SALARIES OF TOP EMPLOYEES IN STATUTORY BOARDS (Disclosure)

Column No : 1800

SALARIES OF TOP EMPLOYEES IN STATUTORY BOARDS:

(Disclosure): 11.

Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance if he will make it a requirement for statutory boards to disclose salaries and other compensations of top employees on an annual basis, as is done in the civil service and public-listed companies.

The Minister of State for Finance (Mrs Lim Hwee Hua) (for the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Sir, requirements for financial disclosure by companies in Singapore are guided by the Financial Reporting Standards (FRS). In July 2004, FRS 24 was revised to explicitly require companies to disclose the remuneration of key management personnel in their financial statements for annual periods beginning on or after 1st January 2005.

The Government requires all statutory boards to comply with the same set of accounting standards that applies to companies in Singapore. Hence, all statutory boards will comply with FRS 24 and provide the necessary disclosure on remuneration of key management personnel.

Column No : 1801

NATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SURVEY 2004:

(Singaporean researchers and postgraduate students): 12.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for Trade and Industry, with regard to the National Research & Development (R&D) Survey 2004, (a) what are the percentages of Singaporeans and naturalised Singaporeans who are (i) researchers with Master and PhD qualifications in the private and public R&D sectors (ii) full-time postgraduate students pursuing Master and PhD degree courses; and (b) if his Ministry plans to increase the number of Singaporeans pursuing Master and PhD degree courses and the number of Singaporean researchers in the private and public R&D sectors.

The Minister for Trade and Industry (Mr Lim Hng Kiang): Mr Speaker, Sir, based on the findings of the 2004 National Research & Development (R&D) Survey, Singaporeans and naturalised Singaporeans made up 55% of the 2,073 researchers with Master degrees and 33% of the 3,282 researchers with PhDs in the public sector. In the private sector, Singaporeans made up 39% of the 2,831 researchers with Master degrees and 24% of the 781 researchers with PhDs. Singaporeans made up 24% of the 1,215 full-time postgraduate research students pursuing Master degrees; and 11% of the 2,490 full-time postgraduate research students pursuing PhDs, at the local universities.

Mr Speaker, Sir, as the Member is aware, the public sector R&D takes place in three areas. First, in our universities; second, in MTI's research institutes; and third, in the other agencies in the other Ministries, for example, in the Ministry of Health, MINDEF and the Environment and Water Resources Ministry. As far as MTI is concerned, A STAR's focus is to train PhD level research manpower for its research institutes (RIs) and to spin out these researchers at its RIs to the industry. We feel that there are too few Singaporean PhD researchers today. So one of A STAR's goals is to develop a more balanced mix of nationalities at its RIs. It targets to increase the number of Singaporean PhD researchers at the RIs from about 175 today to about 500, or about 50% of the PhDs at the RIs, at a steady state. To this end, A STAR established the National Science Scholarship (NSS) and A STAR Graduate Scholarship (AGS) programmes. These scholarships and fellowships build the pipeline to grow the base of Singaporean PhDs. They are open to both Singaporeans and foreign citizens who intend to become Singaporeans.

Since the launch of the NSS and the AGS programmes in 2001 and 2003 respectively, A STAR has awarded close to 600 scholarships and fellowships. A STAR expects to award another 900 scholarships and fellowships in the next five years, ie, from 2006-2010. Of these, about 200 will have completed their PhD training by 2010.

Column No : 1802

NATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SURVEY 2004:

(Expenditure on research areas): 13.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for Trade and Industry, with regard to the National Research & Development (R&D) Survey 2004, what are the specific research areas in terms of biomedical, engineering, electronics, water research, etc, that have accounted for the 30%, 29% and 41% of R&D expenditure by the Government, higher institutes and research institutes respectively.

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government sector, higher education institutes and the public research institutes carry out research in the various areas, which can range from biomedical and related sciences, to engineering and technology. The distribution of the R&D expenditure across more than 20 Scienceand Technology fields for the different sectors, can be found in the 2004 National R&D Survey, copies of which have been distributed to the Members and also available on A*STAR’s website.