The cabinet meeting on Tuesday 28, September 2010 has come to the following dicision:
The Cabinet approved in principle the Ministry of Finance’s draft regulation on tuition fee subsidies for children of civil servants stationed abroad (issue ...) year..., as proposed by the Ministry of Finance. The draft has been forwarded to the scrutiny committee for draft of law for verification. As for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ opinion on the draft regulation that there might be a consequence on the budget, representatives from the Budget bureau, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be invited to clarify the matter to the scrutiny committee so that the draft can proceed. Synopsis of the Draft Regulation
1. Civil servants stationed abroad, in countries, where there is not any education institution certified by the international standard or where there lies special circumstamces in the society, as listed by the Ministry of Finance, have right to request for tuition fee subsidies for their children who study in another country, that is not the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, nor Thailand. However, the authority to make a list for authorised countries lies with the Ministry of Finance (no.3 on the draft).
2. The Ministry of Finance will consider, on case-by-case basis, if the civil service considers any particular case of civil servant stationed in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, is in need of subsidies for schooling in these countries (no.3 on the draft).
3. The rate of tuition fee subsidies, according to no.1 and no.2 on the draft regulation, is 50% of the amount of tuition fee requested by the school. For no. 2 on the regulation, the rate must not be higher than half of the amount of the tuition fee requested by school in the country where civol servants are stationed at (no. 5 of the draft regulation).
The Cabinet acknowledged and approved the following 5 proposals by the Ministry of Finance.
1. The Cabinet acknowledged the the remaining credit of the 2009 executive act to borrow for the rehabilitation and stabilisation of the economy (an executive decree giving the authority to borrow to the Ministry of Finance). The Cabinet also assigned the agencies responsible for projects that have not yet compile information and report on the remaining budget for disbursement to the Comptroller General’s Department to do so immediately.
2. 17 new projects under the “Thailand: Investing from Strength to Strength 2012”, valued at 5,621.24 million Baht, have been approved for the allocation of budget from the remaining credit on the executive act giving the authority to the Ministry of Finance to borrow. Thee projects include economic projects under the “Thailand: Investing from Strength to Strength 2012” that the Cabinet earlier approved. The frame for the budget allocation designated from the frame of borrowed spending presented to the parliament in order to authorise the Ministry of Finance is 5,743.24 million Baht. However, in case any project that is under any regulatory procedure, the agency responsible for that project has to strictly follow the procedure and relevant laws.
3. The Cabinet approved the extension for the signing of the budget allocation and implementation of projects. If the responsible agencies could not proceed on schedule, the Cabinet resolved that the projects should be scraped and the allocated budget transferred to the remaining credit.
4. Reserve for the expenses for the projects under “Thailand: Investing from Strength to Strength 2012” was approved.
4.1. Creative green Park Project of the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public organisation) or DASTA, an affiliate of the Prime Minister’s Office, has been allocated with 76.8085 million Baht.
4.2. Road project of the Department of Rural Roads, under the Ministry of Transport, has been allocated 710.35 million Baht.
4.3. Improvement to the quality of life for public servants in the southern border provinces projects of the Office of the Civil Service Commission, has been allocated 85.76 million Baht. Nevertheless, any project that cannot be implemented, according to the criteria and procedure of practices under the budget allocation for “Thailand: Investing for Strength to Strength 2012” by December 2010 but has been approved by the Cabinet resolution on February 2010, the Cabinet sees it is fitting that the project gets an extension in order to complete by the end of Fiscal Year 2011.
5. The Cabinet apporoved the changes in the detail of certain projects under “Thailand: Investing for Strength to Strength 2012” and requested responsible agencis to send the information to the Budget Bureau for budget allocation. The information includes work plan and spending plan, and it needs to be completed within 15 business days after the Cabinet approved the request for change in detail of the project. The agency has to signing the contract within the same time frame as well.
Measures for the improvement in efficiency and performance of the aircraft of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources have been approved in principle, as proposed by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The Cabinet has also assigned the ministry to receive suggestions regarding aviation safety, organisation, and civil aviation regulation, in the reorganisation of the ministry’s aviation division from the Ministry of Transport.
The Cabinet endorsed the following three proposals from the Ministry of Defence.
1. The Cabinet endorsed Hanoi Joint Declaration on the First ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting - Plus.
2. If there is a need to alter or revise the detail in the part of the joint declaration that does not affect the integrity of the kingdom’s territory or the extraterritorial sovereign given by international treaty or international law and that the approval from the parliament is not necessary as it poses no widespread impact to the society or the economy from obligations in trade and investment, the Ministry of Defence has been authorise to revise it as it sees fitting.
3. The Defence Minister has been authorised to ratify the joint declaration with the ASEAN Defence Ministers. Also, the Minister of Defence has been assigned to consider the opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Cabinet endorsed the draft of the remarks of the chairman and draft of the declaration of the leadership on the global economic crisis , as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been authorised to revise the wording if it does not alter the content of the 2 documents or is in conflict with Thailand’s interest, without any further Cabinet endorsement.
--Cabinet Meeting (Abhisit Vejjajiva) September 28, 2010--