FINANCIAL PROCEDURE (AMENDMENT) BILL

3.58 p.m.

The Minister for Finance (Mr Hon Sui Sen): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to introduce a Bill intituled "An Act to amend the Financial Procedure Act (Chapter 68 of the Revised Edition)".

Bill read the First time.

Second Reading

Mr Speaker: Second Reading, what day?

Mr Hon Sui Sen: Now, Sir.

Certificate of Urgency signed by the President in respect of the Bill, laid upon the Table by the Minister.

Typed copies of the Bill distributed to Members.

Mr Hon Sui Sen: Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Section 17 of the Financial Procedure Act (Chapter 68 of the Revised Edition) provides, inter alia, for an Establishment List to be presented to Parliament at its annual Budget session. The Establishment List, which forms part of the Estimates of Expenditure, shows, in respect of each Head of Expenditure, the authorised number and grades of posts as well as their salary codes and serves as the control document for the Government's establishment.

The format of the Establishment List was designed for a system in which officers filled posts in accordance with their grades or were paid allowances for the additional responsibility of acting in posts higher than their own grades. However, a decision has been made recently to abolish acting allowances and to introduce a system of responsibility allowances and merit promotions, whereby promotions will now be decided on the basis of the merit of individual candidates and will no longer depend on the number of vacancies in the various grades of appointment. The Establishment List in future should no longer show grades of appointments under Heads of Expenditure. It is intended instead that the authorised manpower under each Head of Expenditure be arranged according to Personnel Groups. Each Personnel Group will comprise a single recruitment grade and a number of promotional grades. The Establishment List will show the number of posts approved for each Personnel Group.

To enable the new format to he adopted for the FY 77 Establishment List, section 1 7 of the Financial Procedure Act will have to be amended. The substantial amendment is in respect of subsection (3) of section 1 7 which stipulates that the Establishment List shall show the public offices under each Head of Expenditure. This subsection will be amended to provide that the Establishment List should show under each Head of Expenditure the political appointments and the number and categories of personnel whose salaries are to be met from the allocations in the Budget. The existing requirement that all public offices or posts be identified in full in the Establishment List will be deleted.

The opportunity is being taken to amend also the other subsections of section 1 7. The present subsection 17(2) in effect specifies that there shall be two types of subheads in the Main Estimates, namely, subheads showing expenditure on the manpower requirements in the establishment in that Head of Expenditure and other operating expenditure. It is proposed to delete this subsection to provide greater flexibility in deciding upon the structure of individual subheads in the Main Estimates. Under the programme budget system, which my Ministry proposes to introduce in FY 78, each subhead will show the total expenditure required to carry out a particular activity and the present categorisation of expenditure estimates into EOM and OOE subheads will be dropped. The other amendments are to the wording and the numbering of the other subsections of section 1 7 and do not affect their substance.

The amendments are required by law to be enacted and brought into force before the FY 77 Estimates of Expenditure are presented to this House next year. The administrative requirements in the preparation of the FY 77 Budget, however, limit further the time available. Expenditure proposals, including the extensive changes to the manpower component of the Budget document, have to be submitted, scrutinised and discussed, before the final drafts are submitted to the Printers for first proofs. If the whole budgetary process is not to be seriously disrupted, therefore, the amendments should be enacted and brought into force as early as possible. There may not be enough business or enough time to make it possible for another sitting to be held well before the FY estimates are presented next year. It is accordingly necessary to take the Bill through all stages on a Certificate of Urgency.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

4.04 p.m.

Mr Hwang Soo Jin (Jalan Kayu): Mr Speaker, Sir, in my capacity as Chairman of the Estimates Committee. I must express my regret that the Minister for Finance seems to be trying to ram this Amendment Bill through the House without prior consultation or extending a courtesy to the Estimates Committee. I would rather prefer that sufficient time be extended to the Estimates Committee and that particulars of any change be submitted to that Committee. On that courtesy Members of the Estimates Committee would be able to air their views, and indeed, this was the practice before. I suppose there must be a good reason why this has not been done this time. I do hope that the Hon. Minister would bear my suggestion in mind.

Mr Hon Sui Sen: Mr Speaker, Sir, I take the Member's point and apologise to him and to the Estimates Committee. These amendments are, however, mainly technical, and in the ordinary way I would not take the Bill through all the stages. But in this particular case I do not think they are matters of policy. They are just technical amendments to be made to the Budget documents. I will, however, consult the Estimates Committee on the nature of the format and so on before these are finalised.

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.