CENSUS (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read. 2.30 pm

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Mah Bow Tan): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, the Department of Statistics carries out a Census of Population every 10 years. This year, 1990, is census year. The 1990 Census will commence very soon. It is a very important exercise. The information that is collected will be used by Government for planning and evaluating policies which will have direct impact on the population. It is also a costly and time-consuming exercise. More than 2,500 officers are involved in the project. We must do all we can to improve the efficiency of this data collection effort.

The purpose of the Census (Amendment) Bill is to facilitate data sharing and to avoid duplication of data collection efforts. The Bill proposes that a new section 12A be introduced to give the Superintendent of Census access to information which is collected by certain Government agencies under specified written laws. This will enable the Superintendent to make use of information in various Government data hubs and to pre-print it on the survey form for the 1990 Census of Population. It will result in less manpower for conducting field interviews, as well as for coding and for inputting the information. To preserve the confidentiality of sensitive information, information which is obtained under legislation relating to taxation or legislation administered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore are specifically excluded from the data exchange.

The Census is a rich source of data for other Government agencies to update their information. It has basic demographic and economic data which is required by other Government agencies for their studies of trends and studies of impact on public policy.

The Bill proposes to introduce a new section 16A to give the Superintendent the statutory power to release census information to certain Government agencies. Otherwise, these Government agencies will have to spend time and effort to mount its own data updating exercise. Not only will this mean more work and more cost, but also the public will be inconvenienced by repetitive surveys from different agencies asking for similar information.

The proposed sharing of information is not unprecedented. For example, the UK Statistics of Trade Act allows for release of individual estimates to other government departments for the exercise of their functions.

My Ministry is well aware that there is a special need to safeguard the confidentiality of census information to make sure that such information do not fall into the wrong hands. We also understand that the data collected will be more complete and more accurate if people are reassured that the confidentiality of information is safeguarded. Sir, I would like to list several steps that have been taken by my Ministry to provide such assurance.

(a) Information which is obtained under legislations relating to taxation or legislations administered by the MAS are excluded from data exchange under section 12A, as I indicated earlier.

(b) Section 16A proposes that information will be disclosed only if the requesting agency is empowered to collect such information under other laws. For example, data on occupation and qualification which is collected in the Census can be used to update the CPF database because CPF could have collected the same information under the CPF Act.

(c) Section 16A also forbids the requesting agency from using the information to enforce any legal obligation or liability.

(d) It will be an offence for any civil servant who receives such information to further disclose it without the permission of the Superintendent. The maximum penalty of the offence is a fine of $1,000 or one-month imprisonment or both.

Consequently, section 17 and section 18 of the Census Act are also amended to increase the maximum monetary penalty of offences under the Act from $500 to $1,000.

The Central Provident Fund Board is the first and only agency to be involved in this information exchange. The First and Second Schedules to the Bill will enable the CPF Board and the Superintendent of Census to exchange information relating to individuals obtained under the CPF Act and the Census Act.

Once again, Sir, may I stress the importance of the 1990 Census and seek the support of Members for this Bill to ensure that the forthcoming census will be carried out successfully.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr Lau Ping Sum (Yio Chu Kang): Sir, I just want to find out whether the census will cover the foreign workers in Singapore. And if so, whether they will be asked to answer the same questions as Singaporeans.

Secondly, in view of the immense amount of data to be collected, how long will the Government take before some preliminary data can be compiled and publicised?

Dr Lee Siew-Choh: Sir, I support and I agree on the need for a census to be held and I also agree that we need to keep all information obtained confidential. But what I wish to say may be more or less the same as my comments on the previous Bill because the two Bills are in fact inter-linked. I am concerned that the Bill allows the Superintendent of Census to gain access to the information obtained by a competent authority, which information is then relayed to certain public authorities. This phrase "certain public authorities" can have a very wide meaning. My concern is that such information could be misused for improper motives. May I say once more that I believe that Parliament should have some control over the nature and type of information an individual is required to furnish. There should be strict care that there is no real invasion into the privacy of the individual.

The Minister for Trade and Industry (BG Lee Hsien Loong): Mr Speaker, Sir, Dr Lee speaks as if we are involved in a massive invasion of privacy rights of Singaporeans. May I point out that under this Bill we are not empowering the Government to collect any additional information which it is not already entitled to get, whether directly under the Census, whether it is done by the CPF Board, whether it is collected by any other Government department. Parliament has complete control of what can be collected, because when information is collected it must be done under a specific law, whether it is the Employment Act, the CPF Act, or the Census Act, and the Act specifies what Government can collect. It also specifies what the Government can do with the information, whether it can be redistributed, whether it can be published, whether it has to be sanitized before publication so that you have statistics, but no individual can be identified as being related to any particular bit of data. So the law is perfectly above board.

If there are any items of information which Dr Lee feels uncomfortable about the Government collecting, then the matter should be raised and discussed here in Parliament, rather than making general and vague aspersions. If Dr Lee has any information whatsoever about any information which has been misused or released to somebody who is not entitled to have it, or put to some improper purpose, then I urge him again to produce the specifics of his allegation, facts and data, and I undertake to have the allegations thoroughly investigated. If any such wrongdoing is found, the culprits will be thoroughly punished according to the law. Otherwise, I request him to withdraw his allegations.

Dr Lee Siew-Choh: Sir, I have not alleged anything against anyone. I merely said that there is public concern and I think it is only fair that such concern should be openly stated in Parliament. Let the Minister assure us that there need be no fear of any misuse of information and that all the information collected will be respected in full confidence. I expect, with the assurance from the Minister, that there need not be too much worry on this matter now.

BG Lee Hsien Loong: Sir, what the Member said was quite clear. It was recorded and the tape can be played back. He should not resile from words he has uttered barely minutes ago. It was the habit of his Secretary-General to make vague allegations and to ask the Government to reassure him that all was well and there was nothing to be worried about. If he has any allegations, let him state them, and let us investigate them.

Dr Lee Siew-Choh: As I have said, Sir, I have made no specific allegations. But a concern is a concern. Are we not entitled to be concerned?

BG Lee Hsien Loong: Sir, we have gone through this many times before. It is the business of Members to raise concerns in this House and to provide facts and evidence to back up these matters raised, failing which expressions must be discounted and in cases where they impugn the integrity and the reputation of individuals, we will have to ask the Members to repeat them outside the House, otherwise it becomes a question of privilege.

Dr Lee Siew-Choh: I am surprised at the attitude taken by the Minister. I have not alleged anything against any individual. So what is he barking about?

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Sir, I would just like to repeat what I said in my Second Reading speech that the Ministry has been particularly concerned about this question of confidentiality and has taken ample steps to safeguard such confidentiality. We have excluded information obtained under certain legislations, especially those administered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. We have made sure that such information will be disclosed only if requesting agencies are already empowered to collect such information. We have made sure that requesting agencies are forbidden to use such information to enforce any legal obligation. Finally, we have made sure that people who do misuse this information face severe penalties.

I think it is fair to say that the Non-Constituency MP has not taken this into account and has tried to take this opportunity to make certain allegations. But I am glad to hear that he has confirmed that there are no such instances.

Mr Lau Ping Sum: Could I ask the Minister of State to respond to my question on the foreign workers?

Mr Mah Bow Tan: My apologies, Sir, to Mr Lau Ping Sum. First of all, the question of foreign workers. The answer is, yes, foreign workers are covered under the Census but they will not be answering the same questions as the Singaporeans.

In so far as when some preliminary data will be obtained, we are hoping that with the new methodology as practised, when more information is provided under this information exchange, we will be able to get the preliminary data much faster than before and we are hoping that some meaningful data will be available for analysis towards the end of this year or early next year.

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 Mah Bow Tan].

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