What is the Public Sector (Governance) Act (PSGA) (Amendment) Bill?

The Public Sector (Governance) Act (PSGA) (Amendment) Bill was passed in Parliament on 12 Jan 2026. The Bill introduces amendments to the PSGA to enable public sector agencies to share data with trusted external partners to fulfil their public functions and benefit Singaporeans.

What is the PSGA?

Introduced in 2018, the PSGA established a clear legal framework for public agencies to share data with one another for seven purposes^[1] supporting public interest. Since then, the PSGA has enabled public sector agencies to formulate more data-driven policies and implement schemes more quickly. For instance, backend data sharing has facilitated the automatic qualification and disbursement for various support schemes, such as the CDC Vouchers scheme and the Majulah Package.

Impetus for Amendments

Currently, the PSGA is scoped to public agencies, even if external partners have use cases that serve public sector objectives. Agencies work with these partners, who possess deeper community networks and specialised expertise, to provide more citizen-centric services. For these partnerships to work well, they need relevant data. The amendments will extend the PSGA’s legal framework with safeguards for public agencies to share data responsibly with these trusted partners to better support Singaporeans.

Key Amendments

The Bill will ensure that data shared with external partners is done with proper accountability, and in a protected and secure manner. Under the PSGA, there are three mandatory safeguards that must be met before data can be shared with external partners:

Safeguard #1: Data can only be shared with external partners for a legitimate purpose

Data can only be shared for the same public purposes that already govern inter-agency sharing today. The PSGA does not override confidentiality obligations under written law, privilege or contract.

Safeguard #2: Ministerial authorisation needed before data can be shared with external partners

The relevant Minister/delegate must specifically authorise each use case of data-sharing with trusted external partners. Authorisation must be documented and clearly state the specific purpose(s), partner(s) and scope of data to be shared.

Safeguard #3: External partners must have safeguards for data protection and data security

Terms of Use will be imposed on external partners through contractual agreements to protect and secure data. These requirements must be minimally in line with what public sector agencies are subjected to when they share data within the public sector.

Additional Measures to Deter Misconduct & Provide More Legal Clarity

1.      External partners will be liable for criminal offences if convicted to have misused shared data

Individuals from external partners convicted of such an offence will be subject to a fine of not more than $5,000 or jail term of not more than two years or both. This is aligned with data-related offences that apply to public officers under the PSGA.

2.      Public agencies may share and use data that they have for the public sector purposes specified in the PSGA

Public officers will continue to be held to data governance rules in the internal Instruction Manuals, including:

• ensuring that data access is granted only to those who need the data for legitimate purposes,

• imposing more stringent protection for sensitive data, and

• imposing data security requirements such as password protection and encryption when sharing the data.

Amended PSGA Will Help Government to Better Serve Singaporeans

The amended PSGA will enable the public sector to provide more coordinated support for Singaporeans who need it most – through better analysis, faster implementation and more effective support – while ensuring that data is used and shared responsibly with safeguards in place to prevent its misuse.

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^[1] These purposes are: (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; and/or (7) to support a whole of-government approach in the discharge of the Singapore public sector agencies’ functions.