PROFESSIONAL SERVICES IN THE SINGAPORE CIVIL SERVICE

2.55 p.m.

Mr Goh Chok Tong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am making this Statement on Professional Services on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Introduction

1. Following the Ministerial Statement on the Singapore Administrative Service in Parliament on 15 May 1979, a Professional Services Review Committee was constituted to examine the pay and career advancement prospects in the professional and equivalent services in the Singapore Civil Service. For record purposes, I am placing on the Table an Annex (Cols. 529 - 530) to my statement which gives the composition and terms of reference of the Committee. The Committee submitted its Report to Cabinet on 8 October 1979. I will dwell only on the major recommendations of the Committee. Annex - COMPOSITION AND TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE COMMITTEE (Cols. 529 - 530)

Purview of the Committee

2. The Committee reviewed only those services which meet the definition of "professional and equivalent services". These are services which are comparable to the Administrative Service in two respects:

(a) Appointment is confined to candidates with either a good Honours degree (First Class or Second Class Upper) or a professional qualification; and

(b) Their existing salary structure is similar to that for the pre-revised Administrative Service. These services are the Dental, Engineering, Medical and Legal Services and the senior echelons of the Accounting, Audit, Civil Aviation, Computer, Education, Foreign, Inland Revenue, Management Services, Meteorological, Parks and Recreation, Planning, Primary Production, Scientific, Statistics and Survey Services.

3. The uniformed services are not included by the terms of reference. The Government places the highest priority on the recruitment and retention of high calibre officers for the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Police. The Ministry of Finance will, in consultation with the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs, review the pay and promotion prospects of senior echelons of the uniformed services so that the pay schemes will be equal to, and the promotion prospects better than, those for the professional services or the Administrative Service. This will enable the SAF and the Police to recruit and retain some of the best of each year's crop of scholars.

Principles of Review and Recommendations

4. In its review of the professional and equivalent services the Committee adopted the following general principles:

(a) The Administrative Service will remain the premier service in the Civil Service: and

(b) The time-tested pattern of internal relativities existing between the various services should not be disturbed, unless adjustment is compelled by a wide salary gap between a particular service and its analogous profession in the private sector.

5. The Committee concludes that, except for the Medical and Legal Services, the earnings of most officers in the Government professional services are comparable to their counterparts in the private sector. No salary revision for these services was necessary. Instead, the Committee recommends measures which will assist the recruitment and retention of able officers in these services. These measures also apply to the Medical and Legal Services.

6. I shall describe these measures.

Career Opportunities for Professionals

7. Professionals in the Civil Service should have career prospects comparable to those of their colleagues who opt for the private sector. Their promotion will be faster than in the past, determined by their own ability and contribution to the performance of their services, and by the rate of progress of their peers in the private sector.

Early Promotion of Bright Young Recruits

8. To facilitate early promotion of bright young recruits a Timescale Intermediate Grade similar to the Senior Administrative Assistant Grade ($1640x65A-1835/ 1900x65A-2420) will be introduced for all the professional services.

Promotion Prospects for All Professionals

9. To improve the promotion prospects of all professionals in Government Service:

(a) full-scale promotion exercises will be held at least once in every two years;

(b) there will be an annual review when the respective Appointing Authority and Head of Department (or Permanent Secretary) concerned take the initiative to identify deserving officers for promotion outside the normal promotion exercises;

(c) officers away on study leave or official duty overseas will be considered during promotion exercises; their promotion will not be jeopardised because they cannot be interviewed by the Public Service Commission; and

(d) the practice of promotion on trial will be discontinued.

Top Grades for Outstanding Professionals

10. Every professional service must have a few outstanding officers in charge, if its performance is to be maintained and improved upon. Our aim is to attract and retain able and dedicated officers by faster promotion. The outstanding few will be able to proceed beyond their present topmost grades. Therefore:

(a) Outstanding officers in the professional services can be promoted on a personal-to-holder basis to Superscale A. In the Education, Engineering (PWD), Foreign, Inland Revenue, Legal and Medical Services where the existing topmost grade is Superscale C. one outstanding professional from each of these services at any one time can be promoted beyond Superscale A to the Staff Grades.

(b) in addition to the above advancement opportunities: (i) outstanding professionals with proven administrative ability can be absorbed into the Administrative Service; and (ii) suitable professionals can be transferred to university appointments to further their careers, without loss of their accrued Civil Service pension benefits.

Other Terms and Conditions of Service

11. The Government accepts the Committee's view that other terms and conditions of service in the Civil Service should, given the nature of salaried employment in a large bureaucracy, be comparable to employment in the private sector. It cannot, however, reproduce the same individual variations of private practice for professionals, which penalises the unfortunate mercilessly and rewards the lucky few fabulously. Improvements have been made recently to the leave, car loan and housing loan schemes. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Finance will consider the following further improvements:

(a) extending the repayment period for housing loans from 20 to 25 years so that the maximum quantum of housing loan can be increased from four to five times that of an officer's annual salary; and

(b) paying pension benefits to the dependants of a pensionable officer for a reasonable period in the event of his death in harness after serving a minimum number of years.

Recommendations Specific to the Legal, Medical, Dental and Education Services

12. Of the professional services in Government, the Medical, Dental and Legal Services experience the greatest difficulty in retaining staff because of the higher earnings of similar professionals in private practice. The Committee has, therefore, made special recommendations for the Legal, and Medical and Dental Services.

13. For the Legal Service a scheme of special non-pensionable allowances will be introduced. These allowances will narrow the gap in earnings between lawyers in the private and public sectors. They will be paid on a personal-to-holder basis and will be reviewed from time to time to take into account the gap in earnings between lawyers in the two sectors. These allowances will be payable as follows: Upper Timescale $250 pm Superscale H $500 pm Superscale G $750 pm Superscale F $1,000 pm Superscale E $1,250 pm Superscale D $1,500 pm Superscale C $2,000 pm Superscale B $2,500 pm Superscale A $3,000 pm No allowances will be payable to Legal Officers in the Staff Grades.

14. The Chief Justice, the Attorney-General and the High Court Judges are outside the Legal Service. They are not subject to the ceiling of Superscale A. These appointments represent additional avenues available to members of the Legal Service to advance beyond Superscale A.

15. For Medical and Dental Services a new Consultation Fees Scheme will allow consultants to choose between retaining consultation fees up to 60% of their consolidated salary or continue their existing fixed specialist allowances. This should retain enough consultants in the Government Service despite the current financial pull of private practice. These allowances or fees, however, will not be paid to Medical and Dental Officers in Staff Grades.

16. As for the Education Service the Committee found that a further revision was unnecessary since the recently revised salaries for this service are in line with the Committee's recommendations for professional services.

Future Salary Review

17. Salaries in the professional services will be reviewed after each review of Administrative Service to take into account Singapore's economic growth and the comparable opportunities and pay levels in the private sector.

Conclusion

18. Finally, I must point out that the primacy of the Singapore Administrative Service is the bedrock of Government policy. The pre-eminence of this Service is in the role of Administrative Officers and will be reflected in their greater number in Staff Grades. The outstanding and the exceptional in the professional services will also retain their relative lustre because those with the qualities comparable to the best in Administrative Service can aspire to the new Staff Grades.