Public Consultation on Amendments to the Public Sector (Governance) Act

Ministry of Digital Development and Information - Government Data Division

Consultation Period: 12 Aug 2025 - 2 Sep 2025

Status: Closed

Detailed Description

Introduction

1. The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) would like to invite the public to provide feedback on proposed amendments to the Public Sector (Governance) Act (PSGA). The amendments aim to enhance the use of data to deliver better services to Singaporeans.

Background

2. Introduced in 2018, the PSGA was designed to strengthen the governance of statutory boards to better deliver services for Singaporeans. The PSGA provides a clear legal basis for data sharing across the public sector under the direction of the Minister charged with the responsibility for the Singapore Public Sector, which can be made for seven specific purposes supporting public interest:

   1. To uphold and promote the values of the Singapore public sector;

   2. To secure economies or efficiencies for the Singapore public sector;

   3. To improve (directly or indirectly) the efficiency or effectiveness of policies, programme management or service planning and delivery by Singapore public sector agencies (whether by carrying out data analytics work or otherwise);

   4. To ensure business continuity;

   5. To ensure accountable and prudent stewardship of Singapore public sector finances and resources;

   6. To manage risks to the financial position of the Government;

   7. To support a whole-of-government approach in the discharge of the Singapore public sector agencies’ functions.

3. The PSGA also holds individual public officers responsible and accountable for how they handle data.

4. Since the introduction of the PSGA, the Government has used data more effectively within the Government. This allowed for smoother service delivery and deeper insights enabling more targeted assistance for citizens.

5. However, the Government has been increasingly working closely with community groups and other private sector partners (“external partners”) to deliver services to Singaporeans on the public sector’s behalf. These partners often understand the needs of the community better, and leverage networks and resources beyond the Government. To allow these external partners to deliver such services more effectively, Government may need to share relevant data with them, with appropriate safeguards. Such data could include facts, statistics, and data sets that may involve individuals or businesses.

6. For instance, to enable a network of community organisations to provide social assistance to Singaporeans in need, or health-related support to elderly residents, the public sector may have to provide these community organisations with a list of eligible Singaporeans and their contact details and eligibility data in a timely and effective manner. Similarly, trade associations would need information about organisations’ needs to better customise support schemes for Small and Medium Enterprises.

7. For these reasons, MDDI is considering the following amendments to the PSGA.

Proposed amendments to the PSGA

8. MDDI proposes to amend the PSGA to provide a clear legal basis under the existing seven purposes, for public sector agencies to share data with authorised external partners.

9. The amendments will enable public sector agencies to authorise an external partner to receive data that is required for the services they are delivering on behalf of the public sector. The Minister of the public sector agency, or a qualified person appointed by such Minister, must authorise the data sharing and ensure that the legal basis under the existing seven purposes is met.

10. The amendments will also put in place robust safeguards so that the data shared with external partners are protected and handled responsibly. This is through imposing data governance requirements, similar to what public sector agencies have to meet, on these external partners.  Individuals from external partners found misusing the shared data will be subject to the same level of penalties as public officers under the current PSGA. This includes criminal penalties for the unauthorised disclosure and improper use of information, and the unauthorised re-identification of anonymised data by the user of data.

11. In addition, the Personal Data Protection Act obligations and penalties will continue to apply for these external partners.

12. Separately, MDDI will also be making amendments to clarify that public sector agencies may use internally the data which they are allowed to share with other public agencies, under the same legal basis in para 2. Public sector agencies will continue to be held to the robust safeguards that are in place today, to ensure their effective and responsible use of data.

13. The Government takes seriously its responsibility to protect the data entrusted to the public sector, and will continue to ensure robust data governance, as it seeks to achieve greater public value from the use of data.

Invitation to give feedback

14. The public consultation exercise will run till 2 September, 5pm. Interested parties can submit their comments via FormSG.

15. Respondents are requested to observe these guidelines when providing feedback:

    1. Please identify yourself and the organisation you represent (if any) so that we can follow up to clarify any comments if needed.

    2. Be clear and concise.

    3. Be specific about the parts of the amendments commented on, and how they can be improved.

    4. As far as possible, explain your points with illustrations, examples, data or alternative suggestions.