MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE

Let me now touch briefly on progress made in implementing management accounting systems in Government ministries and zero-base reviews conducted by the Auditor-General's Office.

Management Accounting Systems

Phase I of the programme to install centralized computer based management accounting systems in all Government ministries and departments has been completed on schedule. Management accounting systems, or SIGMA, have been operational in the Ministries of Finance, Education, Health, Environment and National Development since April last year. Management reports generated by SIGMA are being used in these ministries to allocate resources and generate an awareness of the true costs of delivering public services. This will allow managers in Government ministries and departments to identify and weed out inefficient and unproductive practices. SIGMA will now be fine-tuned to make it more user-friendly, and extended to all departments in these ministries.

I am also pleased to report that the extension of SIGMA to all other ministries is ahead of schedule. By April this year, working management accounting systems will be in place in all ministries. By April next year, they would have been extended to all departments. Statutory boards are also being encouraged to introduce similar systems. I am confident that over time public service managers will use these management accounting systems to become more productive and deliver a higher quality of public service at lower cost.

Zero-base Reviews

The Auditor-General's Office is responsible for conducting periodic zero-base reviews of individual ministries. The principal objective of these reviews is to ensure that ministries consciously and constantly monitor their own performances to keep their practices, operating procedures and policies current and relevant in achieving Government's priorities.

Over the past year, the Auditor-General's Office has conducted zero-base reviews of the Ministries of Education, Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister's Office and the Attorney-General's Chambers. Reviews of the Ministries of Labour and Law are in progress. Three other ministries are scheduled to be reviewed over the next one and a half years.

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend this sitting and will take the Chair again at 5.00 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended at 4.18 pm until 5.00 pm. Sitting resumed at 5.00 pm