has also incorporated the necessary changes to the quantum of penalties to bring it in line with current money values. Provision is also made for the compounding of offences. Penalties are also provided for the impersonation of Statistical Officers.

Mr Speaker, 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.