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Now that the Cut Red
Tape website is up, everyone from citizens and
business owners to public officers can find help
quickly when they get bogged down with red tape.
Launched
on 28 July 2003, the Cut Red Tape website is your
way out of the bureaucratic maze.
Are you tripping over rules and procedures? The
website has direct links to the contact details
and online feedback forms of 97 public agencies.
Do you get bounced from one public agency to
another when you are unsure whom to turn to with
your enquiries? Three government schemes, which
take a customer-centric approach to cutting red
tape for public officers, businesses and citizens,
are there for you. Do you wonder if your efforts
to cut red tape have been appreciated? Take a
look at how we have thanked active citizens,
proactive public officers and exemplary front-liners!
Pro-Enterprise Panel
Set up in 2000, the Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP)
ensures that government regulations and rules
support a pro-business environment.
The panel welcomes feedback from all sources
such as multinational corporations, small and
medium enterprises, professionals and members
of the public.
Since its inception, the panel has pushed through
one in every two suggestions sent to it. Of the
897 suggestions received up till end July, 451
(50.2%) have been accepted, and 43 (4.8%) are
under evaluation. (To learn more about PEP, see
this story.)
Zero-In-Process
The Zero-In-Process (ZIP) improves the quality
of everyday life for ordinary people by zero-ing
in on cross-agency red tape/grey areas which
impede the implementation of good ideas from
the public. These problems were jokingly labelled “X-files” because
they could not be resolved by the efforts of
individual agencies alone and so collected dust
at the back of someone’s filing cabinet.
To date, ZIP has uncovered 96 X-files and has
taken action on 68 of them. (For ZIP cases, see
this story.)
POWER initiative
The POWER (Public Officers Working on Eliminating
Red-tape) initiative serves to reduce bureaucracy
and improve services to the public.
The goal is to give public officers greater flexibility
in operational issues, and to encourage them
to enforce the spirit and intent of regulations
rather than comply with them mindlessly. Since
its inception in November 2000, 185 suggestions
have been received, 37 of which have been accepted.
(For examples, see this
story.)
Rules Review Process
This is a proactive effort by all public agencies
to continually review their rules and streamline
their processes. Of the 173 statutory declarations
required by the Government, 57 (33%) will be
removed by the end of FY2003.
POWER Award
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Public
agencies have been able to win the POWER Award since
July 2001. Now, individual public
officers may also be recognised for their efforts
in identifying outdated or unnecessarily cumbersome
rules that should be reviewed or removed. Worth
$1,000, the POWER Suggestion Award will recognise
public officers who cut red tape for citizens,
businesses and even other public officers! |
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By
ZIP, PEP, RRP & POWER Secretariats
Next: Thanks to ZIP!
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