MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE

Allow me now to update the House on the progress of our efforts to improve financial management in the public sector under the Budgeting For Results (or BFR for short) initiative which we launched in 1994.

Members will recall that 14 organisations were commissioned as Autonomous Agencies in April last year. Starting this financial year, another 102 Ministry Headquarters, Departments and Government-Funded Statutory Boards are being managed as Autonomous Agencies (or AAs). What this means is that practically the entire Civil Service and all Government-funded Statutory Boards are now operating as Autonomous Agencies.

Every AA has been provided with greater autonomy and flexibility to respond quickly to changes, along with incentives for efficient and superior performance, and the wherewithal to nurture enterprise and creativity. Over the next few years, we will consolidate and fine-tune the various changes that have been introduced so that AAs can better manage their resources and achieve even higher performance. This will help us achieve our objective of creating a leaner, more efficient and enterprising public service to help Singapore succeed.

Last year, some Members of the House expressed concern that financial management reforms under the BFR initiative could lead to increases in the price of public services or create a profit-oriented mindset in Government without regard to the larger goal of providing quality public services.

I wish to reassure the House again that this will not be the case. Pricing of public services is a policy matter, and prices of goods and services provided by the public sector should not therefore increase on account of improvements in financial management. On the contrary, a more efficient public sector would be better placed to moderate price increases.

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 5.05 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended at 4.43 pm until 5.05 pm Sitting resumed at 5.05 pm