Interpretation of this Part
65. In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires —“asset”, in relation to a transferor, means property of any kind (whether tangible or intangible, whether arising from, accruing under, created or evidenced by or the subject of, an instrument or otherwise and whether actual or contingent) of the transferor on the eve of the transfer date and includes, without limitation, any —(a)
legal or equitable interest in real or personal property, whether situated in Singapore or elsewhere;
(b)
chose in action;
(c)
money or securities;
(d)
plant and equipment, whether situated in Singapore or elsewhere;
(e)
intellectual property;
(f)
infrastructure, whether situated in Singapore or elsewhere;
(g)
records; and
(h)
right;
“Council for Private Education” or “CPE” means the Council for Private Education established under section 3 of the Private Education Act 2009 as in force before 4 October 2016;
“liability”, in relation to a transferor, means any liability, duty or obligation (whether actual or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, and whether owed alone or jointly or jointly and severally with any other person) of the transferor on the eve of the transfer date;
“private education function” means any function of the Council for Private Education under the Private Education Act 2009 as in force before 4 October 2016;
“records”, in relation to a transferor, means registers, papers, documents, minutes, receipts, books of account and other record, however compiled, recorded or stored, of that transferor existing on the eve of the transfer date;
“right”, in relation to a transferor, means any right, power, privilege or immunity of the transferor on the eve of the transfer date;
“transferor” means —(a)
the Council for Private Education; or
(b)
the Singapore Workforce Development Agency;
“transferring SWDA employee” means an employee of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency who, on the eve of the transfer date, is in any of the following departments of that Agency:(a)
the Institute of Adult Learning;
(b)
the Skills Development Group;
(c)
the Training Partners Group;
(d)
the Business Technology Group;
(e)
the Corporate Group (SkillsFuture);
(f)
the Integrated Business Services Division;
(g)
the Shared Services Management Division.
Transfer of undertakings to Agency
66.—(1) On the transfer date, the following assets and liabilities are transferred to the Agency: (a)
all assets and liabilities of the Council for Private Education;
(b)
those assets and liabilities of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency that relate solely or mainly to the functions of the following departments of that Agency:(i)
the Institute of Adult Learning;
(ii)
the Skills Development Group;
(iii)
the Training Partners Group;
(iv)
the Business Technology Group;
(v)
the Corporate Group (SkillsFuture);
(vi)
the Integrated Business Services Division;
(vii)
the Shared Services Management Division.
(2) When any assets or liabilities are transferred under subsection (1), the following provisions have effect:(a)
the assets of the transferor that are the subject of the transfer vest in the Agency by virtue of this section and without the need for any further conveyance, transfer, assignment or assurance;
(b)
the liabilities of the transferor that are the subject of the transfer become by virtue of this section the liabilities of the Agency;
(c)
all legal or other proceedings relating to those assets or liabilities that are started before the transfer date by or against the transferor or a predecessor of the transferor and pending immediately before that date are taken to be proceedings pending by or against the Agency;
(d)
any legal or other proceedings relating to those assets or liabilities which could have been started immediately before the transfer date by or against the transferor or a predecessor of the transferor may be started by or against the Agency;
(e)
a judgment or order of a court or other tribunal obtained before the transfer date by or against the transferor or a predecessor of the transferor relating to those assets or liabilities may be enforced by or against the Agency;
(f)
any document relating to legal or other proceedings relating to those assets or liabilities that has been served on or by a transferor or a predecessor of the transferor before the transfer date is taken, where appropriate, to have been served on or by the Agency;
(g)
any act, matter or thing done or omitted to be done before the transfer date in relation to those assets or liabilities by, to or in respect of the transferor or a predecessor of the transferor is (to the extent to which that act, matter or thing has any force or effect) taken to have been done or omitted by, to or in respect of the Agency;
(h)
a reference in any written law, in any instrument made under any Act, in any contract, agreement, arrangement or undertaking, or in any document of any kind to the transferor or a predecessor of the transferor, to the extent to which the reference relates to those assets or liabilities, is taken to be, or include, a reference to the Agency.
(3) The operation of this section does not —(a)
constitute a breach of, or default under, any Act or other law or otherwise a civil wrong or criminal wrong;
(b)
constitute a breach of duty of confidence (whether arising by contract, in equity, by custom, or in any other way);
(c)
constitute a breach of any contractual provision prohibiting, restricting or regulating the assignment or transfer of assets or liabilities or the disclosure of any information;
(d)
terminate an agreement or fulfil any condition that allows a person to terminate any agreement or obligation, or gives rise to any right or remedy in respect of any agreement or obligation;
(e)
cause any contract or instrument to be void or otherwise unenforceable;
(f)
frustrate any contract or releasing any surety or other obligor wholly or in part from any obligation;
(g)
release a surety or other obligee wholly or in part from an obligation; or
(h)
constitute an event of breach of, or default under, any contract or other instrument.
(4) No attornment to the Agency by a lessee from a transferor is required.
Transferring secondments and SWDA employees to Agency
67.—(1) On the transfer date, every transferring SWDA employee —(a)
stops being an employee of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency; and
(b)
is each transferred to the service, and becomes an employee, of the Agency on terms no less favourable than those enjoyed by the employee on the eve of the transfer date.
(2) The transfer of a transferring SWDA employee to the Agency —(a)
does not interrupt continuity of service;
(b)
does not constitute a retrenchment or redundancy; and
(c)
does not entitle any employee so transferred to any payment or other benefit merely because he or she stops being employed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency.
(3) A certificate purporting to be signed by the Minister certifying that an individual named in the certificate was, with effect from the transfer date, employed by virtue of this section by the Agency, is admissible in evidence in any proceedings as evidence of the matters stated in it.
(4) Nothing in this section prevents —(a)
any of the terms and conditions of employment of an individual transferred under this section from being altered by or under any law, award or agreement with effect from any time after the transfer date; and
(b)
an individual transferred under this section from resigning from the Agency at any time after the transfer date, in accordance with the terms and conditions of his or her employment then applicable.
(5) To avoid doubt, section 18A of the Employment Act 1968 does not apply to the transfer under this Part of any SWDA employee to the Agency.
(6) On the transfer date, every public officer whose services are made available (or is seconded) to the Council of Private Education under an agreement or arrangement that —(a)
is between the Government and the Council for Private Education; and
(b)
is in force on the eve of the transfer date,
continues on secondment to the Agency.
General preservation of employment terms
68.—(1) The service with the Agency of an SWDA employee transferred under section 67 (called in this section a transferred employee) must be regarded for all purposes as having been continuous with the service of the employee with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency immediately before the transfer date.
(2) On the transfer date —(a)
a transferred employee retains all accrued rights as if employment with the Agency were a continuation of employment with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency;
(b)
the liabilities of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency relating to the transferred employee’s accrued rights to annual, sick, maternity or other leave and superannuation become the liabilities of the Agency; and
(c)
a reference to the Singapore Workforce Development Agency in the contract of employment that had effect in relation to the transferred employee immediately before the transfer date is taken to be, or includes, a reference to the Agency.
(3) For any conduct while a transferred employee was employed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency which would have rendered the employee liable to be reprimanded, reduced in rank, retired, dismissed or punished by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, the Agency may —(a)
carry on and complete any disciplinary proceedings started by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency against the transferred employee if those proceedings are pending on the eve of the transfer date; and
(b)
reprimand, reduce in rank, retire, dismiss or otherwise punish a transferred employee, as if the employee were not transferred.
(4) Where, on the eve of the transfer date, any matter about the conduct of a transferred employee while employed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency —(a)
was in the course of being heard or investigated by a transferor’s committee acting under due authority; or
(b)
had been heard or investigated by a committee of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency acting under due authority but no order, ruling or direction had been made,
that committee must complete the hearing or investigation and make such order, ruling or direction as it could have made under the authority vested in it before that date, and that order, ruling or direction is to be regarded as an order, ruling or direction of the Agency.
(5) Until such time as conditions of employment are drawn up by the Agency for the transferred employees, every transferred employee is to be regarded as being employed by the Agency on the same conditions of employment applicable to the employee on the eve of the transfer date as the Singapore Workforce Development Agency.
(6) Any condition of employment relating to the length of service with the Agency must recognise the length of service of the employees so transferred while employed by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (including any previous service of the employee taken to be service with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency) to be service with the Agency.
(7) Neither the chief executive of the CPE nor the chief executive of the SWDA is by operation of this Part transferred to the position of Chief Executive of the Agency unless the Agency appoints him or her to that position under section 38.
(8) Nothing in section 67(6) —(a)
breaks the continuity of service of the public officer whose secondment continues with the Agency because of that provision; or
(b)
affects any rights, powers or immunities that such a public officer has, or the extent to which such a public officer is subject to obligations or liabilities in relation to discipline, by virtue of holding the office or position to which the officer is seconded.
Transfer of records
69. From the transfer date, the following records become the records of the Agency:(a)
all records of the Council for Private Education;
(b)
every record, or part of any record, of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency that relates to —(i)
any assets or liabilities transferred to the Agency under section 66; or
(ii)
any transferring SWDA employee.
Confirmation of transfers
70.—(1) If any dispute arises —(a)
as to whether an asset or a liability, or an employee or a record is transferred under section 66, 67 or 69; or
(b)
as to whether any, or any part of any, contract or document relates to an asset or a liability, or an employee or a record, transferred under section 66, 67 or 69,
the Minister for Finance may determine the matter and is to provide the concerned parties with written notice of that determination.
(2) The determination of the Minister for Finance under subsection (1) is final and binding on the transferor concerned and the Agency.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
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