PAPER COMMAND 4 OF 1996 (Omission of Appendices C and D)

Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Finance why Appendix C (Political Appointments, Personnel Groups and Other Groups) and Appendix D (Key to Salary Codes) were omitted from Paper Command 4 of 1996.

The Minister for Finance (Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau): Mr Speaker, Sir, Appendix D has not been in the Budget book since FY 1994/95. It contains salary codes and the corresponding basic salary scales. Appendix C was taken out this year. It listed political appointments and their corresponding basic salaries and civil service personnel groups and grades together with their corresponding personnel and salary codes.

Appendix D was dropped because since the general civil service salary revision which took effect on 1st January 1994, officers received, in addition to their basic monthly salary, the monthly variable component (MVC), the non-pensionable variable payment (NPVP) and the non-pensionable component (NPC). Furthermore, officers on the same grades but under different medical schemes are now on different salary scales. Appendix D would have had to be considerably enlarged to reflect all these changes.

Appendix C was retained in the FY94/95 Budget book because even without salary codes, it was a useful central reference for the personnel codes which the Ministry of Finance needed to issue establishment warrants. It was removed this year because with the implementation of the Budgeting for Results programme and the lifting of head-count controls, this central reference is no longer necessary. Instead of Appendices C and D, a salary manual with details of civil service appointments has been prepared for use by the Ministries. A copy is available in the Parliament Library. For political appointments, if the Member files a Question, I will provide the information he needs.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Sir, is the omission due to the pegging of Ministers' and senior civil servants' salaries to private sector benchmarks? It would not be nice for Singaporeans to know exactly how much Ministers and senior civil servants are drawing, and hence the omission.

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: The Member's notion is quite absurd. This is public information. I have said that if he needs the information, he can file a Question and he will get it. Removing the Appendices from the Budget book, as I said, was merely to ensure that we do not overload the Budget book with information which is unnecessary and easily available in the Parliament Library. Why publish all this information when it is occasionally needed by the public? Most of the users are the Ministries themselves.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Would the Minister agree that the figures are of public interest?

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: I have said that I will provide the figures. Have you not listened?

Mr Low Thia Khiang: The figures are not published in the Budget book. If they are published in the Budget book, there is no need for me to ask a question. Why should I ask a question to specifically request for the detailed figures if they are in the Budget book? Why omit them?

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: The figures have been published in the past.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Would the Minister agree to restore them in the Budget book?

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: The answer is no. I said that we would not do it.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: Why not?

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: Because it is unnecessary.

Mr Low Thia Khiang: I think it is necessary for the public to know and the figures should be restored in the Budget book. The public would know the exact figures.

Dr Richard Hu Tsu Tau: Surely the public would know if the information is published elsewhere. Does it have to be in the Budget book? Would you like to publish it in the Hammer?

Mr Low Thia Khiang: It is better to be in the Budget book, because it has a wider circulation. If the Minister will supply me with the salaries of political appointments, I assure him that it will be published in the Hammer. 1.30 pm

Mr Speaker: Mr Stephen Lee, I think we have run out of time. End of Question time.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No. 21(3), Question Nos. 9 to 13 have been postponed to the next available sitting of Parliament.]