REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON PARLIAMENT STAFF

The Leader of the House (Mr Wong Kan Seng): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move,

"That this Parliament, noting the Report of the Commission on Parliament Staff as contained in Paper Misc. 3 of 2000, accepts the recommendations of the Commission as contained in paragraph 6 thereof and resolves in accordance with such recommendations."

Sir, following the announcement on 29th June 2000 in this House of the revision of salaries in the public service, a Commission consisting of the Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Finance, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission and myself was set up in accordance with Article 51(6) of the Constitution of Singapore to advise on the application of the revised salaries and the payment of Performance Bonus to the staff of Parliament.

The Commission has presented its Report to Parliament on 19th August 2000. In line with the announcement on the Public Sector Salary Revision in Parliament on 29th June 2000, staff in the Parliamentary Service and other posts in the Parliament Service, for example, the Interpreters and Serjeant-at-Arms, will receive a salary revision of 3.8% plus $50 and the base rate Performance Bonus (including those who are currently not receiving any Performance Bonus) will be increased by 0.5 month with effect from this year.

The structure of the Parliamentary Service will also be revised. A new Upper Timescale Parliamentary Officer Grade IA has been introduced and for Parliamentary Officer Grade I, there will be two salary scales to account for the creation of the new Parliamentary Officer Grade IA. Officers who were promoted to Parliamentary Officer Grade I after January 2000 will receive the revised salary scale (Code 1697). For incumbents who were promoted before January 2000, they will continue to be on their existing salary scale (Code 1360). The truncation involves a reduction of the maximum point of the salary scale from $6,785 to $6,490. The existing Parliamentary Officer Grade IVA salary scale has also been revised. The revised structure of the Parliamentary Service is set out in paragraph 4 of the Commission's Report.

The House is asked to accept and approve the recommendations of the Commission.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this Parliament, noting the Report of the Commission on Parliament Staff as contained in Paper Misc. 3 of 2000, accepts the recommendations of the Commission as contained in paragraph 6 thereof and resolves in accordance with such recommendations.

Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 3.15 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended at 2.52 pm until 3.15 pm. Sitting resumed at 3.15 pm