1 Mr Xie Yao Quan asked the Minister for Education in view of the results of the Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey 2024, whether the Ministry will consider further measures to boost the proportion of fresh graduates securing full-time permanent jobs after graduation.
2 Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo asked the Minister for Education in view of the 2024 Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey which showed that salaries were higher but fewer graduates found employment within six months of completing their final exams (a) what factors are contributing to the decrease in the employment rate; (b) how do the fresh graduate employment rates vary across sectors; and (c) what is driving the increase in median salary among fresh graduates despite fewer jobs on offer.
3 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Education in respect of the Joint Autonomous Universities Graduate Employment Survey 2024, what is the Ministry doing to monitor, manage and mitigate the higher unemployment rate of fresh graduates as compared to the past two years.
\tThe Minister of State for Education (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 1, 2 and 3 in today's Order Paper, as well as related Parliamentary Questions (PQs) by Mr Pritam Singh and Mr Leong Mun Wai, which are scheduled for 10 and 11 March, together.
\tMr Speaker: Please go ahead.
Ms Gan Siow Huang: Employment rates are affected by various factors such as economic and labour market conditions. The employment rates of fresh graduates from Autonomous Universities (AUs) have remained broadly stable over the decade, with some year-to-year fluctuations due to cyclical changes.
The labour market saw a strong recovery in 2021 and 2022 post-COVID. In comparison, while the labour market was still tight, there was lower hiring demand and fewer job vacancies in 2024. We also observed some graduates taking longer to secure full-time employment in 2024. These may have contributed to the reported decrease in full-time permanent employment rate and increase in the unemployment rate of graduates from our AUs at six months post-graduation.
Even as there was a broad decline in full-time permanent employment rates, some clusters such as Health Sciences and Business continued to see strong employment outcomes. Median salaries for fresh graduates have also continued to rise, with a year-on-year increase of 4.2% in 2024, even as the total number of fresh AU graduates increased over the past five years. This indicates that employers continue to value the skills of our graduates. It also reflects the Government’s commitment to creating good jobs, especially in the growth sectors.
Beyond cyclical fluctuations, we will continue to monitor broader social trends, such as evolving market demand, changing job preferences and aspirations, including more work flexibility and higher salary expectations, that may also affect the employment of our graduates upon graduation.
Apart from the Graduate Employment Survey, which tracks employment outcomes six months after graduation, the Government also monitors medium-term outcomes of our graduates through periodic labour market surveys. These continuous efforts will enable our curriculum to remain relevant and responsive to market demand.
The AUs will continue to engage industry partners to organise industry talks and career fairs to expose students to emerging sector trends, in-demand skills and connect them with potential employers. Alongside the broad-based employment support and career guidance offered to all students and graduates, personalised career coaching is also available at the respective AUs' Career Centres. Graduates who require further support in their job search may reach out to the Career Centres, even after graduation. They may also tap on the career matching services and online resources offered by Workforce Singapore and the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC’s) Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).
Mr Speaker: Mr Xie.
\tMr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong): Thank you, Sir. And I thank the Minister of State for the reply. Two clarifications.
First, I note the Minister of State's reply that there are cyclical factors, but I wonder whether there are also structural factors at play in some of the data and trends that we are observing. Because compared to pre-COVID levels, full-time employment of graduates did go up sharply and exceeded pre-COVID levels in 2021 and 2022, as the Minister of State has also noted in her reply, as we recovered from COVID. But this regressed back to pre-COVID levels in 2023. And then in 2024, the full-time employment rate for fresh graduates has actually come in below pre-COVID levels, and quite significantly so for certain sectors. In Business, it is about five percentage points lower in 2024 compared to pre-COVID levels; in the Built Environment, seven percentage points lower in 2024; and in Engineering, five percentage points lower compared to pre-COVID levels.
And one would imagine that these are growing sectors and there should be growing demand for our graduates in these sectors. Can I ask the Minister of State what is driving this trend and are there structural factors at play?
The second clarification also on the basis of my first question, have these observations given the Ministry of Education (MOE) any cause to look at and adjust its fundamental assumptions in the determination of the number of places available in each course of study in each university going forward?
\tMs Gan Siow Huang: To put things in context, the Graduate Employment Survey provides a snapshot of graduate employment outcomes approximately six months after graduation. The employment rates for Singaporeans aged 25 to 29 have remained broadly stable over the decade along with low long-term unemployment rates. In 2024, about 95% of this age group were in full-time employment. This suggests that our graduates do not have prolonged job search difficulties. [Please refer to \"Clarification by Minister of State for Education\", Official Report, 7 March 2025, Vol 95, Issue 160, Correction By Written Statement section.]
There are fluctuations in sectoral employment rates and these are to be expected given the cyclical nature of the economy and the labour market. We will continue to work with the sector agencies to monitor these outcomes to see if there is a more persistent trend. For specific sectors, such as the Built Environment and Manufacturing, and in addition to the cyclical effects, these have also tended to be sectors that have faced greater challenges attracting graduates into the sector. There are ongoing efforts by the sector agencies and industry to review how they can better attract graduates into these sectors.
On the second question, to ensure that our graduates are equipped with skills that are needed to access good employment opportunities, MOE regularly reviews together with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Manpower the forecasts of sectors' investments and from there, adjusts the university places for each course. This takes into account the employment prospects of graduates from various disciplines alongside national manpower needs and of course, the students' interests.
Mr Speaker: Ms Jessica Tan.
\tMs Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Can I just ask two clarifications from the Minister of State? It is with regard to the higher median salary in the third question of my original PQ. What is driving the higher median salary? Is it a demand for higher skills? Just as the hon Member, Mr Xie had highlighted, is there a skills gap, because there is greater demand in certain sectors for jobs, and employers are facing difficulty filling those. At the same time, our fresh graduates are facing problems. So, is there a skills gap? And also, what is driving the higher median salary?
\tMs Gan Siow Huang: The higher median salary that we are seeing reflects the market trends and also how more of our graduates are being drawn to the growth sectors. Over the years we have also adjusted the university places in courses that we deem to have higher market demand, as well as high interest of our students. So, actually, in terms of absolute numbers of our fresh graduates from the AUs, it has grown over the last five years. And we see that more are going to the growth sectors with higher salaries. Hence, there is this increase in median salaries of our graduates as a whole.
To the Member's question, whether there could be skills gap, our universities always work with the sector agencies and industry leaders to look at the skills required for the jobs that are available today. We try as well to project ahead what might be the future skills. It takes about three to four years in the universities for our students before they graduate. And it is therefore important that we always update the curriculum to make sure that our graduates are equipped with the relevant skills by the time they graduate.
Also, in my earlier point, in response to Mr Xie Yao Quan's question, the Graduate Employment Survey just gives us a snapshot at the six-month mark. We do know that amongst those who responded that they were unemployed after six months of graduation, actually, about half of them had received job offers, and about I think two-thirds of this group that received job offers that had still not yet started work, they were going to start work in due course. And the remaining one-third of this group that had job offers reject the job offers for various reasons.
So, the texture is not as straightforward as what is seen. We will continue to do our best to support every graduate out there to be able to find a job that suits their needs.
Mr Speaker: Mr Patrick Tay.
\tMr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (Pioneer): Sir, just one clarification with the Minister of State. In 2020 to 2022, particularly during the pandemic period, there was a sudden surge of high demand in professional services, including and especially in infocomm technology (ICT). And as a result, many in the last couple of years have embarked on Computer Science and ICT-related programmes in our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs).
However, as we can see, in the last 15 to 18 months, there is a bit of consolidation, rationalisation and restructuring, exacerbated by generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) in this sector. And many of these graduates are coming out in the next three years. How is MOE helping, and integrating possibly the Ministry of Manpower, to overcome this fear or the apprehensions of our upcoming graduates?
\tMs Gan Siow Huang: Post-COVID, we saw a sudden surge in demand for workers in ICT and also a spike in the starting salary for graduates in this sector. I recall seeing some of these headline figures, some companies offering $8,000 and above for fresh graduates from our universities going into this sector. The market has kind of stabilised in more recent times. We know that there are some graduates in ICT who are able to get employed very quickly and still being offered very high salaries. But the demand has tapered and so, we are also seeing some graduates who feel that perhaps if they wait a little bit more, they might be able to still find a job with similarly attractive high salaries.
I think there is transition going on now. We do ask our graduates who are still looking for a job to speak to career coaches and keep in touch with the Career Centres in the universities so that they are more updated on the industry trends.
On graduates who are in ICT, there is actually still a very high demand, although we also know out there in the market, there is some churn, some consolidation, some retrenchments as well. So, it is understandable that the hiring of our graduates in this sector has softened.
There are enough jobs though in our economy. And as you can see, the full-time employment rates of our employed graduates in the 25 to 29 age group remains decently high – about 95%, if I recall correctly. It means that our graduates from ICT actually do have the flexibility to go to jobs that are in adjacent sectors too.
Mr Speaker: Last supplementary question. Mr Pritam Singh.
\tMr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Obliged, Mr Speaker. Thank you to the Minister of State for the reply. My two clarifications will really be a follow-on from the question I asked last month on the Polytechnic Graduate Employment Survey 2024, which also showed fewer graduates securing full-time permanent jobs. The Minister for Education gave an extensive reply in response to that PQ.
My first clarification for the Minister of State is whether the Minister of State sees the latest Graduate Employment Survey as reflective of a perhaps longer-term secular trend of graduates at the university level finding it harder to get jobs? With reference to the Graduate Employment Survey, if we look at course clusters such as Art, Design and Media, post-COVID, 2022 to 2024, Art, Design and Media, a 11.3% drop to 60.9%; Engineering was 91.6%, dropped to 79.3%, and that is a 12.3% drop; and so forth.
So, the concern is, does the Ministry assess this potentially to be a secular issue, going forward?
The second point is with regard to the reply that the Minister for Education gave vis-a-vis the earlier PQ that I filed in February on polytechnic graduates. The Minister also made reference to university graduates and the things that are required to ensure that they get not just a good salary and a fulfilling job at the point of entry post graduation, but also through their careers. And the two points he made was first closer industry university collaboration. I think the Minister of State referred to that. But the second point he made also was about developing adjacent competencies for these graduates, and this includes those university graduates.
So, my point is, can we foresee at the MOE level for there to be a review of course curriculum, course structure to develop these adjacent competencies in a more structured and directed manner? So, it is not a question of doing one extra module or two extra modules in an adjacent subject, for example, like human resources (HR), but more directed courses to ensure that in the event a graduate cannot find a place in his primary course of study, there is something parallel, which potentially could provide good job opportunities for that graduate.
\tMs Gan Siow Huang: For the two supplementary questions, I will answer the second one first. Certainly, yes, we believe in a broad-based education for our students. From the time they enter our mainstream education, we already start equipping them with different sets of skills and with some specialisation as they go into our tertiary education institutions. And even in the tertiary education institutions, students actually have the ability to choose various other modules beyond their specialised courses, so that they will have also adjacent skills that help broaden their employability.
And certainly, we will continue to review the course syllabus and offerings to our graduates. We do this in close partnership with the industry and the sector agencies. Actually, beyond the technical skills and the professional skills, it is also important to equip our graduates, whether from polytechnics, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or universities, with useful life skills, so that they are able to navigate uncertainties and also be able to pick up new knowledge and skills beyond graduation. And I think that is important. So, lifelong learning, getting our graduates to understand that what they have learned or picked up in the first 15 years of their education, while it is enough for them to be able or for most of them to be able to get jobs, they still need to upgrade themselves. And if they are in a sector that is disrupted due to external environmental conditions, then all the more it is important for them to have the relevant life skills and the gumption to pick up new skills.
On the first question, Mr Pritam Singh made reference to polytechnic graduates. The Minister for Education gave a very long reply. I will not repeat it. But I would like to say that while there was a decline in the graduate employment for that group, there are also more and more polytechnic graduates whom we see would want to upgrade themselves beyond a diploma. That also affects the employment outcomes for this group. So, I think it is useful for us not to over-generalise the graduate employment of our polytechnic and our university students together.
And to the question of whether it has become harder for university graduates to find a job, I explained quite extensively earlier on. The Graduate Employment Survey is just a snapshot of the employment situation at the six-month mark after graduation. I think it is important for us to take a step back and look at the employment of our Singaporean adults in the age group, say 25 to 29. What we see is that the trend has been quite stable. The employment rate is 95% and the long-term unemployment for this group is very low. [Please refer to \"Clarification by Minister of State for Education\", Official Report, 7 March 2025, Vol 95, Issue 160, Correction By Written Statement section.]
Rest assured that we will continue to look out for our graduates' employment outcomes and we are ready to make adjustments so that graduates will be able to find fulfilling jobs that meet their aspirations and needs.
Mr Speaker: Mr Singh, a short one. I would like to move to the next PQ.
\tMr Pritam Singh: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think the Minister of State may have misunderstood my first supplementary question. It was not on polytechnic graduates per se. It was about the longer-term structural trends with regard to university graduates. I referenced polytechnic graduates because the reply that Minister gave earlier in February also include the reference, not just to polytechnic graduates, but ITE graduates, university graduates as well. So, the first supplementary question was essentially about the longer-term secular trend given the numbers coming out of the Graduate Employment Survey since 2022. Does the Minister of State or the Ministry see it as a longer-term structure, secular trend in a particular direction?
\tMs Gan Siow Huang: I have also replied that for our university graduates, we look beyond the last three years. We look at the last decade. And I think it is important that we not just look at a longer timeframe to ascertain the trend and whether there is some intervention that we require, but also look at beyond the six-month mark. So, beyond six months after graduation, what is the employment and employability of our graduates? I think that is more meaningful.
Mr Speaker: Minister Chan, you wish to add on?
\tThe Minister for Education (Mr Chan Chun Sing): Speaker, Sir, I thought it is a very useful discussion today. I would just like to make a few points in response to various Members' comments and suggestions. Because yesterday we hear a suggestion for us that we should just increase the number of graduates so long as they can perhaps meet some benchmarks.
And today's discussion actually brings us back to where exactly we want to go. It is not about how many graduates we produce a year that matters most at 18 years old. What matters most, whether is it their graduates from our universities or polytechnics, is that they have the required skills to get good jobs, not just at the starting, with good starting pay, but with good trajectory. And this is the key point. Some countries, they produce over 90% of their cohort as graduates and they have quite poor employment outcomes. Some developed countries in Europe have only 20% going to universities and many of them going to trade schools, and they have very good employment outcomes.
The crux of the matter is what are the skill sets that we are equipping them with. That is most important. And it is not just about having everybody go to university, because we all want to go after the paper chase. So, this is my first point.
The second point is that indeed we must always monitor the long-term secular trends and the short-term cyclical trends. For us to produce a graduate, whether in polytechnic or university, it takes us three to four years, so we cannot be responding to the short-term trends always. It takes us four years to produce a graduate. So, when we design our courses, we must have a long-term perspective of what are the skill sets that are required by the market, not in the next one to two years, but in the next five to 10 years. And more importantly, what are the adjacent skill sets that will allow our people to pivot to new jobs that may be created and may not be even in existence today. And that is how we must work closely with our industry.
So, I would just like to register the point that together with yesterday's discussion, it is not about chasing the numbers of graduates. Certainly, it is about equipping our graduates regardless of their age with the relevant skills.
Mr Speaker: Mr Singh. Okay, really, last one. I actually really hope we can get to the next block of questions.
\tMr Pritam Singh: Sir, maybe then, I can take this offline with the Minister. Then, we can move on.
Mr Speaker: That would be appreciated. Mr Xie Yao Quan.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Investigation into Montfort School Bullying Incident and Standardising Punishment Framework for School Bullying Cases","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"4 Mr Xie Yao Quan asked the Minister for Education whether the Ministry can provide an update on the actions taken by Montfort Secondary School in response to a recent bullying incident in the school.
5 Mr Xie Yao Quan asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry will be minded to adopt a clear zero-tolerance stance towards bullying in our schools; (b) whether the Ministry will be minded to (i) set up a centralised investigation unit and (ii) standardise and centrally administer a framework for punishment and rehabilitation to deal with egregious cases of bullying in our schools; and (c) if not, why not.
6 Ms Hazel Poa asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry has launched an investigation into the bullying case at Montfort Secondary School; and (b) if so, what is the outcome of the investigation.
7 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Education what actions can the school take and what can the Ministry provide as a recourse to victims and their families if the bullying behaviour of a student continues even after police reports have been filed, the school's leadership informed and the bully’s parents notified.
\t
Mr Speaker: Minister Maliki, I hope your answer is about four minutes, because that is all the time we have.
The Second Minister for Education (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman): I will try. It is an important question.
Mr Speaker: You have to, because Question Time is 30 minutes.
Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Okay, Mr Speaker. I beg your indulgence. May I have your permission to respond to Question Nos 4 to 7 in today's Order Paper?
Mr Speaker: Go ahead.
Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Thank you, Mr Speaker. And my response will also address the written question filed by Mr Leong Mun Wai, which is scheduled for a subsequent Sitting.
Mr Speaker, I first want to thank Members for their concern for the well-being of our students. We all are very concerned about the well-being of our students.
On the Monfort Secondary School fighting incident, the Ministry of Education (MOE) issued a media statement on 3 March 2025 about the outcome of the school’s investigations and the actions taken by the school. So, I invite Members to seek clarifications if needed, if we have time.
For Members who asked about MOE’s processes for handling bullying incidents, these have been comprehensively detailed in MOE’s Parliamentary response on 14 October 2024. These remain relevant. However, most of this work happens behind the scenes in schools, and members of the public may not be aware of the actions taken. So, today, I would like to highlight some additional points to make clear MOE’s approach in handling bullying and fighting incidents.
Let me first start by reiterating that any form of hurtful behaviour is not acceptable and has no place in our schools. However, I would also point out that when any incident of fighting or bullying is shared online, for example, via a social media post or a video, usually a one-sided story is presented, from a particular perspective. While we would hope that members of the public can remember that what they see or read online may not present the full facts of the case, people often react emotively to what they see online and form quick judgments on what happened, or who was in the right or wrong in that incident. Hence, let me put forth what MOE and schools do when handling such incidents.
When an incident is reported, the school will conduct thorough investigations to understand the facts before deciding on the appropriate course of action – which could include both disciplinary and rehabilitative actions. If a Police report is filed, the school will also assist the Police in their investigations, including supporting their staff and students who may be called up for questioning. For serious cases, perpetrators will face legal consequences in accordance with the law.
MOE and schools would prefer to handle each case sensitively to provide space and privacy for the students involved to learn from their mistakes and grow from the experience. However, if a case is made public online and the information provided is unduly skewed such that it causes public concern, damages the reputation of other parties, and/or seek to promote one’s side of the story even though the accuser may not be totally innocent, MOE may have to put out the facts of the case to provide a balanced view of the entire incident, including the actions of all who were involved, based on the school’s investigations. This is to be fair to our educators and all parties involved.
MOE may also put out information on the actions taken against all parties who share responsibility for the incident – the initiator who started the fight, and others who retaliated or joined in subsequently. Bystanders and those who recorded the incident and shared the recordings online will also be called out, counselled and punished if necessary. This is to remind them not to do so, to avoid further hurting the ones who are involved and to highlight to them that by sharing the recordings, they are endorsing the acts and are complicit to the act. This will also mitigate the impulse to normalise or chase the extremes in the contest to circulate ever more startling videos and content.
While firm actions will be taken to address the parties involved in each incident, the school will also use the opportunity as a teaching moment for all its students.
Mr Speaker and Members, this is also a teaching moment for us and the whole of our community. We cannot form good conclusions from a video snippet. So, I thank you for your concern for our students. Let us work together to protect schools as a safe space for our children to learn from their mistakes to change and to grow.
Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question Time. Introduction of Government Bills.
[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), provided that Members had not asked for questions standing in their names to be postponed to a later Sitting day or withdrawn, written answers to questions not reached by the end of Question Time are reproduced in the Appendix.]
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[(proc text) presented by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Eric Chua) on behalf of the Minister for Social and Family Development, read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available Sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Anti-Money Laundering and Other Matters (Estate Agents and Developers) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BI","content":"[(proc text) \"to amend the Estate Agents Act 2010, the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act 1965 and the Sale of Commercial Properties Act 1979 to give effect to certain recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force, and for related matters\", (proc text)]
[(proc text) presented by the Second Minister for National Development (Ms Indranee Rajah) read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available Sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. (proc text)]
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[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Committee of Supply – Head S (Ministry of Manpower)","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
[(proc text) Head S (cont) – (proc text)]
[(proc text) Resumption of Debate on Question [6 March 2025], (proc text)]
[(proc text) \"That the total sum to be allocated for Head S of the Estimates be reduced by $100.\" – [Mr Desmond Choo]. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Question again proposed. (proc text)]
The Chairman: Mr Louis Ng. Please take your two cuts together.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Many in the LGBTQ+ community are relieved that Minister confirmed that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is covered under the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP). This position is now reflected in Hansard on the Parliament website but strangely, not on the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) website.
When someone faces discrimination or is handling a complaint about discrimination, do we really believe they will search the Parliament website on whether the discrimination is covered or will they search the TAFEP website?
It would mean the world to the LGBTQ+ community if the TAFEP website can finally explicitly state that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is covered under TGFEP, along with the other characteristics that TAFEP already lists on its website, including age, race, gender, religion, marital status and family responsibility.
Next, many of us in this House have been fighting hard for parent care leave. We have been asking serious questions of why legislate childcare leave but not parent care leave. Are we signalling that looking after our children is more important than looking after our parents? Why provide parent care leave to all civil servants but not others? It cannot only be that civil servants need to look after their parents.
The Government has said repeatedly that we are an ageing population. The younger generation not only has to bear the tax burden but they will also need time to look after their parents, especially when they are ill. All Singaporeans need parent care leave and depend on us to legislate this so that all companies will provide parent care leave just like how childcare leave is provided and mandated.
Miss Rachel Ong (West Coast): As companies enforce return-to-office measures, many caregivers, especially single adults supporting elderly parents and parents of children with severe disabilities, face growing uncertainty. For them, flexible work is not a convenience but a necessity for balancing caregiving and financial stability. Single caregivers form the backbone of informal caregiving, often juggling full-time jobs at the cost of career progression and retirement security. Some are even forced to leave the workforce entirely.
Since my 2022 speech on supporting single caregivers, we have seen progress. HDB now prioritises singles buying flats near elderly parents, and businesses must process flexible work requests, for which we are very grateful.
Yet, these policies fall short of guaranteeing approvals, leaving caregivers in limbo. Likewise, for parents of children with severe disabilities, flexible work is essential, not a preference. Without firm policies, many risk losing employment. How will the Government ensure that caregivers, especially singles supporting elderly parents and parents of children with disabilities, can remain in the workforce while meeting their caregiving responsibilities despite return-to-office mandates?
Ms Yeo Wan Ling (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Caregivers have shared that flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are their most preferred form of support in balancing work and caregiving. The launch of the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests (TG-FWAR) in April 2024 is a significant milestone in this effort. These guidelines are designed to address the fact that every caregiver’s needs are unique, and that these needs may evolve depending on job requirements and business realities.
With more than 70% of Singapore companies already offering some form of FWAs, the focus going forward must be to normalise FWAs and the requests for them. FWAs implemented must be sustainable and create win-win outcomes for both employers and employees alike. Progressive practices, which include setting up clear outcome-based KPIs for employees, implementing more frequent and regular check-ins with staff, and upskilling or equipping human resources personnel with current FWA practices must also be encouraged. More resources must also be availed to lesser resourced small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on implementing programmes and policies for the long-term sustainability of FWAs.
Some progressive employers have started to work with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) on the creation of employee attraction and retention programmes using FWAs, such as the NTUC C U Back at Work Programme (CUB). The CUB programme helps caregivers, especially women, return to work with flexible work options and flexible training schedules and, of course, an attractive pay package and, to date, we have placed close to 1,000 cubbies in the programme. We believe that the CUB and other FWA-centric programmes can be extended to help pregnant and/or single mothers to stay in the workforce and hope to expand the programme to cover such underserved segments of women and to include more professional, manager, executive and technician (PMET) roles.
I ask the Ministry for an update on the TG-FWAR and whether it can consider measuring its impact on women returning to work, given that employers and employees are not required to report outcomes. In addition, what can the Ministry do to support more flexible work opportunities to open employment options for more underserved segments of women, such as pregnant mothers, in a bid to promote more inclusive workspaces.
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Koh Poh Koon.
The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Dr Koh Poh Koon): Mr Chairman, I will now speak about the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) efforts to empower workers to build career health at all stages of their lives. I will touch on four groups: first, for the broad base of workers, we will help you build up your career health and resilience; second, for those who lose their jobs involuntarily, we will support you to bounce back into employment; third, for our senior workers, we will do more to uplift your productive longevity; fourth, for our migrant workers, we will continue to support and improve their well-being.
Our workers start from a good position. In the past year, we have enjoyed higher-than-expected economic growth and favourable labour market outcomes. Resident employment grew and median real income rose in 2024, reversing the previous year’s decline.
We must continue to embrace innovation so that workers can progress into better jobs and businesses can generate growth that uplifts all Singaporeans. We must also develop a future-ready workforce that can navigate changes in the job landscape and compete for good jobs.
Let me start with how we are supporting the broad base of workers to build their career health. Forward SG identified career agility and resilience as a key focus in our refreshed social compact. In this age of change and disruption, we need better awareness of our career prospects, keep our skills relevant, stay on top of the competition and seize new opportunities. To empower our workers to do so, we have launched Career Health SG, a nationwide initiative to help workers take charge of their careers and achieve their career aspirations.
How do we take charge of our career health? Well, just as we look after our physical health by eating healthily, exercising regularly and having periodic medical check-ups, we encourage all Singaporeans to take charge of their own career health through three simple steps.
First, assess. Just as we go for regular health screenings, we should regularly assess our career prospects and skillsets. Instead of waiting till something goes wrong, we should take proactive steps to identify our skills gaps and career opportunities.
Second, chart. Just as we develop exercise and diet routines, we should chart our career and training goals. We need to constantly review and update these career plans based on changes in the labour market and our stage of life.
Finally, execute. We need to act on our plans to seek better jobs, upgrade our skills and stay competitive in the job market.
So, assess, chart, execute – or ACE. By taking these three steps to take charge of one’s career health, we can ace our careers with better jobs, better wages and greater resilience.
To empower workers in this three-step journey, we are supporting our workers with jobs and skills insights to help them make informed training and career decisions. The CareersFinder feature on the MyCareersFuture portal is one example of this. CareersFinder harnesses Government data and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide workers with personalised guidance and recommendations for suitable jobs based on their skills and expertise, and training opportunities based on their career goals.
More than 55,000 individuals have used CareersFinder since its launch. We have seen encouraging signs of users broadening their job search horizons. Users have applied for a wider range of occupations, almost 40% more, after using CareersFinder.
Mr Gerald Giam highlighted the need to go beyond digital tools to support jobseekers with personalised and effective career coaching. For those who prefer in-person guidance, we have taken steps to make quality career guidance more accessible. We have piloted Polaris, where employed individuals can receive personalised career guidance from professionally certified career coaches.
Since November 2023, Polaris has benefited more than 620 individuals. Over 90% reported gaining clearer direction and higher confidence in planning their own careers. One such participant is Ms Joanne Wang, the Regional Head of Marketing at Timezone. At 39, Joanne signed up for Polaris to better plan for her career and improve her management skills. With advice from her WSG career coach, she decided to pick up professional coaching to further develop herself and her team. In doing so, she boosted her team performance and her own career satisfaction.
Jobseekers can also receive support from WSG’s Volunteer Career Advisors, who draw from their own industry expertise to provide peer-level support and career advisory. Under this initiative, individuals can receive sector- and occupation-specific insights to help them plan for their career or transition into new roles.
We also want to make quality career guidance even more accessible to all workers. Some may hesitate to go for career guidance because they are concerned about the cost and are uncertain about the quality of service providers.
Mr Patrick Tay and Mr Yip Hon Weng proposed to allow the use of SkillsFuture Credits for career coaching.
We are pleased to share that we have extended the use of the base tier of SkillsFuture Credits, which comprises the $500 opening credit and the one-off $500 top-up that was given in 2020, to all eligible career guidance services endorsed by Workforce Singapore (WSG). For a start, these credits can be used to offset Polaris' fees. The list of endorsed providers will be expanded progressively, to help workers access quality career guidance.
Beyond career guidance, Mr Gerald Giam also emphasised the importance of quality career matching services. As announced by the Prime Minister at the Budget, we will be expanding localised job matching to all Community Development Councils. This will enable jobseekers to find work near their homes to help them to balance work with personal commitments.
This will contribute to the diverse range of services in the employment facilitation landscape. These services support all jobseekers, including those returning after a career break. The services include: (a) career matching services offered by WSG’s Careers Connect, NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) Career Centres, and Jobs and Skills Centres; as well as (b) services provided by WSG's appointed career-matching providers, like Ingeus and AKG.
WSG also works with employers to reskill and place individuals into good growth jobs under programmes, like the Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs) and Mid-Career Pathways Programme.
In 2024 alone, these programmes placed more than 56,000 jobseekers into jobs. Through these efforts, we hope to empower our workers to achieve their career goals. Workers must also play their part to proactively upkeep their skills, regularly review their career plans and seize good job opportunities at every stage of their careers.
Employers too, must play a role. Investing in career health is a win-win for employers and workers. Employers who do so can better attract and retain talent, sharpen their competitive edge and grow their businesses.
Assoc Prof Razwana Begum asked how we can support employers to promote lifelong learning and skills development for their employees.
The Government has continued to strengthen support for employers to invest in the career health of their workers, such as through WSG's CCPs. These programmes have resulted in tangible career outcomes for employees. A recent study by MOM economists found that the Place-and-Train CCPs increased participants' wages by more than 2% in the year of placement, with the impact rising to over 6% in the subsequent years. Participants also improved their employment retention compared to non-participants.
This shows that our efforts to reskill workers have an extended, positive impact on their wages and career longevity.
Beyond supporting employers, we are also working hand-in-hand with employers to co-develop effective solutions. Last year, MOM and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) concluded the Alliance for Action (AfA) on Widening Access to Talent, which worked with businesses, and trade associations and chambers to develop practical solutions for skills-based hiring and workforce agility.
A key recommendation was to build employers' capabilities to guide employees in developing their skills and careers. This entailed providing resources for employers to engage their employees in meaningful career development conversations. In line with this recommendation, WSG has been piloting workshops for human resource (HR) professionals and line managers, to equip them to implement better-structured career conversations in their own organisations.
The AfA also found that employers who implemented an internal marketplace to support talent visibility and internal mobility better retained talent. One of the AfA member firms, Salesforce, introduced a Talent Community Platform with personalised career recommendations, training and resources for employees to navigate career paths within the company. As a result, Salesforce enjoyed higher talent retention amidst fierce competition, with their employees better able to plan for their careers and upkeep their skills.
MOM is working closely with tripartite and industry partners on resources to enable more employers, especially our SMEs, to implement their own internal marketplaces.
For employers to implement these recommendations successfully, they will need to strengthen their HR to move beyond support functions to play a more strategic role in championing workforce transformation. This means taking proactive steps to identify critical and emerging skills, and charting plans to fill those gaps in their companies through hiring and workforce development. Employers can tap on resources by the Institute for Human Resource Professionals, such as their job redesign playbook, to meet these increased demands on HR.
We will continue to support employers to strengthen HR capabilities under the Tripartite Workgroup on Human Capital Capability Development that the Minister just announced.
We will need the strong support of employers to uplift the career health of our workers and will continue to explore new ways to enable employers to do this while meeting their business needs. For example, MOM and SkillsFuture Singapore rolled out the Careers and Skills Passport, and are working with partners, like JobStreet, to use Government-verified jobs and skills data to facilitate job application and hiring. We encourage HR practitioners to tap on these initiatives to better understand their employees' skills profile. This will support training, development and deployment, and better support your business growth.
Few countries have invested in such a holistic and integrated set of efforts to support career planning and workforce development. This underscores our continued commitment to empower Singaporeans to thrive amid economic uncertainty.
Even as our workers build their career health and make progress along their career plans, life, unfortunately, can present curveballs. In a more volatile economic environment, more may face career disruptions due to factors beyond one's control. Therefore, to empower those who lose their jobs involuntarily to bounce back into employment, the Prime Minister announced the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme (JS scheme) last year.
The JS scheme is not just a safety net that stops one from falling but is instead designed to act as a trampoline that helps one to bounce back. Together with other SkillsFuture programmes, the JS scheme helps individuals better navigate their job search to regain employment, instead of rushing into ill-fitting jobs due to immediate financial pressures.
The JS scheme targets lower- and middle-income workers, and will provide eligible jobseekers with financial support of up to $6,000 over six months. This will help them to get through setbacks and bounce back stronger.
We will be setting aside more than $200 million for the scheme and expect around 60,000 individuals to be eligible for the scheme each year. This accounts for more than 60% of those involuntarily unemployed.
During my time as Deputy Secretary-General in the Labour Movement, I encountered brothers and sisters who faced retrenchment. Being retrenched can have a profound emotional impact, often triggering a mix of shock, fear, anger and even shame. Many shared with me that they experienced a deep sense of loss, not just of job or income but also of identity and purpose. Some may feel a loss of self-worth, especially if their job was tied closely to their sense of identity.
During our Forward Singapore conversations, participants shared that instead of just giving handouts, a well-structured job seeking process that provides professional career facilitation support can help them regain their confidence as they navigate the job market. The JS Scheme is therefore more than just financial payouts and a job. It includes a simple and easy framework to guide jobseekers along the activities that they should embark on, to equip themselves to find a job and re-enter the working world with confidence. This framework, called the \"jobseeker support activities-based system\", will guide our jobseekers towards re-employment.
Mr Yip Hon Weng and Mr Patrick Tay asked for more details on what the activities-based system will entail. With your permission, Mr Chairman, may I ask the Clerks to distribute a handout illustrating how this system will work.
The Chairman: Please go ahead. [A handout was distributed to hon Members.]
Dr Koh Poh Koon: Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL App. As Members can see, jobseekers will be guided to complete meaningful activities like attending a career fair, updating their resume and going for career coaching. We have carefully curated these activities based on user research with jobseekers. Jobseekers have shared with us that the framework is useful in helping them to regain employment.
This activities-based system is also designed to ensure that jobseekers do not have to go through this journey alone. They can tap on WSG's resources and speak to WSG's career coaches, allowing them to benefit from professional guidance. Through these touchpoints, jobseekers will be more assured that they are on the right track to re-entering employment.
As jobseekers embark on these activities as part of their job search journey, we hope to build up their confidence. And when jobseekers eventually return to work, we hope they will regain their sense of identity and self-worth.
Let me illustrate how the JS scheme will work. Take Mr Lim, who is retrenched from his job due to company restructuring. The Taskforce for Responsible Retrenchment and Employment Facilitation makes concerted efforts to reach out to all affected retrenched workers, such as Mr Lim, to offer career matching services. Through this, Mr Lim books an appointment with a WSG career coach who provides him with advice on job applications based on his skills. He also applies and joins the JS scheme following the advice from his career coach.
During this period, Mr Lim makes use of the comprehensive employment facilitation support offered under the scheme, such as career coaching, SkillsFuture courses and career fairs. He also updates his resume and applies for jobs that match his skills, including those in less familiar roles or sectors.
By making good use of the comprehensive support under the activities-based system, Mr Lim receives the guidance and financial support needed to build up his career health and bounce back into a well-fitting job. Equipped with new skills and having found a new job, Mr Lim regains his sense of purpose and self-worth.
Throughout the process, Mr Lim is also able to focus on rebuilding his career, as the JS scheme provides him temporary financial support of up to $6,000 over six months. But I want to emphasise that the JS scheme should not be viewed in isolation. The Government, in fact, has in place various other schemes to provide financial support for those undergoing substantial reskilling or experiencing financial hardships.
For example, if Mr Lim enrols in long-form training while job searching, he can apply for both the JS scheme and the SkillsFuture Level-up Programme. Over a six-month period, he will receive up to $21,000, comprising $15,000 of training allowance and $6,000 of JS scheme support.
Jobseekers from households with financial difficulties may also receive additional social assistance from ComCare based on their needs.
The JS scheme will be launched in mid-April 2025 and WSG will be sharing more information on the application process ahead of its launch. Involuntarily unemployed individuals can also visit WSG and NTUC e2i's centres island-wide for support in their job search.
The JS scheme will be an added boost to Singapore's ecosystem of support for unemployed individuals, empowering them to take ownership in navigating a difficult chapter of their lives, to emerge with better outcomes. The key is providing jobseekers with financial assistance, complemented by a robust ecosystem of training and employment facilitation support. This way, we can strengthen our workers' career health and their longer-term prospects, and help them to rebuild their confidence to pursue better jobs and make bolder career moves.
This is part of our desired social compact, where the Government will support you through difficult times, while you take personal responsibility and make an effort to overcome career setbacks and bounce back stronger. Together, we will get through every setback.
Sir, let me now speak about our senior workers, a group that has dedicated their lives to nation-building and deserve special attention. Our population is ageing, and seniors today are living longer and healthier lives. We want to enable seniors to continue working if they wish to, so that they can contribute their expertise and accumulate more savings for retirement. This will also help employers meet manpower needs in a tight labour market.
Our policies over the past decade have paved the way for seniors to work longer. Last year, we announced that the retirement and re-employment ages will be raised to 64 and 69 respectively in 2026. This keeps us on track to meet our eventual goal of raising them to 65 and 70 respectively by 2030.
I am heartened that our Government and tripartite partners are taking the lead to implement the increases ahead of the national schedule. The Public Service and NTUC will be raising their retirement and re-employment ages to 64 and 69 this year, and SNEF has implemented the eventual goal of 65 and 70 since 2021. I encourage all employers to start preparing for next year's increases.
As seniors work, we will also help them save more for retirement. Since 2022, we have been implementing the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers' recommendation to increase Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rates for senior workers.
As the Prime Minister had announced at the Budget, the CPF contribution rates for those aged above 55 to 65 will increase further by 1.5 percentage points in 2026. At the same time, the Government will extend the CPF Transition Offset for another year. This will help ease the transition for employers by covering half of the increase in employer contributions for 2026.
We will continue to enhance our current measures to enable our seniors to work longer. Today, the Senior Employment Credit provides up to 7% in wage offsets to employers who hire Singaporeans aged 60 and above earning below $4,000 a month. Since its introduction in 2021, more than 117,000 employers have benefited from the scheme, hiring over 514,000 senior workers, and around $1 billion has been disbursed.
As the Prime Minister announced at Budget, we will extend the Senior Employment Credit by one year to 2026. In line with the increase in the re-employment age to 69 in 2026, the qualifying age for the highest Senior Employment Credit wage support tier of 7% will also be raised to 69, up from 68 today. We hope this assures employers that the Government will support you to prepare for our ageing workforce.
Our efforts to help seniors extend their career runways have paid off. Our labour force participation rate for those aged 60 to 69 was 59.7% in 2024, up from 55.8% in 2019. We are proud to rank alongside the top five Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
But there is more that can be done. Today, seniors are leaving the labour force before 65, with many leaving in their 50s. Our labour force participation rate falls from 86% for those aged 50 to 54, to 67.9% for those aged 60 to 64, a stark decrease of about 18 percentage points.
This is due to various reasons. Some wish to slow down and focus on family or personal commitments. Others have not worked for some time and may need to refresh their skills to return to the workforce.
Mr Yip Hon Weng and Mr Sharael Taha have highlighted that all stakeholders must play their part to effect broader societal shifts to support senior employment. Workers will need to embrace career changes over longer working lives. Employers will need to redesign jobs and build capabilities for a multi-generational workforce. The Government will enable these shifts by working with our tripartite partners to develop targeted measures to drive senior employment.
This is the impetus behind the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment, which I will be chairing alongside NTUC Deputy Secretary-General and Senior Minister of State Desmond Tan and SNEF's Vice President Ms Tan Hwee Bin. As announced by the Prime Minister at Budget, this will be a significant tripartite effort to review and refresh our approach towards senior employment. It signals our tripartite commitment to co-creating solutions that meet the needs of workers and employers.
The Workgroup will focus on two key objectives. First, to empower senior workers to be productive and employable. With longer working lives, workers will need to continually upkeep their skills and remain open to trying new things in their late-stage careers. Mr Desmond Choo and Mr Xie Yao Quan asked about what more we can do to train and place our senior workers. Through the Workgroup, we will study better tailoring such services to suit seniors' preferences and needs. For a start, WSG and its partners will provide targeted career guidance workshops for seniors to help them better plan for their later-stage careers.
Second, to promote age-friendly jobs and multi-generational workplaces. We want to support multi-stage careers, where workers can adjust their workload based on their needs and aspirations. For example, Mr Desmond Choo and Mr Mark Lee suggested to scale up job redesign and fractionalised work that caters to senior workers. We will explore these ideas and much more under the Workgroup.
To kickstart this journey, the Workgroup will convene an Alliance for Action (AfA) on Empowering Multi-Stage Careers for Mature Workers. This AfA will bring together diverse stakeholders to co-create new ideas and pilot innovative ways to make workplaces more age-friendly. This echoes Mr Sharael Taha's point on going beyond schemes to shift workplace culture. Instead of adopting a top-down approach, we want to take each step in collaboration with our stakeholders, so that positive change can truly take root and bear fruit.
The AfA will work towards two goals. First, we will engage citizens from all walks of life to develop insights on the challenges and opportunities of an ageing workforce. We will hear from current and future seniors, as well as management and HR professionals representing employers of different sizes and sectors. By engaging widely, we can hear directly from stakeholders and build an enduring social compact together.
Second, we will work closely with employers to prototype innovative solutions to better support senior employment. Participating employers will receive funding and consultancy support to develop new models customised to their business needs. We will be opening applications to join the AfA soon, and I encourage all interested employers to sign up and be pathfinders for your industries. In turn, the insights from the AfA will inform our approach towards senior employment.
Mr Chairman, allow me to say a few words in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Since 2022, we have been gradually increasing CPF contribution rates for senior workers to help them save more for retirement. In 2026, the CPF contribution rates for those aged above 55 to 65 will increase by 1.5%. To help ease the transition for employers, we will also extend the CPF Transition Offset scheme for one year, which will cover half of the increase in employer contributions for 2026.
To better empower seniors who wish to continue working, we will set up a Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment this year, to review and refresh our senior employment policies. We will engage citizens and employers to better understand the challenges of an ageing workforce and identify ways to better harness the potential of senior workers. We will also pilot new ideas to enable senior workers to continue contributing at their desired pace.
(In English): Sir, another group we want to support is our migrant workers. We have made significant moves to improve their well-being in recent years.
Mr Louis Ng suggested increasing penalties for employment kickbacks. The collection of kickbacks is a serious offence, which MOM takes a firm stance against. The Ministry will not hesitate to press for the maximum penalties if a case warrants it. To date, the Courts have imposed substantial fines of $10,000 to $15,000 per charge or imprisonment terms.
On top of these penalties, the Courts will order offenders to surrender the monies they received from the affected worker if no restitution can be made. This ensures that offenders cannot retain the illegal kickbacks. We will continue to work closely with our stakeholders to stamp out kickbacks and ensure that our migrant workers are treated fairly.
Mr Chairman, in conclusion, the Government will be implementing several measures to empower Singaporeans of all walks of life to build their career health and seize good job opportunities. We will uplift different segments of our workforce so that no one is left behind.
We will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners and other stakeholders to develop a competitive workforce and support employers in their business growth. Together, we can sustain our economic growth and build a shared future for all Singaporeans.
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad.
The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Zaqy Mohamad): With your permission, Mr Chairman, may I ask the Clerks to distribute the handout detailing our efforts to support lower-wage workers? Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL app.
The Chairman: Yes, go ahead. [A handout was distributed to hon Members.]
Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Thank you. Mr Chairman, for many years, tripartism has been the critical success factor to raising the incomes and skills of our lower-wage workers. This helps narrow the gap with the median and, at the same time, keeps this sustainable for businesses.
How has Singapore achieved this? Under the Progressive Wage Model (PWM), which was introduced in 2014, wage requirements are negotiated by tripartite consensus among unions, employees, employers and the Government. This results in meaningful wage increases for our lower-wage workers. Increases are set at a pace that is sustainable for employers and mapped out over a period, which gives predictability for contracting and business planning.
What does this mean for Singapore's workers and businesses and why does PWM work? PWM works because we do not just rely on a minimum wage line to boost wages – but we rely on PWMs that boost wages for workers across different sectors and occupations.
Negotiated PWMs are impactful because we can optimise wage increments in different sectors, taking into consideration workforce productivity, sectoral growth and business transformation. From a holistic perspective, this means that we can maximise the wage growth potential of different sectors, such as security, waste management and others, and help our workers and their wages to grow.
PWM is not just about wages. It is also about mapping out skills and career pathways. This supports productivity improvements and provides workers with progression prospects.
Collectively, PWM sets the pace for wage growth, with Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) shoring up as our last line. We have a progressive and sustainable system, one that works, unlike a traditional minimum wage system. PWMs form a network of ladders in the ecosystem, leading the way to improve the wage outcomes for our lower-wage workers.
Tripartism is, therefore, our \"secret sauce\" in providing that balance that, in doing so, we keep businesses sustainable, so that they can continue to hire workers and can sustain their wage growth over time.
We cannot take this balance for granted, nor should allow politics to take over and start auctioning minimum wage levels. We have seen how this has played out in many countries – a blunt minimum wage line determined by politics, or rather, auctioned by politics just to win elections.
Some are unsustainable and fail to be implemented; others are pushed through but the industry cannot keep pace. So, businesses just hire fewer workers or reduce their work hours. So, businesses lose out and workers lose out. Our tripartite partners are keenly aware of these drawbacks and therefore, for PWM, we negotiate outcomes in the best interests of our people's livelihoods and a sustainable economy.
In fact, why offer our Singapore lower-wage workers the minimum when they can already benefit from progressive wages today? Minimum versus progressive. Our suite of Progressive Wage measures – the PWM, LQS and the Progressive Wage Mark accreditation scheme – now benefit up to nine in 10 lower-wage workers today.
Mr Melvin Yong asked about the impact of our efforts and I am proud to share that our tripartite efforts have yielded good, tangible outcomes. Lower-wage workers have consistently seen strong wage growth.
From 2019 to 2024, real wages at the 20th percentile rose cumulatively by 5.9%, higher than the median worker at 3.6%. If Members will refer to the handout distributed, our Lower-wage Workers Chart, you will find a chart of all of our lower-wage workers' wage growth that is coming up, in the coming years, especially in the different sectors.
And for sectors like security, for example, we have seen very good and strong progress. When it started in 2016, the PWM requirement was $1,300. Today, it is $2,870 and, by 2028, our security officers will have a minimum PWM markline of $3,530. That, I think, shows how progressive PWM is today.
It means that even though costs of living rose, the wages of our lower-wage workers rose even more. So, the wage gap between lower-wage workers and the median worker is also narrowing, even while median wages continue to rise.
In fact, a big part of this growth took place in the last three years, when tripartite partners agreed to expand PWM to three additional sectors and to two additional occupations. In the Department of Statistics' (DOS') latest report, income inequality in Singapore, as measured by the Gini coefficient, has declined steadily over the last decade. So, this bucks the trend, compared to many other countries where income wage gaps are widening. Here, we have seen the Gini coefficient reduced and I would like to think that PWM had played a role in this, too.
Sir, household income per member has also risen in real terms for households in the lowest 20% income group. So, I am hopeful that this will continue in the coming years. And this is a reflection of the tripartite partners' relentless efforts – our partners from the union, our partners from the employers, and as well as partners from the Government – for their unwavering commitment. I would like to applaud everyone involved for their contributions.
Besides tripartite partners to drive wage growth, the Government also provides lower-wage workers with additional support through the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme, what we typically know as Workfare, and we have enhanced this further.
From January 2025, the qualifying monthly income cap for WIS has been increased from $2,500 to $3,000. And this ensures that WIS continues to help workers in the bottom 20th income percentiles, with some support for those slightly above.
WIS payments have also been increased. The maximum payment has been raised to $4,900 per year, up from $4,200. Those aged 60 and above will benefit from this highest payment tier, as well as persons with disabilities, regardless of age. WIS payments for all other age groups have also been increased. These enhancements to WIS will benefit about half a million lower-wage workers. In fact, in total, WIS payments will increase to $1.4 billion in 2025.
The Government will continue to work with tripartite partners to help lower-wage workers strengthen their wage and employment outcomes.
Mr Melvin Yong would be happy to hear that the tripartite partners are currently studying the expansion of PWM to the Pest Management sector and will provide more details in due course.
Above all, as Mr Edward Chia, Mr Fahmi Aliman and Mr Neil Parekh highlighted, the key to raising wages sustainably over the long term is for both workers and businesses to become more productive. Businesses must transform low-wage jobs for higher value-add and improve the efficiency of their operations. At the same time, with better jobs created, there will be demand for new skillsets and competencies. Workers will need to upskill to seize these opportunities and we will step up our efforts to help them do so.
Since 2010, the Government has been supporting low-wage workers in their upskilling journey through the Workfare Skills Support scheme, or WSS. Currently, WSS is targeted at short courses that can be completed over a few days. It covers the opportunity costs of training for low-wage workers aged 30 and above. For example, those pursuing training on their own receive a training allowance of $6 per hour. However, low-wage workers stand to benefit more from long-form courses that provide more robust upskilling and reskilling, which are associated with more significant wage increments.
The challenge, of course, is that these take longer and the opportunity cost for low-wage workers is, therefore, also higher. As announced at Budget, we will enhance WSS by introducing a new tier of support in the form of WSS (Level-Up). This is targeted at helping low-wage workers who wish to pursue long-form training. Taking reference from the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, WSS (Level-Up) will provide low-wage workers who pursue long-form training with substantially higher training allowance, to cover the higher opportunity costs.
Full-time trainees will receive a monthly allowance set at 50% of their average monthly income based on the latest available 12-month period, and this, with a minimum monthly allowance of $300. Part-time trainees will receive a fixed monthly allowance of $300. This will benefit workers aged 30 and above, earning up to $3,000 per month. So, effectively, WSS (Level-Up) trainees will receive up to $18,000 per year for full-time training and up to $3,600 per year for part-time training. This is more than three times higher than the training allowance currently provided by WSS.
We also recognise that workers in lower-wage jobs may need more bouts of long-form training across their career stages. This is to acquire the necessary skills for more complex job roles, or pivot to new sectors. Hence, WSS (Level-Up) will cover up to 24 months of long-form training done before the age of 40 and another 24 months of long-form training after the age of 40.
WSS (Level-Up) will be rolled out from early 2026. I would like to assure Ms Mariam Jaafar and Mr Don Wee that we will work with tripartite partners to raise awareness of WSS (Level-Up) and help low-wage workers navigate their upskilling journeys. We will provide more details later this year. Ms Mariam Jaafar also asked if there are plans to extend WSS to low-wage workers aged 25 and over. We will keep this suggestion in mind, but at the same time, there are no plans to do so, as there are other schemes that younger workers can tap on, such as the ITE Progression Award and SkillsFuture Credit.
For low-wage workers to put their newly acquired skills to good use, businesses must also transform low-wage jobs for higher value-add and refine their processes for higher productivity. So, upskilling is just one half of the equation. There has been encouraging progress on the business front. In the retail and food services sector, businesses are adopting technological solutions, such as self-service systems and RFID inventory management. So, instead of routine tasks, retail workers can take on more diversified and higher-skilled jobs.
In outsourced sectors, such as cleaning, security and waste management, service providers are adopting robots and Internet-of-Things (IoT) solutions to reduce reliance on labour-intensive operations. So, existing workers can then be retrained and deployed to higher-value roles. The Government understands that it takes time for workers to upskill and for businesses to transform.
In the near term, businesses are also concerned about manpower costs. I would like to assure Ms Yeo Wan Ling that the Government fully recognises these concerns. We recognise that uplifting our low-wage workers will lead to some increases in manpower costs. But in a typical business organisation, low-wage workers account for a relatively modest share of businesses' overall manpower costs. They constitute only about one-fifth of our resident workforce and their wages are relatively lower to begin with. Nonetheless, we hear employers' concerns over the broader cost pressures.
As outlined by the Prime Minister at Budget, we are enhancing the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme (PWCS) support for businesses. We will raise Government's co-funding of wage increases to low-wage workers from 30% to 40% in 2025 and from 15% to 20% in 2026. This builds on three earlier rounds of PWCS enhancements.
In fact, since 2022, the Government has co-funded the majority of wage increases given to low-wage workers and this was added up to 75% and 50% in previous years. For wage increases given in 2022 and 2023, the Government has already disbursed $2.7 billion of PWCS. These co-funded wage increases were given to more than 520,000 employees by over 90,000 employers.
The upcoming PWCS enhancements will continue to provide short-term relief, but I strongly encourage employers to make use of this opportunity to accelerate your transformation, so that we can uplift low-wage workers sustainably over the long term.
Chairman, we have made good progress so far, but we must press on with our efforts to uplift low-wage workers. We must all work together to reduce income inequality, which can cause risks in society if left unchecked. The work continues ahead of us. Over the next two years, the tripartite partners will be negotiating the next bound of wage schedules for the PWMs. The Government has laid the groundwork for this through PWCS, which supports business transformation efforts and brings some relief to cost pressures. We hope that employers and consumers, too, will play their part in uplifting our low-wage workers.
Chairman, as we uplift the livelihood of our workers, we must also safeguard their lives. Our performance for Workplace Safety and Health (WSH), has improved over the years. Over the past five years, the workplace fatality rate has averaged at 1.1 per 100,000 workers. This places Singapore among the top performing countries, with just four OECD countries consistently performing below 1.0. We achieved this once in 2023. However, the recent increase in workplace fatalities in the second half of 2024 underscores the need for all stakeholders to remain vigilant and to prioritise workplace safety. While the WSH performance of sectors, such as manufacturing has improved, others can and must do better. We can certainly do much better for construction, which remains the top contributor of workplace accidents today.
Mr Melvin Yong asked for an update on the Safety Accountability, Focus and Empowerment measures (SAFE). All SAFE measures have been implemented over the last few years. They are a comprehensive set of measures aimed at enhancing collective WSH ownership. Take construction, for example. At the sectoral level, we enhanced businesses' incentive to prioritise safety by disqualifying poor WSH performers from tendering for public sector construction projects.
Construction worksites with contract value of $5 million and above are required to install a Video Surveillance System (VSS). This helps contractors to identify WSH hazards and facilitates MOM's investigations and deters unsafe behaviours. At the company level, chief executives and board directors in higher-risk sectors, including construction, must attend the Top Executive WSH Programme to understand their duties and learn how to foster good safety practices in their companies.
Beyond safety, we agree with Mr Melvin Yong that it is equally important to safeguard the health of our workers. Under the Tripartite Oversight Committee on WSH, more than 136,000 workers have access to the Total WSH Programme. So, moving forward, we will continue to work with industry partners, employers and unions to focus on areas of preventive health and occupational health, in support of national initiatives, such as Healthier SG.
WSH is a collective responsibility. Everyone must continue to do our part, to build a strong WSH culture. Company directors must drive home the importance of safety within their organisations and good WSH is integral to business success. Workers are responsible for following safe work procedures to protect themselves and others. Unions must advocate for safe, healthy workplaces and working conditions, for example, by developing WSH champions in each union. The public can report unsafe workplace practices to MOM, as each report can save a life.
Ms Jean See asked about shared responsibility for workplace safety in the creative industry. Service buyers must play their part by ensuring that their contractors, including freelancers, have the necessary competency to work safely. Contractors must work safely and not engage in risk-taking behaviour. The WSH Guidelines on Event Management provide practical guidance on health and safety requirements relevant to the creative industry. Together, we can achieve our WSH 2028 goal of reducing and sustaining the fatality injury rate at below 1.0 per 100,000 workers.
Chairman, I started my speech with how tripartism in Singapore is Singapore's \"secret sauce\" that empowers our low-wage workers. That, in turn, uplifts their families and communities. More than that, this harmonious partnership among our unions, businesses and the Government weaves the fabric of a resilient and prosperous Singapore. Let me end my speech with a verse from a Simon and Garfunkel song, “Bridge over Troubled Water”, reflecting the spirit of tripartism in empowering our workers in securing the success of Singaporeans and Singapore then, now and for the future.
\"Oh! when times get rough and then friends can't be found,
like a bridge over troubled water,
I will lay me down,
like a bridge over troubled water,
I will lay me down.\"
The Chairman: Minister of State Gan Siow Huang.
The Minister of State for Manpower (Ms Gan Siow Huang): Chairman, much has been said about our workforce and workplaces transforming. What remains unchanged is our commitment to ensure that every member of society is able to participate fully in the workforce and achieve their aspirations. Allow me to, first, share how we are enhancing support for persons with disabilities.
To foster inclusive workplaces for persons with disabilities, we are developing a tripartite advisory for reasonable accommodations. Our objective is to raise awareness and shape mindsets around the concept of reasonable accommodations in the workplace, guiding employers and employees to discuss accommodations that will suit their specific work context and needs. This will support persons with disabilities in employment, giving them the chance to thrive in the workplace.
The Government also encourages the hiring and training of persons with disabilities through SG Enable's Open Door Programme, which provides grants and employment support services to organisations that hire persons with disabilities. Each year, about 630 persons with disabilities are successfully placed into jobs through this programme, and more than 80% of them remain in employment for at least six months.
To further facilitate the employment of persons with disabilities, MOM will extend the Enabling Employment Credit (EEC), for three years, until 2028. Under EEC, eligible employers of persons with disabilities receive a wage offset of up to $400 per month. This goes up to $800 per month for the first nine months of employment if the new hire was previously not working for at least six months.
Mr Sharael Taha and other Members would be glad to hear that since its introduction in 2021, the EEC has contributed to the steady increase in the employment rate of persons with disabilities, which rose from 28% to 34% over the past five years.
One individual who has benefited from the EEC is Emily. Despite the challenges she faces due to her intellectual disability, Emily has been keen to work and persevered through her job search. After completing training at the Centre for Inclusive Employment at the Enabling Business Hub @ Jurong, her job coach matched her to a job in packing and order fulfilment with Zyfas Pharma Pte Ltd Singapore, a pharmaceutical products wholesaler. With support from her job coach and supervisor, Emily is doing well in her job and has been converted to permanent employment since January 2025.
Besides attaining greater financial independence, Emily's new role has enabled her to become more confident through greater participation in the community.
We also want to support persons with disabilities to save more for their retirement needs. Today, under the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme (MRSS), the Government provides a dollar-for-dollar matching grant to encourage CPF top-ups for eligible Singaporean seniors from age 55.
As announced by the Prime Minister, the MRSS will be expanded to include eligible Singaporeans with disabilities of all ages from 1 January 2026. This will help individuals like Emily to accumulate their savings for retirement earlier. They will be able to benefit from the compounding effect of CPF interest over a longer runway. For example, a 25-year-old person with disability who receives a top-up of $2,000 every year up to the lifetime cap of $20,000 will receive about $110,000 more just in CPF interest alone by the age of 65, as compared to an individual who receives top-ups from 55 years old. We hope such efforts will help persons with disabilities build up their nest eggs early and approach retirement with a greater sense of security.
Let me move on to how we are strengthening employment support for ex-offenders. For ex-offenders looking to rejoin the workforce, the idea of reintegration can feel daunting at times. However, they are not alone in this journey. WSG partners with Yellow Ribbon Singapore, which provides employment assistance and post-placement support to inmates and ex-offenders.
These initiatives are further supported by the Uplifting Employment Credit which provides wage offsets to employers that hire ex-offenders. In 2024, the Uplifting Employment Credit supported the employment of more than 1,500 ex-offenders hired by about 700 employers.
Building on the positive responses, MOM will be extending the Uplifting Employment Credit for three years, until 2028. Under the Uplifting Employment Credit, eligible employers of ex-offenders can receive a wage offset of up to $600 per month for the first nine months of employment, amounting up to $5,400 for each new ex-offender hired.
One such individual who has benefited is John, not his real name, who secured employment with a communication services company in 2023. As an associate engineer, John provided backend support for customer accounts that were assigned to him. Over time, his duties expanded to include tasks like data analytics work. Today, John’s company continues to support his professional development by employing him in upskilling courses.
For John, the reintegration process has been challenging but rewarding. Reflecting on his journey, he shared: \"The hardest part of reintegration was believing in myself again. I am grateful to the company for hiring me and trusting my ability to value add to the organisation. This job has been crucial in rebuilding that self-confidence\". As John continues to grow in his new role, his success story is helping to reshape perceptions of ex-offenders, paving the way for more inclusive hiring practices in Singapore.
Next, I will share more on our efforts to support the employment of women and caregivers. Many women shoulder the caregiving responsibilities for their children, elderly parents or family members with disabilities. Some caregivers have had to take a break from their careers to care for their family members full-time. While others are able to continue working, they deal with challenges like burnout as they try their best to balance the demands from work and family. Whether at home or at work, we want women and caregivers to feel supported in managing their roles and be empowered to pursue their career aspirations.
Women in Singapore have made progress. The employment rate for women aged 25 to 64 increased from 73.3% in 2019 to 78.3% in 2024. This means more women who wish to remain in work or return to work have found the opportunities to do so. However, as Mr Desmond Choo, Ms Yeo Wan Ling and Miss Rachel Ong have pointed out, there is room to do more, and we agree.
Mr Mark Lee suggested better support for training of part-time workers. We are enhancing the Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs) to support reskilling of mid-career new hires and employees on jobs with flexi-load arrangements. CCPs provide employers with salary support when they reskill mid-career new hires or existing employees into growth job roles identified under the Industry Transformation Maps or Jobs Transformation Maps. These roles span about 30 sectors, including financial services, retail, built environment, and information and communications.
The CCPs currently cover only full-time jobs. However, from 1 April 2025 onwards, we will enhance CCPs to support reskilling of mid-career new hires and employees in jobs with flexi-load arrangements such as part-time work. To qualify, they must be reskilled into growth job roles and be employed on permanent terms or contract terms of at least one year.
For instance, a cybersecurity company looking to hire a part-time employee can now tap on the CCPs to hire and reskill a mid-career worker from another sector. During the training period, WSG will fund up to 90% of the worker's salary, capped at $7,500 per month.
Besides making part-time work more viable, we are building on our efforts to foster family-friendly workplaces so that workers can give their best at work and at home. Mr Louis Ng has called for parent care leave to support caregivers of elderly parents. We are open to ideas on how to better support caregivers, including those who wish to work. When considering additional leave, we must be mindful to balance caregivers’ needs with the potential impact on businesses. Working caregivers have also highlighted that flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are a more sustainable way to manage work and caregiving responsibilities, which is something that we have made progress on.
As Mr Sharael Taha pointed out, building inclusive workplaces requires a shift in workplace culture and norms. The Tripartite Guidelines on FWA Requests launched in April last year aim to facilitate this.
Mr Edward Chia would be glad to hear that we are working closely with trade associations and chambers, as well as our community partners, to raise awareness of the guidelines and help both employers and employees understand how the guidelines can help them.
Some partners have even gone further to develop resources to support their members in adhering to the Guidelines and implementing FWAs. For instance, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) has helped raise awareness of the Guidelines through briefing sessions and these have reached more than 650 companies thus far.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked for an update on the outcomes of the Guidelines. As these Guidelines have only been in effect for three months, it will take some to observe its impact on workplace norms and culture. However, I am happy to see that the Guidelines have prompted more open conversations about FWA requests.
One such employer is Sheng Siong Supermarket. As an employer in the manpower-tight retail sector, Sheng Siong is leveraging FWAs as part of its strategy to retain employees. The company recently introduced staggered working hours for their office employees, as well as options for alternative work schedules for those in frontline operations. For example, instead of a standard six-day work week, frontline employees may request for a five-day, four-day or even three-day work week, with commensurate adjustments in the salary. With a formal FWA policy in place, Sheng Siong is able to observe trends in their employees’ needs, which helps the company identify ways to support their employees.
I am heartened that the proportion of firms offering FWAs increased in the last year from 68.1% in 2023 to 72.7% in 2024. Firms such as Sheng Siong are continuing to explore how they can leverage FWAs to better attract and retain talent.
On supporting women to take up leadership roles, Mr Desmond Choo suggested mandating that 40% of company boards comprise of women. I thank him for his support for women. But such measures to mandate some kind of quota, if there are not enough women who are ready for such roles, could actually unintentionally affect the credibility of women at the workplace over the long term.
Singapore has put in place voluntary targets to accelerate the representation of women on boards and we have seen good progress. Through the Council for Board Diversity’s efforts to shift mindsets of boards towards appointing more diverse candidates, as of end December 2024, the percentage of women on boards of top 100 Singapore Exchange-listed companies reached 25.1%, which is a more than three-fold increase from 7.5% in 2014.
To build inclusive workplaces we have taken steps to strengthen fair and merit-based employment practices. The Workplace Fairness Bill, which was passed earlier this year, will provide an additional layer of protection against workplace discrimination.
Mr Louis Ng suggested clarifying on TAFEP’s website that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is covered under the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP). To reiterate, the Government does not tolerate any form of workplace discrimination, including discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The TGFEP covers all forms of workplace discrimination and the listing on the website is not meant to be exhaustive. Highlighting selected characteristics or scenarios may not achieve this broader intent and may give the impression that characteristics or scenarios which are not mentioned are not covered.
I would like to reassure the Member that we will continue to collaborate with community groups to raise awareness on the TGFEP and refer any individual that faces workplace discrimination to TAFEP for advice and assistance.
On supporting the well-being of workers in the workplace, I would like to thank all those who have raised suggestions. Ms Hazel Poa suggested increasing the number of public holidays by three days for Hari Raya, Thaipusam and Chinese New Year. Assoc Prof Jamus Lim asked for the inclusion of Thaipusam as a public holiday, echoing similar requests by other Members such as Mr Gan Thiam Poh in the past.
The current configuration of public holidays in Singapore is the outcome of careful deliberations and consultations with various religious groups at the point of Singapore’s Independence. Over the years, we have learnt to live harmoniously as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, with everyone making some compromises for the greater good. We encourage employers to make it possible for Singaporeans of all faiths to observe their respective religious festivals. Maintaining the current balance has served us well, and it continues to be the sensible approach for Singapore.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling, Mr Edward Chia and Miss Rachel Ong asked how we can continue to promote mental wellness in our workplaces, especially amongst SMEs that may not have built up dedicated infrastructure to support such initiatives. To equip companies, especially SMEs, with the resources and know-how, the tripartite partners have rolled out various initiatives.
A key initiative is the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-Being at Workplaces introduced in 2020. It provides practical guidance on measures that employers can adopt, such as tapping on Employee Assistance Programme to offering counselling support for employees.
Beyond the consultations and workshops offered by the Total Workplace Safety and Health Programme, SkillsFuture Singapore has also funded various courses relating to mental wellness for self, peers and employees. Training Providers for such courses are able to contextualise the content to suit the needs of organisations, including SMEs.
Further support is also available through the Well-being Champions Network and National Council of Social Service’s Peer Support Specialist Programme, which offer additional resources and training for workplace mental well-being.
Mr Chairman, I will now say a few words in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] To encourage employers to provide job opportunities for persons with disabilities and ex-offenders, MOM will extend both the Enabling Employment Credit and the Uplifting Employment Credit until 2028.
Under the Enabling Employment Credit, eligible employers who hire persons with disabilities can receive up to $400 per month in employment credits. This amount will be increased to $800 per month for the first nine months of employment if the newly hired employee with disabilities has not been employed in the previous six months.
Under the Uplifting Employment Credit scheme, employers who hire ex-offenders can receive up to $600 per month in credits during the first nine months of employment.
From 2026, we will also expand the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme to benefit eligible persons with disabilities regardless of their age. This will help them start accumulating retirement savings earlier and benefit from CPF compound interest.
(In English): With your permission, Mr Chairman, may I ask the Clerk to distribute an infographic that summarises the support schemes available at different life stages?
The Chairman: Go ahead. [A handout was distributed to hon Members.]
Ms Gan Siow Huang: Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL application.
As Minister Tan See Leng shared yesterday, the Government is committed to supporting every Singaporean in their career journey at every life stage, and with greater support for those in need. While the Government has a role to play in empowering our people, we also recognise that true transformation requires the support and action of those at the heart of our economy – our businesses, workers, tripartite partners and community partners. For that, I thank all those who have worked closely with us.
Together, we can break down barriers, challenge stereotypes and continue to build an inclusive society where everyone has the opportunity to contribute meaningfully and play a role in our shared progress.
The Chairman: Our guillotine time is 12.25 pm. I see a couple of hands. I will try to get as many across as possible. The same usual request – keep your clarifications short and succinct. Mr Desmond Choo.
Mr Desmond Choo: Mr Chairman, just two clarifications.
One, why is the Ministry raising the S Pass qualifying salary despite the labour market being already quite tight and the potential economic headwinds? What is the expected impact on the local workforce's wages?
Second, MOM is raising the maximum employment age for Work Permit holders and aligning it to the local retirement age. Would the increase in the maximum employment age of Work Permit holders result in increased healthcare and insurance costs borne by the employers and also increase the competition for jobs with senior workers?
The Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng): Mr Chairman, I thank the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) chairman, Mr Desmond Choo, for raising the clarifications.
Our S Pass qualifying salary is benchmarked to the top one third of our local associate professionals and technicians' (APTs') wages. It does not lead market wages, but it is actually adjusted in line with what the prevailing wage is.
As I have shared extensively yesterday in my COS speech, we do this as we need to continue to raise productivity and not just have a case of just pure numbers coming in alone, but we do this to ensure our S Pass holders are of high quality. At the same time, we want to maintain a level playing field for our locals.
MOM has taken into consideration and we have heard from various trade associations and chambers on the rising costs of manpower as well as their constraints in hiring. Therefore, even though we have earlier announced this two years in advance and even though we are going ahead with the third step increase, what we have done this time round is to moderate the increase to give businesses more time to adjust. So, the S Pass qualifying salary announced this year will only apply to new applications from 1 September this year, 2025, and renewal applications for passes expiring from next year, 1 September 2026.
We have also said earlier on that we have announced this S Pass qualifying salary increase since COS 2022. This is 2025. We said that it is over three steps. This allows businesses the runway to plan ahead and to make the necessary adjustments.
To the second point about why we raised the maximum employment age, we took in feedback, significantly, again, from the different business chambers, the different trade associations. It is the collective feedback, working with all the different small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the ground, the general consensus is that once the workers have been here for quite some time, the skillsets, the experience that they have already gained, it would be a waste for them, after they reached a certain period or ceiling of maximum employment period, to leave the country.
So, what we did after taking their feedback into their consideration, we raised the maximum employment age for Work Permit holders so that we can give these firms the flexibility to retain their more experienced, more skilled workers.
Firms have the option and they are best placed for themselves to assess the benefits of retaining their more experienced workers against the potentially higher insurance costs that they may have to bear for these older workers. It is really their option. What we have done is to give them the breadth, the latitude and also the runway for them to assess what is in their own best interests.
I hope that gives you that reassurance.
The Chairman: Ms Jean See.
Ms See Jinli Jean (Nominated Member): Thank you, Chairman. I thank Minister Tan, Senior Minister of State Koh and Senior Minister of State Zaqy for their replies to my cuts. I have four questions.
I note that for specific occupations such as cooks, companies can hire Work Permit holders from Laos, Cambodia and Bhutan, in addition to another seven odd countries. I have three questions for the Minister. First, how will MOM step up efforts to foster inclusiveness and fair practices like reasonable work hours in the food sectors? Second, how will MOM help workers from these new Non-Traditional Source countries to acclimatise to the work intensity in Singapore? The third is to protect these new groups from being exploited by recruiters in their home countries. Is MOM planning to facilitate direct outreach and referral programmes to bridge them to jobs in Singapore?
To Senior Minister of State Koh, I would like to ask about the JS scheme. Could the scheme consider on a case-by-case basis self-employed persons such as creative freelancers who can prove income loss over a continual period because their jobs were cancelled or contracts were ceased when their work was offshored or due to AI substitution?
The Chairman: Minister Tan will take the first set?
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Ms Jean See for her clarification. We have the Settling-In Programme. We are also socialising these Non-Traditional Source countries with many of the SMEs and also the business owners themselves. By widening it, we hope that they can assess for themselves these options.
We constantly take in feedback. We work with different agencies, not just working in an insular fashion within MOM itself. We work with, of course, security agencies, for instance. We work with our economic agencies, of which I am Second Minister for Trade and Industry. We obviously work with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to assess the fit.
Once they have buy-in from many of the business owners, the assessment is really up to the business owners to see whether they want to access the workforce from these Non-Traditional Source countries.
When they are onboarded, before they come into Singapore to work, they come in at our onboarding centres. There is a Settling-In Programme and orientation. What we hope to do is to also be able to socialise them to some of the expectations, the cultural norms, the living conditions and most importantly, what their rights are, the necessary helplines, the social agencies that are available to help them.
There will be an adjustment period. We will check on them. We have got different non-governmental organisations, including the Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training (FAST), which is a separate initiative from MOM's Assurance, Care and Engagement (ACE) division, to engage them, to assess the feedback. If they run into problems, we will not hesitate to step in. So, broadly, the framework is there for them to access.
At the same time, we are also very careful. We are very deliberate and very calibrated in terms of opening the Non-Traditional Source countries. We do not open it up in a very extensive manner. For a start, we extended it to Cambodia, Laos and Bhutan, because these are the countries that we do have very strong networks and also bilateral diplomatic ties with.
I think the Senior Minister of State will cover the balance of your questions.
Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, I thank the Member for her clarification about whether self-employed individuals are covered by the JS scheme.
To be clear, the JS scheme is aimed to cushion unemployment shocks as a result of economic transformation. So, it applies to employees, who have no control over the decision by their employers to retrench them.
Self-employed individuals do negotiate for projects on their own. Sometimes, even if the project cannot take place, it could well be a mismatch between what the self-employed person's expectation of his own remuneration from the project owner is, or it could just be a business deal that could not take place because the negotiation did not succeed.
I think it is very hard for us to prove a priori whether that kind of issue constitutes involuntary unemployment, which is quite different from an employee.
The Chairman: Assoc Prof Jamus Lim.
Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): Sir, I appreciate Minister Tan's suggestion that there is an existing mechanism – the qualifying salary for S Passes and Employment Passes (EPs) – that may fulfil a similar function to levelling the wage incentives faced by employers choosing between the foreign versus local hire.
But respectfully, I believe that this would only work in a special case when wages for a given position are lower than the S Pass or EP threshold, which is currently set at $3,300 and $5,600 a month, although this adjusts upward with age and for rehires. But as long as the market wage exceeds this floor, which it could, for any given job in any given sector, although I acknowledge Minister Tan's point that it is pegged to the top third of overall salaries, then we could encounter a situation where a local could still be outcompeted by a foreigner so long as that Singaporean cannot accept a take home salary that is too low compared to a foreigner who is willing to accept a slightly lower gross income, but still receives a take home salary that is higher, just because —
The Chairman: Assoc Prof Lim, do you want to get to your clarification?
Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: I understand. So, the question is, if the Minister could explain how the qualifying salary in such instances would address this situation?
On the call for the consideration of Thaipusam, I had cited in the conclusion of my cut former Minister EW Barker's implicit promise to revisit our public holiday schedule should our economy prosper. Could I ask the Ministry if there are no economic conditions or no level of prosperity under which the Government will be willing to consider the schedule of public holidays?
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Assoc Prof Lim for his clarification.
My personal view, and I am not an economist, but I think he looks at it from a fairly theoretical and academic viewpoint. In reality, today we have a very tight labour market. I have repeatedly stated in this House that our businesses, our SMEs, our large local enterprises, these are owned and run by Singaporeans too. They have constantly harped on the fact that there are significant manpower constraints, resource constraints for them to grow and expand their business.
So, in this kind of very tight labour market, when you peg it at the qualifying salaries at the top one-third of the respective sector, we are not setting up a new forward projected qualifying salary. The way we set the benchmarks is based on the prevailing salary of the top one-third of the EP and S Pass holders. [Please refer to \"Clarification by Minister for Manpower\", Official Report, 7 March 2025, Vol 95, Issue 160, Correction By Written Statement section.]
At those levels, what we have seen consistently – and this is real, the numbers, the statistics do not lie – over the last 10 years, I have stated, notwithstanding the fact that we have this qualifying salary, from 2014 to 2024, the number of EP and S Pass holders increased by 38,000. But over that same corresponding period, the number of residents holding PMET jobs increased by 382,000. This is a ratio of 1:10. I mean, that is our real experience.
For the record, in June 2024, the unemployment rate for Singapore Citizens was 2.8%, which is amongst the lowest in the world. And our definition of unemployment is at that spot in time.
If you look at our long-term unemployment, it is around about 0.7%, 0.8%. Long-term unemployment is defined as someone who is unemployed for more than six months. So, if you take off the unemployment rate of about 2.8%, let us say, take away the long-term unemployment rate of 0.7% or 0.8%, that 2% delta is actually churned within six months – these people find a new job, or they find something that fulfils their calling and they get on to a new career, perhaps to a new calling.
So, I want to again emphasise today: does anyone think that we have an issue? Our issue is a very, very tight labour market. We have Mr Mark Lee here, our Nominated Member of Parliament, who has repeatedly called for the Government to help businesses. He is from the SBF. You could check with him after this debate to see how tight the situation is.
Ms Gan Siow Huang: Chairman, as I said earlier, the decision on which public holidays to observe was only reached after very careful consultation with religious groups in Singapore in the past which, undoubtedly, required difficult decisions for the leaders from each faith to take. Any move to reinstate a festival, such as Thaipusam, as a public holiday, may invite competing claims from members of other communities, both religious and non-religious. Maintaining the current balance has served Singapore well and continues to be the sensible approach.
Regardless of the intervening years and the progress that we have made, this is a sensitive issue. We should not take Singapore's economic progress for granted and look to introducing additional public holidays at every opportunity. And while we cannot designate all important festivals public holidays, there must be understanding and regard given for Singaporeans to observe occasions that are significant to them. That is why we urge all employers to show understanding and flexibility in this regard.
The Chairman: Ms Yeo Wan Ling.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling: Chairman, I have two sets of clarifications.
The first set is to Minister Tan See Leng. Given that there could be other sources of labour which are in higher demand by businesses, could the Minister for Manpower explain how MOM decided on the list of countries for the Non-Traditional Sources occupation list?
The second set of clarifications is for Minister of State Gan Siow Huang. What is the current gender pay gap in Singapore and how does the Government plan to reduce it further? Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers are high-value career choices and can move the needle in further closing the gender pay gap. What more can the Ministry do to encourage young women to consider careers in STEM as well as equipping female mid-careerists to convert into STEM careers?
Additionally, given the recent development to support caregivers to stay in the workplace, what steps will the Government take to ensure that the gender pay gap does not widen further for female caregivers who opt for alternative work arrangements, including FWAs, due to caregiving responsibilities?
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank sister Wan Ling for her clarification. On how we decide on the list of countries to be included, we, like many, many other countries in the world, carefully regulate the profile of non-citizens for our beloved country, Singapore, including those who wish to work here. Our policy is shaped by our context. One constraint is that we are a small and very densely populated city state. And because of our constraints, we need to carefully, very delicately, balance infrastructure, security, social and economic considerations. Hence, MOM will never work in isolation. We constantly work closely, calibrating with other Ministries, other sector agencies to assess the suitability of new sources, taking into account the earlier considerations that I have elaborated on.
The Chairman: Minister of State Gan Siow Huang.
Ms Gan Siow Huang: Singapore's unadjusted gender pay gap has reduced from 16.0% in 2002 to 14.3% in 2023. Our adjusted gender pay gap, which adjusts for differences in occupation, industry, hours worked, age and education, narrowed from 8.8% in 2002 to 6.0% in 2023. Singapore's adjusted gender pay gap compares favourably with other countries, such as the United States and Canada, both of which are around 8%.
The key factor driving gender pay gap in Singapore is occupational segregation. In other words, there tends to be a lower share of females in higher paid occupations, such as business development managers, managing directors, chief executives and general managers. Likewise, for STEM-related occupations, there is still a higher proportion of men than women although the proportion of women in STEM jobs has increased over time from 28.8% in 2013 to 35.2% in 2024.
We will continue to work with tripartite partners and community stakeholders to support women's participation in the workforce and help them enter and remain in occupations of their choice, including in traditionally male-dominated industries. This way, women do not fall behind their male colleagues in terms of career, experience, progression and hence, wages.
This includes measures, such as FWAs, promoting shared-caregiving responsibilities at home, as well as career drives, networking and mentorship programmes. The Workplace Fairness Legislation will also help further reduce the gender pay gap, as women will be protected against discrimination based on their sex that could inhibit their entry into and progress in careers of their choice, especially in the male-dominated and higher-paying occupations.
The Chairman: There are still many, many hands from those who have filed four cuts. I will give the floor to Mr Leong. He only raised one cut, but it was a long cut. Mr Leong Mun Wai. He had raised his hand earlier.
Mr Leong Mun Wai (Non-Constituency Member): Thank you very much, Mr Chairman. I have four clarifications for the Minister.
First of all, I would like to thank the Minister for his energetic response to my arguments. I have always respected him for that. However, because I think our views are still very different, I have —
The Chairman: Mr Leong, remember my instructions to all.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: Okay, yes, Mr Chairman. So, first question, can I confirm that MOM still does not track the change in work pass holders that turned to PRs in the resident PME statistics? If yes, does the Minister agree that there is no way to conclude definitively that the existing resident PMETs have not been displaced and become underemployed because all the statistics that he has quoted are affected by this effect?
Second question, the platform workers are a good example of the underemployed. The Minister has admitted that about one-third of the platform workers, or 28,000, are involuntary. But for many of the balance of the 70,000 platform workers who have preferred platform work for flexibility, does the Minister think that low wages and poor prospects are also a factor in their decisions?
Third question —
The Chairman: Mr Leong, if I could ask, how many clarifications? Because I am conscious of the guillotine time. How many more clarifications?
Mr Leong Mun Wai: Two more.
The Chairman: Okay, make them short so that we can give enough time for the Minister to answer.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: Yes. Third question, the increase in part-time workers and contract work are also examples of underemployment. Can the Minister explain why we do not need to be concerned that the proportion of part-time workers out of all employed residents has increased from 8.4% in 2009 to 10.1% in 2023, and can the Minister quote the corresponding increase in resident contract workers in the same period, 2009 and 2023?
Last question, does the Minister agree that while wage growth may be faster than some developed countries like the United Kingdom, it is meaningless if the wage growth is still not enough to catch up with the escalating cost of living and housing prices in Singapore?
Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Mr Leong for his persistence, notwithstanding the fact that we went through quite a fair bit of exchange yesterday. I will cover some parts of his point just to put it to rest, hopefully once and for all, before I hand over to my colleague, Minister for National Development, Mr Desmond Lee, who will also talk about housing, in just a while. So, Mr Leong, please be patient. We are coming.
To the Member's clarification about part-time work and that he thinks that many of them are underemployed, I have actually shown in my explanation yesterday that the statistics that we have on time-related underemployment are very, very low and, in fact, it has dropped. I do not have the statistics offhand, but please refer to the Hansard on what I said yesterday. It was quite clear.
Since the Member persistently wants to keep harping on the division between foreign-born Singapore Citizens versus local-born Singapore Citizens, I just eyeballed the numbers, and I am happy to see what other statistics we can glean moving forward. But the majority, more than 63% of the increase over that period for the PMETs from 2014 to 2024 – more than 63% of that increase – is due to local-born Singapore Citizens. So, let me put that to rest once and for all.
Please do not forget that many, many of our naturalised Singaporeans, many of our Permanent Residents (PRs) are married to a local-born Singapore Citizen, and I really hope we should not keep harping on a \"us versus them\" mentality, because Singapore is a largely immigrant nation. We are all here because we love this country. My father, and I am pretty sure Mr Leong's father, also were not local-born Singapore Citizens. I benefited from here, just as he has, and we both want to do our best to serve our country.
I will invite Minister Desmond Lee to respond to the clarification on housing.
The Chairman: I assume this is in relation to what Mr Leong raised in his cut.
Dr Tan See Leng: Yes.
The Chairman: Alright.
The Minister for National Development (Mr Desmond Lee): Mr Chairman, I would like to apologise to Minister Tan See Leng and Members who had filed cuts at MOM's COS, for taking up some time. I would like to make a clarification without distracting from MOM's debate.
Yesterday, Mr Leong made two points in his speech: first, he spoke about selective use of data on Singaporean and PR employment; and second, he said that Singaporeans today are worse off than in the past and he used the example of public housing, comparing the Housing and Development Board (HDB) affordability for university and Vocational and Industrial Training Board (VITB) graduates in 1979, with affordability today.
These were not raised at the Ministry of National Development's (MND's) COS at all. The Member did not speak at MND's COS, nor raise any clarification.
I checked and would like to make a few points to add to what Minister Tan said yesterday. He spoke about the situation, the improvements in our graduate situation, and I will talk about housing.
Sir, the Singapore in 1979 is, firstly, very different from the Singapore in 2025.
In 1979, only 4% of each cohort went to university. Today, it is more than 40%.
Mr Leong used the median wages of VITB graduates in 1979, but he did not mention that back then, only 9% of each cohort went to VITB. Today, around 60% of each cohort go to polytechnic and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
So, the vast majority of each cohort today go to university, polytechnic and ITE; compared to only around 13% going to university and VITB back in 1979.
Mr Leong was comparing housing affordability for a small group in 1979 with housing affordability for the vast majority of Singaporeans today. He also did not present the affordability picture for the majority of Singaporeans back in 1979, who were less well-educated, less skilled and earned much less in those early days of Singapore.
Second, the HDB flat in 1979 is also very different from the HDB flat in 2025. In the 1970s, HDB flats were simple, functional homes in estates with few amenities and very limited transport links. Today, our flats come with modern amenities, far better transport connectivity, offering residents a higher standard of living.
In 1979, only 68% of our population lived in HDB, of whom 62% owned their flats. This is not surprising because the university and VITB graduates that Mr Leong cited yesterday were at the higher end of the income spectrum. Today, more than 80% of Singaporeans live in HDB homes and over 90% own their flats. In fact, more than eight in 10 first-timer households who collected their keys to their Build-To-Order (BTO) flats and resale flats in 2024, used little to no cash to service their HDB monthly mortgage instalments.
Third, the housing market in 1979 was very different too. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was almost no resale market to speak of. It was early days. In the 1960s, buyers had to return the flat to HDB at the sum that was less than what they had initially paid for. In the 1970s, there was a very rudimentary resale market with strict conditions and limited financing. We were just starting out. Back then, there was limited potential for appreciation, it was not quite the store of value, it was a basic home and expense for Singaporeans.
The resale market only started to mature in the 1980s and 1990s, after changes in conditions for resale and mortgage financing policies.
Today, our HDB flats are both a home and also a store of value for Singaporeans, which they can monetise in their older years for retirement by selling on the open market, renting out a room or a flat, through our Lease Buyback Scheme and so on.
We also wondered why Mr Leong was so selective in using the year 1979; and we realised why. From 1968 to 1987, in the early years of HDB, we sold flats to Singaporeans and the flat price was fixed to recover cost. So, this most resembles the Progress Singapore Party's (PSP's) Affordable Housing Scheme. So, in a way, PSP's idea is not an original idea, but an idea adapted from the past.
HDB flats back in those days were priced based on construction costs. The PSP's Affordable Housing Scheme uses a similar idea. But construction cost then, as it is today, fluctuates based on economic factors, like labour availability, the price of construction material, global commodities like oil and so on.
In the 1960s and 1970s, construction costs were relatively low, but the turning point came at around 1979. Around 1979/1980, construction cost went up by 30%, because there was a construction boom which led to severe labour and material shortages. So, HDB flat prices went up by 15% in 1979, another 20% in 1980 and another 38% in 1981.
So, Mr Leong presents, selectively, the 1979 data, but does not mention what happens in the next one, two years. He did not share this with the House. In fact, the challenge of sharply fluctuating construction and therefore, HDB prices, according to the AHS, when pegged to construction costs, applies equally to the PSP's Affordable Housing Scheme.
Sir, we have long since moved away from the system where HDB flats were priced based on construction cost. In fact, we do not price flats to recover land and construction cost. We look at the market value of the flat, apply significant market discounts to bring the price down so that there are flats affordable to Singaporeans of different income levels. And then, we do means testing for explicit grants on top of the market discounts. This ensures HDB flats remain affordable to a wide range of incomes.
Sir, since the 1970s, we have matured and progressed as a society. We have improved our initial policies. We have developed our strong social compact where Singaporeans buy affordable housing, have a tangible stake in this country and form strong communities.
Sir, most importantly, what the PSP has suggested through the Affordable Housing Scheme is a major change from the social compact we have had all these decades. They want to go backwards to the time where housing was a shelter, an expense, and does not serve as a store of value and assurance for retirement, where Singaporeans do not have a stake when they leave, according to the AHS, just return keys, get some deposit back and move on.
Is this really the kind of Singapore that we want to have?
We have come a long way since 1979. We will continue to look forward instead to ensure that our policies remain relevant, effective in providing public housing that is affordable, accessible and inclusive for Singaporeans. I would like to thank Minister Tan. [Applause.]
The Chairman: Minister Tan See Leng.
Dr Tan See Leng: Sir, thank you for the permission to allow Minister Desmond Lee to respond on housing.
The Chairman: Minister Tan, a short one, because we are almost reaching our guillotine time.
Dr Tan See Leng: Yes, Sir. I wanted to reassure everyone, our economy grew significantly in the last decade. I have repeatedly spoken at length to this House and also, rebutted Mr Leong's allegations in terms of the statistics not being transparent.
I want to use, perhaps, a Cantonese movie anecdote and I will translate. It goes like this.
(In Cantonese): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] When I speak, you do not listen. When you listen, you do not understand. When you understand, you do not do it. When you do it, you do it wrong. When you do it wrong, you do not admit it. When you admit it, you do not change. When you change, you do not accept it. What then do you want me to do?
(In English): I have done my best repeatedly to explain to him over and over again, but he still refuses to accept —
The Chairman: Minister Tan, you might want to translate for those who do not understand Cantonese.
Dr Tan See Leng: I think that was the gist of it already, I have translated.
I want to reassure: while we may not be able to guarantee the same outcomes for all Singaporeans, but we will certainly do our level best that Singaporeans, at every stage of their lives, at every stage of their careers will have the same opportunities to upskill, to train and to upgrade. [Applause.]
The Chairman: Mr Sharael Taha and Mr Louis Ng, sorry, I know you filed four cuts but we have run out of time. Can I invite Mr Desmond Choo, if you would like to withdraw your amendment?
Mr Desmond Choo: Chairman, I would like to thank Minister Tan See Leng, Senior Minister of State Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State Zaqy and Minister of State Gan Siow Huang for their comprehensive responses and driving policy changes; and also Permanent Secretaries Ng Chee Khern, Jeffrey Siow, and their team of MOM officers, for their dedication in building a great workforce and workplace for Singapore and Singaporeans.
On that note, Chairman, I seek leave to withdraw my amendment.
[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $3,584,806,700 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $119,216,800 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Committee of Supply – Head Q (Ministry of Digital Development and Information)","subTitle":"An open and resilient economy, with diverse pathways and opportunities for all","sectionType":"OS","content":"Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson): Chairman, I move, \"That the total sum to be allocated for Head Q of the Estimates be reduced by $100.\"
Digitalisation is our present reality and an inevitable future. This transformation is not just about technological upgrades, but fundamentally reshaping our society, economy and way of life. It presents vast economic opportunities, promising a better quality of life for future generations.
Singapore has always been unafraid of transformations, having pivoted through multiple strategic ones since our Independence. This is especially meaningful given that this is the year of SG60. Our latest push in digitalisation has seen positive results, as our digital economy grew from contributing 13% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 to 17.3% in 2022.
Yet, as we pick up the pace in our march towards a digital future, we must also ensure that our digitally-driven growth must be sustainable, inclusive and safe for all.
There are several factors that I believe are imperative to a digitally-successful future, namely: world class digital infrastructure, vibrant talent community and ecosystem, widespread adoption by businesses, sustainable and green development, safe and inclusive digital society, and stronger global cooperation.
In this opening cut, I will focus on world class digital infrastructure, sustainable and green development as well as safe and inclusive digital society.
Singapore has always invested heavily in building up our infrastructure ahead of time so that when the wave arrives, we are ready to ride it. Underpinning our digital growth must, therefore, be enabled by high-performing, resilient and secure digital infrastructure, which includes broadband networks, cloud services, data centres and high-performance computing power.
Singapore ranks first in Asia for digital infrastructure in the recent IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking. This is no easy feat and only possible because of years of careful planning and hard work. So, we must not let up. More importantly, in the digital world, everything runs 24/7. A small failure in our digital infrastructure can cause major disruptions to our economic activities and daily lives.
Hence, can the Minister share what measures are being put in place to build up our digital infrastructure further and ensure its resilience and security?
I note that the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) released the Advisory Guidelines for cloud service providers and data centres last month to enhance their resilience and security. Can the Minister elaborate on the key measures in these guidelines and how they help operators uplift their resilience and security measures?
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more integrated horizontally and vertically across industries and sectors, as the overall adoption of digital technologies increases, the demand for data centres and higher computing power will increase. Consequently, the demand for energy will also rise exponentially.
Data centres, the backbone of a digital economy, currently consume around 1% to 1.5% of global electricity, a figure that Goldman Sachs Research projects will increase by 50% by 2027 and potentially by up to 165% by 2030 compared to 2023 levels. Training advanced AI models, for instance, can emit a carbon footprint comparable to driving a gasoline-powered vehicle for five to 20 miles per unit of processed text. Therefore, as we embrace digitalisation, we must also accelerate our decarbonisation efforts, enhance energy security and reduce reliance on brown energy.
Hence, can the Minister elaborate on the Government's strategy to balance the growth of our digital infrastructure with our commitment to environmental sustainability? Can we consider having structured programmes to drive the use of energy-efficient algorithms across industries?
Can we consider setting more instructive guidelines to advise industries on the preferred type of hardware to be used and standards to adopt when designing software? There is currently one developed by IMDA and Microsoft on software development. Is there scope for such guidelines to be further expanded?
Despite the geopolitical sensitivities, what can we learn from DeepSeek's experience as it is considered to be cheaper and greener than other AI models? How will the Government secure more green energy to support a sustainable digital development for Singapore?
Lastly, trust is fundamental in a society and underpinning trust in a digital society is to ensure that it is inclusive and safe for all.
For a digital future to truly succeed, Singaporeans must be able to enjoy easy access to digital services and participate meaningfully in the digital economy. They should also feel safe when they interact and transact online. To this end, our Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Digital Development and Information moved a Motion in January last year to \"reaffirm our commitment to adopt a whole-of-nation approach to sustain trust by building an inclusive and safe digital society\". Members discussed the imperatives of ensuring an inclusive and safe digital society and put forth 13 calls to action to achieve this.
Could the Minister give an update on what has transpired or implemented since the Motion with these 13 calls to action in January 2024?
And in ensuring safety, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong mentioned that there will be a new law to protect victims from online harms, when he launched Smart Nation 2.0. In the very recent media report, we have been told that, and that is just last month, that online harms have been increasing because the number of people who have been approaching support centres to received help for online harms have pretty much doubled. And so, there is new imperative and new urgency for us to do more to protect those who are victimised online. And, therefore, can the Minister provide more details on how the new law will help address online harms?
As I still have time, please allow me to speak in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Chairman, going towards a digital economy is a must in Singapore. There are two important factors for success. First, we must continue to make our digital economy green and sustainable; and second, ensure deeper participation from our citizens so they can share the fruits of progress.
Based on the second point, we need to ensure that we can build a safe and inclusive digital society where citizens can participate meaningfully in the development of the digital economy with peace of mind.
Last year, the GPC tabled a Motion in Parliament, in which we put forward 13 calls for action. I hope the Government can focus on these 13 calls and continue to enhance the overall safety of our digital society. I hope the Minister can update us on these calls.
In addition, can we also consider legislation to strengthen the crackdown on harmful behaviours, such as cybercrimes, scams and bullying? I hope the Minister can provide us with more information on this.
(In English): Sir, our pursuit for digital growth and realising a digital future will mean nothing if it cannot be sustained and if our people do not feel safe or get to enjoy the benefits of digitalisation. Hence, I seek to move.
[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]
The Chairman: Ms Tin Pei Ling, again. You can take all of the rest of your cuts together.
Ms Tin Pei Ling: Sir, in my opening cut and in my past speeches in this House, I set out why I think digitalisation is important to our nation's growth and well-being. I talked about both the opportunities and challenges that come along with that. I also shared that there are several factors that I believe are imperative to a digitally successful future, namely: world-class digital infrastructure, vibrant talent community and ecosystem, widespread adoption by businesses, sustainable and green development, safe and inclusive digital society, and stronger global cooperation.
Here, I will talk about talents and ecosystem, support for businesses and global cooperation.
Narrowing the focus on AI, Singapore has a clear strategy as set out in the National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0 report. In the report, Singapore sees AI as no longer an opportunity but a necessity, that it has to go from projects to system and that it has to go from local to global.
Now that NAIS 2.0 has been launched for more than a year since December 2023, can the Minister share what are some of the efforts and outcomes in driving adoption, experimentation and innovation for the Government and industry?
Within NAIS 2.0, people and communities form an important system. I fully agree. No digital future can be realised without the right human capital. We must nurture our young, build our native talent pipeline and attract the brightest minds from across the globe.
Not only do we want to build up our Singaporeans to have what it takes to capitalise on the opportunities in and out of Singapore, we want them to learn and spar with top talents. And by fostering a vibrant community of talents, research institutes and enterprises, ideas can cross-fertilise, collaborations can happen and we can create a virtuous cycle of innovation that benefits both our economy and our people. Public and private partnerships, along with robust peer-to-peer collaboration, are essential to provide the meaningful opportunities that will keep talent anchored in Singapore.
Hence, can the Minister provide an update about what is being done to strengthen our talent pool and enhance the \"staying power\" of these talents and community of partners in Singapore?
Next, our local enterprises are a key part of the engine driving our economy. We must help our local enterprises to adopt new and impactful technologies, so that the power of these innovations can be fully unleashed to benefit our economy and Singaporeans.
Over the years, the Government has taken significant steps to support these enterprises in adopting new technologies. However, with the breakthrough of Gen AI models, such as those that have emerged recently, we must redouble our efforts. It is imperative that enterprises across sectors integrate AI into their core strategies and operations. And a more targeted approach for specific sectors and for businesses with different digital maturity is needed to help them move along.
With the recent refresh of the Industry Digital Plans (IDPs) for several sectors and the launch of new IDPs for the legal and tourism sectors, can the Minister elaborate on how these plans are tailored to address sector-specific AI tools and challenges? How does IMDA plan to support businesses at different stages of digital maturity in adopting and leveraging Gen AI technologies, and what specific benefits would the Minister anticipate for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from these new initiatives?
At the same time, geopolitical tensions, particularly the United States (US)-China rivalry, pose challenges. Companies will need clarity and assurances when choosing which Gen AI platforms to adopt. For example, some may have concerns about the use of DeepSeek's AI models due to potential implications from US sanctions. As we navigate these complex dynamics, there may be scope for us to provide clearer guidelines and support for our enterprises to adopt technology without fear of reprise or sanctions from either of the major powers.
Building on hon Member Henry Kwek's point made during the Budget debate, I agree that it is important to ensure that we are able to build up a model that can take into consideration our local social values, ethical standards and other more local factors. If we take a look at DeepSeek, we also know that DeepSeek itself, hailed as a breakthrough, was also distilled from many other AI models as well. Therefore, I would like to ask whether it is possible for Singapore to also develop or distill our own AI model, so that our companies can leverage on this and to continue to grow and develop with greater sense of assurance.
Finally, global cooperation is essential. In a world where digital economies are increasingly interconnected, Singapore's role as a financial and trade hub is more important than ever. We have signed Digital Economy Agreements (DEAs) with countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and New Zealand, and we are actively advancing the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Digital Economy Framework Agreement. These initiatives will facilitate data sharing, harmonise understanding and standards, promote technological collaboration and perhaps also help combat online harms, ensuring that we remain at the forefront of the global digital economy.
Therefore, can the Minister provide an update on how the Government is collaborating with governments and organisations globally to build capabilities, facilitate data sharing and transactions, and combat online harms?
Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Sir, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) shared at last year's Budget that $260 million was earmarked for SPH Media Trust for the FY2024/2025. We were also told that the Ministry had established key performance indicators (KPIs) for SPH Media Trust. The Minister said that while SPH Media Trust had maintained its overall reach and achieved a modest increase in its digital subscriptions, it did not meet all its KPIs on digital reach, youth reach, vernacular reach and average time spent on its websites and apps. Accordingly, it did not receive the full funding that was committed.
For FY2024/2025, what objective criteria did the Ministry set for these KPIs that were not reached? More specifically, were these KPIs lowered or were they increased? Has SPH Media Trust fared any better since last year? Can the Minister share data on print and digital subscriptions to its English and vernacular titles, respectively, over the last two years?
I had also asked the Minister about the way the Ministry presented its subsidies to SPH Media Trust in the Budget book, and whether there was a simpler way for the public to track and understand the KPIs the Ministry had set for SPH Media Trust. This point is important given the size of the subsidy granted to the mainstream media. After all, as the Minister would agree, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
I would like to share anecdotal feedback from those who follow local English news closely, for example, that CNA's reporting and commentary on local issues, in terms of depth, has overtaken that of The Straits Times. Does the Ministry conduct local surveys to gauge the public response to our local media outlets? And if so, how does it make the decision to deploy taxpayer dollars to those media outlets that rank less satisfactorily in the public eye? How often are such surveys undertaken? What other objective KPIs does the Ministry keep track of to ensure that the taxpayer dollars for SPH Media is purposefully spent?
The Chairman: Ms Hany Soh, you can take your two cuts together.
Ms Hany Soh (Marsiling-Yew Tee): While advancements in technology and AI bring about new opportunities, they also present new challenges and competition. Take the news, media and entertainment spheres, for example. Consumers worldwide have been increasingly moving towards online streaming services and non-traditional sources, such as social media.
In July 2024, BBC announced plans to cut 500 jobs by March next year in a bid to save £200 million and become a \"leaner, more agile organisation\", as it copes with funding and inflationary pressures. This came after a reduction of its headcount by 10%, or nearly 2,000 roles. Its long-time flagship current affairs interview programme, HARDtalk, was also axed as a result.
CNN also announced its plan to lay off 6% of its workforce in January earlier this year, as it revamps its schedule and digital strategy. This followed having already cut 100 jobs, or about 3% of its workforce, last summer as it reorganised its news gathering operations.
Back home, SPH Media announced in November last year that it has laid off 34 employees, amounting to 10% of its technology division amidst its restructuring and digital transformation.
During my interactions with union members who are in the broadcasting industry in my capacity as the advisor of the Singapore Union of Broadcasting Employees, I picked up on one of their concerns that job restructuring is inevitable as Singaporeans, like the rest of the world, are consuming media from across a range of digital sources and platforms, and there is thus a rapid decline in consumption of its content from traditional analogue media platforms.
Against this evolving backdrop, how does MDDI intend to support our Public Service Media entities, ensuring that they remain relevant and maintain or improve audience outreach, given ongoing technological disruptions and the proliferation of information sources?
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Over the years, the Government has been helping vulnerable groups integrate into the digital society through various initiatives, such as DigitalAccess@Home, Seniors Go Digital and Mobile Access for Seniors. These programmes provide subsidised broadband equipment, raise public awareness about digital technology and offer training to support these groups.
In light of this, could MDDI share the current outcomes of these initiatives? For example, how many households have benefited from DigitalAccess@Home to date? What progress has Seniors Go Digital made in training seniors to use digital tools? Additionally, what challenges have been encountered during the implementation of these programmes and what measures have been taken to address them? Are there plans to further expand this support in the future?
I would like to suggest the following measures for the Ministry to consider, in order to further strengthen support for vulnerable groups: increase collaboration with business enterprises to introduce a more comprehensive package to reduce the cost of digital access for low-income families. Expand community workshops to provide more personalised digital training for seniors, such as one-on-one tutoring, to meet their learning needs while continuing to enhance their awareness and ability to prevent online scams.
Strengthen support for assistive technologies and training for people with disabilities, possibly by collaborating with business enterprise and professional organisations to provide customised solutions. Digital inclusion is essential for social equity and progress. I look forward to the Ministry's response and believe that these efforts will continue to benefit more Singaporeans.
Mr Keith Chua (Nominated Member): Chairman, digitisation is transforming the way we live, work and interact. From e-payments to telemedicine and digital Government services, technology has become a cornerstone of our daily life. As Singapore advances, we must ensure that every Singaporean, regardless of age, ability or background, can confidently navigate the online space without fear of exclusion or exploitation. Our digital future must be built on inclusivity, empowerment and safety. While many have adapted, others remain digitally vulnerable and lack digital confidence. These include seniors struggling with e-services and persons with physical and mental disabilities.
IMDA announced a strategic collaboration involving over 300 partners under the National Digital for Life Movement to help advance Singaporeans' essential digital skills. These efforts are commendable and instrumental in closing the digital divide. But more needs to be done to reach underserved communities. A report by the Ministry of Social and Family Development has highlighted the need for design and technological solutions to promote independent living among persons with disabilities.
I would like to ask the Ministry how would ongoing digital initiatives ensure mass access so that no one is left behind? How can we scale efforts to further bridge the digital divide? What strategies are in place to empower citizens with the skills and confidence to use technology safely and effectively? How are we ensuring accessibility across all digital platforms, particularly for persons with disabilities? How are we strengthening public awareness of online threats, ensuring that Singaporeans can identify and protect themselves against digital risks?
An inclusive, safe and digitally empowered society is not just a goal. It is a necessity. We must ensure that every Singaporean can access, use and benefit from technology securely and confidently.
The Chairman: Mr Gerald Giam, take your two cuts together.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Sir, digitalising services improves efficiency and convenience for both individuals and organisations. However, some Singaporeans struggle to keep up, whether due to physical limitations, lack of digital literacy or difficulties adapting. These individuals risk being left behind as more Government and business services move online.
Providing parallel paper applications is not always a solution to digital marginalisation. Instead, all agencies should have walk-in computer stations staffed by officers who are trained in that agency's processes. These officers should guide users through digital applications, helping them to use the systems independently over time.
ServiceSG centres play an important role in guiding citizens through Government e-services, but their officers cannot be expected to know every agency's processes in detail. While they assist with common digital functions, they are not equipped to handle complex applications like for a Long-Term Visit Pass or public defender. Government agencies must take responsibility for guiding users through their own systems. The ServiceSG network should also be expanded, including to Serangoon.
The Seniors Go Digital programme was introduced to help older Singaporeans navigate digital services. How effective has it been so far? How many seniors have been trained and to what extent has their digital literacy improved? Are there plans to expand the programme to reach more citizens?
Beyond basic training, digital inclusion efforts should also ensure that seniors and other digitally marginalised groups can more confidently use essential platforms, including communication apps that connect them with the family, businesses and Government agencies.
Sir, digitalisation must bring greater inclusion, not create new barriers, so that all Singaporeans, regardless of age, ability or financial means, can fully benefit from digitalisation.
Sir, last year, I took a survey conducted at the doorstep of my flat which covered various political and social topics. I was asked about my satisfaction with life, the economy and my neighbourhood. I was also asked to rate whether I believe the Government makes decisions in the best interest of Singapore, whether it takes my opinion seriously and if there are enough channels to voice my views. I was also asked to rate the quality of the Armed Forces, Civil Service, mainstream media and online media, as well as my confidence in the Police and the Courts. There were questions on affordability, whether I find housing, healthcare, public transport and education affordable. I was asked about competition from foreigners at work, the pace of immigration and the quality of migrants. Lastly, I was asked how strongly I identify as a Singaporean and whether I would migrate to another country for a better quality of life.
When I asked who commissioned the survey, the pollster could not tell me. More recently, I saw another pollster conducting a similar survey in my neighbourhood. I also received similar surveys via phone in the past. Are these surveys being commissioned by the Government? And if so, which Ministry is responsible? Are they used only to shape public policy or are they also used to gauge public sentiment for electoral purposes?
If public funds are being used, the results should be made public. Otherwise, there is a risk that such surveys will be seen as serving partisan interests rather than benefiting Singapore and Singaporeans as a whole.
Mr Eric Chua (Tanjong Pagar): Sir, in 2022, I spoke about the risks of exposure to sexually explicit materials, gaming addiction and other harms online. I emphasised the need for awareness, appropriate interventions and collective efforts from the Government, families and society to create a safer and more constructive online environment.
Last year, I highlighted the pervasiveness of digital technology in exposing youths to harmful online content and how unrealistic body standards being purveyed through mainstream and social media platforms have become a source of mental health strain for our society.
The online world has become an indispensable part of our lives, offering opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing and content creation. However, it must also be made safer, especially for the young and impressionable. Some have suggested access bans as a solution to online harms, but banning access alone is clearly not the way forward.
For instance, social media bans might generate unintended dangers. The premise is: young people are adept at using the Internet. Bans might push them to access social media without their parents' knowledge or prompt them to look for unregulated and hidden areas of the Internet.
I, therefore, reiterate my call to the MDDI to dive deeper into how we can shape an online environment that balances safety as well as opportunities for growth. After all, our digital space should remain a constructive platform for young people to network, share knowledge and create content, one that is safer and more conducive for everyone.
Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong): Chairman, online safety is a work in progress and perhaps, will always remain so. The inaugural Online Safety Assessment Report bears this out. IMDA's mystery shopper test showed that Instagram acted on just 2% of legitimate user reports on content that violated its own community guidelines in the first instance. Facebook took an average of nine days to act on legitimate user reports, and X took an average of 10 days, much, much longer than the median time of 15.06 hours – very precise, I must add – that X itself has declared in its annual report.
Taken together, most of these designated social media services took action on only around half of legitimate user reports and took an average of five days to act. Do not get me wrong. I think MDDI has done a lot to advance online safety for Singaporean users and our online safety laws are landmark. Yet, much more needs to be done.
I have a few questions for the Ministry. First, how would the Ministry work with the designated social media services to ensure that they do much better in acting on user reports and take down harmful content much more quickly? Two, would the Ministry consider stepping up punitive measures on the social media services? How many fines has IMDA imposed so far on the platforms for failing to fulfil their obligations under our laws? And three, are there plans to finally designate Telegram as a social media service, too, because, in practice, it is a social media service, not just a messaging app?
The Chairman: Mr Alex Yam. Your three cuts, please.
Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee): Mr Chairman, I love the libraries when I was growing up. A visit to the National Library at Fort Canning or the regional libraries was always a real treat. I, therefore, rise to invite the Ministry to update the House on how our public libraries will be evolving to support a future-ready Singapore. In particular, libraries have long been a cornerstone of community enrichment. Yet, the digital age calls for more innovative approaches to learning.
What new initiatives can we expect to see in our libraries that will encourage greater tech adoption and skills acquisition for all Singaporeans? Furthermore, how will these initiatives be scaled up for different age groups, especially our seniors, so that everyone, regardless of digital fluency, can benefit?
Libraries should not just be repositories of books, but living, breathing testbeds of new knowledge and digital hands-on experiences. I look forward to hearing how the Ministry plans to bring these transformative opportunities to the heart of our communities.
In our interconnected world, social media and digital platforms are powerful tools for community building. Yet, they can also be fertile breeding grounds for harmful discourse, misinformation and polarising narratives that threaten our social fabric.
We have long prided ourselves on our cohesive society and we must not let online vitriol undermine our unity. Youths, in particular, are vulnerable to the negative influences in these digital spaces. Could the Minister please share the Ministry’s strategic efforts to foster civic-mindedness on the Internet, be it through digital literacy programmes, collaborative initiatives with community groups or targeted policies encouraging responsible online behaviour?
Mr Chairman, how will the Ministry ensure our digital services truly leave no one behind, especially our seniors and people with disabilities? As we forge ahead with smart initiatives and digital transformation, how will these advances remain equitable and accessible to vulnerable groups in our society? We know that technology can be intimidating at times, even exclusionary, if not implemented thoughtfully. Will the Ministry, therefore, be introducing new standards or guidelines to ensure our websites, apps and other digital resources are user-friendly for individuals with varying needs?
Finally, how will the Ministry measure success, track progress and provide transparent updates so that we can be assured that every segment of our community benefits from our digital future?
I would like to also take the opportunity to affirm the staff of MDDI and associated agencies for the work that they do in advancing an inclusive and informed nation through digital transformation. I have worked with many of them on various projects, and I can attest to their passion and dedication in making lives more closely connected and digitally-efficient, yet also so tremendously people-centred. Thank you to everyone for their work.
Mr Ong Hua Han (Nominated Member): Sir, MDDI should take the lead in coordinating efforts across Government agencies to protect personal information. During the January Ministerial Statement, Minister Josephine Teo clarified that scammers are not known to directly use NRIC numbers to steal or unlock valuables.
Still, NRIC numbers continue to serve as a gateway to accessing personal, but not secret, information in Singapore. Take, for example, the Eligibility Checker for the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, on the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board website. Anyone can check whether a senior has less than the Basic Retirement Sum in their Retirement Account, earns less than $4,000 a month, and if the annual value of their residence is below $21,000.
All this information can be unlocked with a senior's NRIC number and date of birth. It may not be obvious how this information could be misused. But in the hands of scammers, it could be used to build credibility and manipulate vulnerable individuals through social engineering tactics.
I appreciate the CPF Board's intent to make the eligibility checks convenient. However, with scams becoming more sophisticated, should we not re-consider the right balance between security and convenience more carefully?
We must act with foresight to stay ahead of emerging threats. With its deep expertise in data protection, MDDI is best placed to help our Government agencies develop the instinct for proactive data security.
The Chairman: Ms Jessica Tan. Please take your three cuts together.
Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): Thank you, Chairman. With the increasing adoption of digital technologies and services and Singapore's Smart Nation ambition, ensuring digital resilience is essential in building and maintaining trust, amongst citizens as well as businesses. Our cybersecurity ecosystem, the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NextGen NBN) and infrastructure development, our education and workforce development, digital governance and innovation play pivotal roles in Singapore's digital resilience strategy.
As digital technologies become more pervasive, the risks of cyberattacks and sophistication of cyber threats are increasing. The demand for skills in cybersecurity, AI and emerging technologies continue to grow, both public sector and businesses are facing talent shortage. To ensure robust digital infrastructure, Singapore will need to invest in infrastructure upgrades and readiness. The rapid pace of technological advancements will require the regulatory and policy frameworks to be agile and adaptable, to ensure that regulations are supportive of innovation while still providing the necessary safeguards.
So, how is Singapore preparing to stay ahead of emerging digital threats and having an adaptive digital strategy? And can MDDI share what the strategic priorities for enhancing our digital resilience in Singapore is?
Mr Chairman, the adoption of AI and innovation offer substantial growth opportunities for businesses across sectors. By adopting AI solutions, businesses can unlock new revenue streams, enhance customer experiences, optimise operations and mitigate risks.
As shared in the Ministry of Trade and Industry's (MTI's) COS yesterday, AI adoption is increasing across different industries. The landscape for businesses in the drive to adopt AI solutions is both promising and challenging.
So, how is the Government creating an enabling environment to support businesses to actively, and I emphasise the word \"actively\", embrace and implement AI solutions to enhance competitiveness and to drive growth? How are Singapore businesses progressing in the digital adoption and embracing of AI solutions for their businesses?
A significant challenge for businesses in their adoption of AI solutions is the shortage and competition for skilled AI professionals. Businesses will also need infrastructure and resources. These include computing power, data storage and cloud services. Having access to high quality data is also essential for successful AI adoption as data is an essential building block for training AI models.
As AI adoption grows, businesses must ensure that they use AI responsibly and ethically, including how they handle data privacy, bias and transparency. This is crucial in building and maintaining trust.
The new Enterprise Compute Initiative of $150 million announced in Budget 2025 aims to address these challenges that businesses face in adopting AI solution. How can businesses tap the Enterprise Compute Initiative and what are the eligibility criteria to qualify?
Singapore's vision for a Smart Nation and our commitment to digital transformation for sustainable growth require us to have a strong talent pool of digital expertise and capabilities. A key pillar of Singapore's digital strategy is accelerating AI development and deployment. The latest iteration of the National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0 was launched in 2023. An important enabler of that is talent. A critical factor in advancing AI capabilities is the development of a strong talent pool.
The landscape of AI expertise and capabilities is dynamic and rapidly evolving, with countries around the world making significant investments in AI research, development and talent acquisition. So, how is the Government ensuring a strong pipeline and retention of technical expertise and AI capabilities, within the public sector and the wider Singapore ecosystem?
Considering Singapore's limited resources, how are we building these capabilities and what are the key consideration in helping us leapfrog in AI innovations? In a global competitive landscape for AI talent, how is Singapore progressing in the development and attraction of top AI expertise and capabilities?
The Chairman: The next Member is not here. Miss Rachel Ong.
Miss Rachel Ong (West Coast): Chairman, AI is rapidly transforming industries, reshaping jobs and redefining essential skills. DBS Group's recent announcement to cut 4,000 jobs over the next three years highlights AI's growing impact. This shift is not limited to large enterprises. SMEs must also adapt to stay competitive. AI proficiency should be a universal workforce asset, not a specialised skill limited to a few.
Education institutions are stepping up, with initiatives like Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Gen AI courses, equipping professionals with practical AI skills.
Yet, SME adoption of such training remains uncertain. As AI reshapes the job landscape, how is the Government ensuring that businesses and the workers, especially in SMEs and vulnerable roles are prepared? What initiatives are in place to help the Workforce develop AI skills for productivity gains and how will workers in these sectors be supported through this transition?
The Chairman: Ms Mariam Jaafar, you can take your two cuts together.
Ms Mariam Jaafar (Sembawang): Sir, AI and Gen AI are transforming how government agencies around the world operate across all core government sectors and functions – to streamline government services, improve governance and improve citizen experience.
For example, in healthcare to predict and manage disease outbreaks and growing medical conditions, in infrastructure to do smart traffic planning, in social services to speed up document processing or detect fraudulent activities, in customer service and citizen engagement. The Government as a lead user can also provide a base load for emerging AI infrastructure, and develop and stress test emerging responsible AI frameworks are tailored to our values.
In Singapore, the Government is already using AI in use cases, like traffic management. What is the value that has been created? What steps is the Government taking to accelerate the adoption of AI and Gen AI, and value creation through AI in Government?
Sir, AI is no longer a distance technology of tomorrow, it is here, transforming industries and reshaping jobs. Many enterprises are already using AI to drive productivity, especially individual productivity, deploying tools like Microsoft Co-Pilot – but these productivity-driven AI use cases typically deliver only 10% to 20% productivity improvement.
For true enterprise value creation, enterprises must go beyond to use AI to reshape their critical core business processes, such as AI-driven fault detection, or to invent new products and services, such as by charging their customers AI credits on a pay-as-you-go basis for new AI features. Only then can we drive true value creation through higher revenue growths, dramatically transform operational efficiencies and enhance customer experience.
On this front, enterprise adoption of AI in Singapore remains very uneven, especially amongst SMEs. Having done some research on this topic, I can share that the main challenges are setting the right ambition and alignment on AI, scaling from AI proof-of-concept to generating value at-scale, and finding the right talent. Smaller companies also find access to Cloud and AI infrastructure expensive.
Sir, we need to democratise access to infrastructures, ecosystems and talent, and raise the AI ambitions of our enterprises. How is the Ministry supporting our local enterprises to accelerate the adoption of AI for larger scale value creation, so that Singapore can continue to harness AI for economic gains and social benefit?
The Chairman: Next Member is not here. Mr Sharael Taha, you can take your five cuts together.
Mr Sharael Taha (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Chairman, my first cut. While Singapore is building deep capabilities in AI, cybersecurity and other emerging technologies, these skills are not just critical for tech professionals, but also basic end user knowledge is increasingly essential for the general workforce. While we strive to develop a workforce with deep expertise, it is equally important to uplift the broader workforce with foundational digital and AI skills.
AI should not remain a niche skillset for a select few. Rather, it should become as commonplace as the use of Microsoft Word or Excel in today's workplace. On developing expert capabilities, how effective has a TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) been in equipping our local workforce with the deep tech skills needed for AI and cybersecurity roles? Are we on track to meet our target for AI practitioners?
Beyond the tech sector, AI has the potential to enhance productivity and enable faster and better decision-making, particularly for SMEs too. However, adoption remains uneven for SMEs. How can we accelerate the development of AI literacy and digital skills across the broader workforce, ensuring that workers, whether in retail, logistics, professional services or any other industry, can harness AI to drive productivity, scale their businesses and stay competitive in the global market?
Many SMEs lack the budget to build in-house digital teams to hire AI talent to identify and implement AI opportunities in their businesses. How is the Government supporting SMEs in leveraging AI to boost productivity, enhance decision-making and scale effectively through the adoption of AI enabled solutions?
Singapore aspires to be a global leader in AI adoption, innovation and digital technology solutions. In Budget 2024, it was announced that there would be collaborations with industry to drive AI adoption and innovation. Can the Ministry provide an update on these collaborations? How can we further encourage companies to develop or establish their AI capabilities in Singapore?
Beyond schemes and grants, building the right ecosystem is crucial to attracting and sustaining AI-driven developments. This requires not only skilled talent and cutting-edge infrastructure, such as an ultra-fast broadband network, but also effective matching of technology to business needs, alongside the necessary safeguards to prevent misuse. How are we progressing in our NAIS 2.0 strategy to realise Singapore's vision of AI as a force for good, one that empowers businesses and uplifts our people?
At the same time, the very infrastructure and expertise that enables AI innovation can also be exploited for criminal activities. What safeguards are in place to prevent misuse by malicious actors and ensure the integrity of our AI ecosystem?
Cybersecurity threats continue to be on the rise, while we have amended our Cybersecurity Act to strengthen the protection of critical information infrastructures and expand the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore's (CSA's) oversight to cover new classes, how do we continue to raise our national cybersecurity posture?
Many SMEs lack the budget to build in-house cybersecurity teams or hire talent with deep expertise in cybersecurity. How can we assist SMEs to upgrade their cybersecurity posture?
The support for our vernacular media has enabled the platforms to transform and provide many innovative digital products to engage the community.
Berita Harian, in particular, has been able to provide many media offerings for the Malay language speaker, not only in Singapore, but in the region. This is important as it provides the Singapore Malays' perspective on current affairs issues in the region. How has this increased the viewership of Berita Harian and how can we further assist our vernacular papers to reach out to the much larger Malay speakers in the region?
The Chairman: Minister Josephine Teo.
The Minister for Digital Development and Information (Mrs Josephine Teo): Mr Chairman, I thank Members for their cuts.
Last year, the Prime Minister launched Smart Nation 2.0 – a refresh of our vision for Singapore to use technology to uplift the lives of our people. Today, I will elaborate on our efforts in four areas: (a) how we support our workforce to succeed in the age of AI; (b) how we keep Singaporeans safe by fighting harmful online activities; (c) how we protect our cyberspace against malicious attacks; and (d) how we preserve trust in our information space (infospace) by strengthening public service media.
Mr Chairman, may I ask the Clerks to distribute the package of handouts?
The Chairman: Yes, go ahead. [Handouts were distributed to hon Members.]
Mrs Josephine Teo: Thank you. Members may also access these materials through the MP@SGPARL app.
Sir, in this year's Budget and COS debates, Members spoke often about AI. Ms Jessica Tan, Miss Rachel Ong and Mr Sharael Taha also raised concerns about its impact on workers.
I understand these concerns. They are real and will be with us for some time, because we are only at the very early stages of AI adoption globally. People all over the world would like to know who will be impacted and how. While there is no perfect clarity, there are ways in which we can help.
The first is to recognise that many jobs will still be around. The risk is not that these jobs will be lost to AI, but that they are lost to another country or city that is more competitive than us. Our most important task, therefore, is to help as many people and businesses as we can become more productive, with the use of AI. We want to become a nation of competent and confident AI users. In doing so, we can maintain Singapore's economic competitiveness and retain more good jobs here.
Sir, I have compiled a list of comparisons by various organisations in the handout . Members will see that Singapore is well-regarded and well-placed to benefit from widespread AI adoption. We should capitalise on this opportunity. We have established strong partnerships with tech companies, like Amazon Web Services, Databricks, Google and Oracle. For example, Microsoft has partnered with NTUC Learning Hub to train up to 100,000 workers with AI skills.
At the same time, IMDA is working with SkillsFuture Singapore to expand the curriculum in SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace 2.0 to include AI and Gen AI content. Under this expansion, workers in all sectors, be it manufacturing or retail, can learn how to use tools, such as ChatGPT and CoPilot. This will help them to enhance their productivity at work, even if they have no background in technology.
The second thing we must recognise is that AI will create new jobs even as it replaces some existing ones. As Members have highlighted, our next most important task is to deepen our AI capabilities and anchor more new jobs in Singapore. This means growing our pool of AI practitioners, which includes data scientists, machine learning engineers and more.
Take, for example, the need for AI safety. As AI adoption grows, there will be greater demand for AI testing and assurance service providers, just as the widespread information technology (IT) adoption led to greater demand for IT auditors. Estimates of the market for such testing, inspection and certification services vary, but they would be in the billions in time to come.
Singapore believes in the importance of good AI governance. We were one of the first in the world to introduce a testing framework and software toolkit, AI Verify. Just last month, I launched the Global AI Assurance Pilot of the AI Verify Foundation to promote best practices in the testing of models using Gen AI. These efforts can help to grow the AI testing industry here and create new jobs.
In response to Mr Sharael Taha and Ms Tin Pei Ling, let me provide an update on efforts to expand our pool of AI practitioners.
I previously shared our ambition to expand the pool from under 5,000 to 15,000 in about five years. In the last year or so, we estimate that the pool has grown by nearly 25%.
The AI Centres of Excellence that MDDI and MTI worked closely together to set up will catalyse more demand for AI practitioners, by the hundreds if not thousands. The public sector itself has growing needs. For example, Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) is on track to hire and train a 300-person AI workforce by end-2025.
To meet demand, we need to grow a strong pipeline of AI practitioners. To this end, we will expand our efforts under IMDA's TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA). We will provide more company-led training opportunities. We will also explore ways to expand the AI Apprenticeship Programme together with AI Singapore.
Let me share an example of how these programmes benefit Singaporeans.
Seow Yuxin studied business and started her career in Regional Operations for an e-commerce platform. She did not work on AI systems directly, but the role sparked her interest in the field. After seeing her husband and brother-in-law go through the AI Apprenticeship Programme, she took a leap of faith and enrolled in the programme.
I spoke to Yuxin recently and was pleased to learn that she has pivoted to a new role in a new company delivering AI and data-driven solutions to other organisations.
We are determined to keep AI opportunities open and inclusive. Yuxin shows that one can access AI opportunities even without a STEM background. We will aim to support more Singaporeans like her to fulfil their AI aspirations.
As a Government, we will always put our people at the heart of all we do and that includes our AI plans. I hope these efforts reassure Members of our support for Singaporeans to make the most of AI.
Besides succeeding with AI, we want Singaporeans to feel safe when they go online. But this is not something the Government alone can achieve. Social media platforms must do their part, no different from how all service providers bear some responsibilities towards their users. This is why we passed the Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act in 2022 to set out their basic obligations.
Like Mr Eric Chua, we believe in adopting a holistic and balanced approach to online safety, particularly for young users. Where it is useful to do so, we will strengthen regulatory levers. For example, in January, we issued a new Code of Practice for Online Safety for App Distribution Services. For the first time, we are introducing measures to ensure that young users under 18 do not access age-inappropriate apps.
Last month, we also published our first ever Online Safety Assessment Report. To questions raised by Mr Xie Yao Quan, the report showed that the designated social media services made good efforts to put in place baseline user safety measures. However, as he has also pointed out, there are areas for improvement. They should respond more quickly to user reports. Their measures to protect children from harmful content are also far from satisfactory.
This is why MDDI is studying whether the age assurance obligations for app stores should also apply to social media services.
We also want to do more to support the victims of online harms. IMDA's report found that, more often than not, platforms fail to take action to remove genuinely harmful content reported to them by victims.
One such victim was Jane, and that is not her real name. At 18, she was horrified to find an image of her face superimposed onto another person's nude body, circulating on an image sharing platform. Strangers reposted the image and left comments, some of which sexualised or insulted her. When she reported this to the platform, they took down only the original post but not the reposts. During this ordeal, she felt scared and embarrassed, even blaming herself for posting photos online in the first place. A full decade later, at 29 years old today, Jane continues to question who created that photo of her and if it is still found online. Victims like Jane need more support to find closure.
During the Smart Nation 2.0 launch, the Prime Minister announced that the Government will introduce new legislation to support victims seeking relief from specified online harms. Ms Tin will be glad to know that the proposed law, the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Bill, will be introduced later this year. It will establish a new agency called the Online Safety Commission (OSC) so that victims can get timely help if they encounter online harms.
The OSC will be set up by the first half of 2026. Victims will be able to request OSC to issue a direction to the platform to take down the offensive content. The platform must also remove existing identical copies on the platform – something they refused to do for Jane.
The new law will also help victims hold their perpetrators accountable. If they want to sue the perpetrators, they can request OSC to direct the platform to provide information about the perpetrators.
In drafting the new law, the Minister of Law and MDDI have engaged a wide range of stakeholders from industry, academia, community groups and international partners. We also invited the public to provide their feedback. The public consultation findings have been published on the website of Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry @ Home (REACH).
We are heartened by the strong support and useful feedback which will help refine our proposals. Given the complexity and vastness of the digital space, rules and regulations alone are insufficient. Everyone has a part to play. Minister of State Rahayu will share what citizens can do to protect themselves online.
Sir, in his Budget Statement, the Prime Minister talked about the global context being more uncertain and having more downside risks. This is reflected in the digital domain, where cyber threats have become more severe. Criminal groups are increasingly going online to look for illicit gains. Advanced Persistent Threat actors, linked to certain states, are actively seeking to advance their national agenda.
We have seen both kinds of activities in our cyberspace. Last year, a global botnet, which included infected servers and devices around the world, was discovered. More details can be found in the handout. Until the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) participated in an international operation to disrupt this botnet, about 2,700 devices in Singapore had been infected, unbeknownst to their owners. The malicious actors exploited poor cyber hygiene practices to infect devices, including baby monitors and Internet routers.
Members may ask, so what if the botnet had remained? Well, it would have meant the devices were vulnerable and personal data belonging to device owners could have been stolen. More worryingly, the devices could be used as a standby army, much like our full-time National Servicemen, ready to be deployed into active duty. Except in this case, it would be foreign state-linked actors using the bots for malicious purposes, which can include targets directed within Singapore.
As Ms Tin Pei Ling highlighted, international partnerships are critical in combatting such complex threats. CSA could act only because it has recognised capabilities and was trusted by its partners to be involved in this international operation.
Botnets are just one of the many cyber threats we need to defend against. This is why we emphasise the need to safeguard our cybersecurity at multiple levels.
For individuals, we will continue working with industry partners to offer better protection. One example is the Enhanced Fraud Protection feature under Google Play Protect. A common scam tactic is to entice victims to download apps from unofficial sources that can inject malware into our devices. With this feature, such download attempts on Android devices will be blocked.
For organisations, the Government is improving the SG Cyber Safe Programme. Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How will share more details later.
We also agree with Mr Sharael Taha on the need to raise our national cybersecurity posture. Last year, CSA amended the Cybersecurity Act to require that CII owners report on a larger set of cyber incidents. We also expanded CSA's oversight beyond CIIs to other important systems and entities, such as cloud services and data centres. The amendments are expected to come into force later this year. More information can be found in the handout.
Beyond cybersecurity, we aim to introduce a new Digital Infrastructure Act to enhance security and resilience of digital infrastructure. Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary will share more later.
What I worry about are the organisations that are not covered by such legislation, that are not paying enough attention to cybersecurity. Thankfully, over 500 organisations believe in the importance of cybersecurity and have acted on it by getting their Cyber Essentials and Cyber Trust Marks. But we should raise baseline cybersecurity standards nationally and protect more organisations, especially those of higher risk.
CSA is, therefore, assessing if more measures are needed, particularly for vendors that may be given access to sensitive data or systems within the Government. Such vendors include cybersecurity penetration testing firms and cybersecurity auditors. Possible measures include requiring these vendors and their subcontractors to obtain their Cyber Essentials or Cyber Trust Marks before they can be licensed or bid for contracts offered by the Government.
Government may also take the lead to incorporate cybersecurity considerations in our procurement decisions. As the impact of these measures may be non-trivial, CSA plans to engage the industry before deciding.
Sir, let me turn now to my final theme. We share the same concern as Members that AI-enabled tools, like deepfakes, may be abused to cause harm. This is why we passed the Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Act to protect Singaporeans from the threat of AI-generated misinformation during elections.
We are also developing a new Code of Practice to require social media companies to prevent and counter abuse of fake content. These measures, while important, are not enough. Against the tide of false information online, we must have trusted sources to turn to.
Thankfully, our Public Service Media (PSM) entities remain many Singaporeans' first port of call for credible news. The Straits Times and CNA are amongst our most frequented online news platforms, with more than 40% of Singaporeans reading them weekly. More importantly, public trust in our mainstream media remains high, with CNA and The Straits Times being the most trusted by Singaporeans at 74% and 73% respectively. Meanwhile, public trust in mainstream news has fallen in other countries, hovering at 60% or below.
Many Singaporeans, including Ms Hany Soh and Mr Sharael Taha, appreciate the efforts of Mediacorp and SPH Media to adapt to changing audience preferences. Against a climate of stiff competition, news fatigue and opaque algorithms on social media platforms, both companies are committed to increase audience reach.
However, falling revenues have forced their newsrooms to rationalise. SPH Media ceased publication of its Chinese entertainment magazine, U-Weekly. Last October, Mediacorp merged TODAY Online with CNA's Digital newsroom.
Mr Pritam Singh expressed concerns about SPH Media's performance. Like news outlets worldwide, SPH Media's print subscriptions have declined as readers shift to consuming news online. However, less than 20% of consumers in advanced countries, including Singapore, now pay for digital news subscriptions. Essentially, they can get it for free and they will continue to enjoy such services for free.
Without revealing commercially sensitive information, I can share that SPH Media's digital subscriptions have held steady and it is now 35% higher than print subscriptions. It was only 20% higher two years ago. So, you see the shift. SPH Media will have to continue its pivot to digital news and the Government must support this effort so that our PSM entities can meet audiences where they are.
Despite not meeting all their KPIs last year, SPH Media did not ask to lower their targets. They are determined to maintain their reach and relevance with Singaporeans. In 2024, they maintained their strong overall reach at 70% of Singapore's resident population although youths and vernacular reach dipped. In line with the funding agreement, MDDI will pro-rate and award the Performance-Linked Incentives accordingly.
I would like to address slightly, to some extent, the comment that was made by Mr Pritam Singh when he compared CNA and The Straits Times, I believe. I would suggest respectfully to Members that comparisons must avoid oversimplification. Because we have to remember that CNA is mainly our national broadcaster as well as digital news channel, whereas most of the titles in SPH Media Trust (SMT), most of the assets of SMT, are print still – even though they have digital versions – and they are meant to be national papers of record. So, they are different and complementary. And it is perhaps, again, my humble suggestion to Members to look at the performance of public service media holistically. Because, in truth, we need all of them to reach as many Singaporeans as we can. So, that is something to keep in mind.
And as mentioned, both CNA and The Straits Times remained the top-frequented new channels. And Members who expressed concern about the sustainability of Public Services Media will agree with me that the KPIs, such as reach, are important but they are not the only ways for us to assess the performance and the effectiveness of PSM entities. Equally, we must look at the trust levels that they are able to harness from the population and we must also look at satisfaction levels. And so, those would be the additional KPIs that we are looking to introduce.
Meanwhile, let me also point to the threat to broadcast television, with consumers shifting to platforms like YouTube or Netflix.
Even when PSM entities go onto these platforms, the experiences abroad suggest that placements and algorithms in the digital environment disadvantaged them. Countries like the UK and Australia have, therefore, made new rules. They now require Connected TVs to be pre-loaded with public service media apps like BBC iPlayer, or ABC iview, and to display these apps prominently on their user interfaces.
Given the important role of our PSM entities to inform, educate and connect Singaporeans, we must be very concerned about their visibility being obscured by the decisions of third-party platforms. Our PSM content must remain visible and easily accessible to our audiences. Therefore, MDDI is studying the regulatory moves in other countries to safeguard the prominence and discoverability of PSM. We will consult industry stakeholders, including device manufacturers, before deciding the next steps.
Sir, please allow me to conclude in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Chairman, Singapore is a highly open and digitalised country. Singaporeans can access information from various platforms – whether it is Xiaohongshu (小红书), Facebook, Netflix, or iQiYi (爱奇艺), these are platforms that many Singaporeans are familiar with.
However, with more information received, is our ability to discern information sharpened or weakened? Is the society becoming more united or increasingly divided? These are questions worth pondering. In fact, in an era of intensifying geopolitical competition, being limited in our ability to share our narratives is not beneficial for maintaining our national stance and sense of identity.
In this aspect, Public Service Media, such as Mediacorp and Lianhe Zaobao, play crucial roles. Only they will report news and analyse international events and their impact on us from Singapore's perspective. Therefore, the Government is exploring ways to make Public Service Media content more accessible to Singaporeans in the new media environment.
Of course, threats to social cohesion are not the only concern in the digital age. Therefore, some have asked me, given the dangers in the digital world, should Singapore slow down or pause its digitalisation efforts? Indeed, while Singapore is very safe in the physical world, the digital world has no clear borders and is full of risks.
However, Singapore is a small country with limited resources. In an era of intense global competition, digitalisation is key to overcoming our limitations and enabling us to continue thriving. In the digital journey, not progressing is akin to falling behind. The Government must therefore adopt the wise strategy of helping citizens and businesses enhance their digital skills and strengthening their cybersecurity awareness.
Only then can Singapore grasp new opportunities in the digital age and our workers can move forward and secure better employment opportunities.
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary.
Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mr Chairman, I thank the Members for their cuts and questions, and I hope in my response today to be addressing the cuts filed by Ms Jessica Tan, Ms Tin Pei Ling, Mr Ong Hua Han, Mr Sharael Taha, Mr Dennis Tan and Ms Mariam Jaafar.
Sir, trust is at the heart of our Smart Nation efforts. Our citizens and businesses must be confident that the digital systems and services that they rely on and the interactions and transactions that they engage in, can be trusted.
I will explain MDDI's approach to building this trust: by ensuring the resilience, security and future-readiness of key digital infrastructure, and by driving Government AI adoption and innovation for the public good.
The Government has existing regulations to reduce risks to digital infrastructure and services, including cyberattacks and service disruptions. For example, under the Telecommunications Act, IMDA requires broadband and mobile network operators to take proactive measures to minimise disruptions. There are also sectoral regulations for digital services, such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS') IT resilience and security requirements for financial institutions.
But the digital landscape is much bigger and constantly evolving. Digital infrastructure, like data centres and cloud services, have become important in enabling many functions including e-banking and payments, ride-hailing, e-commerce and digital identity. These functions allow citizens to meet their day-to-day needs and to do so conveniently and effectively. They help businesses to grow. However, the growing scale and complexity of our digital infrastructure also means an increased surface area for cyberattacks and a higher risk of disruptions arising from hardware failures, misconfigurations and other problems. Should these disruptions occur, the impact is higher, given the increasing utilisation of these services.
Last year, we amended the Cybersecurity Act to address new challenges in our operating environment. These amendments, which are expected to come into force later this year, will empower the CSA to better ensure the cybersecurity of important entities and systems beyond the critical information infrastructure (CII). These include data centres and cloud services. This, in turn, improves trust and confidence in Singapore and our digital economy. Owners of CII also have the opportunity, we hope, to review their business models. We hope that they will be encouraged to review their business models and do so with a view to using new technologies, such as commercial cloud solutions.
Beyond cyber threats, we must guard against risks that disrupt access to digital infrastructure and services, including physical hazards like fires; and less visible risks, like hardware failure and system misconfiguration. These are risks as a result of our dependence on digital infrastructure and services. We cannot eliminate risk completely, so we must enhance our preparedness by reducing the occurrence and the impact of disruptions.
We are working towards introducing a new law this year, called the Digital Infrastructure Act. This will improve Singapore's digital resilience and security. The Act targets foundational digital infrastructure, starting with major cloud service providers and data centres. The Act will require major operators to implement measures to uphold their resilience and security and to minimise disruptions.
We are studying requirements for major operators to report disruptions to the Government, so that we can better learn and improve from these incidents, and support response and recovery efforts where needed. We have been seeking feedback from digital infrastructure providers and some of their customers, since mid-2024.
IMDA recently released Advisory Guidelines for cloud service providers and data centres. These guidelines contain key measures that we have been consulting stakeholders on. The guidelines encourage data centre operators to have a robust business continuity system and ensure high availability for their enterprise customers. Cloud service providers are also encouraged to manage data security risks and ensure business continuity planning. All operators are encouraged to implement the measures and many providers, including Microsoft, Equinix and Keppel, and their enterprise customers, have expressed support for the new Advisory Guidelines, which they find to be fit for purpose and aligned with international standards.
We are also strengthening the resilience of our Government systems to ensure that Singaporeans have trust and confidence when interacting with the Government online. We have improved the resilience of central systems used by agencies. Service availability for these systems rose from 95% to 99.5% in the last year. We will continue to increase the adoption of tools to improve the resilience of Government applications, including those that monitor system uptime.
As resilience measures incur costs, our approach must be calibrated. We will support agencies providing important services to implement more sophisticated measures where appropriate.
There is a need for Government to manage access to information about individuals, as such information could be exploited in scam tactics. We are committed to ensure that data, including personal data, is managed carefully and responsibly.
In the Government's provision of digital services involving data, agencies must assess the right balance between the benefits and risks in each use case, to achieve the dual objectives of service accessibility and data protection, in line with the guidelines and safeguards that MDDI has provided.
Sir, our digital infrastructure must not only be secure and resilient but also position Singapore for the future. Last year, we announced that IMDA is investing up to $100 million to upgrade our Nationwide Broadband Network (NBN). This will enable broadband speeds up to 10 times faster than what most households have today. Operators are starting to offer higher speed broadband services at lower prices. A 10GB plan now costs between $30 and $70, compared to more than $100 a year ago.
Developing our future-ready digital infrastructure also entails addressing resource constraints as we pursue growth. We must explore ways to support Singapore's AI ambitions while keeping to our climate commitments, as well as balance digital infrastructure growth with environmental sustainability.
IMDA launched the Green Data Centre Roadmap last year to guide data centres to improve energy efficiency and use green energy to grow AI compute capacity sustainably. We have made good progress. For example, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA)-IMDA Green Mark for data centres was refreshed last October to raise the bar for data centre sustainability. IMDA also launched the Energy Efficiency Grant for the data centre sector last December to support businesses' upgrades to more energy-efficient IT equipment.
MDDI is further exploring ways to uplift data centre sustainability through regulations. We are studying other jurisdictions and are in early engagement with the industry to develop a framework for Singapore’s context.
Sir, we have to lead by example, as a Digital Government. We must continue to build the capabilities for the public sector to create and experiment with AI and unlock citizen-centric solutions.
We have made available, within the Public Service, access to best-in-class AI and large language model (LLM) tools. Pair Chat is a fast and secure Gen AI assistant used by more than half the Public Service today. Last year, we organised a whole-of-Government prompt engineering competition. This attracted over 1,040 officers. The fact that I can say this already makes us quite unusual in terms of how we do Digital Government – that we have a prompt engineering competition within Government and there were 1,040 public service officers who participated.
The finalists were tasked to build an event publicity website within 10 minutes using large language model (LLM) tools. The winner of this competition was Muhammad Naim Bin Zahari, a firefighter with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). At the time of the competition, he had just completed a 24-hour shift. In second place was Rachel Tiang, a finance officer at the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Neither were in technical roles dealing with AI. Both of them and all the competitors were more than capable of building this functioning publicity website within 10 minutes using these AI and LLM-augmented tools.
We actively involve non-technical public officers in creating digital products. Last year, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) held its inaugural series of hackathons for public officers, called the LAUNCH! Programme. It gathered more than 600 ideas and birthed 26 innovative prototypes. For example, a team of two primary school teachers and a GovTech officer prototyped an AI tool to provide students with immediate customised feedback on their oral skills performance.
We are also exploring how officers can innovate better and faster with AI. One of the prototypes from our recent Hack for Public Good hackathon was Spaceship, a tool to make prototyping less daunting for public officers. This tool, Spaceship, enables officers to use AI agents to build and deploy fully functional prototype applications, including LLM-based tools. They do this using just plain English. So, this is a tool for public officers, non-technical public officers to get from an idea to a workable app in minutes using just plain English.
Sir, I tried out this prototype and I tried to have it code a portal that restricted the length of Members of Parliament's speeches. It put the appropriate filter into the spreadsheet, but I think that is the limit of the technology today.
As we increase the use of AI in Government, it is critical to understand and mitigate the risks in AI applications. GovTech is building the capabilities to ensure that the Government's Gen AI applications go to market safely.
We have Litmus, a tool for AI safety and security testing. We have curated a set of tests to ensure our AI applications are resistant to risks that mislead users or cause reputational harm. Litmus is built in partnership with IMDA's Moonshot and will be launched this year. Based on tests with agencies, we have seen how Litmus can spot potential safety issues ahead of time, allowing us to act proactively. Essentially, this is AI testing as a service.
Litmus provides a diagnosis of the AI risks, but we also need a solution, once those risks are detected. In the AI world, guardrails ensure that AI systems operate within ethical, legal and functional boundaries. We are building Sentinel, a platform that provides guardrails as a service for the Government's AI applications. Product teams can choose from a curated list of guardrails, including those from top AI developers and localised ones like LionGuard, and easily integrate these into their applications. Sentinel has been able to accurately identify attempts to infiltrate systems or trick AI models into producing inappropriate output.
Litmus and Sentinel demonstrate how we want to develop Government Gen AI applications that are safe for use, including by members of the public.
Sir, our digital infrastructure underpins key functions that citizens and businesses rely on. We have, therefore, actively invested in enhancing the security, resilience and future-readiness of our key digital infrastructure. We also continue to build capabilities in the public sector and embrace experimentation and innovation with AI to better serve Singaporeans. I am hopeful that this will build trust in our digital future as we continue on our Smart Nation journey.
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How.
The Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information (Mr Tan Kiat How): Chairman, we want Singaporeans to benefit from good jobs, good wages and better work environments. To achieve these goals, our enterprises must be competitive amidst rapid digitalisation. We are building on a good foundation. The digital economy has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 11.2% from 2018 to 2023. We are doing more to help our workers and enterprises ride the next wave of digitalisation, particularly in AI, through the NAIS 2.0 and the Digital Enterprise Blueprint (DEB) launched last year.
Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Sharael Taha asked about the progress of NAIS 2.0. We are seeing encouraging progress. Last year, more than 26 AI Centres of Excellence were set up to push the frontiers of AI innovation and use.
For example, Lilly's Digital Health Innovation Hub will accelerate research and development of AI-powered digital health technologies, helping doctors better understand patient needs and provide personalised care. Another example, in the financial services, Prudential's global AI Lab incubates tools to enhance customer experience and improve staff efficiency. The Lab will also partner Institutes of Higher Learning to provide students with opportunities for hands-on-learning.
The Enterprise Compute Initiative announced by the Prime Minister in his Budget Speech will help anchor more Centres of Excellence in Singapore and support more innovative AI applications.
We are also seeing more organisations use AI for the public good. For example, the National Parks Board is exploring an AI application named KOEL built by participants of the Build For Good Hackathon to help with biodiversity surveys using bioacoustics. With KOEL, researchers can identify animal species from audio recordings, which can save thousands of man-hours, increase efficiency and accuracy.
Another example is iFerret. It is an AI-enabled detection system deployed at Changi Airport to help keep our runways safe. In the past, daily manual inspections were needed. Now, staff can also rely on the round-the-clock automated scanning of foreign objects on our runways, which enable them to remove these objects quickly.
Ms Tin Pei Ling, Ms Jessica Tan, Mr Sharael Taha and Ms Mariam Jaafar asked how we are assisting our enterprises, especially our SMEs, to benefit from AI. Through initiatives, such as the SMEs Go Digital Programme, we have helped about 100,000 SMEs since 2017, with 40,000 SMEs benefiting over the last four years.
The share of SMEs adopting at least one digital solution for general business functions increased from 53% in 2020 to 84% in 2024. Very encouraging. On average, SMEs that adopted digital solutions under the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) between 2018 and 2023, reported cost savings of 48% per solution.
Mr Derrick Goh and Mr Christopher de Souza sent the gist of their cuts to us separately. They will be pleased to know that we are committed to accelerating AI adoption among SMEs.
We are updating the Industry Digital Plans (IDPs) to include sector-specific AI tools and training. We have done so for the retail, security, built environment, legal and tourism sectors. We will update more IDPs this year, such as for the food services and hotel sectors. In 2024, over 330,000 users accessed resources on the Chief Technology Officer (CTO)-as-a-Service platform, which helped almost 3,000 SMEs adopt AI-enabled solutions. Of the approximately 300 pre-approved solutions supported by PSG, about 30% or a third of them are AI-enabled.
And last year, we launched the Gen AI Sandbox, allowing SMEs to experiment with 13 Gen AI solutions to improve their marketing and sales, and streamline customer engagement efforts.
One of the over 150 participants is AHA Inspiration, a health and wellness service platform provider. By integrating a Gen AI chatbot into its website and mobile application, AHA's employees can now handle customer inquiries almost twice as fast as before while providing more personalised customer service. AHA Inspiration is just one of 120 SMEs that continued using the Gen AI solutions after the three-month Sandbox period. Our experience with the Sandbox reinforced the importance of providing opportunities for SMEs to discover the value of Gen AI through experimentation.
Building on this success, IMDA launched Gen AI Sandbox 2.0 with 14 solutions in December last year to support a wider range of Gen AI solutions in areas, such as Generative Web Design, enabling SMEs to create websites using prompts. SMEs can also try Gen AI tools for HR operations to create job descriptions and schedule interviews more efficiently. If these Gen AI solutions prove useful, we intend to add them to the list of pre-approved solutions so that all SMEs can benefit.
We also received feedback that it could be useful for the Sandbox to offer sector-specific solutions. IMDA is happy to work with interested sector leads and industry associations on curating these solutions.
Besides broad-based support for all SMEs, we are tapping on the capabilities of technology giants through the Gen AI x Digital Leaders (Gen AI x DL) programme to accelerate Gen AI adoption among the more digitally-mature enterprises. These enterprises may require customised solutions that off-the-shelf products do not fully address.
To date, over 120 enterprises have used resources provided by tech giants and their partners. A quarter of them are working to build and deploy these solutions.
Take, for example, iHub Solutions, a third-party logistics service provider. iHub's employees grappled with high volumes of ad hoc requests for reports. The time taken to manually create these reports hindered efficiency and reports were often error-prone. During the programme, iHub leveraged the expertise of tech partners to develop a report generation tool using AI. With this tool, iHub's employees can create reports automatically using simple prompts, reducing the time spent on these reports by half. iHub's customers can also use it to derive real-time supply chain insights to inform their decisions.
To seize opportunities to deploy Gen AI solutions at scale, IMDA will expand the Gen AI x DL partnerships to leverage tech partners' new development tools and pre-packaged software modules to deploy solutions for common use cases more quickly. This is being piloted and we will share more details when ready.
Ms Tin Pei Ling also asked how the Government can encourage more enterprises to adopt Gen AI. We recognise that enterprises face different challenges in doing so.
Building on the experience and best practices of early adopters, IMDA will launch a Gen AI Playbook for Enterprises catering to different stages of their digital maturity. For enterprises just starting to explore Gen AI, the Playbook illustrates the benefits of Gen AI through examples and offers resources on Gen AI solutions for specific needs.
For those deciding between buying off-the-shelf solutions and building proprietary ones, it provides an evaluation framework and information on associated risks to help them make informed choices. And for digitally-matured enterprises seeking more customised solutions, the Playbook provides insights on tech capabilities and partners needed to ensure successful implementation, alongside potential risks and governance considerations. So, the Playbook has something for all enterprises.
And complementing the Playbook, IMDA will launch an online tool, the Gen AI Navigator, that recommends the right Gen AI solution for specific business needs. The Navigator will also point to solutions with grant support and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG)-funded training that can help SMEs understand how to leverage Gen AI for growth. These tools will be available on the CTO-as-a-Service platform from today.
Chairman, please allow me to speak in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] With the Government's support and promotion, over 80% of SMEs are now successfully riding the digital wave. These businesses, spanning various sectors, have adopted at least one digital solution in their operations and achieved positive results. Many businesses have also discovered that AI can help them reduce costs and enhance efficiency, thereby alleviating their cost pressures.
Between 2018 and 2023, digital solutions under the Productivity Solutions Grant brought nearly 50% cost savings to SMEs on average. To benefit more businesses, the Government will refresh the Industry Digital Plans for different sectors, providing more AI solutions. At the same time, we will launch the new GenAI Playbook for Enterprises and Navigator, to recommend Generative AI tools and training suited to their needs. Interested businesses can visit the CTO-as-a-Service platform for details.
The growing adoption of AI has significantly impacted our work and lives. Local businesses and workers must keep pace to remain competitive and avoid falling behind. Therefore, I urge everyone to catch up and make full use of the Government's support and resources to level up digital capabilities. Only then can we seize the opportunities brought forth by technological development and distinguish ourselves from the competition.
(In English): Chairman, as enterprises digitalise, they will be more exposed to cyber threats. Mr Sharael Taha asked how we are helping our enterprises stay safe.
CSA's SG Cyber Safe programme provides differentiated support for enterprises. As a baseline, CSA provides resources for various enterprise stakeholders, such as SME owners, employees and cybersecurity personnel. Enterprises looking to implement cybersecurity measures can refer to the Cyber Essentials and Cyber Trust certification marks, which were developed as national cybersecurity standards in 2022.
To assist enterprises that need help with cybersecurity certification, CSA launched the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)-as-a-Service scheme in 2023. CISO-as-a-Service complements IMDA's CTO-as-a-service scheme. It onboards cybersecurity consultants to help enterprises develop cybersecurity health plans to implement the preventive measures in Cyber Essentials. This has benefited over 270 enterprises and we will continue to do more to improve enterprise cyber hygiene standards.
We aligned SMEs Go Digital with the Cyber Essentials mark last year. Under the pre-approved solutions, SMEs can now subscribe to an integrated package covering anti-malware, firewall and backup. We also required pre-approved solutions under SMEs Go Digital to meet minimum data protection and security controls standards.
Going forward, CSA will expand Cyber Essentials and Cyber Trust in the first half of 2025 to cover the security of digital technologies, like cloud and AI, keeping them relevant for the evolving digital landscape.
Besides uplifting standards, CSA will introduce a post-incident reporting and response function on CISO-as-a-Service. Cybersecurity incidents cannot be fully prevented. It is more important for enterprises to be resilient and recover from incidents. Under this new function, enterprises can approach their CISO-as-a-Service consultants to help contain and recover from cybersecurity incidents. Members can refer to the handout for a summary of our enterprise digitalisation and cybersecurity efforts.
Sir, I will give the updates till here and I will answer questions later on.
The Chairman: Minister of State Rahayu Mahzam.
The Minister of State for Digital Development and Information (Ms Rahayu Mahzam): Mr Chairman, many of us would find it hard to imagine our lives without the Internet or digital devices. In a survey conducted by MDDI in 2023, 80% of respondents agreed it was important for them to stay connected to the Internet.
There are healthy ways of using digital technologies to enhance our lives, just as there are unhealthy ways that open us up to risks. My speech will focus on MDDI's efforts to galvanise our community, to build a society where citizens enjoy access to digital services that are essential to daily living; proficiency in using digital technologies; and safe, healthy and positive digital experiences through a whole-of-society effort. I thank Mr Keith Chua for his interest in these efforts.
Let me start with access to digital technologies. Singapore is a highly connected nation; 98% of our resident households are connected to the Internet. But we must pay attention to those who are at risk of being left out. IMDA helps those who cannot afford it. Ms Hany Soh asked for an update on IMDA's schemes.
DigitalAccess@Home has supported over 20,000 low-income households with subsidised broadband access, a laptop or tablet, or both broadband and a computing device since 2023. The Mobile Access for Seniors scheme has also supported low-income seniors with over 15,000 packages of subsidised smartphones and mobile plans, or mobile plans only, since 2020.
Beyond connectivity and devices, day-to-day digital services need to be user-friendly. For some Singaporeans, like seniors and persons with disabilities, navigating services which are not designed to meet their needs can be challenging. A well-designed website or app can make a world of difference. That is why Singpass was enhanced in 2022 to support features, such as Dark Mode and Screen Reader, that enable those with visual impairments to navigate Singpass with greater ease.
Mr Alex Yam asked about more efforts in this area. The Government takes inclusive design seriously and Government agencies are expected to be user-centric when designing their digital services. GovTech will do more to support agencies in this.
This year, we are updating the Digital Service Standards (DSS) which guide agencies in designing user-friendly digital services. The updated DSS will better explain international standards, like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), to agencies and provide recommendations on how to meet these standards. In addition, there will be greater emphasis on user testing before launch for high-traffic Government websites to make sure they are user-friendly.
We have also rolled out tools that agencies can use to support inclusive design. For example, GovTech developed the Oobee tool, previously known as Purple A11y, which uses a bot to help agencies test how easy their websites are to use and suggest improvements. GovTech will continue to enhance tools to help agencies identify and resolve such issues. These efforts provide agencies with stronger guidance and support to develop digital services that are easy for all to use, regardless of age or digital ability.
GovTech will provide dedicated support to agencies with high traffic digital services. But the Government cannot drive this effort alone. Today, Singaporeans use a variety of commercial digital services daily. The private sector plays an important part in designing user-friendly digital services. We want to encourage and partner them in this.
The Oobee tool, which I mentioned earlier, is open-sourced and freely available for private sector companies to use. We encourage more to make use of this.
Last year, GovTech held the inaugural Co-Creation Lab, which brought together representatives from Government agencies, private sector companies as well as community users. We were heartened to see so many partners step forward to understand the challenges that seniors and persons with disabilities face when using digital services, such as making e-payments, using ride-hailing apps and making healthcare appointments. These conversations helped service providers identify improvements to their services to make them user-friendly. The Co-Creation Lab demonstrated the need to strengthen partnerships across the public, private and people sectors.
MDDI will launch a workgroup with partners from the public, private and people sectors to co-create and co-deliver initiatives to develop digital services that are more user-friendly. Details on this workgroup will be announced later.
Even as we enhance the user-friendliness of digital services, we acknowledge that some Singaporeans will need physical support to access Government services. Dr Tan Wu Meng and Ms Denise Phua highlighted this in the Budget debate and Mr Gerald Giam raised this in his cut.
Residents who need assistance with Government digital transactions can continue to get in-person assistance at Government agencies' physical service touchpoints. Trained service ambassadors will assist less digitally confident individuals with their transactions. Residents can also visit ServiceSG centres for assistance with 600 frequently used Government services and schemes. The Government will continue to be citizen-centric in our approach and make non-digital options available so that no one is left out.
Let me move on to digital skills. Two in three Singaporeans have basic digital skills and are able to carry out day-to-day tasks online, such as buying products and services, searching for information and making contactless payments using a smartphone.
To set ourselves up well for the digital future, Singaporeans also have to learn new technologies, such as Gen AI, which can help us with daily tasks. This upskilling is critical, as Ms Denise Phua emphasised in the Budget debate. Without this, the increasing use of Gen AI around us, like how many businesses now use chatbots to deliver customer services, can feel alien and scary. To demystify Gen AI, we must understand its risks and limitations and learn how to use it responsibly. The Government will continue to support less digitally-savvy citizens.
Mr Gerald Giam and Ms Hany Soh asked about Seniors Go Digital. The SG Digital Office (SDO) will continue to help citizens acquire the digital skills needed for day-to-day living based on the Digital Skills for Life (DSL) framework. This prevents digital isolation, as Miss Rachel Ong raised in the Budget debate.
Since 2020, SDO has trained more than 370,000 seniors. Ninety-six percent of seniors communicate online as of 2023, up from 87% in 2017.
IMDA will be enhancing the DSL framework with content on Gen AI, explaining the basics of it, its risks and how to manage them, and applications for daily activities, like generating recommendations for places to eat at or leisure activities to try. Interested learners can register for SDO workshops or learn at their own pace through resources on the Digital for Life Portal. There are also many Singaporeans who are keen to embrace new technologies like AI.
Mr Alex Yam asked about new library initiatives to encourage tech adoption. Over the next few years, our public libraries will be rolling out showcases that allow the public to experience uses of Gen AI. We hope that these showcases will demonstrate the practical value of AI in daily life, excite citizens about these possibilities and at the same time, help them understand the limitations and learn how to use AI responsibly. Gen AI is a useful tool, but it cannot replace learning or original thought.
These are just some of the activities that citizens can enjoy at our public libraries as National Library Board (NLB) celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025. NLB will host a series of \"NLB30\" events to mark 30 years and beyond of empowering Singaporeans to read, learn and discover together. More details will be announced later this year. Sir, I will say a few words in Malay.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] One of the best ways for us to learn to use cutting-edge technology is to do it together with like-minded individuals.
A pioneering initiative that creates opportunities for communities to gather and learn together is Lorong AI. It is a community hub that provides space for those who share similarities, interests and skills in AI to explore how they can drive AI development together. Through this platform, they exchange ideas and discuss the latest discoveries. They also create prototypes and explore the use of AI in our daily lives.
Mr Muhammad Zahari bin Abu Talib plays a crucial role in Lorong AI. As Community Lead, he helps connect individuals, initiates discussions and links various groups. I personally felt their enthusiasm for learning, sharing and collaborating when I attended one of the AI Wednesdays sharing sessions organised by Lorong AI.
Within our Malay/Muslim community, many have already begun exploring AI. A group called PEREKA, comprising Malay/Muslim designers from various fields, shared how they use AI to improve their work. I had the opportunity to meet them recently, and was very excited to hear how they leverage AI to enhance their work processes.
The aim is not to replace human creativity, but to facilitate the ideation process and gather information. All this is to produce design features that align with our cultural values and identity and at the same time, ensuring that the human touch remains at the core throughout the design process.
I really hope that more dynamic local groups like these will emerge so that they can learn together and spark interesting ideas to harness technology for the well-being of Singaporeans.
(In English): Mr Chairman, let me now turn to how we are equipping the future generation to benefit from Gen AI. We have an existing Code for Fun programme offered to all primary and secondary schools, which exposes students to computational thinking through coding as well as inventive thinking through digital making. From this year onwards, the Code for Fun programme will incorporate new AI for Fun modules, which provide students with hands-on opportunities to tinker with AI technology.
For instance, primary school students will be taught how to use an appropriate Gen AI platform to generate stories and images to create a digital storyboard. Students will be taught the risks of Gen AI, such as biases and hallucinations, and the need to check AI-generated content against other sources.
About 60% of primary schools and 40% of secondary schools will introduce AI for Fun this year. It is our endeavour to ensure that every Singaporean, regardless of age, is encouraged to learn, use and have fun with new technologies in an informed and responsible way.
This brings me to the topic of online safety. Incidents that take place online, like the generation and dissemination of deepfake nude photos, cause real-life damage and are unacceptable. About 74% of Singaporeans had encountered harmful online content in 2024. This has led some people to be fearful of the Internet and how it appears to be changing the fabric of our society. But it is important to recognise that these harms are not caused by technology in itself, but by bad actors and bad behaviour.
The Government will do our part to reduce online risks. Minister Josephine Teo earlier spoke about our regulations to make designated social media services and app distribution services responsible for putting in place safety measures to protect their users from harmful content.
However, regulations are not foolproof. Bans and age limits like those being contemplated in other countries may sound compelling but, in reality, there will always be ways to circumvent such rules and restrictions, as Mr Eric Chua has pointed out.
Citizens must also take steps to protect themselves and their loved ones online. Parents play a critical role in guiding their child's digital journey. The Government shares parents' concerns over excessive screen use and exposure to online risks amongst children.
The Ministry of Health's updated guidance on screen use under Grow Well SG and the Parenting for Wellness Initiative equip parents so that they can better protect their children from inappropriate content and instil good screen use habits. Parents can also find bite-sized resources on IMDA's Digital for Life portal. Members may refer to the handout for a list of these resources. A Positive Use Guide on Technology and Social Media will also be available later this year.
Youths are a key group of citizens who shape online behaviour and culture. Youths should be encouraged to use their influence to foster a positive online environment. I was encouraged to see students championing a kinder Internet at a recent digital well-being roadshow at the Singapore Management University. One booth featured an interactive game that showed participants how to navigate online conversations and respond to their friends with care and kindness. Over 650 students participated in the two-day roadshow.
Toxic online discourse is worrying because it undermines our ability to understand one another and disrupts our social cohesion. As Mr Alex Yam mentioned, we must be civic-minded in the online space, just as how we conduct ourselves in our shared physical spaces like our neighbourhoods, parks and schools.
The Government is committed to exploring new ways to nurture a positive online space. We will study issues like online polarisation that can negatively impact our social cohesion and explore ways to encourage a culture of positivity and civic-mindedness online.
In the work that the Government does, it is always important to check in on the sentiments of the community. This allows us to accurately identify Singaporeans' concerns and align with the expectation for a responsive Government.
Mr Gerald Giam shared his experience with surveys and asked if they were commissioned by the Government. It is unfortunate that the poster did not disclose to Mr Giam the identity of the commissioning party for the survey. Without the benefit of seeing the actual questionnaire, it is difficult to say for sure that the surveys were conducted by the Government.
In MDDI's case, we conduct regular polls to gauge the public's awareness of scams as well as the quality of mainstream and online media and the public's news consumption habits. When asked by respondents, our representatives would identify MDDI as the commissioning agency for the surveys.
We conduct the media polls to help Government agencies adjust their public communication efforts to better reach target segments on key national policies. They also help shape our public broadcast funding. The poll findings on scams help MDDI to shape our policies to tackle online harm.
The findings from the Government-commissioned surveys —
The Chairman: Minister of State Rahayu, you might want to round up.
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Yes, just two more paragraphs.
The findings from the Government-commissioned surveys are shared publicly when it is useful to do so. However, as the surveys are commissioned primarily to shape public policy, not all findings are suitable for public release.
As to Mr Giam's concern that Government-commissioned surveys could be used for non-public policy purposes, funding for such surveys is subject to the same governance requirements as other forms of public expenditure undertaken by Government agencies.
To conclude, Mr Chairman, we invite everyone – individuals, companies and community organisations – to become a partner of the Digital for Life movement and join us in our efforts to help Singapore build an inclusive and cohesive digital society. All of us have a part to play in making our online space a safe, healthy and positive one.
The Chairman: Ms Tin Pei Ling.
Ms Tin Pei Ling: Chairman, I have three clarifications. First of all, it is heartening to hear of the many measures put in place to protect Singaporeans better from online harms. I would also like to find out what more will be done or has been done so far to protect citizens from scams so that they will feel safe, competent and more confident to interact and transact online, which is also part of the trust that we talked about.
Secondly, it is about DeepSeek. Sir, I would like to ask what are some of the lessons drawn from the recent emergence of DeepSeek, since it has been touted to be cheaper and greener, and also the implications to us in Singapore, whether it is even possible for us to distill something that is unique to Singapore.
Lastly, picking up on the point on funding vernacular media, I think vernacular media has a strategic part to play, especially in projecting Singapore's voice and opinion on key issues internationally. Zaobao, for example, has a very strong presence and network in certain areas or regions. It has been very useful in asserting our point of view.
So, I would like to ask whether the funding support in this area will be continued or strengthened and what else might we be doing to boost this so that we can strengthen Singapore's position on the world stage.
Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, I would, first, like to thank Ms Tin for her acknowledgement of our efforts and in particular, her recognition of the importance of preserving our vernacular media.
If we think about the need to continue projecting Singapore's voice on the international stage, in fact, the role of the vernacular media becomes even more prominent. So, I wish to recognise her acknowledgement and affirm it.
The big chunk of the Public Service Media funding support is directed towards helping our Public Service Media entities become more relevant in the digital era, so the technology upgrades are essential to this. But we have always maintained that at the same time we want to support quality journalism and that cuts across all language medium. And in particular, recognising that the domestic market for our vernacular media is actually very small, they need extra support. So, the understanding with the public service media entities is that they must set aside adequate resources, and the KPIs do track the performance of the vernacular media.
I think that how they do on the KPIs is not just a matter of looking at their performance, but it is also a matter of helping us understand how the landscape is changing and what more is required to support the continued viability of vernacular media.
Let me also take Ms Tin's question on how MDDI is working to support the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the lead agency in addressing scams. We do so broadly in two ways, first by disrupting and making it harder for scammers to reach Singaporeans, whether by calls, SMSes, or apps infected with malware, because that is really how the victims fall. This is what we, within the working group, call the \"attack factor\". Second, by developing technology to support MHA's detection and disruption of scam activities. So, those are the two main areas of support.
Maybe to give the Member some sense of the usefulness of these efforts, in 2023, IMDA implemented the full SMS sender ID registry regime and non-registered SMSes are labelled as \"likely scams\". I am sure we have all gotten them. I certainly have gotten them. And this has been effective. Cases of scam SMSes fell by 70% in the first three months of the regime's introduction and thereafter, it has remained low. IMDA also partnered with telcos to strengthen in network detection and blocking of scam calls and SMSes.
In 2024, 117 million potential scam calls from overseas were blocked. They were about 25% of all international calls. For SMSes, 50 million potential scam SMSes were successfully blocked. IMDA also worked with telcos to offer new features to block all incoming international calls and SMSes, meaning that from the subscriber standpoint, I do not want to be at risk at all, I do not want to just depend on your auto blocking, I do not wish to get any of these calls. And to date, more than 280,000 subscribers have activated the feature to block overseas calls and close to 220,000 subscribers have activated the feature to block overseas SMSes.
I mentioned briefly in my earlier speech how we are working with Google for the enhanced fraud protection feature. This feature is turned on in Singapore by default and it has successfully blocked 1.6 million attempts to install potentially malicious apps across nearly 400,000 devices. If I add GovTech's working with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to disrupt 45,000 scam related websites and also IMDA working with SPF to disrupt more than 57,000 mobile lines assessed to be likely used for scams, these are very considerable efforts. But we are not stopping at the above measures. We are working with telcos and online platforms to address criminal misuse of their services.
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Janil. I hope replies will also be short because I can see quite a few hands. I really want everyone to keep your replies and responses short.
Dr Janil Puthucheary: Sir, I thank Ms Tin for the question. We are still studying the matter. According to DeepSeek, there are hardware and software optimisations that have brought down the training and inference costs, and then by extension, this makes the compute greener because less energy is needed, a fraction of the compute.
If it is true, and seeing as the company has made their model open source, there is indeed a possible positive development for advancing the efforts around resource efficient AI. However, there are counter claims that the actual compute cluster may have been much larger than reported and there may have been distillation of closed models. So, the facts around the matter are unclear, and we are still studying the matter to learn how best we can deploy compute power here in Singapore to advance our ambitions.
The Chairman: Mr Sharael Taha.
Mr Sharael Taha: Mr Chairman, I would like to thank Minister Teo and the team for answering the cuts. Three questions from me. Regarding the botnet case shared by Minister, were the owners of the 2,700 affected devices informed? And how do we prevent assets in Singapore from being exploited by these botnet networks?
The annex distributed mentions the recommendation to purchase IoT devices with the CSA cybersecurity labelling scheme. Is there an intention for all IoT devices sold in Singapore to undergo assessment for the CSA label?
Secondly, for Senior Minister of State Janil, even with the optimised compute that we have discussed earlier, will Singapore's data centre sustainability requirements impact our global competitiveness in AI? And given that added compliance cost and the upcoming carbon tax, could this drive companies to set up data centres elsewhere, making the timeline for studying alternative energy sources even more urgent for us?
And lastly, my last question was something that was not answered in the response. For Senior Minister of State Tan, in Budget 2024, it was announced that there would be collaborations with industry to drive AI adoption and innovation. Can the Ministry provide an update on these collaborations with the industry, please?
The Chairman: Who wants to take replies first? Yes, there is one for Senior Minister of State Janil and one for Senior Minister of State Tan.
Dr Janil Puthucheary: Sir, I thank Mr Sharael Taha for his question. Essentially, whether or not the push for green data centres will affect our global competitiveness and drive up costs, indeed, we have to balance the compliance costs with the requirements. But there is plenty of interest in the market and if we can get this right, then this is a value-add and a potential source of competitiveness that we can be a place where the technology providers, the cloud service providers can set up greener facilities, and their customers are looking for this type of solutions.
So, while we do have to make sure that we get the balance correct between the costs of compliance and the push for greening, it is something that we have to do because of our larger issues around our carbon envelope. But if we can do it right, it becomes a source of competitiveness for us.
Mr Tan Kiat How: Sir, in the first tranche of the Digital Enterprise Blueprint Partnerships, we have seven partners pledging to support our enterprises and workers across the various initiatives under the Digital Enterprise Blueprint. The partners include, for example, the Singapore Business Federation, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, DBS Bank, as well as the Singapore Computer Society and SG Tech. To date, they have conducted six events to uplift the capabilities of pre-approved vendors in cloud technologies, cybersecurity and Gen AI. They also delivered AI and data analytics workshops for nearly 1,000 SMEs, helping them thrive in today's technology driven business environment.
And we will continue expanding our network of partnership. Last November we announced a partnership with DBS, for example, with Enterprise Singapore and IMDA to amplify our reach to 50,000 SMEs and supercharge their productivity through accelerating Gen AI adoption. So, Mr Sharael Taha will be pleased to know that we will be sharing upcoming collaborations with new partners, for example, with Alibaba Cloud to raise capabilities of solution providers in AI and cloud technologies, and another one with ST Engineering to improve cyber resilience amongst SMEs. So, we welcome more partners to join us to create a robust ecosystem where enterprises and workers can thrive.
The Chairman: Mr Singh. Sorry, Minister Teo, you want to jump in now? For the first question, yes.
Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, in the nature of such botnet disruption operations, speed is of the essence and you want to be as comprehensive as possible. So, with those important considerations in mind, it is not possible to attempt even to inform all of the owners of the devices. Instead, what we regularly advise people to do is that as long as you have a device that is connected to the Internet, there are some hygiene practices that should be practised: changing the default password, restarting or rebooting regularly and enabling automatic firmware updates. These are the general guidance that apply to everyone.
And in cybersecurity there is also another term that we say and that is \"assume breach\". It is something that you just have to keep in mind. You have to be vigilant and assume that the device may well have been compromised, and you need to do something to clean it up regularly.
The Chairman: Mr Pritam Singh.
Mr Pritam Singh: Sir, following up on my cut and the Minister's response to my cut, I mean, if you compare the two titles that I referred to in my cut, CNA and Straits Times, both serious mainstream English publications, it would be inevitable that members of the public would have a view about which they would opine is of a higher quality. I do not think there is anything untoward about that.
The question that was the nub of the issue I was seeking to raise was on KPIs, which is the title of the cut. If I heard the Minister correctly, Minister said that reach is an important KPI, but not the only KPI. And I stand corrected if I am wrong, Minister then said that trust and satisfaction levels are KPIs that the Ministry was looking to introduce. So, can I confirm that those KPIs actually are not KPIs that are considered currently?
Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, when we set out to provide funding to any useful activity, we have to consider in that moment what are useful and effective ways to track performance and we do so very diligently. When funding was discussed in support of SPH Media Trust at the time, reach was one of the important KPIs. Over time, we also considered that engagement is important, is actually one of them, but in addition to that, we now think that trust as well as public satisfaction are just as important, so we will look to including them as part of the KPIs that we track for SPH Media Trust.
To the Member's question that he posed in his cut earlier, I should address it briefly too. He had asked about what goes into the Budget book. And I acknowledge his suggestions, which we will consider for the future, but just to say that, like all Ministries, it is not possible to list all of the KPIs. So, I seek Member's understanding for that. The important thing is that where SMT is concerned, they know very well that the KPIs are a very central feature of the conversations that we have, and they can feel it. So, that is something I want to say.
The comparison between ST and CNA, well, the fact of the matter is that opinions will differ. If you ask 10 people their views, probably you will get 15 at least. So, I think we take that as a given. We track how the public views the trustworthiness of these titles and we will continue to do so. And as I shared in my speech, as well as on other occasions, they compare very favourably.
The Chairman: Mr Alex Yam.
Mr Alex Yam: Thank you, Mr Chairman. Clarification for the Minister of State. She spoke at length earlier about the NLB as well as adoption of AI. As we know, AI is quite ubiquitous today, so how will NLB ensure that the adoption of AI remains respectful towards authors and content creators, and of course not diminish the value of creativity and hard work in coming out with content?
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Indeed, NLB sees Gen AI as a useful tool and seeks to provide the platforms and opportunities for both to be edified about it. But we are also respectful of the different interests. We do see strong public interest in the different AI prototypes. An example is the NLB's interactive ChatBook featuring S Rajaratnam, which was powered by Gen AI.
So, what NLB does is that it takes a measured approach to developing such prototypes and implements safeguards, such as using controlled datasets, securing copyrights and permissions from authors and creators to use their works, and carrying out extensive testing. This ensures that AI is used ethically and responsibly to complement, not replace, the efforts of authors and creators.
Through such prototypes, NLB also hopes to help visitors discover writers, stories and content and experience them in different ways.
The Chairman: Mr Gerald Giam.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: Sir, I note that Minister of State Rahayu said that citizens who are less digitally-savvy can get in-person assistance. Can I confirm that all Government agencies are expected to provide in-person assistance for their e-services?
Second, can the Minister of State also confirm that all pollsters engaged by the Government are expected to disclose that they were commissioned by the Government and name the agency without being requested by the respondent?
Lastly, can the Ministry also look into publishing at least summaries of these public opinion surveys?
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Mr Chairman, let me take the second and third questions.
In respect of the surveys, just to clarify, MDDI does not coordinate all surveys that are done by the Government because each Government agency will have to look at that individually. They will have different needs and may address different issues. So, we cannot confirm that.
It may be that, for some surveys, there may be a preference to have it as anonymised in that sense because the response, if you are told that it is something that is asked by the Government, may then not be accurate and may be skewed because if you are asked, say, for benefits, whether they should be improved or increased, without assessing the situation, the person might just respond because it is the Government, expecting that it should be changed, to just ask for more.
So, I think there are certain considerations which I would not want to assume, because different agencies may do it differently.
On the Member's third question, all surveys are done in the interest of the public. It is really, where possible, if the information that is garnered from those surveys is useful, we would want to put it up. We want to be as rich as possible so as to encourage public discussion.
But there are certain matters that may not be as suitable. Considerations include, let us say, some data include confidential or personal data that can be reidentified if it is put out there. There may be certain sensitivities in issues of, say, racial and religious issues, if we have done surveys on that and certain matters come up. And there may be certain understanding or contracts that we may have with certain agencies that we partner in doing some of those surveys.
So, there are different considerations for different surveys and, therefore, there is a different approach.
The Member had one more question. Yes, on our services. I think we endeavour as much as possible to make sure that there are alternatives and support. Like I said, we set up the ServiceSG centres for the purposes of that. As much as possible, we will endeavour to make sure that those who are in need, who are unable to access it, will be able to get the help they need. And I think that can be done in many different forms. So, if there are concerns highlighted to us, we will see how we can close those gaps.
The Chairman: I am sorry, we have run out of time, Ms Jessica Tan and Mr Ong Hua Han. Can I invite Ms Tin Pei Ling, if you would like to withdraw the amendment?
Ms Tin Pei Ling: I would like to express my sincere thanks to Minister Josephine Teo, Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary as well as Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How and Minister of State Rahayu Mahzam, as well as all the MDDI family officers. Thank you for the hard work. It is, indeed, a complex amount of work that has to be put in in order to position us well in the digital realm.
With that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.
[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $2,956,698,500 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $103,188,200 for Head Q ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]
The Chairman: We have sat in here for almost five hours. So, I propose to take a break now. Order.
[(proc text) Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House. (proc text)]
Mr Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair at 3.10 pm. Order.
Sitting accordingly suspended
at 2.51 pm until 3.10 pm.
Sitting resumed at 3.10 pm
[Deputy Speaker (Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo) in the Chair]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Committee of Supply – Head O (Ministry of Health)","subTitle":"Building caring communities and an inclusive society together","sectionType":"OS","content":"The Chairman: Head O, Ministry of Health. Dr Tan Wu Meng.
Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): Mdm Chair, I seek to move, \"That the total sum to be allocated for Head O of the Estimates be reduced by $100\".
I declare I am a medical doctor in a public hospital, looking after cancer patients. I am also an advisor to the Healthcare Services Employees' Union (HSEU).
Chair, SG60 is a time to look back and look ahead, and the same applies for our healthcare system as well. It is time for us to reforge, remake new foundations and move forward with new foundations for the future. Let me start by speaking about right-siting of healthcare. Right-siting, which means place of care, subsidy of care, access to care.
In 2022, I called for the Ministry of Health (MOH) to look at how care can be brought closer to home for patients, especially for residents who are less mobile, who find it more difficult to get to clinics.
If the care has to be in a hospital, there should be a medical reason, not because the subsidy and access to funding is tied to the hospital or to the specialist outpatient clinic. In short, bring subsidy to where the patient is, if the policy intent is to support the care where the patient is.
There has been progress in the years since then, improved access, also better financing support for palliative care at home, which is important for residents who are terminally ill, where time is even more precious than before, and where being at home in their last weeks and months is deeply important.
But there is room to do further and do even better as we remake our healthcare system. Let me speak about home medical care. One of my Clementi residents met up with me and my team. He is a husband looking after his wife who is ill. His wife is a young mother, with a lung infection, with tuberculosis and she just got out of the hospital.
As part of a treatment plan, she needs to go to a clinic every day to take her medicines under direct healthcare supervision in a healthcare setting. It is called Directly Observed Therapy (DOT). But because his wife is ill and in a wheelchair, he has to push her in a wheelchair to the polyclinic every day for the daily medicines. My resident is a dutiful and loyal husband. At the same time, his job cannot be done remotely, so he quit his job to support his wife, quit his job so he could bring his wife in a wheelchair to the polyclinic each day for DOT, to take medicines that have to be given under healthcare supervision.
Could there have been a way for my resident's wife to receive her medication at home? Could there have been a way for the system to support my resident's family better, so that the husband did not need to have to choose between keeping his job and making sure his wife got treatment every day? Could the treatment have been delivered in the home itself? Because when we help the patient, it can help the caregiver, and if by saving the caregiver's job, it helps the family as well.
Let me speak about outpatient scans, because today, more and more care can be delivered in the outpatient setting. People are getting older with more complex medical conditions. Healthcare is advancing and with advances in care, the use of scans is more common nowadays.
Can MOH be more flexible with the use of MediSave for outpatient scans? Can we make it easier to access patients' MediSave for such scans, which may be medically necessary? This will help patients with chronic diseases who have to undergo certain types of scans and if we enhance access to outpatient MediSave for scans, it will help cancer patients as well, who often have to go for regular scans as part of their treatment plan and monitoring.
Let me also speak about access to care, not just the finances, but also the process of getting to the care. Let me speak about digital access and our polyclinic system. In the old days, patients would go to a polyclinic. They would queue and wait to be seen. That had its own challenges, but in recent years, there has been digitalisation at polyclinics nationwide.
I have older Clementi residents who share with me that, while this has brought modernisation, it has brought challenges for some of our older residents as well. In particular, we must avoid the phenomenon of digital drop-off when we go digital with healthcare, digital drop-off when patients who previously had access to care no longer show up, not because their healthcare conditions have gone away, not because their problems have been solved, but because they find it too hard to navigate a digital system to secure access to healthcare, or even a healthcare appointment.
One worry that my Clementi residents share about is how they have to go online to book an appointment at an offline consultation in the polyclinic. I have had Clementi residents, but even residents staying in the east of Singapore, writing to me to share about these challenges. They find that when the bookings open at 10.00 pm, in the case of some polyclinic systems, the online bookings get \"choped\", get reserved, very quickly within a few minutes. These are the bookings for the next day's consultation.
And so, it means that the residents or the patient with the best digital access, fastest fingers, sharpest eyes, quickest with their smartphone or their computer, they are the ones who \"chope\" the appointments. The seniors who find it harder to navigate a website, find it harder to go online, they are stuck. They find it very difficult.
Sir, this can be regressive towards the elderly and the less digitally-savvy. The systems made it harder for these seniors. And I have met elderly residents who tell me when they show up at the polyclinic without an appointment, sometimes they get turned away, asked to go online to make a booking, even though they do not know how to go online.
Or sometimes, they are told to go and visit a nearby general practitioner (GP) clinic, even though this might cost more than the polyclinic, and for retirees without income, retirees of limited means, every extra dollar spent on healthcare is one more dollar drawn down from their retirement savings.
In 2024, I filed a Parliamentary Question (PQ) to MOH. I asked MOH to consider portable subsidy vouchers to help underwrite some of the cost difference between polyclinic care and private GP care, especially for seniors who may physically live right next to the polyclinic, nearby the polyclinic, but who due to digital challenges, find it very hard to go online to book an appointment for the next day at the polyclinic. Can MOH take a look at this again, as an interim measure, while the agencies continue working to improve polyclinic capacity and better support our healthcare sisters and brothers on the polyclinic healthcare front line.
Let me also speak about healthcare processes now, in particular, care and coordination. Today, we know many seniors have multiple medical conditions. It comes with an ageing population, multiple doctors, multiple teams looking after the patients, sometimes the care is complex – many experts, many teams looking after the same patient – and so coordination is even more important today, and it is especially important when the care is complex. I raised this 16 years ago, in the year 2009, in an article in the Singapore Medical Association newsletter, SMA News, and again more recently, in the 2022 MOH Budget debate Committee of Supply (COS).
In Government, in the Cabinet, we have Coordinating Ministers. That tells you that at the highest levels of Government, we recognise coordination is an important role and adds value beyond a single specialisation. So, for patients with multiple complex medical conditions, can there be a coordinating doctor supported by different specialists from medical, nursing, allied health, also with adequate admin support, so we can wrap care around the patient with complex needs. This can simplify the care journey, fewer visits to clinics, especially if the care can be coordinated backend.
In a previous PQ that I filed, MOH shared that just before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, there were 7,000 Singaporeans a year, with 24 or more specialist outpatient clinic visits in a year. That means two or more specialist outpatient visits in a month.
In the year 2019, there were over 2,000 Singaporeans who had 36 or more outpatient clinic visits to a specialist clinic in a year, three or more visits per month on average. Imagine the impact on caregivers who do not have flexible working arrangements (FWAs), or who have loss of income when they accompany a patient, their loved one, for care. So, coordination is not just a cost centre or an expense, it is an investment, it is a catalyst, it is an enabler to help families with worries about caregiving.
If we bring in social support agencies as well, so that more of the care can be done in the community, it can even be a pilot project for the Bureau of Service Simplification (BOSS), which I proposed during the Budget debate, and perhaps MOH and the Minister for Health can be part of this pioneering initiative to simplify the journey for citizens across healthcare, social care and citizen journeys.
In short, recognise patient navigation and coordination, not as a cost centre, but as an investment, an enabler and a catalyst.
The backend work of coordination takes time, energy bandwidth and our sisters and brothers in the HSEU have shared this as well. So, even as we invest in coordination, we have to recognise the hard work that healthcare frontliners put in to streamline care, coordinate care, wrap care around the patient. And we know from our sisters and brothers that sometimes this includes work taking place outside of duty hours and we should find ways to measure, recognise and factor this into our workforce planning.
I also call upon MOH to look at healthcare information technology (IT), because when there is a gap between what the software is and what we want it to be, it is technical debt. Healthcare workers, patients trying to navigate systems and computers. So, can MOH tell us what is being done to improve healthcare IT to help frontliners, including our junior doctors? Is AI being used to simplify the work for healthcare frontliners so that people can spend more time delivering care, caring for patients rather than navigating computer systems? Are we giving the same attention to IT that the big firms, like Apple and Google do?
As I said in 2022, technology must serve the people. Technology must serve, adapt and bend to the person, not getting our people to bend to the technology. And indeed, over the years I have spoken up for our healthcare workers, and in fact, as far back as 20 years ago in the SMA News, I and my fellow junior doctors had been advocating to improve the junior doctor journey, because our junior doctors are the future of our profession – and when we lift up, empower our juniors to do better, to be change agents – it lifts up the profession, it lifts up patients as well, it lifts up the care and quality of care in our community.
On healthcare financing, I want to speak about support for patients and how financing decisions shape behaviour. Last year, just before National Day, I spoke in an Adjournment Motion on fertility preservation support for young cancer patients. Every cancer patient goes through a difficult time, but for the very young patients, those who have yet to even start a family, it is especially stressful because certain treatments, while life-saving, can damage fertility, take away the dream of a family even before someone has a chance to start.
Working with a number of young healthcare workers across different hospitals, different clusters, we called upon MOH to look at four recommendations to help young cancer patients on the fertility journey. Firstly, for MediShield Life to cover fertility preservation for young cancer patients undergoing medically necessary treatment that will damage fertility irreversibly. If MOH moves on MediShield Life, this can be the first step to getting the Integrated Shield Plan insurers on board too.
Second, front load Government funding for young cancer patients needing fertility support, because a MediSave-based model does not work so well when the patient is too young to have earned MediSave from working and when the patient's family might not have much MediSave, if the family is starting with less.
Third, work with financial institutions to see if we can have interest-free loans to support young cancer patients needing fertility preservation.
Fourth, support philanthropy in the fertility preservation for young cancer patients. Seven years ago, I spoke up in Parliament for children with rare diseases. The Government later set up a Rare Disease Fund with three-to-one matching grant for public donations. Can MOH learn from this model, learn from this journey, to better support philanthropic efforts to help young cancer patients?
Let me also speak on mental health. Last year, I spoke about access to insurance. I shared about young Singaporeans who are afraid to seek help in a mental health crisis because they are worried that once a diagnosis is on the record, some insurers will not cover them even for conditions unrelated to mental health. One Clementi resident said to me: \"Dr Tan, some insurers are kind, but some are one kind\", and indeed, we have to make sure that there is not such market failure.
At the same time, can MOH also improve access to non-clinical, more community-based mental health support, so that young Singaporeans with mental health worries can find help in the community without necessarily having to go to a healthcare setting. If the situation is serious, they can go and see a clinical assessment, whether a psychologist or an informal medical consult, but at least there are more options there, even while MOH works out the issues with the insurance companies.
In short, as I said five years ago in Parliament, sometimes the invisible hand of the market becomes unbalanced. And that is why we need the visible hand of the regulator to re-shape insurance behaviour and ensure proportionate, fair and more reasonable decisions on insurance for young Singaporeans who have gone through a mental health situation.
Sir, in the Budget debate, I made three points. Firstly, if implementation is policy, then the residents' journey is implementation and I will add that the patients' journey is implementation too. Second, Government spending must look not just at a single item on a budget, but the broader impact to society, because sometimes, spending on coordination of care becomes an enabler, a catalyst to help a family, and sometimes save a breadwinner's job.
Lastly, technology must serve the people. People must not bend to serve technology or the design of technology. These principles apply not just in a budget, but across the whole-of-Government and in MOH as well. So, I call upon MOH to consider our suggestions as we aim towards healthier, happier lives for the people of Singapore and our future. [Applause.]
[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]
Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap (Aljunied): Madam, I would like to address the issue of the workload of junior doctors. MOH has mentioned on 10 January 2024 in Parliament, that their guideline for junior doctors stipulates that, when average out over a month, the total work hours per week of junior doctors should not exceed 80 hours. Thus, over an average month of four weeks, the total work hours should not exceed 320 hours.
Anecdotally, I hear that many junior doctors, particularly in our acute hospitals, regularly hitting or coming close to this limit.
A nationwide survey published in the Journal of the Academy of Medicine Singapore, in 2023, reports that junior doctors work an average of 71 hours a week, which adds up to 284 hours on an average month.
In contrast, the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) employment guidelines stipulates that the contractual hours of work for common work arrangement under part four of the Employment Act is 44 hours a week and a typical employee is only allowed to work up to 72 overtime hours a month. For an average month, MOM's guidelines suggest that a typical work month would see one work 176 hours and even if one works overtime, one should not exceed 248 hours. Any more would presumably not be healthy for the employee.
This suggests that MOH allows junior doctors to work 72 hours more than what is usually deemed healthy for a typical employee. Why have we institutionalised the practice of overworking our junior doctors?
The Employment Act does not mention that managers, executives, solicitors and such are also excluded from this guideline, and doctors, being highly qualified and with special knowledge, belong in this category. To this I say, doctors hold the lives of the vulnerable and ill in their hands. Some indeed may be capable of operating at such an intense level for prolonged periods of time, but I believe many are not.
Do we want our doctors that have been consistently overworked to attend to our sick parents and children in their hours of need? Do we want doctors that are stressed to make decision that can literally involve life and death? The same survey mentioned earlier found a significant correlation between the number of medical errors made with the amount of additional clinical hours worked per week.
I note that in many parents' guides that MOH publishes, they emphasise the importance of parents being heavily involved in their children's life for children's health development. Many junior doctors in the public healthcare system are bonded and do not have the option of quitting if they are unable to deal with the stress and workload. They have no recourse and are forced to make choices that compromise their family time. Is it not ironic that even MOH, as MOH puts out these guidelines, their own doctors are unable to follow them due to the amount of hours they need to put into work?
Madam, the current system to me does not seem sustainable. As the workload of junior doctors increases, many choose to leave the public healthcare system for better pay and lesser working hours. This only serves to aggravate the workload of the remaining doctors, leading to a self-reinforcing cycle. To me, MOH must intervene fast and decisively to change the system.
Madam, Minister Ong mentioned in May 2024 that the National Wellness Committee on Junior Doctors has finalised its recommendation and are now progressively implementing them. Are the details of this recommendation and findings going to be made public? Is MOH looking into more aggressively hiring junior doctors, especially those that have left the public healthcare system? How do they intend to do so? Will it include increasing doctor's salaries to better compete with the private sectors and, if so, how much?
Madam, I would close by saying, just because generations of doctors have survived such conditions is no excuse for MOH to continue to perpetuate such attitudes and working conditions. Should we not strive to be a society that is kinder and more compassionate, especially to those that care for us?
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): In my Budget speech two years ago, I shared about how nurses' workloads are heavy, their shifts are long and they get little time to rest. I spoke up, calling for MOH to ensure that nurses have sufficient rest time. I ended that speech with a quote from a nurse, \"We are called back for overtime when staff is down, when we don't go to work because we are tired, the management counts the number of times and mentions it in our appraisal for not being a team player and marks us down for it. These are just sad realities. We end up feeling burnt out and essentially hating the very job that we started loving. People leave because they see no end to this dark tunnel.\"
I know there is light at the end of this dark tunnel and MOH has been doing a lot to address these issues. Can the Minister share what steps have been taken to ensure that nurses have enough time to rest during their shifts and between their shifts.
Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim (Nominated Member): Madam, promoting healthy ageing among seniors, especially older women, is vital to ensuring their well-being and dignity. In this context, what initiatives are currently in place to promote healthy ageing among seniors, particularly older women, ensuring they have access to resources and programmes that support their physical, mental and social well-being?
How is the Ministry collaborating with other Government agencies and community organisations to create a comprehensive support system specifically for older women, ensuring they can age with dignity and security?
The Chairman: Ms Ng Ling Ling. You can take your four cuts together.
Ms Ng Ling Ling (Ang Mo Kio): Madam, the roll-out of Heathier SG nationwide since July 2023 is an important move towards supporting the growing disease burden of our fast-ageing population, where long-drawn chronic diseases are the key suffering of our people. I would like ask for the following updates.
One, what is the latest number, out of about 1,600 GP clinics in which focus on primary care, that have voluntarily become a Healthier SG clinic?
Two, what are the percentages of Singaporeans who have enrolled in Healthier SG in each of these age segments: between (a) 40- and 49-years-old; (b) 50- and 59-years-old; (c) 60- and 69-years-old; (d) 70- and 79-years-old; and lastly, (e) above 80-years-old.
Three, I am extremely grateful to MOH for approving two new Active Ageing Centres to be opened in Serangoon North Avenue 4, part of Jalan Kayu, after I spoke about the importance of scaling up Active Ageing Centres faster. The public servants have responded to the Minister for Health's comment that he \"was in a hurry\" and \"we are racing against time\" in his reply to my Committee of Supply cut about this last year.
I would like to ask if the Minister will also consider new Active Ageing Centres in Hougang Avenue 9 and Street 91, part of my constituency, as well as large private estates like Seletar Hills, which has some of the highest proportion of seniors above 60-year-olds and the other private estates that also have no existing Active Ageing Centres in my constituency?
Four, Jalan Kayu residents are very supportive of the Health Promotion Board's (HPB's) healthy lifestyle activities. May I ask what are the efforts to tie these with our Healthier SG GP clinics for their social prescriptions for enrolled residents who need the lifestyle interventions to manage their chronic diseases?
Five, more than one year into implementation, how much of the estimated $200 million annual budget for Healthier SG that has been disbursed to GP clinics in either calendar year or financial year 2024, and how much goes to GPs in (a) service fees earned per enrolled patient; (b) information technology (IT) grants to help enhance their Clinic Management Systems to better link up with MOH's Healthier SG systems; and (c) additional clinic administrative costs to coordinate with partners like HPB in their GPs' prescription?
I would like to commend MOH for its success so far in the \"War on Diabetes\" and the implementation of the Nutri-Grade mark as a labelling scheme for drinks based on sugar and saturated fat content. With hypertension and high cholesterol having increasing prevalence rates among Singaporeans in the last few years, I would like to ask: one, how is MOH planning to extend Nutri-Grade labelling and advertising prohibition to key contributors of sodium and saturated fat in popular food and beverage places like hawker centres, food courts and restaurants in the especially high footfall city and heartland malls?
Two, what are healthier alternatives to sodium and how will MOH increase public education in this important health topic? What types of cuisines that are popular among Singaporeans of all ages, for example, Chinese dishes, Indian food, Malay delicacies, Mediterranean diets, Japanese meals, Korean cuisines, just to name a few, have more developed recipes using healthier alternatives than sodium?
Three, will MOH consider increasing funding to: (a) Health Promotion Board to boost its \"My Healthy Plate\" initiative to now complement the Nutri-Grade mark for reduction of sodium and saturated fat intake of Singaporeans across all ages through developing healthier versions of recipes of our favourite cuisines and dishes that I have earlier described; and (b) will MOH invest in Singaporean researchers in developing healthier and affordable versions of specialty food additives that can make Singaporeans' favourite dishes still taste good but without the long-term harms and chronic diseases risks that sodium and saturated fat can lead to?
In September 2023, MOH launched the Shared Stay-in Senior Care Services sandbox to explore the feasibility of having a foreign live-in caregiver to help care for several seniors in one apartment. This is to better support families with caregiving needs amidst shrinking family sizes and expand options for seniors to age in place in the community.
I would like to ask: one, having reached the sandbox one year mark in September 2024, (a) what are the costs of caring for a senior annually under this sandbox model compared to that in a nursing home; (b) what plans do MOH have to mainstream this sandbox and what scaling plans do MOH have to benefit more seniors using this model?
Two, for seniors with mild to moderate ageing needs but cannot or do not want to be living alone or cared for in their own homes anymore, what are MOH's views on private operators' (a) interests in developing other new models like retirement villages and retirement homes, common in European countries which are also facing fast ageing population; and (b) the private operators' feedback that the current nursing homes licensing regime is too onerous, costly to comply with and the licence tenure of two years too short, to give certainty to operate with financial sustainability for such potential retirement villages and homes; and (c) their concerns that dependencies on high MOH subsidies for seniors like those in the nursing homes currently will continue to increase healthcare costs exponentially in fast-ageing Singapore?
Three, will MOH consider sandboxing a new licensing and operating framework with interested private operators who are keen to innovate into more sustainable models for seniors with mild to moderate ageing needs, like how MOH did for telehealth? What may be the timeline to do so and the selection criteria of private operators who are interested in participating?
Long-term care costs have been steadily increasing. With our ageing population, we can expect the demand for such services to keep increasing. I would like to ask: one, what automation has been tried and tested in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes and day care facilities, including those for seniors with dementia?
Two, how deliberate and how fast is MOH enabling the scaling of successful automation that can help augment the manpower, especially foreign manpower-intensive long-term care facilities, for a hope to blunt the cost increases when demands continue to rise?
Three, how many innovation projects for long-term senior care with some form of Government grants, whether it is under MOH or the National Research Foundation are there currently in Singapore and under the purview of which parts of MOH? Are there any of them that are testing using frontier technology, like AI. If yes, what are they?
My fourth question. While we look towards technological advancements to search for ways to blunt the cost increases of long-term care, we must not forget the wisdom of our forefathers in using traditional medicines to also deal with long-term chronic conditions and illnesses. In this regard, I have spoken since my 2023 Committee of Supply cut for MOH on the importance of understanding the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). I am very encouraged that MOH has since made progress in enhancing TCM practices in Singapore, including having the one-stop TCM Portal. I would like to ask if MOH plans to review the TCM Practitioners Act, which was passed 25 years ago in this Parliament?
My last question. As multiracialism and multiculturalism are unique strengths of Singapore, I have also taken an interest in the traditional medicines and therapeutic practices passed down through generations among our Malay community, like the concept of semangat, herbal remedies and urut.
The Chairman: Please round up.
Ms Ng Ling Ling: For our Indian community, there are what we call Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), which is increasingly known in India. My question is, does MOH sees wisdom in beginning studies and understanding into such traditional medicines of our Malay and Indian communities too?
The Chairman: Mr Yip Hon Weng, take your three cuts together.
Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang): Chairman, Singaporeans deserve to age with dignity. That means ensuring long-term care is accessible, high-quality and financially sustainable. I have consistently championed this issue, raising it in Parliament through speeches and questions.
Our entire ecosystem matters, from supporting caregivers and strengthening palliative care to enabling ageing in place through a robust network of community-based services, like Active Ageing Centres, day care, telehealth and remote monitoring. The urgency grows as family sizes shrink and the cost of living rises, adding strain on sandwiched families struggling to care for their loved ones.
While I recognise the Government's initiatives to review MediSave, enhance CareShield and improve palliative care and caregiver support, the fundamental challenge remains. How will the Ministry ensure long-term care remains affordable for all Singaporeans in the face of escalating medical costs?
Many will depend on Government subsidies, ElderShield, CareShield Life and personal savings. But are these really enough? Are CareShield Life payouts keeping pace with the soaring costs of nursing homes, home-based care and assisted living? How frequently does MOH review these schemes to ensure they stay relevant as inflation and care needs evolve?
Cost efficiency is just as critical as affordability. What strategies are in place to reduce unnecessary spending? Have we fully explored models like public-private partnerships or outcome-based funding to ease the financial burden on families and the system?
Other ageing societies have implemented progressive co-payment systems to supplement insurance. Are we considering such measures? If not, why? Could a tiered co-payment approach, where higher-income individuals contribute more while lower-income groups receive greater subsidies, create a more sustainable model?
Caregiving costs go beyond medical bills. Home modifications, assistive devices and caregiver support all add up. How will MOH integrate these into a holistic financing model and framework? Are there plans to expand MediSave coverage or introduce new financial tools to help Singaporeans prepare for ageing in place?
At its core, this is about fairness and sustainability. Are we striking the right balance between personal responsibility and Government support? Should we rethink risk-pooling and cost-sharing across generations to ensure our system remains equitable and future-proof?
We cannot afford to take a short-term view. Our long-term care financing model must not only meet today's needs but remain viable for future generations. I urge the Government to take bold, decisive steps to strengthen and future-proof our system.
At the last COS debate, I spoke about the need to improve home-based care for seniors with higher needs. I have also pushed for better support for their caregivers.
The reality is harsh. Families are getting smaller, but the number of seniors needing care is rising. We need new solutions. The Shared Stay-in Senior Care Services Sandbox is one such initiative offering a more affordable option. I would like an update from MOH on its progress. What has the Ministry learnt so far? What is working and what is not? I want to hear from caregivers and seniors. How do they feel about the quality, affordability and accessibility of these services? What can be improved?
More importantly, what is next? How will MOH scale this up? What is the timeline? What support will be given to providers and how does this model fit into the larger strategy for long-term care and a broader ecosystem alongside home-based and centre-based options?
Lastly, what safeguards are in place to ensure good care and protect seniors' well-being? How is MOH tracking and evaluating the programme's effectiveness?
This sandbox is a promising step forward, but clear updates and a strong plan for the future are key to making it work.
As our nation ages, we face two pressing challenges: a growing elderly population and rising healthcare costs. MediSave plays a critical role in healthcare financing. But do current withdrawal limits truly meet our seniors' needs? The Ministry aims to balance affordability with future needs, but are these limits keeping pace with actual expenses?
We live longer and face more age-related health conditions, requiring complex and costly treatments. As we shift towards outpatient care to ease hospital congestion, outpatient medical costs invariably rise, putting significant financial pressure on individuals and families.
Take Flexi-MediSave. Fewer than three in 10 eligible seniors reached the $300 annual limit in 2023. Does this reflect adequacy or are seniors delaying essential treatments due to financial concerns? Are we unintentionally discouraging necessary care?
Similarly, the $200 monthly MediSave Care limit for severe disabilities may fall short of long-term care needs. Does this truly support a dignified quality of life for our most vulnerable?
Some residents have also raised concerns that the $600 annual cap on MediSave use for health insurance premiums is insufficient. Could this be increased?
The Ministry fears premature MediSave depletion if limits rise, but we must balance prudence with compassion. What good is saving for a rainy day if the storm has already arrived? Could a more flexible, needs-based approach be fairer? Could safeguards prevent fund depletion without denying relief? Could temporary fund depletion for essential treatments be allowed, with options to replenish accounts later?
As Singapore ages, our healthcare financing must evolve. How do we ensure no Singaporean forgoes necessary care due to financial constraints? How can we make MediSave more sustainable and responsive to changing demographics and healthcare needs?
Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong): Chair, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs COS discussed three frontier technologies that will shape our foreign policy in the coming years. Well, in my mind, there are also three frontier policy domains that will transform our social support system for Singaporeans going forward. They are: adult education, social mobility and long-term healthcare.
For long-term care, our needs will only grow sharply because of our ageing population, longer lifespans but not necessarily healthspans, and changing family structures. So, we got to get this frontier domain right and ensure that, well into the future, Singaporeans can continue to access and afford long-term care services of high quality.
To this end, I have a few questions.
First, could the Ministry set a clear policy goal for affordability of long-term care? Today, we say no one will be denied appropriate services because they cannot afford it. But that is an assurance for Singaporeans with the least means. It is not a policy goal for affordability for the vast majority of Singaporeans. Today, we do have such policy goals for affordability for other domains of social support. In housing, we peg affordability to various levels of income. In retirement support, we crystallise the notion of adequacy in figures like the Basic and Full Retirement Sums. For long-term care, what is our policy goal for affordability? It is about time we define such a goal.
Second, taking a leaf from the fee cap framework that has been in effect for the preschool sector, would the Ministry consider a fee cap framework as well for the long-term care sector?
Third, on the enhanced subsidies for long-term care services and the Home Caregiver Grant, can the effective dates be brought forward to bring earlier relief to Singaporeans? Also, when can we expect details of the higher subsidies for dialysis services to be announced?
Finally, on the quality of long-term care, how does the Ministry plan to further develop both skilled manpower and a quality assurance framework for the sector even as more providers enter the space?
Ms Hazel Poa (Non-Constituency Member): Chair, last November, I asked the Minister for Health whether MediSave withdrawal limits can be adjusted every year, in line with inflation for healthcare costs, similar to the way the CPF Basic Retirement Sum and Full Retirement Sum are adjusted annually to take into account inflation.
The Minister replied that the MediSave withdrawal limits for co-payment of hospital bills are typically reviewed every three years while other MediSave features are reviewed periodically. He said, \"This approach is favoured over automatic annual adjustments, to better account for other healthcare financing adjustments and enhancements that are continuously being implemented.\"
However, I hope that the Minister can reconsider this. Automatic adjustments indexed to inflation would help many Singaporeans, especially the elderly. Many elderly Singaporeans prefer to conserve their cash in retirement and pay for their healthcare needs using their MediSave savings. It is, after all, what they saved up for. However, if MediSave withdrawal limits do not keep up with inflation in healthcare costs, then the elderly may be faced with escalating out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures.
Automatic annual adjustments in line with inflation would only ensure that the real value of the MediSave withdrawal limits remain constant over time. The Government could still make additional adjustments based on changes in healthcare financing. These are not conflicting. I urge the Government to reconsider its position.
In particular, many elderly Singaporeans find the withdrawal limit for outpatient care insufficient. It is beneficial for outpatient treatment to be sought early before conditions deteriorate and hospitalisation becomes necessary. I urge the Government to set higher outpatient withdrawal limits for older Singaporeans and adjust them annually to keep up with healthcare cost inflation. Chair, in Mandarin, please.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.]: I urge the Government to adjust MediSave withdrawal limits every year, in line with inflation of healthcare cost. This will benefit many Singaporeans, especially seniors.
Many elderly Singaporeans find the withdrawal limits for outpatient care insufficient. We should encourage people to seek outpatient treatment early before conditions deteriorate and hospitalisation becomes necessary. Hence, setting higher withdrawal limits for older Singaporeans is beneficial.
I hope the Government can consider raising outpatient withdrawal limits and adjust them annually to keep up with healthcare cost inflation.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): MediSave generally does not cover dental treatments unless they involve surgery and are medically necessary. Non-surgical procedures like extractions, crowns, dentures and braces are not MediSave claimable.
Singaporeans are not seeing their dentist regularly enough. Over 50% of Singaporeans visit a dentist at least once a year. However, 40% of these visits are for reactive treatment rather than preventive care. This means many seek dental care only when they experience pain, often leading to more complex and costly procedures.
I am also concerned about tooth loss among seniors. About 13% of over 60-year-olds are completely toothless. Edentulism impacts the nutrition, social confidence and overall well-being of our seniors.
MOH launched Project Silver Screen in 2018 to provide functional screening, including oral health checks, for seniors aged 60 and above. How effective has this programme been in addressing dental health issues among older Singaporeans? Are there plans to expand or improve on it?
Oral health is an essential part of overall well-being. Yet, it is not included in the Healthier SG programme. Studies have shown that poor dental health is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes complications. Preventive dental care should be encouraged to reduce these long-term health risks.
I urge the Ministry to review how dental subsidies are structured, expand MediSave coverage for essential treatments and integrate dental care into Healthier SG.
More public awareness efforts are also needed to ensure that all Singaporeans seek regular checkups instead of waiting for problems to arise. Making dental care more affordable and accessible will improve the well-being of all Singaporeans.
The Chairman: Mr Ang Wei Neng. Take your four cuts together, please.
Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast): Many residents share their frustrations, including Nanyang residents, that the orange Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) card offers little benefit for private dental treatments while Government dental clinics face months-long waiting times. This leaves many, especially our seniors, struggling to access timely and affordable dental care.
To ease the burden on Government clinics and improve accessibility, I urge MOH to extend subsidies for preventive dental procedures at private clinics. This will not only reduce waiting times but also ensure that more Singaporeans can receive the dental care they need.
However, expanding subsidies raises an important question. Does Singapore have enough dentists to meet the increased demand? If not, what is MOH's plan to grow the pool of dentists?
During one of my Chinese New Year visits, I met an overseas dentistry student. She highlighted that unlike medical students, dental students do not receive pre-employment grants from MOH. With an ageing population and growing demand for dental care, this is a missed opportunity to attract talent back to Singapore.
I urge MOH to consider offering pre-employment grants to overseas dental students from good universities abroad. This will help us build a strong pipeline of dental professionals to meet our nation's needs and ensure that every Singaporean has access to quality dental care.
While we commend the Health Science Authority's (HSA's) efforts to curb vaping, it remains alarmingly widespread. We can see people vaping on our streets, in smoking areas and even in schools. A key issue is the dangerous misconception that vaping is \"cool\" or less harmful than smoking.
To address this, I urge MOH to collaborate closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), including the Police and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), to tighten controls on illegal imports of vaping products and enforce stricter penalties against offenders. Let us act decisively to protect our youth and public health.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is widely accepted in Singapore, but remains outside our mainstream healthcare system. For example, TCM medical certificates (MCs) are not recognised by most employers, including the Civil Service. It is time to rethink TCM's role and take bold steps to integrate TCM more effectively in our healthcare system.
Firstly, we need to build a strong pipeline of TCM physicians to meet growing demand. This requires attracting and nurturing talent through scholarships, training programmes and career development opportunities.
Secondly, we must ensure high standards of practice. The TCM Practitioners Board could require physicians to treat a minimum number of patients monthly and attend periodic refresher courses. This will keep them updated on advancements in TCM and maintain quality care.
Thirdly, we should recognise senior TCM physicians for their expertise. MOH and the TCM Practitioners Board could establish a framework to certify experienced practitioners, granting them higher status and potentially integrating them into the Healthier SG initiative. This recognition could pave the way for employers to accept MCs issued by these senior TCM physicians.
By enhancing TCM's credibility and integration, we can boost public confidence and strengthen TCM's role in Singapore's healthcare system. Let us take these steps to ensure TCM is not just accepted but valued as a vital part of our healthcare ecosystem.
I was part of the second batch of psychology students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) when the programme started in 1986. Since then, NUS has produced many esteemed psychologists who serve critical roles in MHA, MOH, the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the private sector. During my time in the Singapore Police Force, I helped establish the Police Psychology Unit, which has since evolved into the Home Team Psychology Division, employing numerous psychologists.
Today, psychologists play a vital role in mental health – a field that is gaining increasing national attention. However, as in any profession, there are both competent and less competent practitioners. Worse, platforms like Carousell are flooded with posts claiming to provide clinical psychological counselling, many of which may not be authentic, as widely reported in the press.
This is deeply concerning. Vulnerable individuals seeking help deserve to be protected from unqualified practitioners. So, to ensure high standards of professionalism and safeguards, it is time for MOH to regulate the psychology profession. Let us act now to protect those in need and uphold the integrity of this very critical field.
The Chairman: Ms He Ting Ru, you can take your three cuts together.
Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): Madam, calls to regulate mental health providers are not new and I recently did so in early 2024. Such professionals include psychologists, therapists and counsellors, the roles and work of whom many lay people struggle to grasp. Concerns that the shortage of professionals will be exacerbated by introducing regulation have to be balanced against the real potential harm to already vulnerable clients seeking support from inadequately trained individuals purporting to provide therapy and the like. Just last week, worrying reports, emerged about unqualified individuals offering counselling services on platforms like Carousell.
Regulating this area also means that clients seeking help know that a professional has met a baseline level of training and understanding of the often-challenging ethical concerns that arise. It is also a first step for our existing financial health for healthcare financing to be used to expand access to such services. I, therefore, hope that the Ministry will develop a long-term plan to regulate the industry, taking into account the views of professional bodies while keeping an eye to make sure that barriers to entry are not overtly high.
A key part of this is to work with training providers and to increase the supply of qualified professionals to ensure that Singaporeans' mental health needs are adequately and safely met.
The National Mental Health Office has committed to tracking indicators measuring access to mental healthcare, such as medium treatment delay for common mental disorders. While access is important, the quality of mental healthcare services has to be ensured. A United Kingdom (UK) study of nearly 40,000 patients from 2010 to 2013 found that an above-average therapist can achieve a recovery rate of above 80% over 16 sessions, instead of close to 0% for a below-average therapist. The UK has also set a recovery rate target of 50% for all mental health services. Having real-time data about the efficacy of our mental health services allows both practitioners to recognise how they are performing and will inform the Government when developing a plan that includes standards on service quality.
I have two areas of clarification for the Minister. First, how will the National Mental Health Office track indicators relating to the quality of mental care, which should include recovery rates and deterioration rates? Will the office also set minimum standards of quality across the services outlined under the tiered care model? Second, can the data be readily made available in order for practitioners to use it to identify areas of strength, concern and ultimately, provide service quality.
Cutting-edge research and development (R&D) in the medical and health sciences appears to show great promise. Of these, developments in precision medicine has shown up the potential to, in the words of the Singapore National precision medicine strategy, benefit groups and individuals through early detection, refined diagnosis and tailored treatment.
We have had announcements, such as the introduction of the Helix platform, to consolidate healthcare data and the SG100K initiative launched to log the blueprint of 100,000 participants through time, specifically, with the aim of understanding interactions of the genome within the Asian context. These are welcome, but one area that warrants attention is how gender affects health and illness. This goes beyond our obstetrics and gynaecological conditions. I brought this up in this House previously, how researchers now know that the same condition can present differently in men and women.
As a Time magazine article notes, women are not just smaller men. And while progress has been made, there is still a long way to go. Apart from reacting differently to medication and vaccines, there remains significant gaps in areas, such as autoimmune disorders, which affect women more; and also mental health, where, for example, women are more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, but most pre-clinical studies on treatment were done on men.
I would, thus, like to seek an update from the Minister about whether and how our efforts in personalised medicine will also cater to these gender gaps in medical research and treatment.
Additionally, for precision medicine to fulfil its promise, it must go beyond collecting and analysing data to deliver real, tangible benefits to patients, and possibly even be used as tools to tackle concerns about ageing demographics and increasing care costs. A data-driven approach is valuable, but it should serve as an enabler, not an end-point.
While we move towards turning research into more effective treatments with fewer side effects, such as precision gene therapies, these treatments remain expensive, raising concerns about inaccessibility, which would only accelerate as the field advances. Aside from increasing inclusivity in research, our health systems need to cater to the risks of inadvertently leading to greater disparities.
I would, thus, like to seek clarification from the Minister about the plans to ensure that advances in precision medicine translate into real benefits for those who need them most. Singapore has the potential to make great strides and lead in precision medicine. But leadership is measured not by infrastructure alone, but participating in global research, increasing our ability to develop and test new treatments and most importantly, ensuring that the accessibility of these advancements are available to all Singaporeans. We have to move beyond data collection to implementation, working to make the promise of precision medicine a reality for patients.
The Chairman: Dr Wan Rizal, you can take your two cuts together.
Dr Wan Rizal (Jalan Besar): Madam, mental health has been a key focus throughout my time in Parliament. In my first Adjournment Motion in 2020, I introduced the LAST framework: Literacy, Accessibility, Screening and Time-out. I am glad that these four areas are continually addressed. Awareness has grown and more people recognise the importance of mental well-being.
However, many who know still hesitate to seek help when they need it. They worry about stigma, who to see or whether their struggles are serious enough to warrant an intervention. There is still much to do. Therefore, we need to strengthen our mental health ecosystem. One that is accessible, professional and safe; one that help seekers not struggle with long wait-times or uncertainty about who and where to go to.
With this in mind, I seek MOH's response on several key areas. The National Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and National Mental Health Office were launched to improve coordination and access to mental health services. How have the reception and adoption of the strategy been so far and what initiatives has the Office undertaken, and what can we expect from the Office moving forward?
Madam, mental health support must move into spaces where the people are already there, in community spaces or in youth hubs where the youths are there or even sports facilities. Could more of these spaces be leveraged to provide timely, accessible support? Another space to consider is, of course, the digital space, but such support must be human-led.
Oftentimes, I hear help-seekers saying they turn to recorded messages or AI chatbots. Certainly, we can do better. How is MOH ensuring that the digital space outlet remains one that provides real professional human support?
Madam, with the growing demands for mental health services, how is MOH ensuring that individuals receive help from qualified professionals, not unregulated providers or even those from Carousell?
We need to distinguish between psychologists and private counsellors and start considering formal regulations for psychologists and strict consumer protection measures for private counselling services. Could MOH share its stance on this and what are we going to do moving forward?
Madam, our youths face barriers with seeking help due to parental consent requirements. Could structured guidance be developed to support both parents and youths in navigating this process. When youths are in crisis, they could end up in Emergency Departments, which are not the best environment for them. Could we explore alternative crisis response spaces designed specifically for youths?
A growing demand for these services simply means that we need a well-trained workforce. Could MOH provide updates on efforts to boost training capacity, particularly through the National Competency Framework and psychological first aid for frontline responders?
A workplace can either be a source of stress or pillar of support. Some companies have made strikes in supporting employee well-being, but workplace mental health efforts must go beyond talks and campaigns. How can we embed mental health support more deeply into workplaces' policies, whether through structured accommodation, supervisor training or through pathways for employers for mental health-related absences?
Madam, I have mentioned about religiosity in mental health support and I ask whether we could provide structured training for them as they engage their congregants. Could there be clear referral pathways to link religious organisations with professional mental health services?
Madam, children's mental health and well-being is about giving them the best possible start in life, ensuring they grow up healthy, resilient and supported. What happens in childhood shapes lifelong health, including mental well-being. Therefore, we must ensure that the right support structures are in place at home and in the community to help children thrive.
Could MOH provide updates on efforts to expand preventative health measures and nutritional support for children? Could MOH provide an update on efforts to strengthen early intervention for children's mental health? And how are Healthier SG initiatives being extended to support early childhood mental wellness?
Madam, screens have been perceived as a central part of childhood, which I totally disagree. Unhealthy digital habits can impact mental well-being and physical health as well. How is MOH working to strengthen digital wellness efforts, particularly through resources, like the Parenting for Wellness Toolkit?
Madam, investing in our children's health today means a stronger, healthier Singapore tomorrow. Such efforts in mental, digital and physical well-being will ensure that every child grows up with the right foundation for lifelong health. I look forward to MOH's update on these critical areas.
Mr Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant (Nominated Member): Mdm Chair, the Grow Well SG, a new national health promotion strategy to enhance preventive care and inculcate healthy lifestyles in children and adolescents is a very welcomed, move as we celebrate SG60.
The strategy aims to help our children eat well, sleep well, learn well, exercise well and to bond well to support and reinforce healthy lifestyles through purposeful screen use, a Health Plan for every child and enhanced support for schools. Grow Well SG will work hand-in-hand with families, educators, healthcare professionals and community partners to create supportive environments where our children can thrive and sustain healthy living habits.
While the updated guidelines are very helpful, many families require practical tools to integrate good lifestyle habits, especially around digital usage, into busy routines.
I have two questions for the Minister for Health. First, can MOH share what has been the receptiveness of Grow Well SG thus far? What is MOH’s target reach for the whole of 2025 for a start? Second, can MOH share how Grow Well SG will be further reinforced with families, particularly in terms of practical resources and tools? And would these resources be made easily accessible for those who want to refer to them?
Mr Yip Hon Weng: Chairman, mental health is critical for a thriving society. During last year’s Motion on Advancing Mental Health, I highlighted the need to address seniors’ and caregivers’ well-being, particularly social isolation, loneliness and dementia. I also called for better insurance coverage and subsidies, and welcome the assurance of up to 80% subsidies at public institutions and ongoing efforts to expand public healthcare capacity. However, subsidised options often involve longer waits, while private therapy costs remains a barrier. How can we ensure affordable support is readily available?
Community Outreach Team (CREST) teams play a vital role in early intervention. With over 70 teams island-wide, how can we expand their reach and public awareness?
Finally, how is the Ministry measuring progress in mental healthcare? Tracking accessibility, early detection and long-term well-being is essential.
The Chairman: Mr Keith Chua, please take your two cuts together.
Mr Keith Chua (Nominated Member): Madam, suicide prevention requires a whole-of-society approach, given that not everyone who presents with suicidal behaviours has a mental health condition.
The working group for Project Hayat presented its recommendations for a national suicide prevention strategy, per the S.A.V.E. L.I.V.E.S. framework to the Government. Madam, I am a member of the Working Group and Board member of the Singapore Anglican Community Services and Caring for Life. In his response to Project Hayat, the Minister for Health agrees we can do more in areas like research, the use of AI technology and means-restriction.
I would like to ask the Minister the following questions, please.
How will the National Mental Health Office work in the area of suicide prevention? Will the National Mental Health Office establish KPIs specific to seeing a reduction in the number of suicides? Will the National Mental Health Office take the lead in further policy-making across various Ministries and agencies, such as setting up a national suicide prevention framework? Will the office consider going beyond the current framework centred on clinical services and mental health interventions outlined under the Tiered Care Model, and put in place systemic interventions targeted at suicide prevention? For example, ensuring there is a holistic strategy addressing societal pressures and taking into account protective factors at each life stage from children to teenagers, to young adults and to the elderly?
Lastly, how will the Office ensure adequate postvention support for individuals and families, that is, care provided following a suicide attempt? Countries with comprehensive postvention support, such as England and South Korea, find that the continuity of care for suicide survivors and those close to them are essential to preventing further suicide attempts.
In last year's COS debate, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth updated that there were 12 Well-Being Circles as part of the SG Mental Well-Being Network and more than 3,000 people have been supported. These initiatives are designed to help prevent the development of mental health conditions for all Singaporeans as part of the Tiered Care Model.
In the White Paper I mentioned earlier proposing a national strategy for suicide prevention, one key recommendation is to involve families and communities in such efforts. This includes strengthening collaborations with religious and community leaders, and the continuity of care for suicide survivors as well as families, friends and communities affected by suicide.
May I ask the following? How does the Ministry measure the efficacy of community mental health efforts, such as the Well-Being Circles and peer support circles? Will the Ministry ensure that every Singaporean has access to such community initiatives? And thirdly, Will the Ministry plan to leverage such community initiatives to ensure the continuity of care for suicide survivors and others affected by suicide?
Mr Ong Hua Han (Nominated Member): Mdm Chair, we all know the importance of first aid in medical emergencies. But not many know about its mental health equivalent, Mental Health First Aid, which trains people to support those in distress or facing a mental health crisis. While there are increasingly more courses available online, access to Mental Health First Aid remains limited.
In Singapore, we are familiar with apps that facilitate emergency first aid response. Take, for example, the myResponder app by the Singapore Civil Defence Force, with over 210,000 registered community first responders. Their focus remains largely on physical health emergencies. But what about mental health?
Mental health emergencies can also happen anywhere and to anyone. In those critical moments, the ability to respond quickly and appropriately is just as important. Yet, no widely recognised platform exists to guide people through a mental health crisis. This is a missing piece in our response framework, but we do not need to start from scratch.
Integrating mental health first aid into existing emergency response apps is a practical solution with manifold benefits.
First, destigmatisation. Mental health is health and this ensures it is treated as equally important as physical health.
Second, increased accessibility and awareness. A widely-used platform increases the availability of mental health resources, reaching even those who have never encountered or attended formal training.
Third, timely intervention. With step-by-step guidance readily available, users will be able to identify signs of distress and respond before a crisis escalates.
Fourth, emergency contacts at your fingertips. Just as we know to call 995 for medical emergencies, mental health helplines should be easily accessible through the app, to connect users to professional help immediately.
Madam, awareness is also key. Collaboration with mental health organisations and other health apps can gradually expose more people to mental health first aid. Social media campaigns can also help to promote this in creative ways. For example, Tampines Fire Station has been making viral Instagram videos for a while now, and they are quite funny. Perhaps, we could leverage on their expertise and do the same for mental health first aid.
Lastly, such apps need to be regularly updated with the latest information and resources to keep the platform fresh and relevant.
Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied): Madam, Singapore's total fertility rate stands at 0.97, yet delivery costs vary widely by maternal nationality.
Foreign mothers married to Singaporean fathers whose children will be Singaporean by birth, face significantly higher expenses. At KK Women's and Children's Hospital, a normal delivery in a C class ward cost Singaporean mothers $1,390, which is fully MediSave covered. Permanent Residents (PRs) pay $2,870, with most of it MediSave claimable and $120 being payable in cash. Non-resident mothers must pay more than $8,000, claiming less than $3,000 from MediSave and paying about $5,300 in cash.
The gap widens for Caesarean deliveries. Singaporeans pay about $2,270, fully MediSave covered. PRs pay nearly $5,000, of which $410 must be paid in cash, and non-Residents pay nearly $12,000, with about $7,300 in cash. Many C-sections are unplanned emergencies, compounding financial stress.
Given Singapore's low fertility rate, it seems counterproductive to impose such steep delivery fees on families whose children are Singaporeans from birth. Indeed, these costs send the wrong signals that Singaporean children are not welcome if their mothers are foreign.
This burden is heavier for citizen father, foreign mother families. The 2019 SG LEED study found that these families have the lowest per capita income at about $1,700 compared to citizen couples at about $2,600 and citizen mother, foreign father families at $3,100.
Furthermore, 17% of foreign mothers with Singaporean children still held a Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP), despite being married for an average of eight years. The Government's stance, as indicated in November, is that foreign spouses who do not qualify for PR can apply for LTVP or LTVP+, showing no defined pathway to permanent residency.
Madam, I request MOH to review the cost differentials for these foreign mothers of Singaporean children.
The Chairman: Ms Mariam Jaafar, please take your three cuts together.
Ms Mariam Jaafar (Sembawang): Madam, I declare my interest as managing director and senior partner of a management consulting firm that does work in the healthcare space.
We are all aware of the pressures that rising healthcare costs place on our families, the healthcare system and Government finances. An ageing population, coupled with medical advancements and the increasing complexity of care, managing healthcare spend is exceedingly challenging, and healthcare may soon become the largest Government expenditure.
First, let me say that we have done very well in achieving a high-quality healthcare system, one that is admired worldwide. The 3Ms form the bedrock of the healthcare financing model, where which we have continued to evolve the system to deliver world-class care, without compromising affordability or sustainability.
The roll out of Healthier SG is a key pillar. Another key pillar is the shift to deliver more care at the community level – community hospitals, polyclinics and intermediate and long-term care facilities. Value-based care, integrated care models, technology and digital healthcare solutions and procurement reform efforts are also inflight to reduce costs. Enhancements to MediSave and MediShield Life, have also been made and will no doubt continue to be refined, to reduce the financial burden on both individuals and the Government.
While we have reason to hope that these efforts will help to bend the cost curve in the long run, it is also important to achieve costs efficiencies in the short term. What level of shorter-term cost efficiencies have been achieved from current efforts? What are we doing to ensure that healthcare remains accessible, affordable and sustainable for all Singaporeans?
The share of public healthcare versus private has been growing over the years, with the Government’s increased investments in healthcare. Public healthcare institutions now provide a broader range of services, from primary care to highly specialised treatments and indeed, some of the top doctors in certain specialisations are found not in the private hospitals, but in our public hospitals. Our public hospitals do also take in private patients.
It raises the question. What is the optimal public-private mix that best serves the needs of our people and keeps healthcare costs sustainable?
Madam, this optimal mix has several considerations, including access and affordability, financial sustainability, quality and equity. For example, allowing public hospitals to take on private patients should not come at the expense of long waiting times for subsidised patients, which could in turn lead to pressure to build more hospitals, putting a strain on state coffers. Ancillary services too, something as simple as meals, must not drive up costs for the masses. We must continue to monitor how public and private sectors impact overall healthcare expenditure. At the same time, as we saw during COVID-19, and also with the integration of GPs in Healthier SG, greater collaboration between the public and private sector can help streamline patient care and make the best use of resources. Healthy competition between the private and public sector also drives innovation and patient outcomes.
Madam, the public sector must continue to be the cornerstone of our healthcare system, but the private sector’s role cannot be denied. Does the Ministry have a view on the evolution of the public-private mix going forward? And how will the Ministry ensure that both sectors work together to continue to provide accessible, affordable and sustainable healthcare for every Singaporean?
Mental health and physical health go together. We have made significant strides in how we address mental health in the last few years. Yet, there remain gaps in the level of attention, resources and recognition that mental health has received versus physical health, whether it is in terms of access to care, societal attitudes and in the way mental and physical health services are integrated.
First, the access gap. Wait times for mental health services remain long. I have had many residents and mental health professionals tell me that even urgent cases can face delays in securing appointments. And while MediSave and MediShield Life now help with hospitalisations and chronic diseases, outpatient mental health consultations and therapy sessions remain quite costly. Last year, we heard that the Government is expanding mental health services, including in the polyclinic and primary care setting, as well as in the community. I urge the Government to expand and accelerate this further.
Second, the gap in the Healthier SG framework. Mental health is yet to be integrated in Healthier SG. This is needed if we are to promote a truly holistic well-being approach. Our GPs and family doctors need to be equipped to diagnose and manage common mental health conditions. We should have mental health screenings in Healthier SG checks and more resources and incentives for mental wellness programmes in the community.
A related gap is the integration of mental health and physical health in integrated care teams. Doctors, psychologists, social workers and allied health professionals must work together to provide holistic treatment for patients with both mental and physical health needs.
The Chairman: Please round up, Ms Mariam Jaafar.
Ms Mariam Jaafar: Yes, Madam. Our physical healthcare system is truly world class, our mental health system must match that standard. What steps is the Government taking to close these gaps?
The Chairman: Dr Lim Wee Kiak, please take your three cuts together.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Chairman, I declare my interest as an ophthalmologist in private practice. We all know the Government has given its commitment to keep healthcare costs affordable, as to make healthcare available to everyone. It has rightly set up the three pillars of our healthcare financing system, namely, MediSave, MediShield and MediFund (3Ms).
Indeed, many Singaporeans are benefiting from the 3Ms. However, we still occasionally encounter residents who have sufficient MediSave, but are cash poor, lamenting why can they not be allowed to use more of their MediSave to pay for their medical bills.
Over the last few years, with advances in medical care, improvement in drug efficacy, higher staff costs, higher clinic rentals, these have all pushed up the healthcare costs in Singapore. We have moved from branded drugs to generic drugs, among others, to help to mitigate the costs.
The knock-on effect is seen in the cost of healthcare insurance, where premiums grew by 13.7% in 2022 and in 2024 by 12% – a double digit growth over the years. It is projected to grow by another 12% this year, according to the Willis Towers Watson survey.
While it appears to be in a stable trend, but it gives little comfort to Singaporeans, young and old alike. There are young employees who only after a hospitalisation, find that they have expanded their healthcare coverage for the year. Their company had bought a policy is at the lower range because of high premiums.
There are certainly lessons we can learn looking at other countries, such as in the UK's National Health Service, where the problems they are facing are somewhat similar up to a point – staff shortages, evolving healthcare needs, ageing population. How can we learn from other's predicament and avoid getting into the same situation?
Can the Minister share with the House what is the current medical inflation rate? Will MOH carry out a review of the 3Ms system and see how they can further enhance the system to help Singaporeans? The 3Ms work well currently, but how can it meet our future needs?
[Mr Speaker in the Chair]
Can MOH also help young Singaporeans, who have not only bear healthcare costs for their families, but also of their aged parents? What can the Government do to help to slow down medical inflation and lower the out-of-pocket expenses of Singaporeans?
With rapid advances in technology, especially in AI – these are certainly making in-roads across all professions and the medical profession is no exception. How it is adopted may not be as simple as substituting the search engine on your computer.
In healthcare setting, we are dealing with a human life. Medical practitioners know that building trust with patients can be a slow and painstaking task. You need to listen attentively, show empathy and understanding, and ask the right questions respectfully, among a whole host of others, including your body language. These are areas that AI will not be able to substitute for the human touch.
Thus far, much of our AI has been in the areas for administration, from registration, to other data collection and information systems. There are robotics, which are certainly already in used in several medical procedures with good outcomes, and others in the area of data analytics.
And if I may quote a paper that was published in 2023 on the web of the SMA by Assoc Prof Tan Cher Heng as well as Prof Benjamin Seet, both from Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine: \"An important guiding principle is that the patient should remain at the centre stage. While most app developers and code writers have claimed that their solutions will change clinical practice, we need an evidence-based approach to systematically evaluate the costs and benefits of adopting any such technology. The clinical demand and utility have to be clear, so that we do not end up with a 'technology push' seeking new applications and solutions.\"
MOH has said it is partnering the Health Promotion Board (HPB), Synapxe, the public healthcare clusters and national clinical translational programmes, to leverage on cutting-edge technology while maintaining public trust in and security of the Singapore healthcare system.
Apart from these, can MOH share what else is the Government currently looking to apply these technologies, including AI, to address various issues facing the medical services, from shortage of manpower, to improving treatment outcomes for patients, and to mitigate the high cost of medical care? Is there a need to relook at the legal responsibilities of the medical professionals in the application of these technologies, especially in AI, in patient care?
When 64-year-old American Dan Buettner, author and longevity researcher co-produced the three-time Emmy Award winning documentary TV mini-series \"Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones\" in 2023 on Netflix, it certainly has created a stir among all those who are interested in looking at longevity. Buettner identified five original Blue Zones areas, these are areas where people lived the longest and the healthiest, including in Japan, Italy, as well as Costa Rica, Greece and California.
Then in 2024, the spotlight fell on Singapore when it was the first new region to be added to the Blue Zones in decades, dubbed as \"Blue Zone 2.0\" by Buettner. A noteworthy point was that our city-state is not in the same genre as the other Blue Zones. Unlike the other Blue Zone communities like those in Greece, in Japan, in Costa Rica, which were based on long-established cultural traditions, for Singapore, our longevity is more of an outcome of forward-thinking policies.
If we look at our achievement on longevity, it is more than just healthcare. We have policies like public transport, which encourages commuters to walk daily as an exercise. We do put emphasis on keeping our country clean and build beautiful parks, jogging tracks as well as exercise parks to get everybody to enjoy the outdoors around our neighbourhoods. Public places like these are well-lit, residents get a sense of security and calm when they frequent these areas. Swimming pools, open fields for soccer, these are found in all Housing and Development Board (HDB) estates and there is creatively curated greenery everywhere.
In December 2024, BBC noted: \"few places have seen such a drastic jump in life expectancy as the island city-state in Southeast Asia\". It went on to report if a child that is born in Singapore before 1960 was only likely to live up to, at that point in time, to 65. However, a child that is born in Singapore today can enjoy a life expectancy of more than 86 years old or more, according to estimates. Not only that, the number of centenarians in Singapore has doubled from 2010 to 2020. And all these leaps in longevity \"is largely driven by intentional government policy and investment.\"
The point I want to make here is that given that we have one of the longest lifespans in the world now, and there is a correlation with an ageing population and chronic diseases, are there plans to explore and develop the emerging fields of regenerative medicine and healthy longevity?
I believe there is great potential in this field for medical tourism as well as for our medical advances, because of the strong international interest of living well and living longer lives. With Singapore's reputation as a Blue Zone 2.0, together with our excellent healthcare infrastructure and medical talent, Singapore certainly has all the pre-requisites to establish healthy longevity, regenerative medicine as a field of excellence over here. Would MOH consider setting up a sandbox looking at how can we explore healthy longevity, regenerative medicine for further development?
The Chairman: Minister Ong Ye Kung.
The Minister for Health (Mr Ong Ye Kung): Mr Chairman, the most active exchange during this Budget debate has been over fiscal policies – saving as a nation or budget marksmanship, temporary vouchers versus structural support, increasing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) earlier or later. As Health Minister, I feel that I have a duty to somewhat weigh in.
Chairman, in the course of my speech, may I display a few slides on the LCD screens please?
The Chairman: Yes, go ahead. [Slides were shown to hon Members.]
Mr Ong Ye Kung: Thank you. When I first joined this Chamber 10 years ago, in 2015, the Government's annual health budget was about $9 billion. I was then-Minister for Education; my Ministry was in second place, at $12 billion. The Ministry of Health (MOH) was very far behind at $9 billion.
This year's healthcare budget is $21 billion, moved to second behind the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF). By 2030, it is estimated to be over $30 billion – at least another $10 billion increase. In comparison, a two-percentage point increase in GST gives us about $5 billion more in revenue today.
We need the additional GST revenue, paid for mostly by those who are better off, foreigners and tourists, to continue to support universal and affordable healthcare for Singaporeans. The support given in healthcare is practically all structural, instead of vouchers.
We can argue about the perfect timing for raising tax revenues. However, if we do not raise the revenue in time while the population ages and healthcare expenditure escalates, we will not be debating budget marksmanship then. There will not even be a balanced Budget target board to aim for, as our fiscal position will be deep in the red.
That said, we cannot let the healthcare expenditure curve escalate uncontrollably. It is a bill all of us, ultimately, have to pay, as taxpayers, as patients or as insurance policy holders. But it is very difficult to rein in escalating healthcare expenditure, especially when it is a matter of life and death for ourselves or for our loved ones.
Further, all round the world, people have high expectations of the public healthcare system. Our three biggest wishes are for healthcare to be available when we need it, of high quality and affordable. I have spoken about these objectives in earlier COS speeches, but let me talk about our plans in the coming few years, for each of these objectives.
First, affordability amidst rising costs and inflation. Dr Lim Wee Kiak, Mr Yip Hon Weng, Ms Mariam Jaafar and Ms Hazel Poa asked about this. We therefore have the S+3Ms framework – Government Subsidies, MediShield Life, MediSave and MediFund – to cushion patients from healthcare cost increases.
Today, seven in 10 patients in subsidised hospital wards pay nothing out-of-pocket, zero; while eight in 10 pay less than $100. We constantly review and enhance the S+3Ms framework, to adapt to emerging clinical practices and also, new circumstances.
Last year, we updated the income thresholds to allow up to 1.1 million Singapore residents to qualify for higher subsidies. A few months ago, we announced significant adjustments to MediShield Life, to better protect Singaporeans against major hospitalisation episodes, and then defray costly outpatient treatments like dialysis. Most recently, we announced subsidies and MediSave withdrawals for vaccinations against Shingles.
Today, I will talk about further adjustments that we are making. One, I start with MediSave withdrawal limits for outpatient scans. Over the years, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomograph (CT) scans have become more commonly used for diagnosis of certain conditions, such as cancer, as they are more detailed and accurate than X-rays. But they are also more costly. To ensure these remain affordable, we will double the MediSave withdrawal limit for such outpatient scans, from $300 to $600 per year, starting in 2026.
Next is Flexi-MediSave. A few Members of Parliament (MPs) have asked about this. This scheme provides seniors aged 60 and above the flexibility to use their MediSave for outpatient treatments at polyclinics, public Specialist Outpatient Clinics, as well as Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) clinics. This limit was last raised in 2021, from $200 to $300. Since then, outpatient medical needs have grown further. We will therefore increase the withdrawal limit to $400 per year, from the fourth quarter of 2025.
Dental health is another area where affordability is becoming a concern. Several MPs have raised this and asked if oral health can be part of Healthier SG. Actually, preventive dental care predates Healthier SG. All of us remember in primary school, the dreaded moment the dental nurse comes in and calls your name, that was preventive care, long ago. There has been a longstanding collaboration between the MOE schools and MOH to protect the teeth of the young. However, in adulthood, oral health deteriorates.
Generally, a person needs at least 20 natural teeth to chew effectively. Unfortunately, only about half of our older population have them. We will take further steps, therefore, to encourage preventive oral care and hopefully, preserve more teeth.
Currently, only Pioneer Generation, Merdeka Generation and CHAS Blue cardholders enjoy subsidies at private dental clinics for preventive procedures, such as scaling, polishing and filling. We will extend subsidies for these dental procedures to CHAS Orange cardholders.
I have met many residents, and these includes my own Citizens’ Consultative Committee Chairmen, who suffered from tooth decay and then decided to extract their tooth. I asked them, \"Why don't you save the tooth?\" It can be done via a root canal procedure, which is quite common now. This means the dentist will remove the decayed parts of the tooth, including the nerves in the roots of the tooth, and then fill it up, and then cap it with a protective artificial crown. The tooth is, therefore, saved. It adds to your 20 teeth; 20 teeth include those that you save.
They said no, because extraction was cheaper and it involves fewer trips to the dentist. But this is penny-wise and pound-foolish. We will have fewer and fewer teeth as we grow old if we take this approach. This diminishes our ability to chew effectively and in our old age, affects our nutritional intake.
We will, therefore, increase the CHAS dental subsidy limits for restorative procedures, such as root canal, for Pioneer and Merdeka Generation as well as CHAS Blue and Orange cardholders. We will also allow Flexi-MediSave to be used for costlier treatments like root canals and permanent crowns at CHAS dental clinics and public healthcare institutions.
The next slide shows the net impact for a typical Merdeka Generation cardholder, someone with a tooth decay but decides to save it. For this senior, a molar root canal after subsidy costs about $700 at a CHAS clinic, that is the leftmost column, which he must pay by cash today. After the subsidy enhancement, the out-of-pocket payment will be about halved, to $370. He can also use up to $400 in Flexi-MediSave, so there may not be any cash payment required, and that is the rightmost column.
When subsidy goes up, we must prevent some providers from raising prices sharply and creaming off the subsidy. We will, therefore, have to strengthen governance to prevent abuse, by introducing fee benchmarks for common dental procedures. So, MOH will follow up with this. Both the enhancements and fee benchmarks will be implemented around the fourth quarter of 2025. Use of Flexi-MediSave will be effective sometime in the middle of 2026.
The final area is long-term care services. The Prime Minister mentioned this in the Budget Statement, so let me elaborate.
Long-term care is for seniors who have become frail, disabled and dependent on others to carry out daily activities, such as eating, showering or changing. They are cared for in two main settings; one is nursing homes, or, at home, with support from community and home care services.
Mr Xie Yao Quan asked if there could be fee caps for these services. In fact, both services today are heavily subsidised by the Government, with co-payment by users. With an ageing population, our annual national long-term care operating expenditure has almost doubled over the last five years, from $1.7 billion to about $3 billion today, and it continues to rise. This is because as one gets older, our care needs intensify.
There is also considerable upward pressure on fees. This is mainly driven by manpower costs, especially post-COVID, where salaries of healthcare workers globally were reset to a much higher level.
To ensure affordability, MOH has been increasing funding to support nursing home providers, while also quietly imposing caps on fee increases for existing residents. We did not announce this but, quietly, we have been doing that to keep fees low. So, nursing home providers also absorb part of the higher costs for these existing residents.
As for seniors newly admitted to nursing homes over roughly the past one year, they have been paying higher fees and this can be a financial burden to their families. This arrangement is not sustainable. It is also not fair to the providers, most of which are charities. It is time for us to improve our subsidy framework and significantly expand our structural support for seniors and their families.
The next slide illustrates the changes we are making. The left side is nursing homes, the right chart is for home and community care subsidies. The X-axis on each slide is the per capita household income bands, while the Y-axis is the subsidy percentages. The white boxes show the current subsidy percentages, the blue and orange boxes are the additional subsidies. So, you see everything moving up.
In short, we will, as indicated in blue, increase subsidies by five to 15 percentage points for almost all eligible households; expand eligibility for maximum subsidy of 75% to 80% from about two in 10 to about three in 10 households. So, you see the leftmost two columns of each chart are now of the same height. So, the maximum subsidy is now expanded to a larger group.
Provide additional subsidies of five to 15 percentage points, as indicated in orange, for those born in or before 1969 as seniors in these cohorts are not well covered by MediShield Life; and expand eligibility to cover from six in 10 today to about seven in 10 households, so more can benefit. [Please refer to the clarification later in the debate.]
The increases in subsidies will be effective from July 2026. It is more than a year from now. So, between now and then, we will provide interim rebates, which will keep the fees low for Singaporeans using long-term care services. Similar enhancements will apply to community dialysis services too.
We will also increase the Home Caregiving Grant and expand the coverage of the Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund, as announced by the Prime Minister in the Budget Statement. The enhancements for these schemes will be implemented progressively from January 2026.
With these enhancements, over 80% of seniors, especially those being cared for at home, will pay less for their long-term care services. Let me illustrate with three examples.
Example one is a lower-income family supporting a moderately disabled grandpa receiving home and community care. They pay about $600 a month today. In 2025, the interim rebates kick in, and their out-of-pocket payment will drop to about $500. In 2026, when the full enhancements are implemented, it will drop to $200. Thereafter, fees will continue to rise in tandem with inflation and income.
Example two is a lower-income family who recently admitted their severely disabled grandma to a nursing home. The monthly out-of-pocket payment now is about $1,300. In 2025, when the rebates kick in, this will decrease to $1,150. In mid-2026, when the full enhancements are implemented, payments will further drop to about $1,000.
Example three is a disabled grandma from a lower-income family who has been staying in nursing homes for a few years now. Instead of $1,300 a month, today they pay a discounted amount of about $900, because MOH caps their fee increases. The upcoming enhancements will formalise this temporary arrangement.
We will continue working closely with providers to manage the fees that families have to pay, which should not change much this year. Over time, their fees should rise gradually in tandem with inflation and income. The entire package of long-term care enhancements will benefit more than 80,000 seniors, who can expect to receive support of up to $2.1 billion, from 2025 to 2030.
Chair, let me move to the second objective of public healthcare, which is to ensure availability. Post-COVID-19, like many countries in the world, we saw many more seniors with complex conditions. A couple of years of isolation and neglect of chronic conditions have taken their toll. The average length of stay in hospitals jumped abruptly from six days to seven days post-pandemic. Sounds like one day, but it means a 15% increase in workload for hospitals. Worse still, COVID-19 delayed our infrastructure development.
We have been doing major catch-up in infrastructure development. Expanding capacity, however, does not mean just building hospitals. We need smart capacity, across a spectrum of care needs and, especially, in the community. Only then will we be able to give the most appropriate care for different types of patients.
Over the past five years, we have expanded capacity by over 6,300 beds, as shown on the slide. This includes 1,200 acute hospital beds with the opening of Woodlands Health and across other hospitals. This is the part in white. We rolled out Mobile Inpatient Care@Home and commissioned 200 beds. We opened new community hospitals and added 600 new beds and we also added 4,300 nursing home beds. And adding nursing home beds is a major move, because if a senior cannot find a nursing home bed, they will end up in the hospital.
This capacity makes a huge difference. With Woodlands Health, the capacity crunch at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital has finally eased after many years. Bed occupancy has fallen from the typical 100% or more to now a healthier 85%. Average waiting times have thus fallen.
Recently, the Singapore General Hospital opened an 80-bed acute medical ward to support its Emergency Department. It caters to patients who have suffered, say, a fracture or you met with an accident and you are in shock. So, they are not in any danger, but they just need a short stay in hospital. So, this acute medical ward caters to this kind of patients and immediately provided relief to the Emergency Department.
During COVID-19, Singapore General Hospital had to convert this link bridge between two blocks into bed space for Emergency Department patients that overspilled. And no more space, we put them along the link bridge. Not many people knew that. Dr Tan Wu Meng knows that. The beds were recently removed and the bridge is now open to pedestrians again and one of the final harrowing memories of COVID-19 has now been removed from SGH.
From 2025 to 2030, we plan to add another 13,600 beds to our system. This includes about 2,800 public acute and community hospital beds to be added to Singapore General Hospital, Changi General Hospital, Sengkang General Hospital and also Woodlands Health. It will also include beds in the redeveloped Alexandra Hospital and the new Eastern General Hospital, which will open progressively from 2028 and 2029 respectively. This will bring public hospital beds from 12,000 today to 15,000 in 2030. That is a 25% increase.
We will also add around 10,600 more nursing home beds. That is a huge number. But that is the number that we have to deal with as our population ages.
In the following decade from 2030 to 2040, the new Tengah General Hospital will open. Singapore General Hospital campus and the National University Hospital Kent Ridge campus would have undergone major redevelopment to further improve national healthcare infrastructure.
The third and final objective is to ensure high quality. This means that illnesses are effectively treated, patients’ preferences respected and innovative technologies leveraged to ensure patients can recover and get back to health quickly.
The intangible aspects also matter. Kindness and care must fill our wards and clinics so patients do not feel alone in their journey of convalescence. When a patient nears end-of-life, we walk the last mile with them and ensure that they leave peacefully.
What matters most to quality is actually our people. Our healthcare workers, they are the driving force behind good care. We saw that during COVID-19, and they deserve all our respect, appreciation and encouragement.
We are not doing badly in retaining and attracting talent. We are fortunate that Singaporeans want to join the healthcare sector. Our healthcare education programmes see healthy intakes. I always say, if you go to a primary school, for every 15 young students you see, one is likely to join healthcare. For every 20 students you see, one is likely to become a nurse.
Regionally, we are an attractive place for foreign nurses. We worked with the Singapore Nursing Board to significantly reduce the processing time of registration applications from six months in the past to now, 30 days. We moved examinations online. With these moves, we become even more competitive.
In 2023, we recruited about 4,500 new nurses. Last year, we continued this momentum with another 3,800 new nurses and introduced the Award for Nurses' Grace, Excellence and Loyalty (ANGEL) scheme. That was introduced in 2024 to encourage nurses to continue viewing their profession as an attractive long-term career.
Over Chinese New Year, I also announced salary enhancements for pharmacists, allied health professionals, administrative and ancillary staff later this year. About 37,000 staff will benefit.
Doctors are another key area. We have increased the intake across our three medical schools from about 500 in 2020 to 550 in 2024. We have expanded the list of recognised overseas universities, so we can welcome more Singaporeans studying medicine overseas to return to Singapore to practice.
Our healthcare workers, including junior doctors, they are dedicated and work very hard. Heavy workload is a phenomenon in all developed countries, which are ageing and experiencing rising patient load.
Mr Faisal Manap spoke up about the difficulties that junior doctors are facing. I thank him for caring for our doctors. But let me state a few facts.
One, the Employment Act does not cover professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), including doctors. The hours that you mentioned do not apply. I think many PMEs, including Members in this House, we work quite a number of hours, beyond what is specified in the Employment Act.
Number two, I hope Members do not go away thinking that we are facing a major outflow of doctors. Our attrition, post-COVID-19, is about 7%. It is healthy. I wish it can be slightly lower, but actually, it is quite healthy. [Please refer to the clarification later in the debate.]
Thirdly, salary adjustments for doctors were implemented 1 February 2024 only recently and we try to make sure we are competitive.
I want to emphasise: MOH has cared for our people and invested in them heavily for decades. From the moment they enter medical school, the subsidy we provide, the investment we made in our talent when they come into the system, going through housemanship, as a junior doctor, going through residency. We invested heavily and we continue to invest heavily in our doctors.
But in championing the welfare of junior doctors, I urge Mr Faisal, too, to consider the interest of patients.
Remember, healthcare is not like aviation. When pilots need to rest, passengers just have to wait for the next flight. All of us have experienced that in airports before. If we do that for doctors, patients will be left untreated and their lives can be in danger.
So, for MOH, we constantly have to balance the welfare of healthcare workers as well as patients. If we suddenly limit the working hours of doctors, patients will suffer. There have been many efforts for us to better manage these tensions, which the Senior Minister of State Dr Janil Puthucheary will elaborate on.
Transformation of our medical workforce is key to maintaining and improving quality of care. The profiles of our patients are changing – generally older, with multiple health conditions requiring simultaneous management and coordination. We are, therefore, re-organising the healthcare workforce.
This means complementing specialists, who are very skilled in managing specific organ systems, with doctors with a broader breadth of expertise who can anchor, coordinate and manage cross-specialty issues for patients, which Dr Tan Wu Meng talked about. This will enable us to deliver more holistic and integrated care, and it will be a key priority in the coming few years.
Besides the organisation of people, the ingenuity of our people matters just as much in driving quality. Technological breakthroughs, like AI and genomics, are ushering a scientific revolution in healthcare. Dr Lim Wee Kiak spoke about this.
We are now working on new legislative protections to safeguard the use of genetic test information. These are important and sensitive personal data. In my view, these data should not be used to decide on issues, such as insurance underwriting, hiring people or granting of university places. But we will need broad public consultation for this legislation. Such a law is important to anchor the moral foundations of our society even as medical science breaks new grounds.
With sufficient legal assurance, we will have the confidence to actively explore and experiment with the use of technology. Finding the right use cases is critical. We are not waiting for the legislation. We are starting now. In fact, we started some time ago.
Many good applications are emerging. Singapore General Hospital is deploying an AI-powered app for parents to screen their babies for jaundice at home using their handphone with an app. The app is trained with Singapore's multi-ethnic data and is sensitive to different skin tones. At the National University Hospital, doctors use AI to recommend treatment for patients by tapping into a vast database of historical caseload. With this tool, some doctors quipped that a junior doctor can now perform almost at the level of a senior doctor, because the experience is granted to them through AI.
In all these projects, the healthcare professionals remain in control of patient care and are enabled and enhanced by AI tools. Where an application is workable and is effective, we will expand it throughout the healthcare system.
Hence, by the end of this year, we hope all public healthcare institutions will adopt generative AI systems that can automatically transcribe doctors' conversations with their patients and summarise them for doctors' review before they are entered into patients' healthcare records. By the end of this year, too, we hope all public health institutions will be able to use AI to automate and improve the accuracy of imaging scans, such as chest X-rays and mammograms.
Mr Ang Wei Neng and Ms Ng Ling Ling asked about TCM. The quality of our system can also improve if we can successfully integrate aspects of TCM proven to be safe and effective to complement Western medicine as part of mainstream healthcare.
Singapore is a multicultural country, open to learning from all parts of the world. If there is a jurisdiction outside of Greater China that can blend and integrate Western medicine and TCM, it should be us. We made a lot of progress in recent years. We now have our own TCM degree delivered by the Nanyang Technological University enhanced professional training, we streamlined examination requirements and we are strengthening the TCM accreditation framework.
Today, certain acupuncture treatments are already incorporated in mainstream public hospital treatment.
Later this year, SingHealth and the Academy of Chinese Medicine, Singapore will be co-organising a forum on the integration of TCM and western medicine. It will be attended by both TCM practitioners as well as Western doctors. I think it will be a great platform to explore further opportunities to identify further steps to synergise the strengths of both systems. Mr Chairman, my speech now in Chinese.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.]: For seniors, a major concern is medical expenses. Most of them have retired and live on their savings. When they need to use their savings to pay for medical expenses, they inevitably worry about not being able to afford them. Therefore, over the years, we have implemented many policies, including the Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation packages, as well as the Healthier SG and Age Well SG initiatives to reduce medical costs for our seniors.
Last year, we adjusted the CHAS eligibility criteria, allowing more CHAS Orange cardholders qualify for CHAS Blue cards. I also just announced several new measures. First, we are increasing the withdrawal limit for the Flexi-MediSave scheme from $300 per year to $400. Second, we are increasing subsidies for certain dental services. Singaporeans can now also use their Flexi-MediSave to pay for root canal treatments and dental crowns. Third, we are increasing subsidies for long-term care services.
From time to time, Singaporeans ask MOH to provide more subsidies. We understand this request and where reasonable and feasible, we will adopt these suggestions. But as the saying goes, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Whether it is more subsidies, more insurance payouts, or even free services, they all cost money. And these costs are ultimately borne by citizens through fees, insurance premiums or taxes.
Through a multi-pronged approach of subsidies, insurance, MediSave and co-payment, we will continue to strive to reduce wastage of resources and avoid unnecessary treatment or overtreatment. By containing healthcare inflation, we can control the burden of cost for our people. For most people, the best way to ensure they can afford medical expenses is to maintain a healthy lifestyle and stay away from illnesses. Therefore, we launched the Healthier SG initiative. Many Singaporeans have actively participated, and more are starting to exercise more, which I find very encouraging.
Today, I hope to convince more seniors to stay physically and mentally active. Besides doing exercise, seniors also need social circles to surround themselves with laughter. That is why we have established Active Ageing Centres across the country. We are providing these centres with more resources, to allow them to organise more activities and gatherings for seniors.
In my constituency, I am a loyal promoter of Active Ageing Centres and have gained some insights through this. Inviting seniors to Active Ageing Centres is somewhat like making multiple visits to win someone over. When seniors first hear about Active Ageing Centres, they may ask out of curiosity, \"What are these centres? Who built them?\" Some might even ask volunteers, \"Are you a property agent?\"
As we further explain the activities at Active Ageing Centres, seniors often become increasingly open to the idea of them. When we then tell them the centre has weekly communal meals and tell them, \"Please come, it is on us\", we then see the joy on their faces.
In ancient times, martial arts masters would fight and kill each other to obtain martial arts secrets. But today, what we need are the secrets to good health, not martial arts. These health secrets are in fact readily available – eat healthily, get sufficient sleep, exercise regularly, go for regular health screenings and visit Active Ageing Centres when you can. These are the secrets for good health.
(In English): Mr Chair, let me conclude. I spoke about our plans to achieve our three big objectives of public healthcare. The problem is that they are competing objectives, a trilemma. It is impossible to achieve all three fully. Something has to give.
Indeed, in the UK, patients do not have to pay for public healthcare. But as a result, demand shoots up and they now have seven million public patients on the waiting list for elective treatments. Healthcare is affordable, but not so available.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked what can we learn from other countries, including the National Health Service? I think what we can learn from the National Health Service is to try not to be in the position they are in now.
Switzerland adopts novel medical technologies and ranks top in the world for quality. But about a quarter of the population chooses not to be treated, citing high cost. Hence, high quality healthcare in Switzerland, but not so affordable.
These countries offer an important lesson. If we are dogmatic and want to achieve one objective 100%, we pay a big price in the other objectives. But if we take a more practical approach, we can balance the trade-offs and try to maybe achieve all three at 80%. A key to achieving these lies in a healthy population. With better health, we can achieve all three at the same time without trade-offs.
Mr Chairman, Dr Lim Wee Kiak talked about healthy longevity. A friend of mine, in his 70s and an avid golfer, once said that the perfect way for him to go is when he is 100 years old, playing golf, hits a beautiful shot, scores a hole-in-one, he is so happy, he collapses and dies. He may sound like he is joking, but I think he is dead serious. What he essentially described is the “holy grail” of healthcare where healthspan equals lifespan and you are healthy enough to do what you love until the last day.
We are far from that scenario. Singapore, indeed, has one of the highest average lifespans in the world at 84, but our healthspan is only 74. This gap is quite consistent with most developed countries, but we must try to narrow it. We need policies that improve population health. Individually, too, we can all practise better preventive care and take better care of our own health.
Nationally, we need a major programme, hence Healthier SG. After one and a half years, we enrolled almost 1.2 million Singaporeans onto Healthier SG, about half of the eligible population. Three-quarters of our enrollees have also since completed their Health Plan consultation. Health screening, vaccination rates, they are all rising. Discernibly, more Singaporeans are exercising. We are happy with this good start.
A lot of hard work lies ahead. We are inculcating more good habits amongst our population. We have cut down sugar consumption, including in the Members' Room. We are labelling packaged drinks. People are much more conscious. We are moving soon to sodium and saturated fats. We implemented Grow Well SG to improve health habits of our young. We are tackling the mental health challenge.
And at some point, AI models will analyse our medical or even genetic data to predict 10 years ahead if we are likely to get a stroke, heart attack or cancer. And then, it will alert our Healthier SG doctor, who will, in turn, advise us what are the preventive steps to take. This is predictive preventive care – Healthier SG 2.0 – and we are not far away at all.
Mr Chairman, we are determined to expand healthcare capacity. So, even though we are rapidly ageing, healthcare must be available when Singaporeans need it. We will develop our people, transform medical delivery and harness technology to continue to deliver high quality healthcare that Singaporeans deserve. Through our S+3Ms framework, we will ensure no one is denied appropriate medical care because they cannot afford it.
This Government understands that healthcare is a basic and essential public service that Singaporeans value. We have the experience, wherewithal, determination, ideas and policies to upkeep and strengthen this key tenet of our social compact. Our agenda for healthcare is transformative and long term and will take us well beyond this Budget year. I hope to have the continued strong support of this House, as we work together to overcome the mounting challenge of an ageing population, to cure sickness, to bring comfort to those in need and strengthen the health and happiness of all Singaporeans. [Applause.]
The Chairman: Minister Masagos.
The Second Minister for Health (Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M): Mr Chairman, supporting the health and well-being of every Singaporean continues to be our approach to achieve a healthier nation and a more sustainable healthcare system. Our approach spans all life stages and today I will share our initiatives to support both the health of children and seniors.
Last year, we announced the completion of the Child and Maternal Health and Well-being Strategy and Action Plan that is applicable to children, adolescents and their families. Forty-eight new initiatives to support children and mothers were recommended, especially for vulnerable and at-risk groups. To date, 38 initiatives have been implemented.
We have sought to do more. There is compelling evidence showing that poor lifestyle behaviours in childhood can impact children’s health and development, making early adoption of healthy habits crucial to their long-term health. This is why MOH, MOE and MSF launched Grow Well SG in January, a new population health effort to help children and families inculcate healthy lifestyles, with a stronger focus on preventive care, targeting children below 12 for a start.
Mr Neil Parekh asked about how Grow Well SG has been received thus far. I am happy to share that it has been well-received. Many welcome this timely move to improve child health, especially MOH’s updated screen use guidance and refined practices on screen use management in preschools, primary and secondary schools.
We agree with Dr Wan Rizal and Mr Neil Parekh to reinforce families with practical resources and tools to support their children in building healthy habits, including good screen use habits, to improve their physical, mental and digital well-being. With work and family commitments, it can be difficult for parents to wean children off screens. We have, therefore, lined up tips and best practices to strengthen digital wellness efforts on various platforms, such as the Parent Hub websites, MOE Parents’ Gateway and MSF's Families for Life parenting programmes. The Parenting for Wellness initiative is one example of the support available to families shared by MOE earlier. We strongly encourage parents to adopt these strategies and actively foster healthy habits in their children.
We will continue to work with preschools, schools, healthcare institutions and the community to educate and support families and children in reinforcing healthy habits. Two initiatives announced earlier are the Health Plan and Childhood Health Behaviours Checklist.
In January, we introduced personalised Health Plans with lifestyle prescriptions for Primary 1 to 3 students. I am happy to share that since its launch, 22,000 students have been given their Health Plan as of end-February. We are on track to roll out Health Plans to all Primary 1 to 3 students by end-2025.
Azizan, the son of Ms Nurhaslinda Wati, is one Primary 3 student who has benefited. The Health Plan motivated Azizan to continue his practice of healthy habits and taught him other interesting health tips. During the lifestyle discussion, Azizan was advised to continue his daily practice of choosing water as his preferred drink. The lifestyle prescription played a pivotal role in encouraging Ms Nurhaslinda Wati to proactively work with Azizan to achieve his daily goal of choosing water over sugary drinks. Their experience highlights how parents can engage their children to improve their health.
Dr Wan Rizal and Mr Neil Parekh also asked about our future plans for Grow Well SG. Parents will be excited to know that the Health Plans will be expanded to Primary 4 and 5 students. As the needs of upper primary students differ from those in lower primary, we will pilot this with some students this year to allow for calibration of the Health Plans and resources before full implementation in 2026.
Beyond schools, we are rolling out the Childhood Health Behaviours Checklist (CHBC) at Childhood Developmental Screening visits for children up to six years at all polyclinics, general practitioners and paediatric clinics from 2 May 2025. Parents are encouraged to complete the checklist before or during visits. This will allow them to discuss their child’s health behaviours on screen use, sleep, physical activity and nutrition with the healthcare professionals, and plan positive lifestyle changes at home. Parents can also benefit from the resources on the recommended lifestyle behaviours via the weblinks and QR codes on each checklist.
The CHBC aims to encourage families to build healthy daily habits from young and will complement the personalised Health Plans children receive in primary schools. We hope parents will tap on the Health Plans and CHBC to build and sustain healthy habits in children from birth through schooling years. These small, consistent efforts can make a difference to your child’s health over time.
Apart from growing well, it is equally important to help our seniors age well in their communities. Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim asked about the initiatives to promote healthy ageing. Our national programme, Age Well SG, was rolled out to support our seniors, including older women, and $3.5 billion has been set aside over the next decade for this.
A key part of Age Well SG is our Active Ageing Centres. By the end of this month, we would have set up 223 centres, up from 154 when the scheme was announced. We are devoting more resources to each centre, setting up more and working with the Ministry of National Development (MND) to locate them close to seniors’ homes. This includes private estates which Ms Ng Ling Ling has asked about, so that they can better reach out to seniors and organise more and better activities.
Beyond this, more seniors are volunteering as Silver Guardians at Active Ageing Centres. To date, we have more than 1,400 Silver Guardians volunteering at the Active Ageing Centres and are one step closer to achieving our goal of 2,400 Silver Guardians by 2028. Let us continue to make each Active Ageing Centre a vibrant hub for our seniors to gather with their friends, volunteer, keep active and stay healthy.
Our infrastructure has also been enhanced to make our flats, neighbourhoods and streets more senior-friendly, with various initiatives updated by MND and MOT. An example is the Community Care Apartment. We have completed our first Community Care Apartment, Harmony Village @ Bukit Batok, and are building more over the next few years.
One resident at Harmony Village is Mdm Chia. After her husband passed away, she wanted to live in a place where she could retain her independence while receiving care support. This led her to choose the Community Care Apartment. Today, Mdm Chia is thriving at Harmony Village. She made many new friends, developed a close relationship with the Community Manager and actively participates in the activities, such as morning exercises, karaoke and communal lunches organised at the Community Care Apartment.
Mdm Chia’s care needs are also taken care of by the Shared Caregiving Services package, an optional care service designed to support elderly residents who require help with activities of daily living. I am happy that seniors like Mdm Chia found the Community Care Apartment to be a home that caters to her needs, allowing her to age confidently and gracefully in the community.
Ms Ng Ling Ling and Mr Yip Hon Weng asked about the plans for Shared Stay-in Senior Care Services Sandbox. Since its launch, over 200 seniors have enrolled in this service. The service has been well-received by families, who play a key role in the caregiving journey by partnering providers in making caregiving decisions for their loved ones. Seniors are also glad that they are able to age with peace of mind as their caregiving needs are taken care of around the clock.
I am happy to announce that we will mainstream this service. The sandbox phase will be ended and we will continue supporting existing providers with work pass flexibilities while bringing new providers on board. To better support providers, families and seniors, we will work with industry providers to formulate and publish a guide on the recommended good practices when providing or seeking such a service. This service will not be licensed, as it provides caregiving support very much similar to how family members would care for their loved ones at home. Interested companies can look forward to the application details and good practice guide from second half of 2025 onwards.
We welcome all providers to work with us on similar innovative care models to support ageing-in-place. This complements existing options to provide care at home through video consults or home visits by healthcare providers, as raised by Dr Tan Wu Meng.
Beyond innovative care models, we support the adoption of automation and technology solutions to increase productivity in the long-term care sector, as raised by Ms Ng Ling Ling. The Productivity and Digitalisation Grant, launched in 2022, is one such example, which has supported more than 200 projects across this sector, benefiting 48 community care organisations thus far.
As pointed out by Mr Xie Yao Quan, it is also important to ensure the quality of our long-term care service. This is why we support providers to develop skilled manpower through a structured skills standards framework and subsidised training.
We agree with Dr Tan Wu Meng that care coordination is important to deliver good care. This is why we are introducing the Integrated Community Care Provider (ICCP). ICCP has three key functions. First, it is a dedicated point of contact for seniors and coordinates care among providers to provide long-term care services, such as active ageing and befriending, day care, rehabilitation and personal care support for activities of daily living. Second, it allows seniors to receive a standardised care assessment for their long-term care needs. Lastly, it develops one holistic long term care plan for more coordinated delivery across services.
To implement this, we have divided Singapore into 85 sub-regions, with each sub-region having a dedicated ICCP appointed. For sub-regions with existing providers, we will facilitate partnerships. In other sub-regions, we have launched the process to select new ICCPs and will appoint them this year.
This year, providers in several sub-regions will start providing joint programmes across their Active Ageing Centres. Seniors with multiple care needs will also be seamlessly linked up across care partners in the same sub-region.
By end-2026, all seniors requiring long-term care services can progressively look forward to receiving the standardised care assessment and holistic long-term care plan coordinated across services.
We agree with Mr Yip Hon Weng that a key concern our seniors have when it comes to ageing well is their ability to afford long-term care services when they need these. The Prime Minister announced significant increases to long-term care subsidies and grants at the Budget to support seniors and their families, which Minister Ong has just explained.
Beyond these, we also have CareShield Life, our national long-term care insurance scheme that provides monthly cash payouts to policyholders who face severe disability. The scheme has not been reviewed since it was first launched in 2020. Long-term care costs have since risen and we need to ensure that the payouts continue to provide meaningful support. Therefore, the CareShield Life Council was asked to review the scheme. We will share more details in the second half of 2025 once the Council has completed its review.
Mr Chairman, in closing, we remain committed to provide the support needed for all Singaporeans. Together, we can build a society where every Singaporean can grow, develop and age well, to enjoy a life of health and well-being.
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Janil.
The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Janil Puthucheary): Sir, Family Physicians have been and are central to the provision of primary, community and preventive medical services. The role they play will only grow as the care needs of our ageing population become more complex. They are critical to the Healthier SG initiative.
Today, family medicine is not listed as a recognised medical specialty in Singapore. The healthcare profession recognises the complexity of the work, the importance of our colleagues in primary care and that specialised training and experience is needed to perform this role well. Hence, the Specialists Accreditation Board has approved for Family Medicine to be recognised as a specialty, on par with other specialties. Together with the family medicine fraternity, we are now working out the accreditation and training pathways to recognise Family Physicians with advanced Family Medicine training and relevant experience as specialists.
With their broad skillsets and long-term relationships with patients, Family Medicine specialists will enable more patients with complex care needs to receive comprehensive care in the community. Further details on the entry criteria to become a Family Medicine specialist, training requirements and the implementation timeline will be shared later this year.
In advancing our primary care system, we will also ensure Singaporeans can access affordable care, including medications for chronic conditions. Today, the Healthier SG Chronic Tier offers enhanced subsidies for selected chronic medications at enrolled Healthier SG GP clinics. By mid-2025, we will expand the range of medications under the Healthier SG Chronic Tier, to include three Medication Assistance Fund (MAF) drug products for specific medication indications.
For example, eligible patients requiring Evolocumab for very high cholesterol levels, or Familial Hypercholesterolemia, despite being on other cholesterol-lowering medications, could see their monthly out-of-pocket expenses reduced from over $230 to about $30-$60, depending on their means test status. We will continue to review the expansion of the range of medications which are subsidised under the Healthier SG Chronic Tier.
To respond to Dr Tan Wu Meng, today, polyclinics provide multiple appointment booking options, including online booking with staff guidance, phone bookings and walk-in services. Designated caregivers can also manage their dependant's appointment from their own HealthHub or cluster app account.
Urgent cases and patients who are frail or who have mobility issues will continue to be prioritised, even if they do not have a polyclinic appointment. Non-urgent cases may be scheduled for a later appointment or advised to seek treatment at a nearby CHAS GP clinic. Subsidies for GP visits are also already available through CHAS, with enhanced benefits for Pioneer and Merdeka Generation seniors. Under Healthier SG, enrolled patients can access chronic medications at GP clinics at prices similar to polyclinics. MediSave can be used at both CHAS GP clinics and polyclinics.
Building on Minister Ong's earlier comments, let me elaborate our ongoing efforts to support our healthcare workforce. Generations of doctors have indeed built our healthcare system through dedication and hard work under quite demanding schedules. But they are not alone. This applies to all of our professional colleagues – the allied health professionals; the nurses; the many, many staff members, who work together to make sure that our healthcare system functions for our patients.
We recognise that times and expectations have changed and our practices must evolve accordingly.
However, our public hospitals see many patients every day, with many requiring urgent, time-sensitive care. Shorter working hours mean more frequent handovers between doctors, requiring careful management and changes to work processes to prevent risks to patient care and longer waiting times.
We have taken a measured approach to grow the healthcare workforce, including doctors, to meet the needs of our ageing population. We have already increased our annual intakes significantly. But we are mindful that, today, already one in 12 Singaporean students joins a healthcare programme and any significant expansion will require foreign healthcare professionals. We must take care not to deprive other important sectors.
And this raises a critical question: how do we balance our growing healthcare manpower needs against the many concerns raised in this House about foreign manpower dependency?
As we grow the workforce, we have progressively made improvements, such as limiting junior doctors to 24 hours of continuous work periods and establishing rest day guidelines. Nearly half of the clinical departments with junior doctors in public hospitals have adopted this and the rest will follow suit gradually.
I agree with Ms Mariam Jaafar, we must close the gaps in the treatment for physical health and mental health. This is why Healthier SG will include care for our residents' mental health. Healthier SG Care Protocols for major depressive disorder and general anxiety disorder are being developed and will be rolled out next year. These care protocols will ensure consistent and quality care are being delivered across primary care providers.
We have also begun pairing Healthier SG clinics with Community Intervention Teams (COMIT) who provide psychosocial interventions for mental health needs in the community. These pairings enable smoother referrals.
Sir, many Members asked for updates on our community mental health support and programmes. They asked about costs, public awareness of programmes, like the Community Outreach Teams (CREST), and how effectiveness and progress in mental health programmes and care will be tracked.
Last year, during the Parliamentary Motion Debate on Advancing Mental Health, I shared our plan to have 90 CREST and 50 COMIT teams by 2030, including 15 youth-oriented teams each. We are on track to achieve our targets. As of December 2024, there were 86 CREST and 32 COMIT teams, including the youth teams, in operation.
As one of the key first-stop touchpoints for in-person mental health services, CREST has strengthened local service linkages and networks across health and social care providers in the community, including GPs, polyclinics and hospitals.
To build greater awareness of CREST in the community, CREST teams conduct outreach to share information about their services. The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) also promotes CREST through advertisements on social media, bus stops and HDB lift lobbies. To further promote CREST, AIC has developed a Community Mental Health Wayfinding Tool, available on various platforms, including realspace.sg, mindline.sg and MindSG, to help users find the right mental health services, such as CREST.
The performance of CREST and COMIT teams, along with other public healthcare institutions (PHIs), such as our public hospitals and polyclinics, are assessed through key indicators such as access, response time, volume of clients supported, improvement in patients' outcomes and client satisfaction. Patients' mental health outcomes are specifically measured through validated assessment tools, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) Disability Assessment Schedule and the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression, which assesses patients' functional levels and severity of symptoms. The National Mental Health Office works closely with our PHIs and our community service providers to track and analyse aggregated data for the purposes of policy review, service planning and evaluating the effectiveness of our national mental health initiatives.
Community mental health services provided by CREST and COMIT are fully funded by the Government with no out-of-pocket cost. Eligible patients can also receive subsidised mental health treatment at polyclinics and participating GP clinics for the management of mental health conditions under the Chronic Disease Management Programme.
At last year's debate, I also outlined our goal to train 130,000 frontline personnel and volunteers by 2030, to better equip them to identify individuals with signs of mental distress, provide a listening ear and refer them for support as needed. I share Dr Wan Rizal's view that religious organisations must be part of our mental health ecosystem.
Since September 2024, the National Mental Health Office, together with AIC, has partnered with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth to engage religious organisations and leaders, to provide them with mental health training programmes. The training equips participants with skillsets to provide basic emotional support, while ensuring that they understand when to refer individuals to professional mental health services. When professional mental health care is required, religious leaders are encouraged to direct individuals to formal mental health services within the community. This is part of our ongoing effort to strengthen community-based mental health support networks. We have exceeded our target, with over 137,000 individuals trained to date, including religious leaders and volunteers.
I agree with Mr Ong Hua Han that mental health first aid resources are crucial. I thank him for the suggestion to integrate more of such resources on existing apps and we will explore its feasibility. Meanwhile, we will continue to sustain our frontliner and volunteer training through structured mental health programmes, including e-learning modules developed by AIC and HPB, with psychological first aid training to be rolled out by mid-2025.
For members of the public, mindline.sg and MindSG offer comprehensive mental health resources, including information on supporting others and self-help tools. Mindline.sg also provides clinically validated self-assessment tools for depression and anxiety.
To simplify the help-seeking process, we will launch the National Mental Health Helpline and Textline service in mid-2025 as a centralised mental health first-stop touchpoint. This round-the-clock service will feature an easy-to-remember four-digit number and offer chat support through the mindline.sg website. It will be staffed by trained counsellors. This service streamlines access and connects Singaporeans to necessary resources. More details will be shared when the service launches later this year.
Dr Wan Rizal asked about workplace mental health support. Government agencies and tripartite partners have implemented comprehensive workplace mental health initiatives like the Well-being Champions Network, which now consists of over 450 organisations representing 230,000 employees. Other initiatives include training employee peer supporters and conducting public education campaigns and workshops to combat workplace stigma, share best practices and facilitate employees' transition back to work.
Specialised employment support is available through agencies like Singapore Anglican Community Services, the Institute of Mental Health's Job Club and Singapore Association for Mental Health's MINDSET Learning Hub. These organisations offer customised vocational training and job placement services and have helped more than 6,000 individuals with mental health conditions gain and maintain employment.
The Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices upholds employment fairness through merit-based recruitment, restricting unnecessary mental health declarations and providing proper grievance handling processes. These practices will be further strengthened by the Workplace Fairness legislation, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on mental health conditions.
Sir, if I may turn to the mental health of our youths. We recognise the crucial role parents play in the minors' well-being. However, the need for parental consent can sometimes deter minors from seeking help. After consulting medical ethics experts and mental health service providers, MOH has decided to take a nuanced approach by convening an expert group to develop guidelines in this area.
Parental involvement in their children's care journey is very important for better outcomes. For the Singapore Children's Society, for example, in their work, they have found that consistent parental engagement and parental involvement in case planning and family sessions have achieved sustained positive results and supported long-term recovery.
We are also introducing \"grovve\", an integrated wellness centre for youths at *SCAPE at the end of this year. Co-developed by the National Council of Social Service and various stakeholders, including youths, \"grovve\" will be the first centre to provide integrated intervention services alongside general wellness activities. Its youth-centric location seeks to improve accessibility and normalise mental health care. \"grovve\" will foster communities where youths can become champions and supporters for mental well-being.
Mr Keith Chua asked about continuity of care, especially for those affected by suicide, and the coordinating role of the National Mental Health Office. Suicide prevention and post-incident support requires a whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approach to address the issues holistically.
Existing community-based support available includes the Light in the Dark support programme by the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) and the Live On! programme by TOUCH Community Services. Next-of-kin or loved ones affected by suicide may also benefit from suicide bereavement support programmes run by SOS, such as Healing Within and Healing Bridge, as well as Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors.
The National Mental Health Office coordinates with Ministries and agencies, including MOE, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in implementing policies and reviewing data and trends.
A prime example of multi-stakeholder collaboration is the development of the Youth Crisis Facility. Expected to be operational in 2027, this 24/7 facility will provide intervention for youths in crisis, including those struggling with suicidal behaviour or severe self-harm. It will support youths referred from the community or discharged from acute hospitals, offering psychosocial intervention in a safe and non-stigmatising environment to aid community re-integration.
The multi-stakeholder project team is currently developing clinical protocols and operational details for this facility, which will be a bridge between acute hospitals and community care.
Dr Tan Wu Meng asked about insurers' practices for those with mental health history. Apart from MediShield Life, which covers all Singapore Citizens and PRs, regardless of pre-existing conditions, including mental health conditions, individuals can opt for additional coverage through Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) and other private insurance plans.
IP insurers' approach to underwriting persons with mental health conditions mirrors that of other conditions. It is based on reliable information relevant to the risks being insured. Factors considered may include age at the onset of condition, symptom severity, management of the condition and the presence of comorbidities.
After the assessments, insurers may choose to accept applications as is, apply higher premiums, exclude specific benefits or reject applications in view of the risks presented, with proper justification to customers. There are cases where IP insurers have offered cover to customers with mental health conditions, either with or without exclusions.
All IP insurers allow customers to request for a review of their exclusions or submit a fresh application if their condition has improved and they can provide favourable medical evidence.
All insurers, including IP providers, are to adopt sound and objective processes to assess applications received from their customers. For example, insurers should not reject an application solely based on the customer's declaration of a mental health condition.
Customers concerned about the underwriting decisions should raise the matter with their insurer for investigation or review. If they are not satisfied with the insurer's response, they can write to MOH or the Monetary Authority of Singapore to follow up and assess the full case details with consent.
Sir, we have been working to register psychologists to ensure high standards of professionalism and better protect clients. The increased focus on mental health in recent years has prompted changes in psychological practice, with more psychologists now working beyond traditional clinical settings in the community and private sector. Recognising this shift, we are working towards the registration of psychologists, focusing on psychologists who provide direct patient care, perform higher-risk assessments and interventions, and whose practices may span across various sectors.
An inter-agency implementation committee has been set up to look into this. This will raise professional standards, safeguard patient safety and increase public confidence in psychological services. Further details will be announced at a later date.
To prevent the public from being misled by services that are not licensed by MOH, the Healthcare Services Act (HCSA) currently prohibits providers of such services from advertising that they are able to \"treat\" a medical condition. However, certain professions, such as allied health and traditional Chinese medicine, are regulated under their respective professional Acts. Their interventions are low risk, because they manage conditions in accordance with clear standards of practice set by their professional bodies. We will review the HCSA advertising controls to enable these selected professions to advertise their services. Even so, they will still have to ensure the accuracy of their advertisement. We will share more details when ready.
To improve the online accessibility of public health care services, we are planning to consolidate the public healthcare clinical apps, Health Hub and the cluster-specific apps – Health Buddy, NHG Cares App and NUHS App – into a unified platform by 2027. Patients who now have to use different apps to access services at PHIs will be able to do so on this unified app in future for an improved, user-friendly experience. We will consider adding Healthy 365 to the unified platform in the future.
Ms He Ting Ru asked how we are harnessing the potential of precision medicine. MOH is taking steps to embrace precision medicine in a cautious manner as we identify appropriate precision medicine applications with clear evidence of public benefit for scaling up. One such application is genetic testing for familial hypercholesterolemia, which we will be rolling out nationally in mid-2025. We will also put in appropriate safeguards to mitigate risks, such as increased healthcare costs. To do so, we will only extend Government financing schemes, mainly subsidies, MediShield Life and MediSave, to precision medicine use cases that are assessed to be cost and clinically effective.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked about the potential of regenerative medicine. MOH has been supporting research in this through various schemes under the national Research, Innovation and Enterprise plans. However, we recognise the risks and ethical considerations associated with such nascent investigational therapies. We will continue to evaluate the evidence from both local and overseas studies for clinical efficacy and cost effectiveness.
Sir, the changing healthcare landscape presents both challenges and opportunities. Navigating these will require collective effort. We look forward to working closely with healthcare professionals, community partners and citizens to capitalise on these opportunities and effectively implement the initiatives I have covered today.
The Chairman: Minister of State Rahayu Mahzam.
The Minister of State for Health (Ms Rahayu Mahzam): Mr Chairman, my speech will cover the Ministry's efforts in three areas: firstly, on reshaping our norms and choices in healthy living; secondly, on maternity costs and fertility preservation; and lastly, on ensuring a robust healthcare workforce.
We have made strides in our efforts to reduce sugar consumption. As shared by Minister Ong, we will also tackle the issue of excessive intake of sodium and saturated fat.
Ms Ng Ling Ling asked about the plans for extension of Nutri-Grade labelling for sodium and saturated fat in the F&B setting and the healthier alternatives that are available across cuisines.
We understand from engagements with the industry that tackling sodium and saturated fat content in eat-out dishes is challenging. Given the diversity of cuisines in Singapore, the different cooking processes and recipes can lead to variations in the amount of sodium and saturated fat in a dish.
Moreover, time is needed for consumers to adjust their palates to lower sodium dishes and for F&B operators to adopt healthier ingredients. Therefore, we are not applying the Nutri-Grade measures to dishes in the F&B setting for now. Instead, we are strengthening our engagements with F&B operators. This includes ramping up voluntary store-front labels to help consumers identify stores that offer healthier dishes, either by using healthier ingredients or using less salt or sauces when cooking.
Besides encouraging F&B operators across various cuisines to use healthier ingredients and provide more healthier options through the Healthier Dining Programme, HPB is also actively engaging our hawkers on the importance of sodium reduction and providing them with samples of lower-sodium ingredients. HPB has reached out to 60 hawker centres, with 50 more planned for 2025.
The availability and affordability of healthier ingredients for F&B operators and consumers are key to the success of our efforts. To this end, HPB's Healthier Ingredient Development Scheme supports manufacturers and suppliers in their reformulation efforts while reducing the price gap between healthier and regular versions.
These efforts have borne fruit. Today, over 1,700 eateries, including stalls in hawker centres, have switched to lower-sodium ingredients, compared to 500 eateries two years ago. We will continue to build on these efforts to advocate for healthier meals that are lower in sodium, saturated fat and sugar.
Besides healthy eating, we must support active living. Mr Chairman, allow me to share the broader picture of healthy lifestyles and our progress towards shaping an active nation.
I thank Ms Ng Ling Ling for her concerns on plans to increase participation in the HPB-led physical activity programmes and efforts to reach out to Healthier SG GP clinics to support these programmes as part of social prescription. HPB conducts regular fitness programmes that are accessible and convenient for residents in the neighbourhoods. These community physical activity programmes have been expanded to over 2,100 sessions each week, up from over 1,700 sessions in 2023. These activities are also now held at more than 1,300 locations.
HPB has also expanded their programme offerings to cater to different segments. These include programmes, such as Steady Lah and Healthy Ageing Promotion Programme for You (HAPPY), to address frailty for seniors, Active Family Programme for young families, and Start2Move programme for individuals looking to kickstart an active lifestyle. Everyone can now participate in activities suitable for their fitness level and at a convenient location.
We are heartened that the programmes have been well-received by Singaporeans. Alongside the increase in physical activity programmes, the weekly attendances for these have increased from 36,000 participants in 2023 to 47,000 in 2024.
To support Healthier SG GP clinics in encouraging appropriate physical activities for residents, HPB has also developed a guide to Lifestyle Prescriptions available on the AIC webpage. The Healthier SG EventsGoWhere Portal was also launched last year to provide GPs and their care teams with a consolidated list of healthy lifestyle programmes from HPB, People's Association, SportSG and Active Ageing Centres to recommend to residents.
As we continue to build the infrastructure to encourage physical activity in the community, we have also been listening to residents' feedback. We understand concerns over late arrivals and registration capacity for physical activity programmes. Some residents may also be unsure about the sign-up process. In response, HPB will exercise greater flexibility. For low and moderate intensity activities, including yoga, Zumba Gold and resistance band exercises, latecomers and walk-ins will be allowed, subject to capacity limits. For safety reasons, higher-intensity activities like High Intensity Interval Training will still require punctual arrival, as proper warm-up and safety checks are needed to minimise injuries. We encourage everyone to sign up for the activities via the Healthy 365 app and arrive on time. Prior to participating, residents should also monitor their own readiness and refrain from exercising if unwell. With the changes, we hope more residents will join the variety of physical activity programmes conveniently located in their neighbourhoods.
We further recognise that some may prefer to exercise at their own pace and time. HPB offers virtual physical activity sessions on Zoom and self-directed digital programmes. An example is the 12-week Age Strong programme which was launched in November 2024 on the Healthy 365 app, catering to residents aged 50 and above. Participants can take part in customised workouts and learn about nutrient-rich diets and mental well-being. The programme also provides HealthPoints for completion of daily tasks.
In response to user needs, HPB has also enhanced the Healthy 365 app with a new goal-setting feature and a refreshed set of milestone-based challenges in October 2024. Users can set personalised activity goals for their physical daily activity and sleep duration to suit their preferences and daily routines and earn rewards for meeting their goals.
Today, more than 840,000 residents regularly use the Healthy 365 app to track their progress in meeting their activity goals, access lifestyle activities, recommended resources and programmes, and earn rewards from completing tasks and challenges. For those who have yet to come on board the Healthy 365 app, I urge you to be part of this journey to take steps towards better health.
An area of growing concern that impacts on health and lifestyle is vaping. Mr Ang Wei Neng has expressed his concerns on this matter and urged stronger enforcement efforts.
MOH, in collaboration with various stakeholders, has intensified our whole-of-Government approach to combat vaping through public education and enforcement efforts. As Mr Ang pointed out, there are some common misconceptions around vaping and, to this end, HPB has launched a series of campaigns over the last two years to increase awareness of the illegality and harms of vaping. To further amplify awareness, multiple channels, including social media and youth content creators, were engaged to more effectively reach the intended target audience. Relevant stakeholders will continue to work closely to raise awareness among children and youths on the harms of vaping.
On the enforcement front, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has increased enforcement operations, especially in public vaping hotspots, alongside other agencies, such as the National Environment Agency and National Parks Board. Collaboration with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority has also been strengthened to combat the smuggling of e-vaporisers at the borders. In educational institutions, the Ministry of Education maintains a firm stance against vaping, with disciplinary actions taken and referrals to HSA for offenders.
Looking ahead, MOH and HSA will be reviewing legal penalties to bolster deterrence against the importation, distribution and use of e-vaporisers. Education and enforcement against vaping are a long-term effort, which will be continually monitored and reviewed to ensure we address the vaping issue effectively. Mr Chairman, allow me to say a few words in Malay.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.]: In our health promotion efforts, we should take an approach that is nuanced and suitable for the groups we are reaching out to. This can only be done effectively if we work with a variety of groups and organisations in the community.
For the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore, this is achieved through the Jaga Kesihatan, Jaga Ummah (JKJU) network, which comprises various organisations such as M³ agencies, Malay/Muslim bodies and religious organisations. This network, which initially started with just several mosques, has grown and continues to grow. The number of partners has increased from 100 in 2023 to over 160 in 2024.
At the Sihat Bersama JKJU event last February, we acknowledged our partners and encouraged them to collaborate. Our partners also had the opportunity to showcase their efforts at the various booths which were also open to the public. At the Townhall session with me, Dr Wan Rizal and Ms Nadia Samdin, we openly discussed the health issues our community faces, how there is a socio-economic impact and different ways we can enhance our efforts to stay healthy holistically. I am heartened by the discussions we had and our partners' commitment to making a difference as we move forward.
We have now entered the month of Ramadan and will continue with the programmes that have been planned. This year, I am encouraged to see our JKJU partners expand and move towards a more holistic approach to health, while tailoring their activities to the needs of the community. For instance, some of our M3 partners are collaborating with more JKJU Resource Partners like Caregivers Alliance Limited and the Stroke Services Improvement (SSI) Team under MOH to conduct talks on mental health and stroke awareness during this Ramadan, to promote heath screening and mental well-being.
Indeed, Ramadan provides a good opportunity for our community to make healthier choices a way of life. I urge the community to make the most of this time and bring about a positive shift in our lives.
(In English): For the next part of my speech, I will focus on family and fertility, which is an issue close to the hearts of many in this House. Ms Sylvia Lim asked about the differences in maternity fees for Singapore Citizens and PRs as compared to non-residents. We understand that healthcare costs are an important consideration in setting up a family, particularly for transnational families. Hence, foreign mothers who are married to Singapore Citizen fathers, and who are PRs, or on Long-Term Visit Pass Plus, LTVP+ in short, can receive Singapore Citizen–level subsidies for the delivery episode, in recognition that their child will be a Singapore Citizen and PR-level healthcare subsidies for all inpatient services.
In fact, the vast majority of foreign mothers married to Singapore Citizens, and with Singapore Citizen children, are PRs or LTVP+ holders, and they would be eligible for these subsidies. Expectant mothers married to Singapore Citizens may apply for an LTVP, and those who are eligible for an LTVP+ will be granted subsidies accordingly.
Beyond subsidies, the MediSave Maternity Package also allows couples to use their MediSave for their delivery and pre-delivery expenses. Singapore Citizen or PR fathers whose spouses are giving birth in Singapore may tap on their MediSave to defray the out-of-pocket cost of their maternity fees.
For some individuals, however, the ability to build a family may be irreversibly compromised by medical treatments that are required to treat conditions, such as cancer. Such treatments can significantly impair one's fertility. I thank Dr Tan Wu Meng and his healthcare worker peers for tirelessly advocating for young cancer patients seeking fertility preservation. We agree that no one should have to forgo the opportunity to have a child because of the side effects from a medically necessary treatment for a condition.
Hence, from June this year, we will extend subsidies for embryo, egg and sperm freezing for those whose fertility can be irreversibly affected by their medical treatment. From next year, we will also extend MediSave coverage for embryo freezing, and MediShield Life coverage to support embryo, egg and ovarian tissue freezing for such individuals. Those who still face challenges with the cost of their fertility preservation treatments arising from medically necessary treatments may also approach medical social workers at their public healthcare institutions for further assistance, including to apply for MediFund.
With these changes, we hope to assure patients facing medical challenges that their dreams of starting a family in the future are still within reach.
Mr Chairman, allow me to move on to healthcare manpower.
A strong healthcare workforce is vital to support both our preventive health initiatives and treatment needs, and we remain committed to building this capacity.
I thank Mr Louis Ng for his concern on rest time for nurses. The well-being of our healthcare workers, including nurses, continues to be a perennial concern. There are clear practices in our public healthcare institutions to ensure that nurses have sufficient rest during shifts. For example, nurses take staggered breaks during their shifts so that there is sufficient rest time for each nurse. Dedicated rest areas, separate from clinical spaces, are also provided to ensure breaks are uninterrupted.
Between shifts, the clusters limit the number of consecutive working days. Efforts have also been made to streamline processes and reduce administrative tasks so that nurses can complete their duties efficiently and end their shifts on time.
Today, the attrition rate of nurses in the public healthcare clusters has dropped from 9% during the pandemic years of 2021 to 2022 to around 6.7% in 2024. This decline in attrition, coupled with our sustained efforts to recruit new nurses, is helping to strengthen our nursing workforce and improve working conditions on the ground.
Mr Ang Wei Neng asked about dental manpower sufficiency. To meet Singapore's evolving dental needs, the National University of Singapore has increased its annual Dentistry intake by 50% from 2015 to 2024. The number of registered dentists also grew by 35% in the same period, bringing our dentist-to-population ratio to 0.5 dentist to 1,000 people. This is on par with other developed countries, such as South Korea and the UK.
Our local dentistry programme remains a steady and sufficient source of new dentists and hence, we do not currently provide pre-employment grants for dentistry. We will continue working with local Institutes of Higher Learning to meet national manpower needs for dental care. Nonetheless, Dentistry students who choose to study overseas are welcome to return to Singapore to contribute as our healthcare needs expand.
Mr Chairman, in closing, health is more than the absence of illness. It is about the quality of life for ourselves, our families and our communities. From nurturing healthy habits to family planning and ensuring the well-being of our healthcare professionals, we are building a system that supports Singaporeans at every stage of life. This journey requires our collective commitment and together, we can build a Singapore where every individual has improved opportunities and access to a more well-rounded, healthier life. [Applause.]
The Chairman: We have time for clarifications. Ms Ng Ling Ling.
Ms Ng Ling Ling: Chairman, I just have one clarification for the Minister for Health. I am really glad to hear about increase in healthcare subsidies for Singaporeans because it is always a good thing, but if it is on the back of continually increasing cost, then it begs the question of sustainability and the tax burden on our future generations.
So, my question is: what are MOH's cost management strategies with the healthcare clusters? And how are efforts, such as what I read about NUH's value-based healthcare framework which measures value-driven outcomes, how is this initiative informing MOH on cost management?
Mr Ong Ye Kung: Thank you. There is a range of things we do to manage healthcare cost. For example, we now do central procurement and it gives us a bit more bargaining power, keeping prices low. We have a very disciplined system of what we call Health Technology Assessment (HTA), because there are so many new drugs today, so many new treatments. Some treatments may be 10 times more expensive than current treatment but promised to cure another 2% to 5% more of the patient population. So, you have to really sharpen your pencil and calculate, and see if it is worth it and is it cost-effective. So, HTA has been set up as a discipline within MOH to make sure that whatever we approve and subsidise is cost-effective. If it is not cost-effective, we start to have very frank discussions with drug suppliers, for example, to tell them that they need to lower their cost, then we can subsidise, which was the case for shingles vaccination and that resulted in a good outcome.
Thirdly, as the Member mentioned, value-driven care actually is a major programme throughout our system. If the Member is interested, she can file a PQ and I will see what data we can share. But we are doing this across all institutions. We measure the KPIs against cost and then have a sense of how much we are spending to deliver the KPIs and the objectives that we want to achieve.
Another major avenue to moderate cost is step-down care. When capacity is misused, it leads to a lot of wastage and resources. We used to have many what we call \"social\" stayers in our hospitals. When I first joined MOH, we had something like 300 to 500 of them – basically, people who no longer needed to stay in hospital but they had nowhere else to go. So, we keep them in hospitals and sometimes, families even admit them. But today, with all the step-down care, we begin to be able to discharge them. Today, the numbers of social stayers are far fewer, 50 to 80. So, from 300 down to 50, that is almost half a hospital freed up.
We do benchmarking now across the system to make sure that there is price transparency and patients have a basis of comparison, what is a more cost-effective healthcare. If you notice this, we have started doing some enforcement on doctors that have overcharged and overclaimed MediShield Life and MediSave.
Finally, the most important two factors: one is financial discipline. I mentioned the UK NHS system. When you say healthcare is free at the point of care, actually it is not free. Someone else still has to pay for it. But to make it free for the patient means it is very expensive for the nation, because it will lead to a lot of excessive treatment and unnecessary servicing. So, that is why we have S+3Ms, including co-payment, to restrain the system. So, today we can deliver very good health outcomes at 5%, or, in fact, under 5% of gross domestic product. Actually, that is very good value for money.
And finally, keep everybody healthy. Population health is critical. So, this is a summary of all the things that we are doing. I hope it is enough.
But the Member is right. Healthcare costs cannot go on escalating like that. I am hoping that this is a post-COVID-19 phenomenon, where healthcare costs escalated because manpower costs had jumped post-COVID-19. Everyone, every country in the world realised that they need more manpower, they are hiring like mad and they have pushed up, globally, the cost of healthcare manpower. But I hope, at some point, this will stabilise. You will start to track general inflation rather than leads general inflation.
The Chairman: Ms Hazel Poa.
Ms Hazel Poa: I welcome the increase in the MediSave outpatient withdrawal limits. I would like to check whether there will be adjustments to the MediSave $500 or $700 as well? These amounts, I believe, were also set in 2021.
Mr Ong Ye Kung: Chair, before I answer Ms Hazel Poa's question, I forgot that I need to clarify two factual errors in my speech.
First, when I was mentioning the attrition rate of junior doctors, I mentioned 7%. Actually, it is lower, at 3% to 6% over the past eight years. In fact, in the last two years, it was under 5%.
When I was showing a chart, I mentioned that for long-term care, for those who were born in 1969 or earlier, they have an additional subsidy. I said the reason is because they are less covered by MediShield Life. I misspoke. It is that they are less covered by CareShield Life.
As for Ms Hazel Poa's question, we are not adjusting the $500 to $700 yet. I know where she is coming from, because the Basic Retirement Sum and Basic Healthcare Sum are rising in tandem with inflation. Which is correct, because these are amounts of money that you want to save up for your old age and, therefore, when you spend, you must make sure what you set aside grows in tandem with inflation. However, when it comes to the claim limits of Flexi-MediSave or MediShield $500/$700, these are more policy-driven.
Take, for example, today, we just announce that you can use MediSave to co-pay for dental root canal. Sometime ago, we say, we are subsidising Shingles vaccination and, whatever is the co-payment, you can use MediSave. Once we allow that, suddenly the demand for MediSave spending goes up. Therefore we review it and the increase from $300 to $400.
So, if you look at what we have done, in 2021, it increased from $200 to $300; and now it increased from $300 to $400. Over five years, it has doubled from $200 to $400. So, if you have tracked inflation, actually, the increase will be much less. But because this is a lot more driven by policy, we adjust them instead every few years, taking into account general inflation. I think that is a much more practical approach.
The Chairman: Mr Ang Wei Neng.
Mr Ang Wei Neng: Chairman, I have two clarifications. First one is for the Minister on TCM. So, beyond acupunctures, how is TCM also being integrated with the mainstream healthcare system? Are there plans to develop specialist roles for TCM practitioners? And are there plans for the Civil Service to eventually recognise the MC issued by the TCM practitioners?
The second clarification is for Minister of State Rahayu on vaping. Did HSA discover any platform in Singapore that sell vapourisers or the operators in Singapore? If so, will HSA consider prosecuting the platforms to have a deterrence effect?
Mr Ong Ye Kung: On TCM first. TCM is a self-regulated field. So, the quality and the delivery of services has a big variation. So, I think we ought to be quite careful and always take an evidence-based approach. That is what we are doing now. Take certain treatments that we think has potential, has worked well in other countries, with evidence in existing literature, try it in our system, and if it works, we can then bring it into the mainstream. So, we are doing use case by use case, using an evidence-based approach.
The Member mentioned MCs. Because it is a self-regulated system, it will be difficult for Civil Service or otherwise to pass a law to say that TCM MCs will be recognised. In any case, I think good human resource practice is to be able to tell your employees that when you are ill, call in sick. You do not have to produce an medical certificate and make an additional trip, either to TCM or to the polyclinic just to get the medical certificate. Actually, the Civil Service has already moved towards that. I think there are a few days in the year that you actually do not have to produce an medical certificate. You can call in sick and I think that is a better HR practice.
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Indeed, HSA does monitor regularly on the upstream sales that we see on the online spaces and HSA actually works closely with the platforms to ask them to take down all the postings on the illegal sales of such product. So, HSA collaborates with platforms, like Instagram, Carousell and Facebook, to remove the postings. And MOH and HSA are currently working with MDDI as well to see how we can encourage social media platforms to further strengthen this effort to detect and remove these online sales of advertisements on e-vapourisers. This is something that I understand is a worrying concern and we will continue to look at how we can enhance our efforts in this space.
The Chairman: Ms Sylvia Lim.
Ms Sylvia Lim: Thank you, Speaker. I have a clarification for Minister of State Rahayu about the cut on maternity fees which I filed. I filed this actually based on some ground feedback that came to me from my residents who are Singaporean fathers-to-be but their wives are foreigners. They may be holding LTVP, not plus, or something lesser. And from our research on the KK Women's and Children's Hospital website, it does appear that the maternity fees that are charged are actually tied to the residency status of the mother.
So, I do not know whether earlier, because I did not hear her that carefully, was the Minister of State Rahayu saying that somehow the father's status as a Singaporean can be taken into account to reduce the maternity fees in such situations? Because I did not hear that very clearly and I would like her to clarify that.
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Let me refer to the portion that I responded to. So, actually, what I said was that foreign mothers who are married to Singapore Citizen fathers and, who are PRs or on LTVP+, can receive Singapore Citizen-level subsidies for delivery episode, in recognition that their child will be a Singapore Citizen; and PR-level healthcare subsidies for all in-patient services. So forth, for maternity care, when it is the delivery, they will actually get Singapore Citizen-level subsidies.
The Chairman: Mr Keith Chua.
Mr Keith Chua: I thank the Senior Minister of State for the response to suicide prevention. In a PQ I filed last year, the response advised that there is no tracking or cumulative data collated of the number of persons diagnosed with suicidal ideation, whether caused by mental health conditions or other triggers. Will MOH reconsider the current position, now that we have the National Mental Health Office, as this monitoring or tracking should be helpful in suicide prevention and, perhaps, more importantly, the provision of resources required for the support of these individuals? We should do all within our means to prevent the next suicide.
Dr Janil Puthucheary: Sir, I thank Mr Keith Chua for that and I do agree that we must do all that we can to prevent each suicide, as well as to study the factors that increase the risk in certain individuals. The ability to track such data in the past was limited. Now that we have this coordinating office as well as the various systems that we are putting in place coming out of the strategy, it should allow us to then better develop the framework to establish that data across a variety of service providers. So, we will be looking at this as part of how we set up and monitor the work of the National Mental Health Office, how to then get the right data and track it over time.
But I do not want to overstate it, that this particular data variable that Mr Chua has identified is already in the works. I will have to go and have a look at the kind of data that we can provide on a robust basis year-on-year. And part of the issue, of course, is that the providers that we have within the space are very varied, and this is not necessarily something that is always reported. So, we have got to look to see how we can make sure that we have this data in a robust manner, so that the number that we are reporting and tracking is something that informs what we do with our policy as well as our operations.
The Chairman: Mr Gerald Giam.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: Sir, I appreciate the steps that MOH is taking to enhance preventive oral care and allow for more MediSave use. Does the Minister recognise that Singaporeans are not visiting their dentist frequently enough for regular checkups? As I mentioned in my cut, while over 50% visit a dentist at least once a year, 40% of these visits are for reactive treatment rather than for preventive care. Are there plans to encourage more frequent visits to the dentist of at least 12 to 18 months? And does MOH have plans to expand the capacity of public dental services to meet this increased demand?
Mr Ong Ye Kung: I would say, the polyclinics are quite busy, but we can leverage private clinics more for preventive oral care. My hypothesis is that when you go to a private clinic because you have a decayed tooth, the dentist says you need a root canal. It is more expensive today. It requires quite a few trips to the clinic, and so, you would rather extract or, in the first place, let us not go to the dentists. So, there is a bit of that behaviour.
That is why we are increasing the subsidy for such restorative treatment quite significantly. With this step and with some more education, including a national dental plan that we are now drawing up, we hope that more people are aware of the importance of oral health and understand that any restorative treatment, and for orange CHAS cardholder's preventive care treatment, they will all be better subsidised now. I think more people will come forward and we can better leverage and better use the capacity we have today in all the private dental clinics.
So, I think this is an important step we are first taking and we are still reviewing and drawing up our national dental plan.
The Chairman: Dr Tan Wu Meng.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: I would like to thank the Minister for Health, and I just wanted to raise some questions on our approach to value-based care, which is really another way of saying \"getting value for money\", part of fiscal discipline and fiscal prudence.
And can I ask MOH if, moving forward, there will be even greater attention given to how we measure value, not just in terms of a single Ministry policy at one point in time, but also looking at how it may shape the situation for the family. So, for example, if additional manpower and resources are needed so that a particular patient does not have to attend 36 appointments a year, but let us say, down to 18 or 12, those resources in streamlining and coordinating care can be looked in context of reducing the effort needed by the caregiver who accompanies the patient. Because, as I have said during the Budget debate, this can determine whether the caregiver goes from full-time to part-time employment, or whether a caregiver on flexible work leaves their career completely. And, therefore, the support to the patient can also be considered in terms of the outcomes for the family unit and the family unit's ability to continue being in employment.
Mr Ong Ye Kung: I can appreciate where the Member is coming from. When you have so many appointments, the toll on the caregiver is quite immense and it all looks a bit inefficient.
But the Member also works in a hospital, there are so many specialties and sub-specialties, and when someone is senior, they start to have many different problems with many different organs. And therefore, while we can coordinate, they still require review by several specialists.
We will try to streamline as much as we can, but I do not think there can be a major streamlining and cutting down of appointments. I would moderate expectations on that.
Having said that, as I mentioned to Ms Ng Ling Ling, there are a range of things we are doing to moderate healthcare costs, and if we can do so and keep people healthy, we also will be able to reduce the burden of caregivers.
I would say we are going far beyond measuring value now. Value-driven care (VDC), as I was telling one consultant, is old technology for health system. And today, I think health economists do recognise that with VDC, you can eliminate operational or clinical or disease level wastage.
But with the ageing population we need to eliminate population level wastage. It means it is no longer just about how you treat this person in the most efficient way and cost effective way possible. It is about saying that this person should not be here in the first place. This is the level of efficiency that we are going to achieve now. It is many years of transformation ahead and we will work together.
The Chairman: Ms He Ting Ru.
Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): Thank you, Sir. A clarification for the Senior Minister of State.
I think Senior Minister of State mentioned earlier that they are working towards registration for a subset of psychologists, if I understood him correctly. So, I just wanted to check with the Senior Minister of State whether there are plans, as I mentioned in my cut, to also include other mental health professionals, such as psychotherapists and counsellors, just because these are also professionals who work with vulnerable clients. I believe that, anecdotally, some practitioners have also shared with me their concerns that there are people out there holding themselves out to be therapists after doing some online courses or a weekend class in an area. I think this causes a little bit of concern because, after all, the clients who come to them for help are usually pretty vulnerable individuals.
And relatedly, I was also wondering what sort of public or consumer education is being undertaken so that members of the public who are seeking help can understand, for example, what is the difference between a psychotherapist, a counsellor, a psychologist, a psychiatrist. A lot of my residents who come to me, struggle to understand the difference and know where is the best place to seek help. And also, if they have some concerns about the person they are actually seeking services from, where do they go if they have got a complaint or they have got some concerns about some of the sessions that they are having with them.
Dr Janil Puthucheary: I thank Ms He for the questions. We are early in the process, so some of these details have not yet been established. But let me try to perhaps explain how we are thinking about this. We do indeed want to protect vulnerable individuals, and she has highlighted how someone who is seeking these sorts of services may well be in a position where they are vulnerable if not dealt with properly or dealt with by someone who is not entirely professional. So, that is the perspective we are coming from. How do we protect individuals seeking these services and at the same time raise the standards and quality of the profession?
The categories of psychologists and professionals that we are likely to then want to regulate and license in a particular way are those where their risk is likely to be higher to the clients and the patients that they are treating, that they are seeing. And this, by definition, means that they are involved in issues to do with diagnosis, pathology, interventions – this is the higher risk end of the profession.
Then, to her point where there are other professionals who are advertising or purporting to treat these types of problems with these types of interventions, we will have to look and see how we craft the licensing regime and the regulatory regime as to what tools we might then have to then go after such individuals.
It is early days, but we are thinking in terms of the risks associated as a result of the professional work that someone does – the diagnosis, the risks and interventions – as well as the vulnerability of the individual that we want to protect.
Indeed, public education will be important, and we will have to think through how we set out the naming, the nomenclature and the details, how a member of the public can choose who to go and get their therapy from and then make available public information.
The resources then for further information actually are already available. I mentioned quite a few of them in my speech. The websites, the chatlines,and then later on this year we will have the hotline. So, a member of the public who is concerned about the therapies that they are getting can access any one of these resources or contact MOH directly and we can also provide advice.
The Chairman: I think all the clarifications have — Well, I spoke too soon. Ms Lim.
Ms Sylvia Lim: Thank you, Sir, for your indulgence to re-clarify with Minister of State Rahayu. Earlier she, she mentioned that citizen level subsidies would be available for delivery by foreign mothers if they are PRs or LTVP+ holders, in consideration of the fact that the child will be a Singapore Citizen. But I think she will also know that there are Singapore children also being born to mothers who are LTVP, but not plus. So, can that not also be considered in the fee setting?
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Based on the information that we have from the Immigrations and Checkpoints Authority, the vast majority of foreign spouses with Singapore Citizen husbands and have Singapore Citizen minor children are actually LTVP+. So, in that sense, the vast majority of spouses are therefore eligible for medical subsidies already.
We generally receive very few appeals each year from Singapore residents for their sponsored dependants on LTVP. If you do have some of these cases, they can be surfaced, and they can approach medical social workers to request for MediFund. [Please refer to \"Clarification by Minister of State for Health\", Official Report, 7 March 2025, Vol 95, Issue 160, Correction By Written Statement section.]
The Member still looks very puzzled. I am happy to take this up separately and see if there are specific cases we can assist you with.
The Chairman: And with that I believe all the clarifications have been answered. I am very glad that this is the first Head where we have finished ahead of the guillotine time. Having said that, Dr Tan, would you like to draw your amendment?
Dr Tan Wu Meng: Mr Chairman, I thank all who contributed to this debate. Our MOH leadership and MPs of all persuasions. Also want to express deepest thanks to our entire healthcare family, our front liners, the support team and our public officers. If I may briefly seek the indulgence of Speaker —
The Chairman: Dr Tan, I was not asking you to make a long closing, please.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: So, if I may just recall briefly what I said five years ago during the debate on the President's Address. Healthcare is about all our people's lives, your life and mine, the lives of our loved ones, the life of every Singaporean.
And with that, let us all hope for healthier and happier lives together. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.
[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $18,795,327,500 for Head O ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $2,067,888,400 for Head O ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Committee of Supply – Head I (Ministry of Social and Family Development)","subTitle":"Building caring communities and an inclusive society together","sectionType":"OS","content":"The Chairman: Head I, Ministry of Social and Family Development. Mr Melvin Yong.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Mr Chairman, I beg to move, \"That the total sum to be allocated for Head I of the Estimates be reduced by $100\".
Sir, Singapore’s social compact is multifaceted. Economic stability, social welfare, educational opportunities, social mobility, community engagement and expectations around healthcare and housing all come together to form the social compact that binds us together as one united nation. Over the past 60 years, our strong social compact has been instrumental in fostering a sense of national identity, unity and collective responsibility among Singaporeans.
As Singapore commemorates 60 years of Independence, we must continue to ensure that our economic policies benefit all segments of society. This includes investing in skills training, supporting local small and medium enterprises, and creating jobs that cater to different skill levels. But there remain barriers to upward mobility for low-income families, with entrenched inequalities affecting education and job opportunities. How can we better support low-income families in education, skills training and job placement to break the cycles of poverty? It is crucial that we continue to provide equitable access to opportunities, to reduce income inequality and ensure opportunities for all segments of Singaporeans.
We must continue to review and to update our social support schemes for our vulnerable populations. Some segments may still fall through the gaps, such as gig workers or freelancers who may not qualify for the traditional safety nets. With an ageing population, there are also concerns about the sustainability of our existing social support schemes and the adequacy of retirement savings.
Social service agencies, such as the Family Service Centres, play a critical role in supporting vulnerable families in Singapore. I am concerned about attracting quality professionals into the social service sector. The National Council of Social Service (NCSS) regularly releases salary guidelines for job roles in the social service sector. I would like to ask the Ministry, what is the percentage of social service agencies that comply with the recommended starting salary and reference point salaries released by the NCSS?
How can we better support the financial sustainability of our social service ecosystem, so that they are not overly dependent on Government grants? How can we encourage more Singaporeans to donate regularly to our social service agencies and also encourage more volunteerism?
Beyond uplifting the social service sector, I would like to encourage the Ministry to place greater emphasis on supporting families with complex issues, as part of our refreshed Forward Singapore social compact. What is the Ministry’s plan to enhance the ways in which the social service sector delivers its services and programmes so that vulnerable families, in particular families with multiple and complex needs, can be better supported?
We should also do more to encourage active citizenship and promote volunteerism to instill a sense of responsibility towards the collective well-being. In addition to the $600 million that will be set aside by the Government and the Tote Board to match donations made to charities and social causes in an effort to encourage philanthropy, how can we do more to encourage philanthropy in all forms, beyond just monetary donations? What is the Ministry’s plan to further encourage individual Singaporeans and the community to step up their efforts in contributing to society?
Sir, barely two years ago, Singapore emerged stronger together from the COVID-19 pandemic – the crisis of our generation. We have barely turned the page on the pandemic and we are now suddenly faced with a confluence of geopolitical, economic and technological forces, which threatens to create a very uncertain future.
As Singapore commemorates 60 years of Independence, it is crucial that we continue to build a more resilient and supportive society, a future where the social compact is continually reinforced and one in which no Singaporean will be left behind as Singapore progresses.
[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]
Mr Chairman, Singapore's preschool education is generally regarded as high quality, due to substantial Government investment and a strong regulatory framework.
Research has shown that children receiving quality early childhood education tend to have better cognitive and socio-economic outcomes. We must therefore strive to continually enhance the quality of early childhood education in Singapore, both in terms of curriculum standards and teacher standards.
On curriculum standards, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has the Early Years Development Framework, which guides early childhood educators working with children from birth to three years old. This is complemented by the Nurturing Early Learners Framework, which guides the teaching and learning in preschools for children aged four to six. Both frameworks have also been recently revised, in 2023 and 2022 respectively.
Can the Ministry share the adoption rate of both frameworks among preschools in Singapore? What are the reasons provided by those preschools that have declined to adopt these frameworks? Can we establish a quality assurance framework that regularly assesses all preschools in Singapore and publish these standards? Doing so will encourage all preschools in Singapore to raise their standards.
On teacher standards, Singapore has invested heavily to enhance the quality of our preschool teachers through structured training and regulatory frameworks for early childhood educators. However, the sector still faces challenges in becoming an industry of choice. There remains a shortage of qualified educators willing to enter the field and retention is a persistent issue, with many educators leaving within the first few years of service. Can ECDA conduct a local study to understand the push factors behind why these teachers leave the industry? Are there any plans to further increase our investments in the professional development of our early childhood educators?
Sir, my hope is that Every Preschool is a Good Preschool so that all our children can receive a quality start to their educational journeys, enabling them to thrive in future learning environments.
The Chairman: Ms Yeo Wan Ling, you can take your two cuts together.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Preschool education in Singapore is recognised as a crucial stage in a child's development, preparing them for formal schooling and lifelong learning. The Government has been actively working to enhance the preschool sector through ECDA, which oversees the quality and accessibility of preschool services. Initiatives like the Anchor Operator Scheme and Partner Operator Scheme have been introduced to increase the number of quality preschool places and make them more affordable.
Despite these efforts, the challenge remains to balance affordability with maintaining high standards of care and education across all preschools to support child development and assist working parents. How will the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) further improve the affordability and quality of preschool for all families in Singapore?
In Singapore, the Government recognises the fundamental role of families and aims to create a supportive environment for them. This involves implementing policies and initiatives that encourage strong family bonds, such as work-life harmony, flexible work arrangements requests and inclusivity within the community. MSF has come a long way in enhancing family services, promoting family-friendly workplaces and ensuring that all members of society, including the less privileged and those with special needs, feel included and supported.
These efforts are part of a broader strategy to maintain a cohesive and resilient society. How will the MSF further build and foster a family-friendly and inclusive Singapore? Will the MSF be further engaging with whole-of-society stakeholders, such as employers and the trade unions to provide more marriage and parenting resources for families?
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Sir, family caregivers provide unpaid care, often at great personal costs. Many sacrifice their careers, drain their savings and push through exhaustion, and sometimes even abuse, to care for their loved ones, often at the expense of their own well-being. Without them, the healthcare burden on the state will be far greater.
The total value of informal care for seniors aged 75 and above is estimated at $1.28 billion annually, equivalent to 11% of Government healthcare expenditure, according to a study by researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School. I appreciate that the Home Caregiving Grant is being increased to up to $600 per month. However, the current system still assumes that caregiving is a private responsibility, with the Government only coming in to provide relief.
We need a fundamental shift in recognising family caregiving as essential work that deserves proper compensation, not just relief. Caregiving should be a shared responsibility between individuals, family and society, with its costs partially socialised, rather than falling mainly on caregivers.
To put this into action, I propose a tiered caregiver payment for those who reduce their work hours or leave employment to care for a family member, provided they meet the minimum caregiving threshold. They should also receive Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions to safeguard their long-term financial security.
Caregiving should be recognised as skilled work. A national certification framework should be introduced to provide formal training and better employment opportunities for caregivers, especially after they return to the workforce. Caregivers are the backbone of our long-term care system.
If we truly value their contributions, we must compensate them fairly. This is not just about doing more, but doing things differently to prepare Singapore for an ageing society.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): In my Adjournment Motion six years ago, I shared the story of Emma, a single unwed parent who came to see me at my Meet-the-People Sessions, together with her two-month-old daughter. They were both living in a shelter. As I shared previously, when I asked why Emma did not shed a tear, she told me that she no longer had any tears left. She was not asking for sympathy. She was simply looking for a roof over her head and her baby's head. I am glad that single unwed parents can finally rent and buy a flat from HDB.
Emma finally got her rental flat, and I am glad to share she finally purchased her very own Build-To-Order (BTO), but the playing field is still not level. I am not asking for single unweds to be given more, but for it to be fair. I am asking for them to be given the cash component of the Baby Bonus, the Parenthood Tax Rebate and the Working Mother's Child Relief. The cash is a lifeline for them, and all these will help reduce the stigma and discrimination that single unwed parents face.
The Chairman: Assoc Prof Razwana Begum. You have two cuts, take them together.
Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim (Nominated Member): Thank you, Sir. Building a family-friendly Singapore requires a multifaceted approach that places a strong emphasis on education, inclusivity and support for diverse family structures.
Recognising that families comes in many forms, it is essential to create an environment where every family feels valued and supported. In this context, how is the Ministry addressing the evolving definition of families to ensure policies and programmes are inclusive of diverse family structure in Singapore?
How does the Ministry plan to engage with parents, educators and community leaders to reinforce the value of family bonds and relationships among children and teenagers?
What resources and support systems are available for children from non-traditional family backgrounds, to ensure they feel included and valued within the broader community?
And what measures are being taken to support fathers in playing their role effectively within the family and how is the Ministry encouraging paternal involvement in child-rearing and family activities?
Effective support for vulnerable and disadvantaged families and individuals living with multiple and complex needs requires a targeted, coordinated, holistic and multi-agency and personalised response.
At the same time, it is also important to address the root causes of vulnerability and disadvantage, such as poverty, mental health issues, underemployment, violence and access to housing and education.
In this context, what are the Ministry's plans for improving the delivery of services and programmes in the social service sector, to better support vulnerable and disadvantaged families and individuals living with multiple and complex needs? What initiatives are in place to assist women who have experienced violence, including those with children, access safe accommodation and other resources, and to return to the workforce?
What initiatives are in place to provide culturally appropriate and sensitive support and assistance, to vulnerable and disadvantaged families and individuals living with multiple and complex needs? How is the Ministry working to improve the short-, medium- and long-term outcomes for children in care and those with child protection system, and what strategies are in place to ensure that these children have access to timely, stable, long-term and fully supported out of home placements.
The Chairman: Mr Louis Ng, you can take your two cuts together.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: In my Budget speech three years ago, I shared about how social workers were overworked and many were burnt out. I said: \"Being a social worker is not easy. It is like riding a bike, except the bike is on fire. You're on fire. Everything is on fire.\"
Three years on, and social workers continue to share with me about their crazy workloads and how not much has changed. I tried to have lunch with a social worker and for the entire hour, he was outside the restaurant trying to help a client's family over the phone. In the end, he packed his lunch, and I doubt he had time to eat it later on.
The reality is that social workers are passionate about helping others, but they, too, need help. They need MSF to help them do a deep review of the funding model of the family service centres, provide more funding for headcount and introduce a cap on the number of cases a social worker can handle.
Over the past 10 years in Nee Soon East, I have seen so many children's lives get destroyed. For me, that has been the most painful part of being a Member of Parliament – to see children get neglected, abused, raped; children whom I have seen grow up over the years.
In these cases, the Child Protective Services step in and I am grateful for the work of our Child Protection officers (CPOs).
Our CPOs handle about 40 cases at any point in time. As Senior Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua shared: \"I also think that 40 is a little bit too high. We are trying to bring the number for the caseload down.\" CPOs are superheroes but they have a limit, and I know many are way past that limit.
I hope MSF will help our CPOs and ensure that there is a cap on the number of cases each CPO can handle. I hope MSF can also share their plans on how they will increase the manpower and resources at the Child Protective Services.
Ms Ng Ling Ling (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, cost of living pressures have been a concern for Singaporeans for the past year. With Budget 2025, I hope that the measures will bring needed relief to most Singaporeans.
I have been more concerned about the impact of higher cost on our lower-income Singaporeans in the past year. During my visits to residents living in rental blocks in Jalan Kayu, who are receiving MSF ComCare assistance, I sometimes see them having mostly instant noodles and highly processed, preserved canned food.
They tell me that they are trying to stretch the ComCare dollar. While I try my best with donors to augment the Government's ComCare with local welfare projects at the Jalan Kayu Heartstrings, which provides groceries and food items that are as healthy as possible, such ground-up support is subject to donation and in-kind sponsorship that we can garner each time.
Can I ask MSF if: one, will MSF consider adding a layer of ComCare in-kind assistance to provide a monthly supply of healthy food items curated with MOH's Health Promotion Board (HPB)? HPB has been active in their \"My Healthy Plate\" outreach, with a collection of easy-to-cook healthy recipes for residents of all races. Can MSF and MOH collaborate to enable healthier food for our lower-income Singaporeans on ComCare?
Two, does MSF track, with MOH, the chronic diseases prevalence and severity of this group? Again, can MSF and MOH collaborate on upstream preventive measures to avoid this group of vulnerable Singaporeans from developing serious chronic diseases that will not only plague their already difficult lives to further downward spiral, but also cause heavy downstream burdens to our healthcare system.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: Mr Chairman, the ComLink+ scheme, introduced in 2023, pairs vulnerable families with dedicated family coaches and volunteer befrienders who will journey with the families in achieving stability, self-reliance and social mobility. Can MSF provide an update on the progress and effectiveness of the ComLink+ scheme?
While ComLink+ provides financial assistance, there remains a lack of comprehensive services covering mental health, career counselling and social integration. Are there plans by MSF to introduce partnerships with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector to provide skill development workshops, mental health resources and counselling services tailored to the needs of the ComLink+ families?
Sir, short-term assistance may not lead to long-term financial stability, and families may struggle with financial management. Can MSF work with relevant service providers to develop tailored financial literacy programmes to help the families make informed decisions about budgeting, saving and investing?
I also invite MSF to collaborate with the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC's) Employment and Employability Institute to implement programmes that include pathways to employment, skills enhancement and career advancement to provide these families with a sustainable means of income over time.
According to the Supporting Lower-Income Households trends report released by MSF in November 2024, only 26% of families on the ComLink+ scheme send their children to preschool regularly. What is MSF's plan to improve the preschool participation rate for these families?
For children in primary and secondary schools, can MSF collaborate with the schools to provide academic support such as tutoring, mentorship programmes and enrichment classes to ensure that children from ComLink+ families have equal opportunities for success?
Some families may also lack access to technology resources that can facilitate learning and application processes. I would like to ask if ComLink+ families, in particular, the children, are provided access to digital literacy training and resources as well as subsidised devices and Internet access?
ComLink+ is a whole-of-society effort led by the Government but implemented in partnership with the community. I hope that we can continue to expand the ComLink+ ecosystem to better support lower-income families in their efforts towards building a better future for themselves.
Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong): Chairman, for any advanced economy, keeping social mobility alive is a key challenge. Fighting what we call sticky floors and sticky ceilings, and breaking not just the chain of transmission of disadvantages for those at the bottom, but also the transmission of advantages for those at the top, from generation to generation, is tough and is an uphill battle.
I am glad that in Singapore, we have a government that is determined to keep social mobility alive and keep social mobility an integral part of the Singapore Story going forward.
We will need to mitigate unequal opportunities at birth, indeed, before birth, and through life. It will take dealing with the hand that folks are dealt by life. It is complex work.
This is why ComLink+ is so important – focusing on families in rental housing, getting them to send their children to preschool, stay in good jobs and build savings, and rewarding them with financial support for such positive behaviours, ultimately, helping to equalise opportunities for their children, and getting coaches and volunteers to journey with them. It is important work.
If ComCare is assistance to meet today's needs, ComLink+ is empowerment to build tomorrow. If ComCare is a safety net provided by the state, ComLink+ is a new trampoline, formed not just by the state but by all of us. It involves all of us.
To keep social mobility alive, we need ComLink+ to work. On that note, can the Ministry provide an update on the progress and achievements of ComLink+, including the rollout of ComLink+ Progress packages?
Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio): Chairman, the ComLink+ Progress packages aim to support the efforts of eligible lower-income families with young children to help them achieve stability, self-reliance and social mobility. The packages focus on the four areas of preschool education, stable employment, improving financial stability through debt clearance and saving for home ownership.
The package on preschool education was launched in August last year. Would the Ministry share an update on the response to date?
MSF announced that it was working towards launching the other three packages for employment, financial stability and saving for home ownership from this year, 2025. Can the Ministry provide more details and the timelines for each package?
Overall, how many families have actually benefited from the ComLink+ Progress packages? What is the average number of families that a family coach handles? Has the Ministry been able to recruit its target number of family coaches so far?
Mr Mohd Fahmi Aliman (Marine Parade): Chairman, while Singapore has established strong social safety nets to support vulnerable individuals and families, some low-income households continue to face complex and interlocking challenges in achieving stability, self-reliance and social mobility. Beyond financial assistance, there is a need for a more personalised, empowering approach that helps families take proactive steps towards a better future.
Could MSF share insights on how the ComLink+ ecosystem will better support lower-income families in their journey towards improved life outcomes? Additionally, what measures are being considered to further empower low-income households in pursuing long-term aspirations for themselves and their children?
The Chairman: Ms Denise Phua. You can take your two cuts together.
Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Chairman, I thank our Prime Minister for signalling his support to look into the needs of persons with disabilities (PwDs), especially after formal schooling.
Why does the community especially families, feel such despair, especially post-age 18? The answer lies in the lack of continuity in support systems – what is often termed as the \"cliff effect\" in the disability sector. Families are left to navigate a fragmented landscape. So, how can we shift families from a place of helplessness to a place of hope?
The solution lies in creating a continuum of support models across living, learning and working – three key pillars of life.
I am pleased that the Ministry has introduced three key initiatives: the Enabling Services Hub, the Enabling Business Hub and the Enabled Living Programme. These programmes aim to make community, employment and living support more accessible to PwDs.
Both the Enabling Services Hub and the Enabling Business Hub have been operational for some time. I urge the MSF to provide some updates on their current status, achievements, challenges and future plans. I also seek MSF to share the progress of the Enabled Living Programme.
Next, the truth is that the needs of adults with disabilities are diverse. Some require intensive round-the-clock care while others need much less support to build independent living skills. This diversity therefore calls for a continuum of support models tailored to individual needs.
On living, one of the most pressing gaps is the lack of long-term residential options for adults with disabilities.
While I applaud MSF's openness to exploring an Enabled Living Programme for those with mild to moderate needs, we must move beyond programme-centric approaches. Instead, we need a spectrum of residential models to suit different archetypes.
On learning, on the learning front, the situation is also equally urgent. When asked about continuing education for PwDs yesterday, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has indicated that MSF and SG Enable will take the lead, citing the diverse and complex needs of this population. While this is understandable, the reality is that many Government-funded Special Education (SPED) students stop learning altogether after leaving school, largely due to that proverbial \"cliff effect\".
This abrupt decline in structured training opportunities leads to skill loss, reduced independence and increased burdens on families and society. The problem is compounded in a world where technology is rapidly disrupting all our lives. Lifelong learning, therefore, is not a luxury, but a necessity.
I urge the Government to commission a comprehensive study to address this \"cliff effect\" and consider adopting a top-up funding model for adult learners with special educational needs, closer to the support that they receive pre-age 18. Additionally, I propose the establishment of lifelong learning colleges for major disability groups, partnering with social service agencies that have a proven track record in this space.
On work, why work matters. Work provides dignity, identity, financial independence and purpose. With proper training and support, PwDs can contribute meaningfully to workplaces and society.
Sir, I wish to propose five actions for the Ministry to promote inclusive employment.
One, prioritise reasonable accommodations at work. During the recent Workplace Fairness Bill discussion, I proposed the creation of a job accommodation network – a resource to guide employers in implementing reasonable accommodations and to empower PwDs themselves with self-advocacy skills. This would help them balance their needs with employers' business constraints.
While MOM may have other priorities, I really urge the Ministry to work with its partners to take the lead on this initiative.
Two, extend job placement and job support for PwDs. The current Job Placement and Job Support Programme provides support for only one year. This is not sufficient as PwDs often require long-term assistance to navigate workplace challenges. Stopping support after one year is akin to removing eyeglasses from someone with myopia, leaving them unable to see clearly. Some of these groups really need longer support.
Three, develop a SkillsFuture masterplan for PwDs. In a rapidly changing job market, relevance is key. Jobs that exist today may disappear tomorrow and PwDs must be equipped with the skills to adapt.
Sir, I urge the Government, its Job Placement and Job Support Programme partners and industry leaders to develop a SkillsFuture masterplan for PwDs – a robust framework to help them upskill, reskill and remain competitive.
Four, include sheltered workshops as part of a continuum of employment models. Sheltered workshops hold strong potential as a viable employment model. It is actually less costly than the Day Activity Centres and it offers a more focused and purposeful alternative to Day Activity Centres, which can be costly and lack an emphasis on work. So, more sheltered workshops should be established.
The Ministry should also clarify and communicate the continuum of employment models available to PwDs, their families and other stakeholders so as to enable them to make informed decisions about the most suitable employment model.
Lastly, expand beyond the School-To-Work scheme. While the School-To-Work scheme by MOE for recent SPED school graduates is a good initiative, the earliest SPED graduates and mainstream graduates with special educational needs are often overlooked. I urge the Government to allocate resources to address that gap and ensure that no one is excluded.
Finally, I just want to thank MSF, all its agencies and all its partners as well for their good work. The \"cliff effect\" is not inevitable. I look forward to serving with you to support the disability community.
Miss Rachel Ong (West Coast): An inclusive society ensures that every individual, regardless of ability, has the opportunity to contribute meaningfully.
Employment is more than just an earning. It is about dignity, independence and social integration. Yet many persons with disabilities in Singapore continue to face significant barriers to securing jobs.
The Enabling Masterplan sets an ambitious and necessary target – a 40% employment rate for PwDs by 2030, for which I am very, very grateful. Achieving this requires more than goodwill. It demands concrete action to remove barriers, equip individuals and foster inclusive workplace cultures. This is more than a social issue. It is also an economic imperative. Unlocking our workforce's full potential drives growth for businesses, strengthens communities and fuels national progress.
With just five years remaining, what is MSF's strategy to accelerate inclusive employment and ensure that opportunities for PwDs are not just available, but actively created to meet this goal?
The Chairman: Mr Ong Hua Han. You can take your three cuts together.
Mr Ong Hua Han (Nominated Member): Thank you, Chairman. Sir, we have made much progress over the years in raising disability awareness and increasing the workplace participation of persons with disabilities. Coming from the private sector, I have witnessed first-hand the collective will and efforts of the Government, MSF, SG Enable, social service agencies and enterprises, commercial or otherwise, all working together to advance inclusive hiring.
For this, I am thankful – to see our shared commitment to the cause translating bit by bit into meaningful opportunities for persons with disabilities.
With five years left to meet the Enabling Masterplan 2030 target of 40% employment, can MSF share its plans to bring to life strategies that encourage and accelerate inclusive hiring?
Persons with disabilities and their caregivers have long-term aspirations, just like anyone else. They want to actively participate in shared spaces, secure meaningful employment and live independently within the community. We have come a long way in providing more pathways for persons with disabilities to thrive. Yet, there is always more that can be done.
I had previously called for more support in the post-18 space and I am delighted to hear it specifically highlighted in the Budget by the Prime Minister. Now that we are debating in the Committee of Supply (COS), can MSF share more about how it plans to strengthen support structures for persons with disabilities as they transition from school to work?
In doing so, we also need to recognise the crucial role that caregivers play. They are the unseen pillar of strength, often putting their needs and dreams on hold to care for their loved ones. I am very glad that the update to the Home Caregiving Grant, as announced in the Budget Statement, will extend financial support to more caregivers and affirm their contributions. While this is highly appreciated, caregivers also face emotional strain, physical exhaustion and the challenge of looking after their own well-being. Building on this, can MSF also share its plans to further support caregivers beyond financial assistance?
Last year, I spoke about recalibrating our means-testing criteria for disability schemes, at the MSF COS. Reading this year's Budget annexes, I understand that the means-testing criteria will be revised for the better.
In particular, the monthly per capita household income (PCHI) threshold for long-term care subsidies and grants are set to be increased to a standardised level of $4,800 from 2026. Examples include the Assistive Technology Fund, the Enabling Transport Subsidy and Taxi Subsidy Scheme, just to name a few.
According to Singapore Departmant of Statistics, median monthly PCHI has increased from $3,500 in 2023 to around $3,600 in 2024. I have previously suggested that the threshold should at least align with the current median PCHI figures. Assuming that median PCHI grows steadily, the harmonised threshold of $4,800 should exceed that level. I am pleased to see this update go beyond my initial suggestion to broaden access to support schemes. I urge MSF to continually review the PCHI threshold at timely intervals to ensure that it keeps pace with median PCHI levels as they rise.
Following this progress, I would like to reiterate my call from last year that we also take into account actual costs borne by families with PwDs. Financial support schemes should reflect the real and often higher costs that these families face. By doing so, we empower more persons with disabilities to live with dignity and achieve their dreams.
Chair, we need to better support working adults who are neurodivergent. Over the years we have made progress in increasing support for neurodivergent students through special educational needs officers and school counsellors. Neurodivergent conditions such as autism, ADHD and dyslexia last a lifetime. Yet, beyond school, existing policies and programmes cater only to autistic individuals, mainly those with high support needs.
A large proportion of neurodivergent adults are left to navigate life's challenges without institutional support when they enter the workforce. This is especially true for those with conditions such as ADHD and dyslexia, which are invisible and not formally recognised as disabilities in Singapore. Neurodivergent working adults face unique challenges. They may struggle with organisation, executive function, or navigating workplace expectations. Many are also hesitant to ask for accommodations or help, fearing stigma or uncertainty about how employers will respond. I urge the Ministry to take action in two key areas.
First, in order to design effective policies, we need data. Can the Ministry conduct periodic national surveys to gauge the prevalence of neurodivergence in our adult population and the challenges faced by neurodivergent adults? A national survey can help us to understand how best to support neurodivergent adults in daily life and in the workplace. The Ministry can then craft targeted support measures that are evidence based and impactful.
Second, we need to raise more awareness around neurodiversity, especially in the workplace. This can be done through awareness training for both employers and employees. Such training helps address common misconceptions around neurodivergent conditions. It also offers a platform to facilitate open discussion on potential workplace adjustments that can both accommodate neurodivergent employees and play to their strengths. On top of raising sufficient awareness, we must also ensure safe and fair disclosure practises and combat stigma. Similar to mental health conditions, perhaps the Government could introduce an advisory on providing support for employees with neurodivergent conditions.
At the end of the day, this is about creating an inclusive society, one that recognises and values the contributions of all individuals. Let us ensure that support for neurodivergent individuals does not stop at the school gates but extends into the later stages of life.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Extension of a Sitting","subTitle":"Business Motion","sectionType":"OS","content":"The Chairman: Order. Pursuant to Standing Order No 91(3)(d), I propose to extend the time of this day's Committee Sitting for a period of up to 30 minutes.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Committee of Supply – Head I (Ministry of Social and Family Development)","subTitle":"Building caring communities and an inclusive society together","sectionType":"OS","content":"[(proc text) Debate resumed. (proc text)]
The Chairman: Ms Carrie Tan.
Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon): Chairman, I rise today to speak on an issue we all intuitively agree on – a more inclusive society where persons with disabilities and special needs (PWSNs), whom I prefer to call differently-abled, are recognised not for their limitations, but for their strengths and contributions. We must deliberate steps to ensure that inclusivity is not just a concept but a lived reality.
First, representation matters. Misconceptions and stereotypes about disabilities persist largely due to a lack of understanding. We must launch public awareness campaigns that highlight the strengths, talents and capabilities of PWSNs, showcasing their success stories in business, sports, the arts and technology. These campaigns should feature real-life stories of perseverance and excellence, demonstrating that ability transcends disability. By shifting public perception, we empower PWSNs with dignity and opportunities while fostering a society where every individual feels valued.
The media plays a profound role in shaping societal attitudes. In October last year, The Inclusive Code was launched in New Zealand. It is a tool for advertising industry professionals to reflect on normalised but exclusionary practices, designed by disabled experts to help people design marketing campaigns that better include disabled people. I urge MSF to partner MDDI to establish a national framework, taking reference from New Zealand's Inclusive Code, to propel advertisers and content creators to incorporate intentional disability representation.
Media is a mirror of society, and when PwDs and PWSNs see themselves represented positively – whether in advertisements, films or news, they are affirmed. More importantly, it normalises disability in everyday life, helping to dismantle unconscious biases that hinder inclusion.
Second, expanding outreach and facilitation for workplace integration. While I am heartened by the Open Door Programme which encourages employers to hire, train and integrate PWSNs through grants for job design, training subsidies and wage offsets, we need to expand its reach. I would like to ask: what is the current manpower strength helming this effort at SG Enable? Can there be staff to walk the ground in neighbourhood town centres to share about these programmes at the local level with merchants and small retail shops?
It is easy to overlook the single trees when an imperative to be efficient prompts us to focus on bigger-scale wins of entire forests. I ask that we do not skip over the small retailers who may turn out to be great allies in this effort, in favour of larger companies who may have bigger hiring capacity, but also require a bigger change-making effort to get the entire staff community aligned. There is a Malay saying: sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit. Small results over time can create a big impact.
If everyday Singaporeans see PWSNs gainfully employed, actively contributing in the shops they frequent, in every neighbourhood, societal perception is sure to improve. Even the families and caregivers' perception of their own children can improve.
We can work towards the vision of Every Neighbourhood an Inclusive Neighbourhood and set a minimum target to enable X number of shops to be enabling employers in each locality for a start.
To do this, I recommend that the job-redesign funding for micro-enterprises running mom and pop shops be increased to 95% with a higher cap, provide rent subsidies and a dedicated facilitator team to help shop owners in this particular effort.
Facilitators play a crucial role in being a bridge to ensure that accessibility goes beyond infrastructure – it is also about attitudes, engagement and participation of both the employer and the employed. I urge SG Enable to look into setting up satellite teams of facilitators within each Community Development Council that will help work with local merchants and propagate the success stories island-wide.
Mr Chairman, a truly inclusive society does not merely accommodate persons with disabilities – it values, respects and celebrates them. We must not stop at rhetoric but commit to real, structural change through investment, awareness, representation and support systems. I urge this House to take decisive action to champion these expansion efforts for a fairer future for all who are differently abled.
Ms Ng Ling Ling: Sir, from 1 January 2026, the Government will expand the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme (MRSS) to include eligible PwDs of all ages to allow them to start building up their retirement savings earlier. Eligible PwDs below the age of 55 will receive the MRSS matching grant on cash top-ups to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) Special Account and benefit from higher CPF savings and monthly payouts in retirement. Anyone, including their families, employers and the community, can make the top-ups to these eligible members' Special Accounts or Retirement Accounts. I think this is a very good scheme and can I ask MSF to elaborate on the following.
One, does the definition of disabilities include those with mental illnesses?
Two, why does it take almost one year for this new scheme to be implemented? Can families and employers keen to start the top-up for persons with disabilities do so earlier this year instead?
And lastly, what is the difference in policy rationale and impact of this new scheme compared to the services provided by the Special Needs Trust Company which is also supported by MSF?
The Chairman: Mr Baey Yam Keng, you can take your three cuts together.
Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tampines): Sir, PwDs face challenges throughout their life. In particular, when they turn 18 years old, there is a significant shift in the institutional system as it is more fragmented and less supportive.
One of the primary concerns for PwDs is employment. Employers may lack awareness or resources to make necessary accommodations. There could be misconceptions about the capabilities of PwDs, which could act both ways, either unrealistic expectations or underemployment. Furthermore, PwDs may not have had equal access to education and vocational training, and this limits their employment opportunities.
Employment is not just about financial independence; it also contributes to a sense of purpose, social identity and community participation. Therefore, the lack of employment opportunities can have profound implications on the self-esteem and social integration of PwDs. MSF and SG Enable have been working hard to address these issues through policies that encourage inclusive employment, vocational training programmes and support for businesses to make accommodations.
Caregiving is another significant concern. As PwDs age, their parents or primary caregivers are also ageing themselves. Hence, they face increased physical and emotional strain. There may be a lack of suitable and affordable caregiving options, which can lead to stress and burnout for caregivers. Many caregivers also have to balance their caregiving responsibilities with their own employment, leading to financial and emotional pressures.
We have already come a long way through the various Enabling Masterplans and efforts from the Government, businesses, and our partners and the community. Can MSF provide an update on the progress of our Enabling Masterplan 2030? With regard to the post-18 cliff, living options, employment and caregiving arrangements are prime concerns. What are our plans to further alleviate concerns that adult PwDs and their caregivers have?
Singapore has a robust framework of support and services for vulnerable individuals and their families, including those in residential homes. Support for the vulnerable is multifaceted, comprising financial aid, social services, healthcare and community involvement.
Many in residential homes are there for the long term, especially those who are aged or with disabilities and have little family support. There is a growing demand for these services and volunteers to help them, given that Singapore's ageing population is a fact. For those who in residential homes, they may not have family to visit them. They rely on the warmth and support of the home caregivers and volunteers. There is a risk of the lack of social connections and cognitive engagements as a result of social isolation or not being able to participate in societal activities.
We need to not only enhance support for those residing in homes but help uplift them. There are many opportunities for the community and the Government to do more, to ensure a holistic approach towards care for those in residential homes, such as better service integration, improved coordination of services across agencies, expanded housing options and affordability, improved caregiving support and more accessible mental health services.
There needs to be continual review and enhancement of policies to address emerging needs of the vulnerable in Singapore, to ensure our support remains relevant and effective. Can MSF share its plans on how can we better uplift those who are most vulnerable, especially those within residential homes?
MSF has designated 2025 as the Year of Celebrating Social Service Professionals. This acknowledges and appreciates the significant contributions made by social service professionals. These individuals are at the forefront of supporting and empowering the more vulnerable groups in society, including children, the elderly, persons with disabilities and families in need. The celebration aims to raise awareness of the critical role these professionals play in fostering a more inclusive and compassionate society.
It is important to attract and retain a strong workforce in the social service sector to meet the growing needs of the community. To this end, we need to continuously review existing initiatives and strategies to enhance the appeal of a career in social service and to ensure that professionals in the field are well-supported. These include investment in professional development and training, career prospects and progression, as well as well-being of social service professionals.
Additionally, we need public campaigns and outreach efforts to highlight and emphasise the appeal associated with social service work. By showcasing the impact and fulfilment derived from a career in social service, passionate individuals can then be attracted to join the sector and make a difference in the lives of others. So, what more will MSF do to ensure the social service sector remains a career of choice?
Assoc Prof Razwana Begum Abdul Rahim: Social workers and child protection officers play an important role in protecting and supporting vulnerable individuals and families. I would like to thank all in this field for the great work that they do. Their work often involves navigating complex situations, advocating for the rights and needs of those they support, and providing a lifeline to those in crisis. It is important that they are equipped with the necessary resources, training and support to effectively manage both the practical and emotional demands of their job.
In this context, what measures are being taken to ensure social workers and child protection officers have the resources and training necessary to effectively carry out their duties and manage the emotional demands of their work? What plans does the Ministry have to better attract, retain and support social service professionals in order to meet the growing demands and adapt to the changing needs of our society? How does the Ministry plan to address the mental health and well-being of social workers, ensuring they receive adequate support to cope with the emotional demands of their roles? What initiatives are being introduced to provide ongoing professional development and career advancement opportunities for social workers? And finally, in what ways is the Ministry collaborating with educational institutions to prepare future social workers for the challenges they will face in the field?
Ms Ng Ling Ling: Sir, in my 2023 COS cut to MSF, I raised the concern that with challenging economic times, social fabric can be weakened and social mobility may slow if students from less-financially-able and stable families have less opportunities than their peers to optimise their potential.
These are social trends that we are familiar with and there is much to learn from interventions carried out by other developed countries with longer history and development. However, I felt that with our unique history, our nation building philosophy that has seen us leapfrog from third world to the first world in one generation and our multiracial and multi-cultural society, it will be beneficial to delve deeper and consider social interventions and approaches that will work better for Singaporeans in our context and in the changing times ahead.
I would like to ask for an update on: one, whether MSF has done more longitudinal and local research to understand what social interventions work and what do not for our different groups of underprivileged Singaporeans in the past two years; and two, what are some findings and how are they incorporated into major initiatives under MSF, like the ComLink+ programme?
Ms Carrie Tan: Mr Chairman, I would like to first declare that I am self-employed as a transformation coach providing well-being related coaching services.
I rise today to highlight a matter of utmost importance, what my colleague, Mr Louis Ng, said as the burning bicycles. Basically, ensuring a thriving and sustainable organisational culture within our social service agencies (SSAs). These agencies are the backbone of our society's care system, providing critical support to our most vulnerable. Yet, those who dedicate their lives to service often work under immense stress, leading to burnout, attrition and a decline in service quality.
In a recent survey my team and I conducted, which 88 SSA employees responded to, half were dissatisfied with work-life balance, 24% reported high stress and anxiety and almost 20% experienced emotional exhaustion and even depression and mental health challenges since joining the sector. A staggering 68.2% indicated they experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression specifically.
About 57% of respondents did not feel comfortable discussing their mental health challenges with their HR. This indicates that many SSA employees worry about being judged for not being resilient enough at work. This fear prevents them from seeking the support they need, worsening workplace stress and attrition that creates a vicious cycle of overwork for the remaining staff and burn-out. If we are to build a compassionate and resilient social sector, we must invest in the well-being of the very individuals who provide care. I propose three key measures to strengthen the organisational culture within SSAs.
One, I urge the National Council of Social Service to implement organisational culture pulse checks every three years for all SSAs. These assessments will provide crucial insights into workplace morale, leadership effectiveness and employee well-being. By systematically evaluating organisational health, we can proactively address emerging issues before they escalate, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability.
Second, I call for mandatory mental wellness training for broad leadership under the Centre for Non-Profit Leadership's training programmes or by the many local training enterprises that have sprouted in recent years to enable our collective well-being, such as Growthbeans and Calm Collective. Leadership sets the tone for workplace culture. Board members must be equipped to recognise and prevent unhelpful management practices and advocate for policies to create psychologically safe environments that prioritise staff well-being. A leader who understands the toll of social work is better positioned to enact meaningful change that supports the management, employees and beneficiaries.
Finally, we must provide dedicated funding for a shared pool of well-being facilitators who will conduct regular check-ins with SSA personnel. These professionals will serve as an independent support system, offering a listening ear, suggest healthy coping strategies and provide guidance toward necessary resources. Many frontline workers struggle in silence, so having an accessible, trained facilitator can make the difference between retention and resignation.
This is not just a moral imperative, it is a strategic investment. A healthy organisational culture ensures SSAs can deliver consistent, high-quality care to those who need it the most. So, let us stand in solidarity with our social service workers and affirm our commitment to their well-being. Let us have less burning bicycles.
Mr Keith Chua (Nominated Member): Mr Chairman, the social service sector has come a long way in the past few decades, maturing in professional standing and practices. Many more dedicated individuals have joined the social services as demand has grown in all areas. New initiatives continue to be launched to meet the evolving needs as we work toward ensuring that no one is left behind.
I would like to declare my role on the boards of SSAs.
Our sector continues to be heavily reliant on the constant inflow of professional staff and allied health workers. Many SSAs require a percentage of foreign staff to fill a variety of roles. We are training more social workers in our institutes of higher learning in anticipation of current and future needs. With our new social compact, I hope many more Singaporeans will see the social service sector as one that will present opportunity for a fulfilling career.
In the past, salaries in the sector trailed behind jobs in most other industry groups. Steps have been in place for many years to uplift pay scales with Government support as many service providers are charities. In labour-tight Singapore, how might the social service sector continue to attract, nurture and retain talent beyond just better wages?
At the sectoral level, how might we keep pace with societal changes and evolve to continue to serve Singapore society well? Will the Minister consider actively building a pool of trained volunteers in key areas of need to complement the full-time professional teams? As we see jobs in some commercial sectors reduce, can we actively retrain displaced workers to take up jobs in the social service sector?
Mr Mohd Fahmi Aliman: Chairman, SSAs, particularly, Family Service Centres, play a critical role in supporting vulnerable families and ensuring they receive the necessary assistance to achieve stability. Strengthening the delivery of family services is essential in addressing complex and evolving needs within the community. As challenges become more multifaceted, ensuring that services and programmes are well-coordinated, accessible and impactful is key to improving social outcomes.
Could MSF elaborate on how it plans to enhance service delivery within the social service sector? Specifically, how will the Ministry ensure that vulnerable families, especially those with multiple and complex needs, receive more holistic, integrated and effective support?
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Zaqy.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Committee of Supply Reporting Progress","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"The Deputy Leader of the House (Mr Zaqy Mohamad): Chairman, may I seek your consent to move that progress be reported and leave be asked again to sit on Monday, 10 March 2025?
The Chairman: I give my consent.
[(proc text) Resolved, \"That progress be reported and leave be asked to sit again on Monday, 10 March 2025.\" – [Mr Zaqy Mohamad]. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House. (proc text)]
Mr Speaker: Senior Minister of State Zaqy.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Speaker, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2025/2026 and ask leave to sit again on Monday, 10 March 2025.
Mr Speaker: So be it.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Adjournment","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"[(proc text) Resolved, \"That Parliament do now adjourn to Monday, 10 March 2025\" – [Mr Zaqy Mohamad]. (proc text)]
Mr Speaker: Have a good weekend. Order. Order.
Adjourned accordingly at 7.42 pm.
8 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry will consider working with MAS to further enhance consumer safeguards and transparency requirements for riders offered under Integrated Shield Plans, particularly in ensuring that policyholders are adequately informed of any changes in coverage and premiums; and (b) what measures are in place to monitor the impact of these changes on policyholders especially in terms of affordability and accessibility to necessary healthcare services. \n
Mr Ong Ye Kung: The Member may refer to the oral reply in response to Parliamentary Question Nos 31 and 32 for the Sitting on 4 February 2025 for more details on the Ministry of Health's and the Monetary Authority of Singapore's disclosure requirements that apply to both Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) and Riders. [Please refer to \"Insurers' Responsibility in Informing and Giving Adequate Notice to Policyholders for Changes in Coverage and Claims\", Official Report, 4 February 2025, Vol 95, Issue 150, Written Answers to Questions for Oral Answer not Answered by End of Question Time section.]
As for the other query concerning the impact of these changes on the affordability and access to healthcare, the Member may wish to refer to the written reply in response to Parliamentary Question No 10 for the Sitting on 28 February 2025. [Please refer to \"Effect of Changes to Integrated Shield Plans by Insurers on Policyholders' Out-of-pocket Expenses and Access to Healthcare Services\", Official Report, 28 February 2025, Vol 95, Issue 155, Written Answers to Questions section.]
The Government's assurance to Singaporeans is the universal access to subsidised healthcare in public hospitals, which is supported by subsidies, MediShield Life, MediSave and MediFund, to ensure affordability. IPs and Riders are private commercial products that are sized for unsubsidised healthcare. Over-coverage, especially the low co-payment under Riders, have changed the dynamics between patients and doctors, resulting in over-servicing, over-consumption and escalating medical bills. Individuals should carefully assess whether the very high premiums of Riders are worth the coverage it offers for residual items like co-payment and deductibles. We have urged the insurance industry to take a hard look at their policy designs, to rein in the domino effect of over-coverage, escalating bills and higher premiums.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Trend of Serious Escalator Incidents Resulting in Permanent Disabilities","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"9 Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for National Development in each year of the last three years (a) how many children under the age of 12 have been injured in accidents involving their foot being trapped in escalators; (b) whether any of these accidents have led to permanent disabilities; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider additional safety measures to prevent and minimise similar accidents from recurring in the future.
Mr Desmond Lee: Between 2022 to 2024, an average of 30 incidents of children under the age of 12 getting trapped while using escalators were reported to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) per year, with most cases involving footwear entrapment. About one-third of the total number of incidents in the past three years involved hospital treatment. BCA is not aware of cases that have led to permanent disability.
Escalators in Singapore are subject to safety standards, which are benchmarked against those of other jurisdictions. BCA has assessed that most cases arose because of user behaviour, such as standing too close to the edges of escalator steps while wearing rubber footwear. BCA has been partnering stakeholders, including mall owners and escalator manufacturers, to conduct roadshows and workshops to educate the public on the safe use of escalators. BCA has also stepped up outreach efforts through the media and distribution of escalator safety education materials to building owners, who have displayed safety signages at escalators. With these efforts, we hope that parents will also educate their young children on the safe use of escalators and ensure that they stand away from the edges and avoid running or playing on escalators.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Impact of Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone on Singapore Business Parks' Occupancy Rates and Competitiveness","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"10 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (a) how does the Ministry assess the impact of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone on the occupancy rates of Singapore's business parks; and (b) what strategic measures are being considered to enhance the competitiveness of our business parks in light of this regional development.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: Overall occupancy for Singapore's business parks remains healthy at 77.9% as of Q4 of 2024 and are broadly in line with previous trends. It is premature to comment on the impact of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) on the occupancy rates of Singapore's business parks.
Singapore and Johor are working together on JS-SEZ for win-win outcomes. We will jointly attract new investments to JS-SEZ, some of which will invest in Singapore and benefit our economy and people. Singapore firms can also expand and grow their businesses by siting some of their operations in Johor, where, for example, there is more land available than in land-scarce Singapore.
The JTC Corporation will continue to develop and manage our industrial parks to keep up with economic trends and industrial transformation, as it has done over the decades.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Review of Existing Incentive Structures in Attracting Tenants to Business Parks, Given Persistent High Vacancy Rates","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"1 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry in view of the persistent high vacancy rates in our business parks (a) whether the Ministry has evaluated the effectiveness of existing incentive structures designed to attract tenants; (b) if so, what are the key findings; and (c) whether there are plans to revise these incentives to better align with current market demands.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: The occupancy rate for business parks remains healthy at 77.9% in Q4 2024. Occupancy rates have hovered at around 75% to 85% in the past 15 years. There has been an increase in supply with the development of Punggol Digital District and tenants will begin moving in this year.
JTC Corporation (JTC) does not provide incentives for the spaces at business parks, which are rented out based on market rates. JTC regularly engages businesses and keeps updated on industrial trends to ensure the value and relevance of its business parks so that they remain attractive to and support the needs of businesses.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Effectiveness of Deterrent Measures in Coping with Rise in Speeding Violations","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"2 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Home Affairs in view of the increase in speeding violations in 2024 compared with 2023 (a) whether the Ministry can elaborate on the effectiveness of existing deterrent measures; and (b) what factors have contributed to the rise in speeding violations despite current enforcement efforts.
Mr K Shanmugam: The increase in speeding violations in 2024 was partly due to Traffic Police's (TP's) enhanced enforcement, including through the progressive activation of the speed enforcement function on red-light cameras (RLCs). We do not rule out that it may also be due to drivers generally speeding more.
We will, therefore, have to continue and in fact double down on public education, to reinforce in drivers an attitude of safety, responsibility and compliance with the law. In addition, we will make it more punitive for those who persist in speeding and endanger the lives of others. TP will activate the speed enforcement function on more RLCs in 2025 and further increase enforcement on the roads. We also plan to increase the demerit points and composition sums for speeding offences from 1 January 2026.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Including Detection of Emotional and Psychological Abuse and Emotional Neglect in Toolkit of Social Service Professionals in Family Violence Cases","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"3 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the standardised assessment and screening tools developed to enable frontline social service professionals to better identify and detect family violence cases include the detection of (i) emotional and psychological abuse and (ii) emotional neglect cases.
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Yes.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Waiting Time for Place in Special Student Care Centres with Before and After School Care Services","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"4 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the average waiting time for a child to secure a place in a Special Student Care Centre (SSCC) that provides before and after school care services for children with special needs; and (b) whether the Ministry can provide an update on the plan to set up more SSCCs.
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: At present, there are eight Special Student Care Centres (SSCCs). Of students enrolled into SSCCs over the past year, the average waiting time was about eight months.
SSCCs may grant priority admission to students who need a placement urgently, such as those without other caregiving arrangements and from lower-income households. Where needed, SSCCs would work with corresponding Special Education (SPED) schools to engage the students and families. SG Enable also provides information to families on alternative options, such as other SSCCs with vacancies, and link them to caregiver support resources.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) works with the Social Service Agencies and SG Enable to identify areas where there is demand for SSCC services. We plan to set up more SSCCs in tandem with the Ministry of Education's plan to build more SPED schools, to provide greater convenience to families with children with special needs who require SSCC services. MSF will continue to engage stakeholders, including parents and caregivers of children with special needs, to gather feedback and improve the accessibility of SSCC services.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"More Funding for Development Support-Plus Programme for Children Requiring Early Intervention Support","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"5 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry can provide more funding for the Development Support-Plus (DS-Plus) programme that supports children who require low levels of early intervention support.
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) funds a suite of Early Intervention (EI) programmes tailored to support children requiring different levels of EI support. Along with the Development Support – Learning Support programme, the Development Support-Plus (DS-Plus) programme supports children requiring low levels of EI support in preschools. EI professionals support the child in his or her preschool up to twice a week, co-teaching the child alongside the preschool teacher.
The Government has been increasing spending on EI over the years, including the DS-Plus programme, expanding the number of EI places and lowering fees for EI services. DS-Plus fees are subsidised and, with ECDA's support, sector partners reach out to parents and preschools to offer DS-Plus to eligible children in the preschools they are enrolled in.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Increase in Prices for Sexual Health Tests at Public Healthcare Institutions in Past Five Years","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"6 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Health (a) what are the percentage increases in prices in the past five years for tests for (i) chlamydia and gonorrhoea polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (ii) hepatitis A, B and C (iii) syphilis and (iv) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at public healthcare clinics and institutions; (b) whether there are plans to increase prices further; and (c) what are the considerations in setting prices of sexual health tests.
Mr Ong Ye Kung: The public healthcare institutions set and adjust their fees to reflect the underlying cost, before applying subsidies.
The Ministry of Health does not specifically track the five-year fee trends of tests for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, human immunodeficiency virus as well as hepatitis A, B and C.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Ensuring Employers' Adherence to Responsible Practices in Retrenchment of Migrant Workers","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"7 Ms See Jinli Jean asked the Minister for Manpower (a) since 2021, how many migrant workers (MWs) have been retrenched and from which sectors; (b) of these, how many have been given a retrenchment benefit or an ex-gratia payment; and (c) how does the Ministry ensure that companies apply the responsible retrenchment practices as outlined under the Tripartite Advisory for Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment to affected MWs.
Dr Tan See Leng: The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) collects data on retrenched employees based on their residential status but not by their work pass type. From 2021 to 2023, an average of about 2,680 non-resident employees were retrenched each year. The majority of these employees worked in electronics manufacturing, information and communications and wholesale trade. Based on MOM's data, around nine in 10 eligible employees – those with at least two years of service – received a retrenchment benefit.
Under the Tripartite Advisory for Managing Excess Manpower and Responsible Retrenchment (TAMEM), retrenchment should be the last resort. Employers should conduct retrenchment responsibly and sensitively, be objective in the selection process and treat all employees with respect, regardless of employee background. The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices will engage employers if they do not abide by TAMEM.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Plans to Require Taxis to Provide Child Car Seats","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"8 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Transport (a) since the pilot by SMRT Taxis to provide child booster seats five years ago, whether there are plans to require taxis to provide child car seats; and (b) if not, why not.
Mr Chee Hong Tat: Taxis are exempt from the requirement for passengers below 1.35 metres in height to be secured in child seats, as they provide street-hail services. Unlike ride-hail services, street-hail passengers would not be able to inform the driver in advance if they need child seats.
To meet the commuting needs of families with young children, ride-hail platforms are required to allow passengers to indicate if they need a child seat when booking a ride, so that the matched vehicle will come with the requested child seat. Passengers with young children could use their own child seats when riding taxis or private hire cars.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null}],"writtenAnswersVOList":[],"writtenAnsNAVOList":[],"annexureList":[],"vernacularList":[],"onlinePDFFileName":""}