Government at a GlanceSoutheast Asia 2019

Country Fact Sheet

While human resources management (HRM) is quite centralised, Singapore’s recruitment system offers flexibility that could be important for tailoring services to citizens’ needs

Singapore’s score of 0.62 (above both the SEA and OECD averages of 0.41 and 0.54, respectively) on the composite index on the type of recruitment system indicates that it is more inclined towards a position-based system. This means that candidates usually apply directly to specific positions that are open to both internal and external candidates. While HRM policies and decisions are still fixed centrally, position-based systems offer more flexibility to line ministries to define their needs in response to changes in the environment, there-by attracting a wider diversity of perspectives, skills and experiences into the civil service.

Chapter 5. Human resources management

Type of recruitment system used in central government, 2016 and 2018

Citizens display high satisfaction with the health care, education and judicial systems in Singapore

In 2017, citizen satisfaction with the health care (93%) and judicial system and courts (89%) in Singapore were the highest among all SEA countries. With 86% of people satisfied with the education system and schools, Singapore ranks amongst the top, higher than the SEA average of 82.9% and the OECD average of 68.4% in 2017. In this area, Singapore displayed an excellent performance, emerging top in the 2016 OECD Programme of International Assessment (PISA) study. Moreover, in terms of access to services, Singapore fares the best on the index on the availability of educational materials.

Chapter 7. Serving citizens

Citizen satisfaction with the health care system, 2007 and 2017Citizen satisfaction with the education system and the schools, 2007 and 2017Citizen confidence in the judicial system and the courts, 2007 and 2017

Greater ownership and impact of open government initiatives could be developedby integrating them into other strategies, and a comprehensive open government strategy could help promote consistency

Although increasing citizen trust in public institutions and improving citizen participation in policy making have been identified as national objectives for Singapore, there is currently no country-specific definition for open government, nor a single national open government strategy. Instead, open government initiatives are integrated into other strategies. Having a strategy plays a role in consolidating initiatives across government and facilitating a focus on long-term and cross-cutting open government goals. It is a key element for build-ing a more effective, responsive and inclusive relationship between governments and stakeholders.

Chapter 6. Digital and open government

Existence of a single national open government strategy, 2018National policy objectives of open government initiatives, 2015 and 2018

Singapore

Fiscal balance(2016-2017)

Government expenditures(2016-2017)

Government investment*(2016)

% of GDP % of GDP % of GDP

G@G /dataG@G /data

Fiscal rules: Types and legal foundation (2017)*

Government revenues(2016-2017)

How to read the figures:Country value in blue

(not represented if not available)

Average of SEA countries in

purple

Range of SEA country values in

grey

Public Finance and Economics

10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

2016

20.0%

17.4%2017

17.7%2016

Singapore

0% 2% 4% 6% 8%

3.0%1.2%

Singapore

Values have been rounded. n.a. = not applicable or

data not available

% of GDP

Public Employment and Women’s Representation

* See notes Source: 2015 OECD Survey on Budget Practices and Procedures for Asian Countries, updated in 2018

Sources: IMF, World Economic Ooutlook database (IMF WEO)

OECD average or value

in green

Sources: IMF, World Economic Ooutlookdatabase (IMF WEO)

Sources: IMF, World Economic Ooutlookdatabase (IMF WEO)

Source: IMF Government Finance Statistics* See notes (IMF GFS) database

Share of womenparliamentarians

(2018)*

Share of womenministers

(2017)

Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union* See notes (IPU) PARLINE database

Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)“Women in Politics”

20.3%

23.0%Singapore

0% 10% 20% 30%

10.1%

5.3%Singapore

0% 10% 20% 30%

In how many countriesdo these typesof rules exist?

If yes, what is thelegal foundation?

Do these types of rules exist?

Budget balance (de�cit/surplus)

Legal foundations:

ConstitutionInternationalTreaty

Primary and/orSecondary Legislation

InternalRules/Policy

C IT L R

7642

Expenditure

Debt

Revenue

Politicalcommittment

P OtherO

33292715

C

L

L

NOYES

YESYES

Singapore

Who provides specialised budget analysisto the legislature?

(2017)

Source: 2015 OECD Survey on Budget Practices, updated in 2018

In how many countriesdo these types

of support exist?

Parliamentary Budget O�ce or specialised research unit

Specialised sta� of Budget/Finance Committee

Specialised sta� in political party secretariats

Individual member’s sta� 3

54

1NONO

2219

2015

NONO

Singapore

46.9%

n.a.Singapore

35% 40% 45% 50% 55% 60%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

2016

18.2%

23.3%2017

21.0%2016

Singapore

Budget

Share of public sectoremployment filled by

women (2016)*

Source: International Labour Organization* See notes (ILO) ILOSTAT database

Employment in public sector (2016)*

% of total employment

Source: International Labour Organization* See notes (ILO) ILOSTAT database

10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

15.4%

0%

n.a.

Singapore

-30% -10%-20% 0% +10%

-1.8%

Singapore2017

6.0% 3.3%

2016

2016

Budgetary information made publicly available (2017)

Dedicated PPP units and value for moneyassessments of PPPs and TIPs (2017)

Source: 2015 OECD Survey on Budget Practices and Procedures for Asian Countries, updated in 2018Source: 2015 OECD Survey on Budget Practices and Procedures for Asian Countries, updated in 2018

In how many countriesis this informationpublicly available?

Budget proposal

Budget approved

Methodology and economic assumptions for establishing �scal projections

Sensitivity analyses of �scal and/or macroeconomic models 3

10

65

NOYES

33

33

28

24

Budget circular

Independent reviews/analyses of macroeconomic and/or �scal assumptions

Pre-budget report

Long term perspective on total revenue and expenditure

7

3

5

1

20

28

23

24

YES

n.a.NONONO

NO

Singapore

In how many countriesdoes this practice exist?

Use of public private partnerships

Dedicated PPP unit reporting to Ministry of Finance

Dedicated PPP units reporting to line ministries

Other PPP unit 1

410

2

NOYES 26

12

82

Use of relative value for money assessments for PPPs

Use of absolute value for money assessments for PPPs

Use of absolute value for money assessments for TIPs

3 11YESNo dedicated PPP unit exists in central/federal government

n.a.n.a.n.a.

n.a.n.a.n.a.

Yes, for all projects Yes, for those abovecertain monetary threshold

Yes, ad hoc basis Yes, other

NONO

Singapore

Strategic Human Resources Management

0.41

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0.62Singapore

Type ofrecruitment system

usedin central government

(2018)*

Extent of delegation of HRM practices

in line ministriesin central government

(2018)*

Extent of the use of performance

assessments in HR decisions in central government (2018)*

Collection andavailability of

administrative HR data in central government

(2018)*

Extent of the use of separate HRM practices for senior civil servants in central government

(2018)*

0.50

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0.52Singapore 0.70

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

10.90Singapore

0.75

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0.73Singapore

0.68

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

10.95Singapore

Source: OECD Strategic Human ResourcesManagement Survey * See Notes

Source: OECD Strategic Human ResourcesManagement Survey * See Notes

Source: OECD Strategic Human ResourcesManagement Survey * See Notes

Source: OECD Strategic Human ResourcesManagement Survey * See Notes

Source: OECD Strategic Human ResourcesManagement Survey * See Notes

G@G /data

Budget

Open Government

Top five national policy objectives ofopen government initiatives

(2018)*

* See Notes Source: OECD (2018) Open Government and Open Data Survey

In how many countriesis this a national

objective?

Improve accountability of public sector

Improve responsiveness to citizens / businessImprove transparency of public sector

Improve e�ectiveness of public sector

4

66

5

NO

YES

YESImprove the e�ciency of the public sector

Prevent and �ght corruption

Improve citizen participation in policymaking

Increase citizen trust in public institutions

4333

YES

YES

Generate economic growth 1

YES

NONO

NO

Singapore

National policy objectives

1. Yes

1 2 3

Singapore

2. No, but open government initiatives are integrated in other strategies 3. No, there is no single strategic document including open government initiatives, nor are they integrated in other strategies

37.5% 12.5%50.0%

* See Notes Source: OECD (2018) Open Government and Open Data Survey

Existence of a single nationalopen government strategy

(2018)*

Existence of a main national citizens portal forgovernment services and of a legally recognised

digital identification (e.g. digital signature)mechanism (2018)

Source: OECD survey on digital government performance 2018

* See Notes Source: Source: Gallup World Poll (database)

0.46

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 10

0.40

0.54

Singapore

Dataavailability

Dataaccessibility

Governmentsupport to re-use

Satisfaction and confidence across public services(2017)*

79%

Judicial system Education system

93%

20

40

60

80

100

Health care

SingaporeAverage

Range

71%

83%86% 68%69%89% 56%

Singapore

Existence of a legally recogniseddigital identi�cation

(e.g. digital signature) mechanism

Existence of a main nationalcitizens portal

for government services

Number of countrieswhere it exists

YES

YES 7

9

Open Government Data

Serving Citizens

% of citizens expressing confidence/satisfaction

Digital Government

OURdata Index:Open, Useful, Reusable Government Data (2017)*

* See notes Source: OECD Survey on Open Government Data

Composite index: from 0 lowest to 1 highest

Digital Government

Notes• Government investment data for Viet Nam is for 2013. Data is recorded on a cash basis and refer to the government sector of budgetary central government. • Types and legal foundation of fiscal rules - Viet Nam’s revenue rules are referring to National Assembly’s resolutions for a 10-year financial strategy and a 5 year socioeconomic development plan. • Top five national policy objectives of open government initiatives - Countries selected the top five national policy objectives out of nine. • Satisfaction and confidence across public services - Health care and education data for Viet Nam are for 2016. Due to missing data, the SEA average does not include the countries listed for the following charts: • Government investment - Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Viet Nam; • Employment in public sector - Cambodia; • Share of public sector employment filled by women - Cambodia; • Share of women parliamentarians - Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar; • Strategic HRM - Myanmar; • Top five national policy objectives of open government initiatives - Brunei Darussalam, Lao PDR, Myanmar; • Existence of a single national open government strategy - Brunei Darussalam, Lao PDR, Myanmar; • OURdata index - Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar; • Satisfaction and confidence across public services - Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Viet Nam (for judicial system).

Source: OECD survey on digital government performance

In how many countriesare these

measurements used?

Measure the direct �nancial bene�tsof ICT projects in the central government

Measure the �nancial bene�ts for businessesof public ICT projects

Measure the �nancial bene�ts for citizensof public ICT projects

3

YES

YES

3

3

YES

Singapore

Measurement of direct financial benefits ofICT projects for central government,

businesses and citizens(2018)

Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019This first edition of Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019 draws on data collections from 10 Southeast Asian countries to better inform public sector reforms and evidence-based policy making in the region, with a key focus on a citizen-centric public service. The comparable data presented here also supports peer-to-peer learning between countries. This dashboard of key indicators aims to help policy makers and citizens analyse the relative performance of governments in this highly diverse and fast-developing region. Comparisons are also made against OECD countries in the region such as Australia, Korea, Japan and New Zealand. The 34 indicators cover key aspects of public management, including public finance and economics, public employment, budgeting practices and procedures, strategic human resources management, digital and open government, and citizen-centric services.Copyright © OECD, ADB 2019. This Work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 IGO (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) public license.

https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264305915-en

The Excel spreadsheets used to create the tables and figures in Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019 are available via the StatLinks provided throughout the publication:

For more information on the data (including full methodology and figure notes)and to consult all other Country Fact Sheets: http://oe.cd/gov-data-sea