Press Releases

As of November 2003, Government agencies have agreed with 87% of the suggestions made by members of the public on ways the Public Sector can cut waste or remove frills. This is 700 of the 805 ideas that have been processed by the Cut Waste Panel since it was launched on 4 September 2003. More than 1,200 suggestions have been received so far. 362 are still in various stages of evaluation. (Please see Annex A for the detailed breakdown.)

2. Except for anonymous suggestions, every suggestor receives a personal reply on his idea. The public can read many of the responses in the "Suggestions and Replies"section of the Cut Waste Panel website at its new URL, www.cutwaste.gov.sg. The website has also been recently improved to include a new "Frequently-Asked-Questions" (FAQ) section. It provides answers to frequently raised issues, such as:

(a) Government agencies should not rush to spend their budgets towards the end of each Financial Year

(b) The number of Members of Parliament

3. The Cut Waste Panel (please see Annex B for composition) meets regularly to review all the responses of Government agencies to the suggestions received. Where the Panel is not satisfied with the responses, the agencies are asked to reconsider. The Panel has so far studied 81 of the 105 suggestions that agencies assessed as not suitable for implementation, and returned 30 (or almost 4 in 10) of these to the agencies for reconsideration. Agencies have to offer explanations and responses which are reasoned and reasonable.

4. The Cut Waste Panel welcomes suggestions from the public on where the Government can cut waste, remove frills and make savings in the delivery of public services. Suggestions can be sent through the Cut Waste Panel website at its new URL, www.cutwaste.gov.sg.

* Some examples of Cut Waste suggestions and the replies by Government agencies are at Annex C.

MINISTRY OF FINANCE