1 Mr Zainal Sapari asked\tthe Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) (a) how much of the $2.2 million false SkillsFuture Credit claims by over 4,400 individuals has been recovered; (b) other than recovering the amounts, whether other actions have been taken against these individuals for making the false claims; and (c) what actions will be taken against the training providers if they had conspired with the individuals in making the false claims.
\tThe Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministers for Education (Ms Low Yen Ling) (for the Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills)): Mdm Speaker, we take a very serious view of any misuse of the SkillsFuture Credit, especially the recent incident involving some 4,400 individuals who submitted claims without attending the courses. SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) has since issued letters to these individuals to demand for the monies to be repaid. As these individuals have up to early April to make payment, it is premature to look at the monies recovered as of now.
Our investigations show that these individuals acted on their own accord and did not conspire with any training provider. Individuals who provide false information to SSG are in breach of section 58 of the SkillsFuture Singapore Agency Act. This carries a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and/or imprisonment of up to 12 months.
It is regrettable that these individuals have abused the user-friendly system offered by SkillsFuture Credit, an initiative to support skills upgrading and training aspirations of Singaporeans. Members can be sure that SSG is tracking the recovery of monies closely and will not hesitate to take necessary actions, including legal measures, against those who fail to return the monies.
Mdm Speaker: Mr Zainal Sapari.
\tMr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol):\tI thank the Parliamentary Secretary for the comprehensive answer. Moving forward, what is being done to prevent such false claims?
\tMs Low Yen Ling: I thank Mr Zainal Sapari for the supplementary question. Allow me to quickly recap the objectives of SkillsFuture Credit. The aim really is to empower Singaporeans aged 25 and above to leverage the SkillsFuture Credit to reskill or upgrade their skills.
It is in this spirit that the SkillsFuture Credit course directory and the claim processes were designed to be simple, inclusive as well as user-friendly. It is regrettable that some individuals have abused this system and submitted false claims. We have zero tolerance for abusers who misuse this privilege.
We have sent out letters of demand to these individuals and given them time to repay the monies. SSG is closely tracking the recovery of these monies. Legal actions will be taken against those who do not return the monies.
I want to reassure Mr Zainal Sapari and Members in the House that we will leave no stone unturned as we take considered measures to review all processes to ensure a very robust system to detect abuses and making of false claims.
Even as we speak, several measures have been put in place by SSG. Allow me to cite a few. For example, SSG is intensifying its scope and frequency of checks and audits on training providers as well as individual claims. For instance, training providers and individuals who are being audited are required to submit necessary documents, such as attendance list, course enrolment or proof of payment. In addition, a process review committee comprising the SSG board members has been set up. This committee will conduct an in-depth review of all the policies and procedures relating to the processing of all training-related claims and disbursements to training providers, employers as well as individuals. This committee will review and identify how this can be further strengthened.
While we are strengthening the enforcement system, we are also very mindful to minimise the impact that could be caused to the majority of the users who are responsible users of the SkillsFuture system. We hope all Singaporeans will respect this privilege and use it for the right purpose and use it in a responsible way to support their learning journey.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Guidelines for Pre- and Post-precision Medicine Counselling Confidentiality","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"2 Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked\tthe Minister for Health whether the Ministry will be coming up with guidelines on the appropriate pre- and post-counselling and confidentiality and protection statements for the utilisation of personalised medicine.
\tThe Minister of State for Health (Dr Lam Pin Min) (for the Minister for Health): Speaker, Personalised Medicine, also known as Precision Medicine, generally refers to the customisation of medical treatments and clinical care to specific patient groups based on their underlying clinical, socio-demographic or genetic profiles. There are existing safeguards on preservation of confidentiality of medical records and informed consent-taking that apply to practice and research in Precision Medicine. These safeguards are provided for under the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act (PHMCA) and the Human Biomedical Research Act (HBRA).
PHMCA stipulates requirements on the protection of medical records, including the confidentiality and integrity of the records. HBRA provides a consent framework for the conduct of human biomedical research, including requirements relating to appropriate consent-taking from research subjects.
Given that the field is evolving rapidly, there is a need to keep abreast of developments and review our safeguards so as to ensure patient and public interests. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has started the process of drafting standards for the provision of clinical genetic testing services in Precision Medicine. These will help address issues, such as pre- and post-test counselling, competency of personnel involved in the delivery of the services, as well as appropriateness in the ordering of genetic tests and interpretation of test results. The need for informed consent, security and confidentiality of information and disclosure of test results to third parties outside direct healthcare providers will also be addressed. MOH will consult relevant stakeholders on the draft standards when they are ready.
Mdm Speaker: Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef.
Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade):\tMdm Speaker, I have two supplementary questions for the Minister of State. Firstly, knowing that MOH is drafting the standards, will it amount to a formal clinic practice guideline or a very formal guideline for doctors to follow? Secondly, because this is a relatively new area and the tests can be expensive and also non-standard, can I find out how MOH will be monitoring this space in terms of costing?
\tDr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef for the supplementary questions. These are, indeed, very pertinent questions. As clinical genetic testing is very new and the field of Precision Medicine is evolving, like I mentioned in my reply, MOH is in the process of drafting standards for the provision of clinical genetic testing applicable for healthcare institutions and laboratories. These sets of standards will be ready by the second half of 2017 and will be promulgated first as a code of practice to all licensees for a year, before being ramped up to make sure that these licensees are operationally ready to meet the draft standards.
Thereafter, these sets of standards will be enforced by the end of 2018, under PHMCA, whereby MOH will set up an inspection and audit mechanism to assess the healthcare institutions' compliance with these standards.
With regard to the second question, all licensees who wish to provide genetic testing services in the healthcare institutions will need to seek approval from MOH and fulfil a set of stringent standards which will include ensuring specialised expertise and qualifications of the medical personnel to interpret test results as well as ensuring proper pre- and post-genetic test counselling to allow patients to make informed decisions and understand the cost benefits of such genetic tests.
MOH's inspection and audit teams will also check that these tests were ordered by qualified medical personnel and counselling was conducted appropriately.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Comparison between Singapore and OECD's Electricity Tariffs","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"3 Mr Leon Perera asked\tthe Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) for each year from 2011 to 2016, what has been the price difference between Singapore's regulated electricity tariff and that of OECD countries which use gas as the main fuel for power generation.
\tThe Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (Mr S Iswaran): Mdm Speaker, Singapore uses imported natural gas to generate 95% of its electricity needs. There are only a handful of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries that rely on natural gas as their main fuel source for power generation. These are Mexico, the Netherlands, Ireland, Turkey and Japan, which use gas for 40% to 57% of their electricity needs.
Based on the latest available data for these five countries, Singapore's regulated electricity tariffs were, on average, about 1% higher over the period from 2011 to 2015.
However, it is more meaningful to compare our regulated electricity tariffs with Ireland, Turkey and Japan, which rely mainly on imported natural gas, similar to Singapore. When compared to these countries, Singapore's regulated electricity tariffs were, on average, 13% lower over the period from 2011 to 2015.
Mdm Speaker:\tOrder. End of Question Time. Introduction of Government Bills.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity (Amendment) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BI","content":"[(proc text) \"to amend the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act (Chapter 50A of the 2007 Revised Edition)\", (proc text)]
[(proc text) presented by the Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Mr Desmond Lee); 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":"Public Order (Amendment) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BI","content":"[(proc text) \"to amend the Public Order Act (Chapter 257A of the 2012 Revised Edition)\", (proc text)]
[(proc text) presented by the Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Mr Desmond Lee); 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":"Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BI","content":"[(proc text) \"to amend the Energy Conservation Act (Chapter 92C of the 2014 Revised Edition), and to make related amendments to certain other Acts\", (proc text)]
[(proc text) recommendation of President signified; presented by the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M); 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":"Estimates for the Financial Year 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 ","subTitle":"Committee of Supply − Paper Cmd 8 of 2017","sectionType":"OS","content":"[(proc text) Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [6th Allotted Day]. (proc text)]
[Mdm 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 O (Ministry of Health)","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"Dr Chia Shi-Lu (Tanjong Pagar): Madam, I beg to move, \"That the total sum to be allocated for Head O of the Estimates be reduced by $100\".
I would like to begin with a quote from George Burns − he may probably not be the best person to begin this debate with because he is well-known for being always seen with a cigar hanging out of his mouth − but he once quipped that, \"I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life\".
In other words, we reap what we sow, and the lifestyle decisions we make have a significant impact on our health in later life. We cannot choose our parents and so our genetic make-up is predetermined, but we can certainly choose how we live our lives. Likewise, as a nation, decisions we now make regarding our healthcare framework will have deep and far-reaching consequences on the healthcare landscape of the future.
In Singapore we should take some credit for always keeping a constant eye on the future. We have all heard about SkillsFuture and other forward-looking policies, and healthcare is no exception. Since my earliest speeches about health and healthcare in this House during the Budget Debates, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has progressed its Healthcare Masterplan, first to 2020, then beyond 2020, and now onto 2030.
It is great that we are planning for the future, but in order to future-proof the health of our citizens, we need to pay close attention to the present.
Shaping lifestyle decisions, ensuring a clean living environment and further improving socioeconomic conditions through inclusive growth remain arguably the most powerful means of influencing the health of our country.
That is why many studies have shown an inconstant correlation between healthcare spending and the overall health status of a country, since healthcare spending primarily captures the magnitude of expenditure on medical care, rather than the sum of efforts directed towards health maintenance.
I hope that MOH will be able to provide an update to this House as to what progress has been made in encouraging Singaporeans to keep active and live healthily.
We still pride ourselves on being able to support a world-class medical care system and achieve world-class health standards, but it is increasingly becoming a stretch to declare that we can do so at a modest price. True, healthcare expenditure remains a small percentage of our gross domestic product (GDP) compared to what many other developed countries spend. But I note that, this year, the healthcare budget is close to S$10.7 billion, which is about an eighth of our operating Budget for 2017, and this is almost a 10% increase from last year's Budget.
Just a few years ago, then Finance Minister Deputy Prime Minister Tharman announced that we can expect healthcare spending to jump to $12 billion by 2020, and it certainly seems that we may be reaching this target earlier rather than later.
One of the big issues that has dominated this year's Budget is concerning the rise in the price of water. Healthcare, like water, is a necessity and it is a public good. But it, too, has resource limitations. One of the measures that has been suggested to impress on the public the importance and true cost of water is to reintroduce rationing exercises. I certainly am not suggesting that we consider rationing healthcare to encourage more judicious use of medical care, although I do note with consternation that there are countries, both developed and developing, which are actually seriously exploring various ways of rationing healthcare to their population as costs have ballooned out of control.
But we have to act now to rein in healthcare spending and channel resources to policies which have a proven impact on the health status of Singaporeans. My point is that we should rationalise, but not ration.
I was encouraged that MOH had earlier announced three key shifts in healthcare (a) moving beyond the hospital to the community; (b) beyond quality to value; and (c) beyond healthcare to health. These are critical to the sustainability and future-proofing of our healthcare system, and I would like to ask what the Ministry has done to begin these shifts.
Over the past few years, we have made great progress in providing quality, affordable and accessible medical care, but the challenges to the health of Singaporeans remain formidable. Smoking prevalence continues to be stubbornly sticky, many of us still feel helpless when trying to eat healthily and exercise often, and trying to maintain an optimal work-life balance remains a struggle for many.
I applaud the recent announcement of the NurtureSG programme, which encapsulates many suggestions that healthcare professionals have been advocating. I would like to ask the Ministry if it can update this House on how it intends to see this programme through and what resources will be made available to ensure that this programme succeeds.
The emphasis on healthy eating is particularly laudable, since studies have shown that children who learn to eat healthily tend to continue to do so in their adult lives and are likely to pass on such habits to their children. This would surely be a significant pre-emptive strike in our continuing battle against diabetes and other chronic diseases.
I believe that the Ministry could go even further by perhaps looking at legislation and enshrining such good practices in the requisite laws, such as what the United States (US) has done with the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which also addresses another issue, which is, to ensure that no child should start the school day without having a healthy breakfast. I would like to ask if MOH or perhaps the Ministry of Education (MOE) has any data on the percentage of our school children who do not regularly have breakfast before the school day begins.
I also commend the announced focus on safeguarding sleep for our children. How does the Ministry intend to help parents and caregivers achieve the sleep goals for their children?
Next, I would like to recognise the steady investment the Ministry has made over the years in intermediate and long-term care (ILTC) and end-of-life care, both in terms of manpower and infrastructure. Nonetheless, there remain concerns about how such care will be financed as the current MediSave, MediShield Life and MediFund (3M) framework does not adequately address this area of care. I am happy that the Government has recognised the urgency for a thorough review and enhancement of the ElderShield programme. In our 2013 Paper on Healthcare Affordability, we opined that \"with the integration of social care and healthcare under one Ministry, the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Health recommends that the current ElderShield payout be revised. Meant for severely disabled elderly Singaporeans, the current ElderShield payout is insufficient for Singaporeans to even cover nursing home fees. Its coverage should, therefore, be strengthened to make it more relevant.\"
The GPC for Health has been concerned about this issue for some time now, and we will be presenting our comments and suggestions to the ElderShield Review Committee in due course. I would like to ask MOH if the timeline for the review remains on track.
Finally, we are privileged to live in an era which has seen rapid and breathtaking advances in medical and healthcare technology. The disruptive effects of these advances will lead to new paradigms of healthcare delivery, and Singapore should be ready to embrace these shifts as they could lead to significant improvements in our well-being and can also be an impetus for economic development.
In this generation, it is quite probable that medical care will become highly personalised, such that the care patients receive becomes more targeted, more efficient, safer and, ultimately, more affordable.
Personalised healthcare, also known as precision medicine, holds great promise for the future of healthcare. Precision medicine refers to the ability to \"tailor therapies to a patient's individual needs by examining their individual characteristics\". Many countries are actively developing their capabilities here. The US has its Precision Medicine Initiative, Europe has its European Alliance for Personalised Medicine, and China announced a massive investment in Personalised Medicine as part of its 13th Five-year Plan.
However, this brave new world of medical therapy will have to be carefully navigated, and regulators will need to keep up. Traditional systems of healthcare delivery will change, such as what defines a hospital, and can treatment only come from the more traditional medical institutions? How do we make sense of the barrage of new technology and treatments and curate them properly for the benefit of our citizens?
I have previously asked for a more robust framework for evaluating healthcare therapies, as there are many cautionary tales if one just looks around. The sad stories of dubious therapies like alkaline water treatment, spectacular failures like that of the flawed or perhaps even fraudulent blood testing technology of Theranos are but some examples.
I would like to request an update on the health technology assessment framework. I think it bears repeating that we should rationalise and not ration healthcare. It has also announced that MOH is reviewing the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act (PHMCA). What is the progress of this review and how will updating this Act better safeguard the welfare of our patients?
In conclusion, Madam, the real answer to future-proofing healthcare in Singapore is simply to be future-ready. This means that we have to invest prudently and sustainably in the present and have a pragmatic roadmap for the future.
[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]
The Chairman: Ms Tin Pei Ling.
Ms Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson): One of the aims of Healthcare 2020 was to offer seamless, hassle-free and holistic care for patients across different stages of their healthcare journey. With an ageing population, the need for primary and geriatric care will rise, relative to acute care. Given the profile and needs of the aged and the already heavy load on our healthcare system, community-based healthcare is important and the pace of implementation has to pick up.
Given this, could the Ministry share what it has done and will continue to do to shift the centre of care to the community? And in this digital age and in this Budget where we talk about digitalisation, could the Ministry also share how it has embraced technology to improve efficiency of healthcare delivery and to improve patients' access to healthcare within the community?
Over the years, we have put in place, streamlined and updated our healthcare systems and structures so as to keep pace with developments and needs. Healthcare in Singapore has made many improvements and won international recognition. Looking ahead, we must look beyond ensuring access, cost containment and convenience − all of which are still important − but also consider how we can deliver value-based healthcare, where health outcomes are maximised per dollar spent.
As such, could MOH share what are its vision and plan beyond Healthcare 2020 and what it has done to achieve value-based healthcare? Could MOH share the desired outcomes that it wishes to attain for Singapore's healthcare system and population, as well as the key indicators that are being tracked?
Mr Low Thia Khiang (Aljunied): Madam, the percentage of our population aged 65 and above increased from 11.2% in 2014 to 12.4% in 2016 and will only rise further. It is crucial that we plan ahead, in tandem with the expected ageing population, to ensure that we have the necessary infrastructure and manpower to meet the present and future healthcare needs of Singaporeans.
In recent years, the construction of hospitals and medical centres has been ramped up, resulting in significant increases in the development expenditure of MOH.
Yet, according to a report published by the Lien Foundation and the Khoo Chwee Neo Foundation, the Government's efforts to ramp up capacity lags behind the rate at which the population is ageing. The report found that \"Singapore had around 26.1 nursing home beds per 1,000 people aged 65 and above in 2015 − the lowest proportion in 15 years − down from around 28 beds in 2000 and well below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 45.2 beds.\"
The Straits Times article goes on to add that based on the percentage of the elderly population living in residential aged care facilities in developed countries, such as the US, Australia and Finland, there will be 50,000 seniors in Singapore who will require such facilities by 2030. The Government's current plan is to bring the total number of nursing home beds to slightly over 17,000 by 2020. Is this sufficient to cope with projected demand? I would like to find out from the Minister what is the progress of the plans to increase the physical capacity of our healthcare system, and is the current expansion of existing infrastructure sufficient to meet the healthcare needs of the population?
On manpower, the Government's Healthcare Manpower Plan 2020 seeks to add 30,000 healthcare workers by 2020. In early 2016, in a reply to a Parliamentary Question filed by my colleague, our doctor and nurse to population ratios still lag behind other developed countries, such as Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK) and the US.
I have a few questions for the Minister. Given that the number of nurses and allied health professional graduates has fallen since 2012, while the number of medical graduates has also fallen since 2013, all these despite great efforts by the Government to make these jobs more attractive, how confident is MOH in meeting the targets in the Manpower Plan 2020?
It was reported that there were 2,100 foreign doctors in public hospitals and polyclinics at the end of 2014. What is this number today? Also, what is the ratio of foreign nurses to local nurses currently in public hospitals and polyclinics, and what is the ratio that the Ministry hopes to achieve by 2020?
Dr Chia Shi-Lu: Madam, MOH announced a reorganisation of the healthcare system from six regional groups into three clusters in January this year. The intention is to better optimise resources and provide more comprehensive and patient-centred care services. Each cluster will provide the full range of acute hospital care, primary care and community care and also include a medical school.
However, a number of my patients and residents have expressed concern that if their preferred polyclinic and Government hospital are not within the same clusters, they will encounter problems after the regrouping is completed in 2018. I had reassured them that under the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) system, our hospitals, specialist outpatient clinics and polyclinics have access to their medical records. In fact, they can also access them through the HealthHub system. So, it is quite seamless and they will not be adversely affected.
However, this explanation was not fully satisfactory for them as some of them could not understand the necessity of the regrouping in the first place. Would the Ministry share in greater detail about the new healthcare system regrouping and, ultimately, how Singaporeans will benefit from this reorganisation? In what ways will the new system be more suitable for our future healthcare needs?
Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade): Chairman, Mdm A is 70 years old. She has complicated diabetes and has to follow up with her diabetologist for sugar control; her podiatrist for her long-term foot ulcer; an ophthalmologist for her diabetes which has affected her eyes; and her worsening kidney function requires her to see a renal physician. Some of her appointments are six-monthly and others are two- to three-monthly. Each visit will require her to collect medications from the pharmacist as well. To get to the specialist outpatient clinic or polyclinic, her daughter and son need to take turns off work, or her domestic helper will assist when they are overseas. She will take a taxi usually but, a few times, she has had to have a non-emergency ambulance to send her to the facility which, of course, costs her more.
Care coordination is the deliberate organisation of patient care activities to facilitate appropriate delivery of services. It will help our patients negotiate the system efficiently and effectively and, of course, it will also save them time. There is a need to address the potential gaps in meeting patients' interrelated medical, social, educational, as well as support services needs. Too many transitions that exist today can, indeed, be confusing and time-consuming, especially for our seniors, and we are going to see more of them in the coming years.
Care coordination has been identified as the key strategy by the US Institute of Medicine to increase effectiveness and safety. How can we streamline and coordinate, as well as integrate these various types of services so that someone like as Mdm A can be in one place and all the disciplines can see her there, more along the lines of perhaps a medical mall, but not at private sector costing.
Mr Low Thia Khiang: Madam, the Government has been talking about keeping long-term healthcare costs affordable for Singaporeans. Based on feedback from residents, some Singaporeans still find the cost of medicine high. I believe this is partly due to doctors prescribing drugs for a long duration or prescribing non-standard drugs. I would like to ask MOH what measures have been taken to reduce the cost of medicine for patients and how effectively have these measures lowered the cost of medicine for patients, especially those with chronic diseases.
The Minister said in 2012 that the profit margins for drugs sold in public hospitals typically range from 5% to 30%. I would like to ask if the profit margins today are still the same and what are the profit margins for drugs sold in polyclinics.
Two years ago, the Workers' Party (WP) suggested that the Government look into publishing drug prices for public hospitals. The Minister rejected this saying that, \"drugs constitute only one aspect of the overall treatment.\" I would like to repeat the call to publish drug prices at public hospitals for better transparency.
Next, under the National Childhood Immunisation Programme, all recommended vaccinations are fully subsidised and provided free of charge at all polyclinics for children who are Singapore Citizens, except pneumococcal vaccinations.
Pneumococcal disease manifests in illnesses, such as pneumonia and meningitis, and is the leading infectious cause of death in children and adults worldwide. According to MOH's figures, pneumonia is the second most common cause of death in Singapore and one of the top five conditions of hospitalisation. I understand that pneumococcal meningitis is a disease that is difficult to detect in the early stages but progresses rapidly and could result in death or cause long-term health complications, such as paralysis or brain damage. Children below five years old and adults above 50 are at greater risk of being affected by such a disease.
In 2013 and, again in 2015, when WP called for fully subsidised pneumococcal vaccinations, the Minister said that this was not necessary since \"the potential for a public health epidemic or outbreak is relatively low.\" Madam, a complete series of the vaccine doses costs around $500, which is costly for parents. I ask MOH to consider providing a subsidy to encourage parents to use it.
I believe that the Government stands to benefit from providing subsidised pneumococcal vaccinations in the long run through the reduced burden on MediSave and MediShield Life. It could also save on expensive treatments, hospitalisations and medications down the line.
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Non-Constituency Member): Madam, the Government provides means-tested subsidies for MOH-funded ILTC facilities as well as treatments at public hospitals. I am appealing to MOH to implement a grace period for the withdrawal or reduction of subsidies instead of effecting the changes immediately when the per capita household income rises.
Let me give an example of a household with a per capita monthly income of $650. Under the current framework, a Singapore Citizen will qualify for 75% subsidies. Subsequently, if the per capita monthly household income rises to the next tier, that is, between $701 to $1,100, due to salary increment, bonus or commission, the subsidies will drop to 60%. This is a 15% decrease, which is considerable, especially since we are talking about Singaporeans with lower household per capita monthly income. This would apply even if their income only rose by about 10% to $710.
For Singaporeans who are at the receiving end, this can be very discouraging and could feel like two steps forward, one step back. A grace period should be given before the subsidy is withdrawn or reduced. This will give people some breathing room to consolidate their finances or even pay off some lingering debts, instead of hitting them with an immediate cost increase for medical expenses. I would like to call for the Ministry to review this to see how best we can help fellow Singaporeans who are in such situations.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Madam, on Monday, I had a resident who brought two bills to me. One was a medical bill and the other was a Central Provident Fund (CPF) statement of her 91-year-old parent. On the medical bill, it was stated $120 outstanding for payment in cash, after deducting MediSave claim. Then, she showed me the CPF statement of her 91-year-old parent. There was more than $10,000 in her CPF. She was asking me, \"My parent is 91 years old. Why can the Government not allow her to deduct a bit more from her MediSave? We do have our MediSave, we can help her out, too, but why do you need us to still use cash to make payment?\"
I know that the Government has already introduced Flexi-MediSave for the elderly. Under this scheme, all patients aged 65 and above can deduct up to $200 per year per patient for outpatient medical treatment at Specialist Outpatient Clinics at the public hospitals or the national specialty centres, polyclinics and Participating Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) general practitioner (GP) clinics. It can also be used together with other outpatient MediSave limits, such as the MediSave400 limit. But this is a very small amount.
I would like to appeal to the Government and MOH to review the MediSave claiming for the elderly, especially to increase the claim limit for the elderly, especially those with healthy MediSave balances so as to reduce their cash outlay for medical expenses. Can the Government further enhance this Flexi-MediSave for the elderly to allow for a further increase, perhaps a 20% increase, in claim limit for MediSave for hospitalisation, surgery and treatment?
Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Madam, community hospitals play an ever-increasingly important role in our healthcare system, given our ageing population. For our elderly patients, the systemic rehabilitation programmes offered by community hospitals help to improve their functional abilities and quality of life.
We should do what we can to increase accessibility to such services at community hospitals. Deputy Prime Minister Teo referred to this as \"right-siting\" in his speech last week in this House. Paradoxically, our healthcare financing scheme may stand in the way of such a development.
Based on the current MediShield Life system, MediShield Life benefits for inpatient treatment at community hospitals are only claimable upon referral from a public hospital for further medical treatment after an inpatient admission.
I propose that direct admission patients in community hospitals be allowed to utilise MediShield Life for their inpatient treatments. There is no need for acute hospitals to act as a filter.
Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): I am glad that ElderShield will be enhanced soon. May I ask Minister when will this be happening?
I first spoke on ElderShield in May 2002, several months before its implementation. In fact, this is the 11th time I am speaking on this topic in this House. Before its implementation in 2002, I already raised concerns about its inadequacy with payouts of $300 over a tenure of five years. Fifteen years later, the same payout makes its inadequacy even more severe. These patients with three Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are totally dependent on others for their daily living. A payout pegged to the amount required for engaging a full-time domestic helper will be more appropriate. I am not suggesting that such full-time assistance be a norm.
These patients with three ADLs, especially those as a result of old age, are unlikely to get back to normal if they have reached the stage of inability to perform the daily activities. But even for other sick patients with severe disability due to sicknesses, such as stroke or cancer, to reach the stage of not being able to perform three daily activities will usually mean that their illnesses are too severe for them to revert to normal activities again.
Thus, the insurance coverage of five to six years will leave them in a lurch at the end when their needs usually increase rather than decrease and they need even more dependent care at higher costs.
ElderShield has to be made permanent as long as the disability persists, if this scheme is to serve as a safety net and a remaining piece towards strengthening our society, as the Prime Minister referred to. It is necessary because of our society's fast-ageing population and smaller families. The present opt-out scheme of ElderShield should be converted into a universal scheme to cover everyone and ensure that no one is left out. Through bigger economies of scale, a universal scheme will help make this insurance viable in the long run. Everyone should be included, regardless of age and prevailing medical conditions, just like in MediShield Life. The MediShield premium is affordable because there are subvention and subsidy, especially for those with lower income. I hope ElderShield premiums will be made affordable, too.
In the 15 years since it started, there have been about 13,000 claimants. Considering that the disability prevalence rate presently is about 5% for those 65 years and above, it means there are already some 15,000 people requiring aged care facility per year. Thus, 13,000 claimants for ElderShield over 15 years is actually a small number. This may be due to ElderShield's onerous eligibility of three out of five ADLs for claims. I would like to see the ADL criteria − washing, dressing, feeding, toilet, mobility and transferring criteria − reduced to one for seniors or a maximum two for younger claimants instead of three.
Enhanced ElderShield is important to reduce the dependence on institutional care unnecessarily as well as providing right-siting. Presently, some families take the option of sending their dependent members to community hospitals or overstaying in acute hospitals to save on dependent care cost, as there is subvention for hospital and institutional care.
The present ElderShield excludes those 70-year-olds in 2002 and those with existing illnesses. These are the people who are more likely to get severe disability and be badly in need of the ElderShield but are excluded for this insurance.
For those aged 60 to 64, the annual premium payable to join ElderShield is from $1,000 to $3,000 respectively. Many seniors are not in the scheme because they cannot afford these premium amounts. I hope the Enhanced ElderShield will include this group with affordable premiums.
MediShield has been revamped to the superior MediShield Life. Perhaps MOH will now consider revamping ElderShield to ElderShield Life, similar to MediShield Life. The many new features of MediShield Life had been well thought out and they are very good. It will be good if MOH could consider adopting them similarly to ElderShield Life with inclusion of its lifelong coverage, its universal feature and its permanent subsidy in premiums for seniors, low-income Singaporeans and so on.
I hope MOH will consider my suggestions above in reviewing ElderShield and to make ElderShield the true safety net that it is intended to be.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): ElderShield is meant to be a Severe Disability Insurance scheme. However, payouts are only for 72 months, and I understand that a quarter of claimants outlive this and still need care.
Would the Ministry consider making payouts for life? In addition, premiums are also higher for women than it is for men. Insurance is supposed to pool risks across different life expectancies. As such, will the Ministry make the premiums equal for men and women?
Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): Mdm Chairman, for the general subsidies for Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) treatment, only women below 40 years of age can benefit from it. And even then, the subsidies only apply for the procedures and public hospitals. Some research state that clinically relevant facility decline is in for women aged 41 to 42.
Would the Ministry consider extending the qualifying age for subsidies to 42? Would the subsidies also be extended to treatments at private hospitals so as to reduce waiting time?
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: We have a strong focus on urging Singaporeans to start a family and trying to assist those who are not ready to start a family yet. This is important but we should also provide more help for those who want to start a family but are facing difficulties conceiving.
It has been four years since the Government enhanced the co-funding of ART treatments, and it should be time for us to review this. We currently only provide the co-funding for treatments done at public hospitals. The success rate at private hospitals or clinics may be higher. As such, I hope we can extend the co-funding for the last fresh cycle to be done at private hospitals and clinics. This will help couples who have tried repeatedly at public hospitals and have not been able to have a successful pregnancy. This will also help alleviate the large demand for ART treatments at our public hospitals.
Mr Leon Perera (Non-Constituency Member): Mdm Chairman, at the last COS, I spoke about how Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) could help drive outcomes-based social policies in Singapore, such as reducing recidivism among ex-offenders. Pay for Success contracting (PFS) and Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have been growing worldwide since 2010. One estimate has identified over 40 SIB and PFS projects worldwide in 2015, spanning subject areas like early childhood education, healthcare and recidivism.
In Israel, an SIB is underway to help prevent pre-diabetics from contracting diabetes. The National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Public Health estimates that diabetes could cause Singapore $2.5 billion a year by 2050, not to mention the cost of human suffering.
In Singapore, MOH could explore launching an SIB to raise funds for reliable non-government organisation (NGO) partners who can then work with pre-diabetics and diabetics to improve health indicators like blood sugar levels and emergency hospitalisation events. Philanthropic donors, foundations and so on could buy the bond. Such NGOs could then use the bond proceeds to fund programmes to help at-risk individuals manage their diets, for example. The state would redeem the bond and pay the donors only if outcomes are achieved, which makes for better use of state monies.
NGOs may be better placed than state entities to dream up and execute creative ideas that can nudge behavioural change in the face of entrenched habits, thus solving tricky social problems.
I hope that MOH will look into the possibility of launching an SIB or PFS initiative to work with NGOs over the social challenge of diabetes.
Mr Chen Show Mao (Aljunied): Madam, last year, the Minister declared War on Diabetes to great fanfare, as befitting the importance of the campaign. Our children and young people are increasingly overweight. One in three Singaporeans has a lifetime risk of developing diabetes, with serious and costly consequences. Could the Minister give us a report of the progress from the front?
On sugary processed food, would the Government consider requiring warnings on containers of sugary processed food, such as cans and packets of candies, soft drinks and so on? This could be similar to requiring warnings on tobacco packaging in order to discourage smoking, which is another risk factor for diabetes. Smokers are 30%-40% more likely to develop diabetes.
Similarly, would the Government consider requiring retailers to display signs that encourage shoppers to choose low-sugar options, or school canteens and hawker centres to display signs warning about the dangers of diabetes and encouraging low-sugar options?
Would the Minister consider working with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) to apply existing incentives to support local food manufacturers to release low-sugar snacks and drinks? The Industry Transformation Map (ITM) for food processing is more advanced than most other ITMs and seems well-placed to develop and promote low-sugar products on an industry basis.
Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Madam, diabetes is a major problem in Singapore. It is projected that in less than 20 years, the number of diabetics in Singapore could rise to 670,000 and more than a million Singaporeans could get diabetes by 2050.
According to the US Renal Data System Report last year, Singapore leads the world in the percentage of kidney failures caused by diabetes. In numbers, every two days, nine people lose their kidneys because of diabetes. Besides kidney failure, diabetes is also associated with heart attack and stroke. Furthermore, every day, four amputations are carried out because of complications from diabetes. Because of the high social and financial costs that diabetes has on the individual Singaporean, his family and society, war was declared on diabetes in April last year.
Would the Minister provide an update on the programmes that it has recently introduced to combat diabetes, especially in terms of healthy diet initiatives and proposed regular exercise regimes? Ultimately, the war on diabetes is something we have to fight together and the best cure for it is prevention.
Dr Lily Neo: Madam, at the Budget Debate, I spoke about Smart Ageing and Future Enabling care (SAFEcare), which aims to keep disability away for as long as possible and improve the lives of our seniors with graceful living through smart technology and preventive medicine. This is a suggestion, going forward, to improve the care of our seniors with a sustainable solution.
MOH has been adopting the adage \"prevention is better than cure\" over the years to manage many chronic health diseases like diabetes. May I now beseech MOH to adopt the same concept for elderly disability? Thus, let us aim for seniors to age gracefully with independent living in their own homes despite their frailty or medical conditions by preventing disabilities and to better manage any disabilities.
Many older adults express the desire to \"age-in-place\" for as long as possible and prefer to live at home rather than being admitted to nursing homes or community hospitals. Will MOH consider a concept of \"smart cluster housing\" where many seniors live in the same block of flats on their own, in their 1- or 2-room flats, which can be converted from the Housing and Development Board (HDB) rental flats, some studio apartments or even newly-built HDB homes?
Such cluster homes enable daily service delivery convenience. These cluster homes will have elderly-smart home concepts that embrace accessible designs and environmental modifications to foster independent living and to improve the occupant's functional ability-related outcomes. Could the various Ministries work hand in hand towards this end? Thus, it would be good if there is collaboration between MOH and the Ministry of National Development (MND) in co-planning \"smart cluster homes\" for seniors.
The seniors in such cluster homes can be provided with daily needs with assistance from helpers and even medical personnel when necessary. The ground floors of such homes should be used for community services. Hence, \"Seniors Activity Centres\" to enable those well seniors to come down daily for physical, social and mental wellness programmes would be ideal. Such venues will also serve as coordinating centres that enable concept partners like the grassroots organisations, VWOs and various corporations to volunteer their services. Could MOH collaborate with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to provide seamless assistance to those seniors who require financial and social needs in these cluster homes?
Senior Care Centres (SCCs) for residents and coordinating centres for volunteers at the void decks of cluster homes can be managed by MSF. MOH can provide training, like ability to pick up tell-tale signs of suicidal thoughts, for the befriender volunteers that MSF manages. Again, collaboration among Ministries is important for better identification of needy residents and the delivery of assistance and outreach. Such collaboration will also prevent duplication of services or over-servicing to some residents.
Does MOH have any charting of roadmaps for the care of seniors? There is a need for this to better plan for the delivery of services. For instance, it helps to know where the places with the highest concentration of seniors are, what the age group of seniors who require most assistance and the types of assistance they require. There is also a need to know the number of cases with medical conditions, such as chronic diseases, physical disabilities, dementia and other mental illnesses. This will enable better planning, especially in the area of medical personnel, towards catering for these conditions.
Do we have enough geriatricians, physiotherapists, community doctors and hospice-care doctors? We do need more community medical personnel that can visit patients in their homes in order to provide good homecare. We should train more medical workers using shorter course modules as in wound dressings, change of catheters or nasogastric tubes and so on. In England, medical workers are trained in just months to accomplish these tasks. Does MOH have enough dieticians to help in the fight against diabetes? Dieticians are also needed to advise all centres, especially the Seniors Activity Centres, that provide food for groups of people to ensure healthy diets.
The use of medical technology to improve quality of living is the way forward. Does MOH have a designated team or department to look into the availability, applications and effectiveness of medical technological devices that can enable better healthcare monitoring, especially for elderly care, and test them on their effectiveness? Does MOH have collaborative partnerships with Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to develop new technology, while researching and developing cost-effective systems that promote an age-friendly living environment in homes?
According to the Global Burden of Disease 2015 published in the Lancet last year, women spend the last nine years of their lives in ill-health. In 2015, life expectancy for women here was 84.9 years and, for men, 80.4 years, making people here among the longest living in the world. But women spend 10.7% of their lives in ill-health, and men 9.4%. In fact, men here top the world in terms of the number of healthy years they live, according to the Lancet report.
Could MOH step up the healthcare awareness and promotion for prevention of chronic diseases, osteoporosis, heart diseases and mental illnesses among women? May I ask for the work progress of the Women's Health Committee that was set up in 2012? Is there a target for achievement and what else can be done to get a better outcome to reduce problems faced by women in combating ill-health? Can there be a more ground-up approach that involves corporations and community groups to get better outreach to the wider audience?
Mr Murali Pillai: Mdm Chairman, in July last year, I spoke in this House during my Adjournment Motion speech on the need to address challenges faced by caregivers of children with mental disabilities.
Since then, the Enabling Masterplan 3 was issued in December last year, with various recommendations and proposed strategies to create a more inclusive society for people with disabilities as well as to provide better support to caregivers in their roles in caring for persons with disabilities.
As highlighted in the Masterplan, we, as a community, must recognise that caregivers are individuals with their own aspirations and ambitions. While family is the first and most important line of support, family caregivers can only carry out their roles effectively if they are emotionally and physically well. In this regard, I am concerned to note that the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) study in 2014 found that a good number of our caregivers experienced poor mental health. This was a point carried in the Enabling Masterplan 3 Report.
This problem may be more acute for caregivers of persons with mental disabilities. While there are options of Drop-in Disability Programmes and Day Activity Centres, as acknowledged in this House by Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, there are limited spaces in such programmes and applicants are often waitlisted. Hence, we see the current focus to build capacity for home-based and community-based care services. However, this cannot happen overnight.
Where caregivers of persons with mental disabilities do not have access to such services, the care responsibility falls solely and squarely on them. They, therefore, suffer tremendous stress and may even feel overwhelmed by the circumstances. This issue is even more acute where the caregiver is the primary breadwinner and has to juggle employment and worry about finances.
One area identified in Enabling Masterplan 3 to enhance caregivers' well-being and their caregiving capabilities, albeit with respect to persons having physical disabilities, is the possibility of expanding the existing criteria for Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Concession and Grant. This is an eminently sensible recommendation.
I also recommend that the Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Concession and Grant be extended to families with persons having mental disabilities, too. Caregivers for such persons face the same, if not more, pressure as compared to caregivers of persons with physical disabilities. There should be no distinction between these groups. I made the same point during my Adjournment Motion last year. I understand that the relevant agencies are still studying this issue. I would be grateful, therefore, if the Ministry could share some of its plans for greater home-based support and to give caregivers of persons with mental disabilities more opportunities for respite.
Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong (Non-Constituency Member): Madam, caregivers of seniors need a lot of support. The stress of caregiving goes up exponentially when the elderly develop chronic illnesses, dementia or disabilities. This issue will deepen with the rapidly ageing population. I note that the Government will be setting up a Disability Caregiver Support Centre. I propose that the Government set up similar caregiver support centres for senior caregivers.
As senior caregiving is of a scale larger than disability caregiving, I believe that there is a need to set up multiple support centres to provide the same level of support to senior caregivers. These centres are a natural extension to the existing SCCs. Since SCCs are specially situated in places with higher demand for eldercare services, Senior Caregiver Support Centres can be co-located with SCCs. Like the Disability Caregiver Support Centre, Senior Caregiver Support Centres can provide information, planned respite, training, peer support and offer various VWO programmes to help caregivers.
There is one more important function the support centres can perform. Senior caregivers face greater risk of health and financial vulnerabilities as they get older due to lower lifetime earnings. Many are women who leave the workforce to be full-time caregivers and who find it difficult to re-enter the labour market. These support centres can also act as the main touchpoints for caregivers to receive important health and financial assistance and even advice on finding part-time work to support themselves.
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: Madam, the Government announced in 2014 that seven new nursing homes will be built to accommodate up to 17,150 residents by 2020 to meet the growing demand arising from the rapidly ageing population.
Even as we are ramping up new nursing homes, sadly, the care model in our nursing homes remains the so-called \"medicalised model\" similar to hospitals. This is not the most suitable model to enhance the quality of life for our seniors who are residing in these homes. Do each of us want to live in such an environment in the winter of our lives?
Countries like the US, Japan and Australia have moved away from the \"medicalised\" model. We should move away from the \"medicalised\" model now and aim for the rehabilitative model, making the living environment more like homes and less like hospitals. We should move away from the dormitory-like environment, go beyond basic physical care to a home-like environment with care specialists attending to the social well-being as well as nursing needs of elderly residents so that they can live and age with dignity.
MOH set up the Enhanced Nursing Home Standard in 2014 providing basic standards for medical and nursing care, facilities maintenance and hygiene. We should go beyond these basic standards. MOH should consult as many stakeholders as possible, as well as the specific medical interest groups most associated with the care of patients afflicted with specific illnesses, such as the Alzheimer's Disease Association, Kidney Dialysis Foundation and so on, in order to better understand how the clinical and social needs of different and specific types of patients can be best met. This would allow for a range, rather than a bare minimum standard, of care in each nursing home.
The standards of nursing homes in Singapore do vary considerably. Recently, a Fengshan resident shared with me her concern to transfer her mother from one nursing home to another, and one of the reasons cited was poor and indifferent care by staff.
I understand that, right now, the Ministry conducts regular audits on nursing homes. However, the audit reports are not disclosed to the public. I would like to suggest that these audit reports should be made available to the public so that families of nursing home residents are aware of the compliance standards of the homes. I believe that such measures may enhance standards and weed out operators who are not able to provide suitable services.
Ms Tin Pei Ling: Madam, may I take both cuts together?
The Chairman: No, please proceed with your first cut.
Ms Tin Pei Ling: Okay. I had spoken about digital eldercare in last year and this year's Budget. Digital eldercare offers many possibilities and has many applications. Today, I would just like to focus on how it can enable independent living and better match demand to the supply of eldercare services and how we can facilitate this.
First, on enabled independent living. With land scarcity and manpower constraints and our vision towards ageing in place, the eldercare model needs to shift away from institutions. Let us reserve institutional care for those who need very highly intensive care.
We should leverage more on technology, such as sensors, assistive devices and telemedicine, to enable independent living at home, even for those who have moderate disabilities and little or no family support. There are already pilots being done with the deployment of the Elderly Monitoring System (EMS), for example. Could the Ministry update the House on the results and key learning points from these pilots?
Some solutions are still being developed. Could the lab-to-market process be accelerated? Could the Government take a point position and lead a nationwide implementation of smart homes for seniors? Could the Ministry facilitate the integration of these solutions so that the elderly can enjoy the services at home in an easy and seamless manner? We need to enable them to age in a very holistic conceptual manner if we were to have smart homes for seniors.
Next, digital platforms are now available to link freelance healthcare professionals and caregivers to facilitate on-demand provision of home care or other related eldercare services.
But some of these platforms are privately run and the elderly who wish to utilise them may be deterred for fear that the subsidies they may be eligible for cannot be applied via these platforms. Could the Ministry look into enabling this?
The Chairman: Minister Gan Kim Yong.
The Minister for Health (Mr Gan Kim Yong):\tMadam, with your permission, may I display some slides during my speech?
The Chairman:\tYes, please. [Some slides were shown to hon Members.]
Mr Gan Kim Yong: Madam, we announced the Healthcare 2020 Master Plan in 2012 which outlined our plans to add capacity, improve affordability, as well as enhance care quality. Last year, we declared war here in this Chamber, War on Diabetes. I also highlighted three key shifts we need to make to prepare ourselves for the future beyond 2020. Today, I will give an update on the progress of Healthcare 2020, as requested by Dr Chia Shi-Lu. I will also give Members an update on the state of the War on Diabetes and outline our broad strategies to achieve the three key shifts beyond 2020. My colleagues will then elaborate on the specific efforts and the measures we intend to include.
Madam, a report published in the Lancet medical journal last year placed Singapore in the top ranks for global health, alongside Iceland and Sweden. We have also made progress in managing and treating diseases which are leading causes of premature death for Singaporeans, such as ischaemic heart disease and stroke. Between 2000 and 2015, we have reduced the premature mortality rates for both diseases by half.
However, there are some worrying trends. Our obesity prevalence rate has risen to 1.7 times, a 70% increase, from 1992 to 2013. Not 1.7%, but 1.7 times. What is even more worrying is that the obesity rate amongst younger Singaporeans aged 18 to 39 has grown at an even faster rate, doubling from 4.2% to 8.4% over the same period. This is worrying as obesity is a key driver contributing to the diabetes burden in Singapore. Based on our projections, one in three Singaporeans will develop diabetes in their lifetime. Obesity and diabetes are risk factors for heart disease and stroke. If we do not address these risk factors early, the progress on these two diseases will be eroded.
We, therefore, have a strong impetus to keep our Singaporeans healthy. Allow me to give an update on Healthcare 2020.
Since 2012, we have opened Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH), Changi General Hospital Integrated Building (CGH IB), Jurong Community Hospital (JCH) and Yishun Community Hospital (YCH). Together with the expansion of existing facilities, we have added a total of 2,500 hospital beds.
Next year, Changi General Hospital will open its new Medical Centre, which will allow it to expand its specialist outpatient services. We also expect to open the Sengkang General and Community Hospitals by end-2018. The new National Centre for Infectious Diseases is also due to open progressively from end-2018. The construction of Outram Community Hospital is underway and it is scheduled to open by 2020. This is part of our overall plan to redevelop the Outram Campus, including the Singapore General Hospital, in a multi-phase process that will take us up to 20 years or more. Woodlands General Hospital and its co-located community hospital will break ground next month and they will be opened progressively from 2022.
The National University Health System (NUHS) will take over the operations of Alexandra Hospital after the Sengkang team, which is currently in Alexandra Hospital, moves to the new Sengkang hospital in 2018. The 79-year-old Alexandra Campus is a unique site. The campus offers a unique opportunity as it has tremendous potential for redevelopment. I have, therefore, tasked NUHS to re-imagine healthcare for the future, taking the opportunity to design new and innovative care models that can better promote health and integrate care, and test them out at the Alexandra Campus.
In addition to hospital developments, we have added seven new Family Medicine Clinics (FMCs) and seven Community Health Centres (CHCs) to support the primary care GPs in the community. We have also added 3,400 nursing home beds and 5,600 centre-based care and home care places since 2012. We will add another 4,200 beds and 4,700 places by 2020.
But adding capacity alone is not a sustainable solution in the long term if we do nothing else. Our capacity growth must be coupled with efforts to transform our care model to leverage on strong primary and community care and keep our people healthy with better disease prevention and healthier lifestyle choices.
To deliver quality services to our people, we need to grow and develop our healthcare manpower. The healthcare workforce has expanded by some 23,000 or 33% over the past five years. We need 9,000 more healthcare workers over the next three years, and there are many good career opportunities for Singaporean professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) in the healthcare sector.
Given Singapore's limited labour pool, however, we cannot just grow the number but ensure that our healthcare workers are meaningfully and effectively deployed. Senior Minister of State Amy Khor will share more about MOH's efforts to build a strong, future-ready healthcare workforce.
Several Members have asked about the affordability of healthcare. We have a multi-layer system of support to ensure that Singaporeans can afford the appropriate care that they need.
Treatment and drugs that are clinically effective and cost-effective are subsidised. Means-tested Government subsidies at hospitals, Specialist Outpatient Clinics, CHAS clinics and nursing homes serve as the baseline support.
Larger bills, such as inpatient hospital bills and selected costly outpatient bills like chemotherapy and kidney dialysis, are covered by MediShield Life. Since its launch in late 2015, MediShield Life has provided Singaporeans and, especially the seniors, with better support and assurance. Over 500,000 claims were approved under MediShield Life in 2016, an increase of 47% compared to 2015. Claims by older Singaporeans aged above 65 increased even more, at 73% from 124,000 to 215,000 claims. This resulted in a 90% jump in the total amount of claims for seniors from $181 million to $343 million.
Mr Murali Pillai asked about MediShield Life coverage for direct admissions to community hospitals. MediShield Life was designed primarily to provide coverage for large, acute hospital bills. As an extension of this coverage, MediShield Life covers community hospital stays for patients transferred from acute hospitals to community hospitals.
Nonetheless, we note there could be some groups of patients who are suitable for direct admission to community hospitals without going through acute hospitals and might benefit from MediShield Life coverage. We will study this proposal carefully because it has impact on premiums as well.
After subsidies and MediShield Life, the patient can use his MediSave savings to cover his share of the healthcare bills. Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked if the Flexi-MediSave limits could be raised. The Flexi-MediSave scheme was recently introduced in 2015 to allow older Singaporeans to use up to $200 a year to pay for outpatient medical treatment. So far, the majority of eligible patients have not fully utilised their Flexi-MediSave withdrawal limits. It is still early days, but it suggests that the claim limits are generally sufficient. We will review from time to time.
Finally, for needy Singaporeans who still have difficulties with healthcare costs after Government subsidies, MediShield Life coverage and MediSave, we have MediFund to help.
Mr Low Thia Khiang asked about profit margins for our drugs in our hospitals and public healthcare institutions. I should take this opportunity to clarify that our public healthcare institutions are not-for-profit organisations. While the drug prices include a margin, this is to offset overheads and operation costs. Therefore, they are not profit margins; they are just margins to cover part of operation costs. In fact, last year, we provided a total of $4.3 billion of funding to our public healthcare institutions to support their operations to keep our healthcare costs low.
To help patients with their medication costs, our public healthcare institutions like our Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOCs) and our polyclinics provide subsidies of up to 75% for standard drugs, with Pioneers receiving a further 50% subsidy. In addition, the Medications Assistance Fund (MAF) is also available to help patients with selected high-cost non-standard drugs, if it is deemed necessary. Patients who still face difficulties despite all these subsidies can also apply for MediFund.
With Government subsidies and the 3Ms, MediShield Life, MediFund and MediSave, Singaporeans have multiple layers of support for their healthcare needs. The system is constantly evolving and we will regularly review the adequacy of drug subsidies and the different schemes to ensure that medication remains affordable.
While we have made steady progress on Healthcare 2020, we need to plan for the long term. Last year, I outlined our plans to go beyond Healthcare 2020, encapsulated in the \"3 Beyonds\". We need to move beyond hospital to the community; move beyond quality to value; and move beyond healthcare to health. These three moves are critical in preparing us to meet our long-term healthcare needs in a sustainable manner.
The first step is to better organise ourselves so that we can implement these three shifts more decisively and effectively. In January, we announced that we will be reorganising our healthcare system into three integrated clusters.
With the reorganisation, the three integrated clusters will each have a broader range of healthcare services and facilities that will provide our patients with more seamless care. They can also tap on a larger pool of resources, including manpower and talent, both professional and managerial talent. The integrated clusters can also offer healthcare workers greater development and training opportunities, thereby raising the competency of our workers that will translate into better quality of care and, eventually, benefit our patients.
Primary care will play an increasingly important role in our care transformation. This is why we are strengthening the primary care capabilities of each cluster. The National University Polyclinics (NUP) will be created under NUHS. With this move, each cluster will now have its own polyclinic group. This will enable the clusters to work in close collaboration with the GPs to augment our primary care sector and partner a wider range of community-based service providers, including VWOs, to anchor care firmly in the community, as pointed out by Ms Tin Pei Ling.
Minister of State Lam Pin Min will share more about our plans in the primary care sector, including partnerships with the private GPs, through the Primary Care Networks scheme. Senior Minister of State Amy Khor will speak on our plans to strengthen our community mental health capabilities. Minister of State Chee Hong Tat will share about our collaboration with our community partners.
Another area of emphasis for us is to go beyond quality and offer patients value in healthcare provision. Advancements in medicine and healthcare technology offer new opportunities and potential for health and healthcare in Singapore. We want to keep abreast of such developments so that we can introduce new solutions that are clinically effective and cost-efficient and improve healthcare outcomes and quality of life.
As pointed out by Dr Chia Shi-Lu, we must be mindful that newer does not always mean better. Some new drugs or treatments may not offer significant clinical advantage and, yet, come at a significantly higher cost. Generic drugs often offer similar outcomes as branded drugs, but at fraction of the cost. A good example would be the generic drugs for statins, used to manage high blood cholesterol, which usually cost less than half the price of the branded versions. Opting for generic drugs will help to reduce medication cost and we are working with our doctors to promote the use of generic drugs.
The Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) was set up to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of new treatments. Through the work of ACE, we aim to identify treatments with good outcomes at affordable costs to guide our doctors and patients. ACE will be publishing their first set of Guidance in May this year. Minister of State Lam will also share how ACE's work on Appropriate Care Guides will play an important role in our war on diabetes.
Moving beyond hospital to community, and beyond quality to value, are about how we change and improve the way we deliver healthcare to our patients who are already ill. But what is perhaps even more important and critical is to nurture a healthy nation and a healthy people. This is why our third thrust is on moving beyond healthcare to health, focusing on early interventions and healthy lifestyle choices which will keep people in good health. This is easy to say but hard to do. We have several initiatives on this, which my colleagues will elaborate later.
Mr Christopher de Souza and Mr Chen Show Mao have asked about the progress of our War on Diabetes. The National Diabetes Prevention and Care Taskforce was set up to drive the efforts on this war with three strategic focus areas, namely, healthy living and prevention; screening and follow-up; and disease management. These are underpinned by public education, data analytics and research as well as the mobilisation of stakeholders. The taskforce has engaged widely over the last six months and made useful recommendations even as their work continues. My colleagues will elaborate on these recommendations later on. I will focus on how we can win this war, by working together with communities, businesses, employers, workers and individuals, you and me.
First, we need to mobilise the community. And we are doing so through initiatives, such as the Community Networks for Seniors (CNS) which we launched last year. We set up Community Health Posts under CNS to make services, such as health screening and monitoring, more accessible to residents living in our heartlands. We have already established some 30 active ageing nodes in the three pilot CNS sites and engaged over 5,000 seniors, including those with diabetes or at risk of diabetes, in preventive health activities, such as health screening and monitoring, health talks and exercise sessions. We plan to expand CNS to the remaining precincts in the three participating Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) of Tampines, Marine Parade and Chua Chu Kang by the end of 2017. Our aim is to bring CNS to more mature communities progressively so that we can make every community a place where our seniors can be cared for and supported by the community to age well in place.
Advisors and Members of Parliament (MPs), too, can play an active part in helping to spread the message and keep their residents healthy. Minister Lim Swee Say, for example, has set up a diabetes taskforce in Bedok to raise awareness on diabetes. I visited one of his many Chit Chat sessions last week, where he personally shared about the War on Diabetes with about 50 residents. It is a lot of hard work, but there is no short cut. All of us have to play our part, in our own way, to reach out to our residents, to help them stay healthy.
Not just in the community, at the workplaces, too. Seagate Technology International's Woodlands office is one such example. They regularly organise activities for their staff and participated in the National Steps ChallengeTM Season 2 Corporate Challenge. The office even organised an \"intra-organisation challenge\" to motivate their employees to clock more steps. Their efforts have paid off as I was told that all their participants have an average daily step count of more than 10,000 steps. Seagate Woodlands is also one of the top scorers for the Corporate Challenge! I look forward to more employers coming on board this War on Diabetes. After all, a healthy workforce is a prerequisite for a productive workforce.
To fight this war, and to fight any war, we need soldiers. So, who are the soldiers? We are the soldiers. As individuals, we can play a part by being responsible for the choices that we make every day. Apart from staying active, it is also important that we watch our diet. A healthy diet is half a battle won, as we say. Many of us eat out regularly, and that is why MOH and the Health Promotion Board (HPB) have also been actively engaging our hawker centres, coffee shops and restaurants to offer healthier meals with lower calories and beverages with lower sugar. Like Minister Lim, I, too, share with my residents tips to combat diabetes. I encourage them to follow the three \"R's\" − Refrain, Reduce and Replace. When we decide what to eat, Refrain from unhealthy food, if you can. But I know it is difficult. If you cannot but have to eat, try to Reduce the amount of unhealthy food that you have to eat. If you cannot Refrain and cannot Reduce the amount, then please Replace with healthier alternatives. So, Refrain, Reduce and Replace. These are secrets to healthy living. Mdm Chairman, let me say a few words in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] For those who are at risk of developing diabetes, or who already have the disease, we need to help them manage their condition and prevent complications. Last year, we introduced diabetes roadshows, talks and screenings in the community, and reached more than 120,000 people. In addition, we also have HPB's Diabetes Prevention Programme which helps those with slightly elevated blood sugar levels reverse their risk for diabetes. One of the beneficiaries is Mdm Goh Soo Eng who was at risk of diabetes due to her elevated blood sugar level. Mdm Goh used to lead a sedentary lifestyle and had a sugar-heavy diet. This left her feeling sluggish and lethargic. Under the recommendation of her doctor, Mdm Goh joined HPB's Diabetes Prevention Programme and learnt to adopt healthy eating and exercise habits. Through these efforts, Mdm Goh has managed to keep her blood sugar level under control without the need for medication and is now an advocate for healthy living and diabetes prevention. She frequently encourages her friends to go for beverages with less or no sugar, and to choose healthier meal options. She also participates in the physical activities at Agape Village. Mdm Goh is a model soldier of the War on Diabetes.
(In English): Madam, in my Mandarin speech, I shared the story of Mdm Goh who benefited from HPB's Diabetes Prevention Programme, which helped her manage her blood sugar level and prevent diabetes. Programmes like these are useful in helping pre-diabetics better manage their conditions through healthy eating and exercise habits. We hope to see many more take a step towards proactive disease management and prevent diabetes. Therefore, HPB will launch the \"HealthHub Track\" in April this year. This is a personal health management app in HealthHub which will provide users with digital tools to monitor and manage their health conditions more conveniently.
The War on Diabetes will not be a quick battle and we must be prepared to keep up the momentum and go the distance. We need to fight the war on the ground one day at a time, one battle at a time, and even one person at a time. Winning the war is not about building more hospitals and clinics to take care of those who are already ill. We need to do so, but not only building them, but motivating Singaporeans to take charge of their health, to live their lives free of diabetes and, for those who already have diabetes, to provide them with support to help them to manage their conditions well.
The three key shifts − beyond hospital to community, beyond quality to value and beyond healthcare to health − will define the future direction of health and healthcare in Singapore. They will lead us towards good, affordable and sustainable healthcare in the long term. All Singaporeans − you and me − want to have good health for themselves and for their family members. Therefore, let us work together as one healthcare system to bring better care, better health and better life to all Singaporeans.
The Chairman: Ms Tin Pei Ling.
Ms Tin Pei Ling: Madam, there is a stronger focus on community mental healthcare in Singapore, through which there is quicker identification, faster access to assistance and better social integration for those who suffer from mental health issues. Of course, it also helps to foster stronger mental resilience within the community.
In MacPherson, we are thankful to have the support of VWOs and agencies, such as the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) and South East Community Development Council (CDC), to implement a range of programmes, including the MacPherson Mental Health Programme and Dementia Friendly Community. Grassroots leaders, hawkers, community partners and residents who are interested were all engaged and trained to equip them with useful information and skills so that they can offer timely assistance to residents with mental health issues.
However, the current set up is only effective if the elderly or their families approach us. Currently, we only know of the elderly who are identified through our local screening exercise. There are others who are already diagnosed but may not be known to us. As a community, we can do more.
For instance, instead of waiting to help a lost elderly, we can have befrienders and micro-community networks to reach out to and support elderly with dementia and their families. This will help these elderly continue to be part of our community and lead lives as normal as possible. Hence, would the Ministry consider creating a database of elderly diagnosed with dementia so that the community can support these elderly better?
Finally, the stigma of mental health, including dementia. This continues to be a barrier to people wanting to seek help and also cause prejudice to deepen within the community. So, could the Ministry share what it is doing to combat the stigma, increase awareness and ensure that those who need help will get the help needed?
Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): Madam, patients with mental health conditions and their families need all the support and understanding our community can give them. With our ageing population, the number of patients with mental health issues, such as dementia, is expected to rise. I hope public education efforts will be stepped up to help raise our community's general knowledge of such conditions, so that we can better support the efforts of our health professionals.
The Community Mental Health (CMH) Masterplan is making good progress, especially in reaching out to patients to ensure they get more community support. I am particularly glad for the setting up of dementia-friendly communities and the Community Resource, Engagement and Support Teams (CREST). When will dementia-friendly communities reach island-wide coverage?
I would also like to ask for a clearer framework to support residents dealing with instances of neighbours with mental health issues creating disturbances in the estate. Callers should be able to receive speedy responses after contacting dedicated 24-hour hotlines for help. And in the event that the Police are contacted, officers should also be aware of the need to refer such cases to AIC for help and assessment from its professional counsellors.
I understand that, to date, we have over 120 GPs trained in the diagnosis and support of patients with mild to moderate mental health conditions. I would like to ask what is the target number of such trained GPs and whether these GPs are evenly distributed throughout our HDB estates. How does the Ministry ensure we have sufficient numbers of trained GPs in ageing estates?
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: Madam, in 2012, about 28,000 people in Singapore aged 60 and older had dementia. The Minister estimated that this figure is expected to rise to 80,000 by 2030. Based on projections from the Alzheimer's Disease Association, by 2050, we will be faced with 187,000 people aged 65 and above who have dementia.
We are also starting to see growing numbers of younger dementia patients. In an article last year, Assoc Prof Nagaendran Kandiah at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) estimated that of the 40,000 people with dementia in Singapore, 10% are below the age of 65. The rapid increase in the number of people with dementia is a cause for concern, especially if we do not have enough resources to support them.
As such, I would like to ask the Minister for an update on the progress in preparing for the rise in dementia cases. Is enough being done to educate Singaporeans on the risk factors for dementia? There has been an initiative to build dementia-friendly communities in Singapore, piloted at Yishun, Hong Kah and MacPherson. These communities feature \"community touchpoints\" that act as go-to points for those who have lost their way, and training is provided to persons and businesses within the area so that they may render assistance to persons with dementia. What are the findings of this initiative so far, and how does it compare with plans to address dementia in other countries? Are there plans to roll out this initiative island-wide; and, if so, what is the schedule for this?
I would also like to raise the issue of dementia assessments. Currently, dementia assessments are usually carried out at hospitals and the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). Will the Ministry set a target to eventually have trained staff at all polyclinics to perform the assessment?
Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef: Mdm Chairman, health encompasses physical, psychological and social wellness. There are a variety of reasons why mental wellness and mental health issues are becoming more prominent in society and these are due to greater awareness, public education and, of course, our ageing population, among others. We are making positive moves in managing mental health issues. Greater strengthening and coordination will help consolidate the many good initiatives which are already existing.
My proposal: what we really need is a national recovery and stabilisation-oriented mental health practice framework. This will really help to reinforce what we already have. It is with the aim of enhancing service delivery, standardisation of care with a shared mental model, appropriate skills mix in providers potentiated through relevant training, thus forming a multidisciplinary community of practice, as well as the inclusion of caregiver support and empowerment, and not forgetting also the preventive and educational part as well as the rehabilitative services for such patients.
With this, everyone involved in mental health care is aligned. And to value-add to the suggested model, a focus on advocacy and partnership with a variety of groups, such as NGOs and voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), is also beneficial.
This suggested framework can align with probably part of the $160 million set aside for mental health for the next five years. It is also a model that stresses on the multidimensional aspects of quality care required in mental health issues. This model framework can also guide recovery-oriented services. Also, can I ask MOH for an update as to when the next mental health blueprint will be up?
Ms K Thanaletchimi (Nominated Member): Madam, as Singapore faces challenges of an ageing population and as we move beyond the hospital to the community, how can we transform our healthcare workforce to realise this shift? There are several issues which I wish to highlight with some suggestions.
First, the manpower issues in primary care and step-down care. At the last Budget, I suggested for VWOs or private organisations to run an alliance of step-down care institutions. By forming an association with ILTC organisations coordinated by AIC, the alliance can help bring these institutions up to speed with technology, improve their processes to become more manpower-lean, as well as develop career opportunities and advancement for their staff.
With the growing need to address the intermediate and long-term needs of Singaporeans and to further strengthen our primary care sector via primary care network or community care services, the jobs of the future may well be from the ILTC sectors. With approximately 30,000 jobs to fill, how pervasive are the initiatives rolled out by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), such as Professional Conversion Programme (PCP), Career Support Programme and how can we link step-down care institutions with jobseekers under the Attach and Train programme which is newly announced?
The healthcare sector faces challenges filling the many job vacancies. I encourage MOH to work with the Labour Movement which has set up a Future Jobs, Skills and Training (FJST) department to identify emerging opportunities in the job market across various sectors. Together with employers, FJST will determine the necessary expertise and training workers will need to join the healthcare industry. The Ministry and FJST will then work in close collaboration to tailor relevant training courses which are supported by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Education and Training Fund. To that, how can MOH facilitate the gathering and sharing of such data to best utilise funds for targeted training?
With a greater demand for manpower in the ILTC sector, how can we enhance the attractiveness of jobs in the industry through better wages and career progression? Bearing in mind the ageing population's need for continued spending in acute care hospitals and the gradual cut in the Ministry's budget in the next two years, how can we manage the allocation of budget effectively?
As the ILTC sector grows its manpower, how do we ensure a strong Singaporean Core? How can the SkillsFuture programmes allow more to be equipped with the necessary skills to enter the industry? There are many women in their 50s seeking employment and this can be a possible source of manpower to fill job vacancies in the ILTC sector. I believe that with the new Attach and Train programme as well as SkillsFuture funding support, we can better tap into this resource to address the manpower shortage issue.
Nurses play a major role in our healthcare system. Besides the recommendations of the National Nursing Taskforce in 2014, does the Ministry have plans to develop the nursing workforce further? How can we further improve the Singaporean Core in the nursing profession?
It is, indeed, encouraging to note that the Government supports modular and e-learning training. This is a step in the right direction. How would MOH regulate certification required of healthcare staff with the move towards modular and e-learning? How ready are MOH and the respective healthcare regulatory bodies in recognising modular learning and qualification? How do we ensure that this does not erode the quality of care to patients?
The SkillsFuture Leadership Development Initiative which aims to help aspiring Singaporeans acquire leadership competencies and critical experiences can attract more young Singaporeans to join the healthcare sector. As we welcome the initiative, how can it be extended to the healthcare sector as part of leadership development for healthcare workers? While offering more overseas training opportunities for nurses or allied healthcare professionals, how can we ensure that they return to Singapore to help build a stronger Singaporean Core with deeper capabilities?
With abundant training opportunities and great growth potential for the professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) in the healthcare sector, I suggest for MOH to develop an academy for the healthcare sector to help in structuring training for workers. This will be a well-coordinated effort which standardises training beyond the basics and provides a one-stop centre for courses and skills advancement. With the support from MOM, the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), NTUC Learning Hub and various IHL partnerships, the tripartite alliance academy for healthcare can help to meet the demand for a skilled workforce in the healthcare sector.
One would also understand that the lack of manpower and the reliance on foreign workers are inevitable unless the healthcare sector transforms itself to improve productivity and innovation. Through this, many improvements were made over the last five years as we embark on automation and improve processes. It is important to align and standardise best practices for systems and processes to keep our healthcare system safe and affordable.
The reorganisation is a step in the right direction. I would also urge that MOH consider having health volunteers, health ambassadors to penetrate the community to address the need of an ageing population better and tapping into the pool of caregivers or domestic helpers.
Ms Tin Pei Ling: Healthcare expenditure and the demand for manpower are rising with our ageing population. The Government healthcare spending per capita has also been rising from an average of $488 in 2003 to $1,962 in 2016. The old-age support ratio, however, is steadily falling from nine is to one in 2000 to an expected two is to one in 2030. Therefore, healthcare manpower and fiscal sustainability are critical for us to solve.
Could MOH share what it is doing to ensure manpower and fiscal sustainability? What innovations and productivity measures have been implemented and how have the gains from these measures helped improve sustainability? Can the community and volunteers play a bigger role to address unfulfilled needs?
The Chairman: Ms Tin, can you please conclude. Dr Chia Shi-Lu.
Dr Chia Shi-Lu: Madam, with a rapidly ageing population, the demands on our healthcare system will increase correspondingly. MOH has projected that 30,000 additional healthcare workers will be needed by 2020, many of whom will be providing direct caregiving services. So far, it has been an uphill task attracting more Singaporeans to such caregiving jobs and also the attrition rate, particularly in the public sector, has been higher than desired.
Has the Ministry identified the main reasons for these problems and what measures does it have to overcome these challenges? In addition, for foreigners recruited to help fill the manpower shortage, what measures does MOH have to ensure that they are sufficiently trained in our local system and our local culture so that they can deliver the desired quality of care?
I would also like to know if we are on track to train and recruit enough doctors and nurses for geriatric medicine and gerontology and how we can build a strong Singaporean Core for this group of specialists.
The confluence of information technology (IT), artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will have a significant impact on healthcare. Today, we are already deploying autonomous transporters, such as automated guided vehicles (AGV) and clean fix robots, in our healthcare institutions. These and robotic-assisted beds and many other smart applications and machines will play an increasingly vital role in our hospitals and clinics. I have no doubt that they will lead to higher quality services and gains in productivity. However, this would mean that we need a strong team of competent technical professionals to service, maintain and upgrade these sophisticated networks and machinery. Would the Ministry share how we can train and recruit these talents and keep them in this competitive global market?
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (West Coast): With more than 30,000 jobs in the healthcare sector, the sector is poised to absorb many more workers, especially mid-career PMEs and workers who may be displaced or looking for an alternative career. This includes women who are keen to return to work after having left the workforce to look after their children or care for the elderly.
PMEs who visit our NTUC U PME Centre lament to me that most of the PCP places for the healthcare sector have been taken up. I, therefore, urge MOH to work with e2i and Workforce Singapore (WSG) to come up with new PCPs in more areas than the current offering and even more PCP places in view of the strong manpower demand.
On another note, I am excited to hear of the various expansion plans and new public healthcare institutions coming up. However, I am very concerned about how we can find the necessary manpower needed to staff these institutions, with the many productivity and technological interventions already in place.
Mr Christopher de Souza: Allied health professionals, such as physiotherapists, dieticians and speech therapists, are important vocations which ease the load off doctors and nurses.
Why not then formalise their training and continuing professional development through the vehicle of a new MOH-sponsored academy? A well-trained and professional allied workforce benefits the patients immensely, eases the doctor's workload and, importantly, provides meaningful career opportunities for young Singaporeans. Why not introduce diploma and degree courses in our polytechnics and universities to build up a locally trained body of allied health professionals to meet the growing need for healthcare? After these Singaporeans graduate, they can become members of an allied health academy, so as to keep abreast of latest developments and advancements in medicine, continue their professional development and share best practices.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: MOH has just completed a public consultation on a suite of potential tobacco control measures. Can the Minister provide details of the outcome of these public consultations, in particular, increasing the minimum legal age for the purchase, possession and use of tobacco in Singapore from 18 to 21 years old?
In addition, are there further plans to increase our support for those who want to quit smoking? As a former smoker, I know how difficult it is to quit and how quitting made me a Grouchy Smurf for quite a while. The decision to quit is easy; the ability to follow through is very difficult. And if we can provide more support, I am sure we will see a higher success rate. Will the Ministry, for example, expand and enhance the very successful \"I Quit\" campaign? I am proud to say that since 12 October 2013, I have remained smoke-free and I am a very happy Papa Smurf now.
Ms Joan Pereira: Madam, I commend the Ministry for its efforts to reduce the smoking prevalence through its multi-pronged approach, which includes the banning of tobacco product sales to minors and the \"I Quit\" 28-day Countdown.
Unfortunately, smoking continues to be a significant contributor to the disease burden in Singapore. We are familiar with the diseases suffered by smokers and those exposed to second-hand smoke. Recent research has highlighted the dangers of third-hand smoke.
Third-hand smoke clings to the hair, clothes and any surface in the vicinity long after smoking has stopped. The residual nicotine and chemicals build up on surfaces over time and resist normal cleaning, posing a potential health hazard to anyone exposed to them, especially children. Would MOH implement more stringent measures to combat the hazards of third-hand smoke?
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Amy Khor.
The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan): Madam, may I please show some slides to accompany my speech?
The Chairman:\tYes, please. [Some slides were shown to hon Members.]
Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Thank you. Madam, we need to grow our healthcare workforce to support the increasing healthcare demand due to an ageing population and growing chronic disease burden. We also need to transform our healthcare workforce in order to support care transformation that Minister Gan spoke about, so that we can sustainably achieve better health and better care for all.
The positive news is that growth in the healthcare sector will bring many good jobs, clinical and non-clinical, and at different levels, for Singaporeans. In the next three years, we estimate that about 9,000 additional staff will be needed for new facilities and services in the public healthcare and aged care settings. Approximately 50% of these jobs are PMET-level roles. These include nurses, therapists, administrative executives and operations managers.
Dr Chia Shi-Lu and Mr Patrick Tay asked what the Ministry is doing to help Singaporeans access these jobs. We will support young school leavers to join healthcare. Over the past five years, the number of graduates for medical and allied health has generally increased, while the number of graduates for nursing has decreased. However, we have made consistent efforts in the past few years to enhance nursing in terms of career progression, professional development and recognition. The positive news is that intakes have increased. MOH has attracted more students to join nursing programmes in the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), polytechnics and NUS, from 1,500 in 2012 to over 1,800 in 2016. Overall, our intake for nursing has increased by 20%. We will continue to sustain efforts to enhance the attractiveness of nursing.
Mr Christopher de Souza suggested that we develop our local allied health professional workforce. In 2016, MOH worked with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) to introduce four degree-level allied health programmes (AHPs) in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, diagnostic radiography and radiation therapy. Two hundred and thirty students were admitted in the first cohort. This year, SIT will be increasing the number of places for these AHP courses by 30% to 300 students for fresh school leavers and mid-career professionals.
I agree with Mr Patrick Tay that we would like to attract more mid-career Singaporeans into healthcare. MOH will invest an additional $24 million over the next three years to enhance our healthcare conversion and training programmes to enable more mid-career Singaporeans to take up new careers in the sector.
MOH and WSG have established PCPs for mid-career Singaporeans to be trained as registered nurses (RNs) and enrolled nurses (ENs), physiotherapists, occupational therapists and diagnostic radiographers. The latest PCP for dental surgery assistants (DSAs) was launched in November 2016. Since 2003, over 1,000 locals have participated in the Healthcare PCPs.
This year, MOH will further increase funding for nursing PCP training so that employers co-fund only 10% of the training cost, down from the current 20% to 50%. We will also provide new on-the-job training support of $12,000 per mid-career EN and $16,000 per mid-career RN to employers. The funding will encourage employers to admit more PCP-trained nurses and enable them to better support these nurses in their transition to a new career. We will also tap on MOM's new Attach and Train scheme to enable more mid-career Singaporeans to take up PCP nursing training.
Besides enhancing the local PCPs, MOH will introduce a new overseas nursing scholarship under the Healthcare Graduate Studies Award (HGSA) for non-nursing degree graduates, including fresh graduates and those with prior work experience. Awardees can pursue an overseas Graduate Entry Masters (GEM) nursing programme and will join the nursing profession as RNs after their studies. They will be fully sponsored for their nursing course, including tuition fees and maintenance allowances. We target to give out 20 such nursing scholarships annually.
There are also non-clinical roles for PMETs in the healthcare sector. Our public healthcare clusters will offer administrative and executive positions under WSG's PCP for professional executives, in areas like human resource and hospital operations. The Regional Health Systems (RHSes) will be training more mid-career Singaporeans as Care Coordinator Associates, to coordinate the care services required by patients post-discharge and empower patients to manage their conditions well at home. Several public hospitals have created Basic Care Assistant positions to help nurses provide personal care to patients, such as feeding and transferring. This will free up nurses' time to concentrate on their clinical duties. MOH will be providing employers with on-the-job training support of $10,000 for each Basic Care Assistant hired. The public hospitals aim to recruit about 200 Singaporeans for these part-time positions over the next three years.
There are even more job opportunities in the aged care sector. In the past five years, MOH has increased aged care capacity substantially and is on track to increase our nursing home capacity to 17,000 beds by 2020, an increase of 33% from 2016. We have also improved the designs of nursing homes to provide more greenery and a cosier living environment.
Since 2014, we have also put in place the Enhanced Nursing Home Standards (ENHS) which was developed in consultation with the sector to not only guide consistent, safe and quality care in homes, but also to ensure that the psycho-social needs of residents are met. MOH conducts licensing checks to ensure that nursing homes uphold these standards. We impose measures, such as a shorter licensing period, on nursing homes with severe or repeated non-compliances. The licensing period of each nursing home is available online for the public's reference. We will continue to support the sector in improving their quality of care, including sharing good practices beyond the enhanced standards amongst providers.
But the needs for aged care are not and should not be met by nursing homes alone. In fact, most Singaporeans prefer to age at home. So, we should work towards making nursing home care an option of last resort. To achieve this, MOH is strengthening home and community care options to help seniors avoid institutionalisation and age comfortably at home and in the community. Between 2016 and 2020, MOH aims to increase day and home care services by 40%. Today, many seniors are also cared for at home by foreign domestic workers (FDWs) and the Government provides FDW grants to some 6,900 households caring for seniors. With home care, centre-based care, trained domestic workers and nursing home places, we can adequately support the needs of seniors in 2020 and beyond.
The growth in the aged care sector means we have new job positions for care staff across the island, offering Singaporeans a chance to work closer to home. In 2016, AIC helped 400 locals find jobs in the aged care sector through four job fairs, with about 25 participating aged care providers.
This year, AIC will enhance the Community Care Traineeship Programme (CCTP), which is a Place and Train programme, by including more structured bite-sized training under the programme to help Singaporeans take up healthcare and therapy assistant roles. In addition, MOH will provide on-the-job training support of $10,000 to employers for each new care worker, to better facilitate mentoring, supervision and development of the new hires.
Besides care staff, the aged care sector will need PMETs to join its workforce to lead the new institutions. Mid-career Singaporeans with managerial experience can tap on the Senior Management Associate Scheme (SMAS) to switch careers to the aged care sector.
In addition, MOH will enhance our \"Return to Nursing\" programme to encourage non-practising local nurses to rejoin the healthcare sector and, in particular, to take up new positions in the aged care sector. Non-practising nurses employed by aged care providers will receive support for their refresher training course fees and draw full salaries now, instead of training allowances during their three-month training. They will also be able to enjoy a bonus of between $3,000 and $5,000 for transiting into the aged care sector.
Mdm Chairman, we need to nurture a future-ready healthcare workforce that can support our efforts to transform our healthcare delivery.
Ms K Thanaletchimi asked about the Ministry's efforts to further develop the nursing profession. MOH set up the National Nursing Taskforce in 2012 to strengthen the development of the nursing profession. We have since enhanced professional development, career advancement and recognition for nurses.
Going forward, we will have to meet higher healthcare needs with a more constrained workforce. This challenge would be felt more acutely for the nursing profession as the over 34,000 practising nurses currently form the largest professional group of the healthcare workforce. Also, nurses are needed to anchor primary and aged care to lead care transformation.
Therefore, MOH set up the Future Nursing Career Review Committee in April last year, comprising nursing leaders from across the different care settings. The Committee has identified three strategic areas of focus, namely, Care, Community and Competency, to develop a future-ready nursing workforce.
The first area of focus is job and process redesign to enable nurses to focus more on patient care. We encourage public healthcare institutions to undertake a comprehensive review of nurses' roles so that they can spend more time on direct patient care and take on deeper nursing care roles. For example, the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) has introduced a digital nursing handover notes system to minimise the time spent handing over patients' case notes between shifts. Experienced ENs can be trained to take on more complex procedures, such as wound care, administering oral medications and giving subcutaneous and intramuscular injections
The second area of focus is to develop community nursing. If we want to go beyond healthcare to health, we need nurses to deliver preventive health in the community. If we want to go beyond hospitals to the community and home, we need nurses to support patients with good day and home-based care. The RHSes will expand the existing pilot manpower partnership scheme under which they hire and deploy nurses across their community care partners. RHSes will also pilot a community nursing team network, comprising nurses and support care staff, to provide seamless care to patients from hospital to home and help seniors age in place. The RHSes have started a network of community nursing teams providing preventive and transitional care in the northern and eastern regions, which have served over 3,000 clients to date.
These RHS-level community services and partnerships with community care providers will give nurses greater exposure to different aspects of community nursing for a more diverse career. MOH will work with the nursing profession to develop Community Nursing as a distinctive career track in its own right, with a comprehensive competency framework that covers the skills needed for different roles in the community. This will underpin a more holistic system of training and deployment of community nurses.
We will start building a pipeline for nurses to enter the community care sector. MOH plans to introduce a Community Nursing Scholarship later this year to attract GCE \"O\" and \"A\" level students into nursing with specialisation in community nursing. The Community Nursing Scholarship will support students who choose to undergo the nursing diploma or degree courses and offer them clinical attachments with community institutions and work in the community care setting after graduation. They will be further supported to undergo the Advanced Diploma in Community Nursing to gain deeper skills in community nursing. The scholarship will also support in-service nurses who are keen to join community nursing to deepen their skills via local and overseas programmes. We are targeting 20 community nursing scholars annually. This exposure to community nursing will also become part of the leadership development of nursing leaders so that they will gain competencies across both acute and community care.
The third area of focus is on developing competencies to prepare nurses for the future. A more fundamental review of our nursing training system is needed so that we can better support nurses in developing deeper, future-ready skills in their nursing career. For instance, we will need to enhance the recognition of the skills and competencies that ENs have acquired at work to facilitate experienced ENs to undertake an accelerated diploma upgrading course to become RNs. For RNs, the Advanced Diploma courses will be reviewed to support more flexible, modularised ways of learning so that more can upgrade themselves. MOH has convened a Nursing Education Executive Committee (NEEC) comprising nursing leaders and will complete its review by 2018.
Over the next few months, MOH will work with the Healthcare Services Employees' Union and healthcare institutions to engage nurses through focus group discussions to hear more ideas to implement the Committee's recommendations.
With these three shifts, nurses can look forward to more meaningful and dynamic careers across the acute and community care sectors. With more time dedicated to direct patient care, nurses can better focus on what they are trained for and what they are passionate about. Patients can look forward to more integrated care and care within the community.
Beyond nursing, we are working to build a future-ready healthcare workforce across all healthcare professions. MOH is collaborating with SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) to develop a Skills Framework for the healthcare sector to support healthcare workers in their professional and career development. For a start, we will focus on developing the Skills Framework for nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, pharmacy technicians and support care staff, and this is targeted for launch in end-2018. MOH is working closely with MSF to ensure that the Skills Framework is applicable to their counterparts in the social service sector.
We will further develop the capabilities of our pharmacy workforce. Last year, we implemented the National Pharmacy Residency Programme to train specialist pharmacists, with a total of 15 residents enrolled to date. In addition, we are developing advanced pharmacy practitioners through the Advanced Practice Competency Framework for Pharmacists. This framework serves as a developmental tool for pharmacists to gear towards advanced level competencies. To upskill our pharmacy technicians, we developed the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme leading to an Advanced Diploma in Pharmaceutical Sciences in collaboration with Nanyang Polytechnic. This 18-month structured work-learn programme aims to enhance core competencies of pharmacy technicians so that they can take on bigger roles. Training for the first batch is slated to start in April this year.
Even as we grow and develop our healthcare workforce to meet current and future needs, we recognise that with a shrinking local labour force, we will need to supplement our core local healthcare workforce with foreign manpower. Currently, foreign doctors and nurses make up 16% and 33% of our total medical and nursing workforce respectively. The proportion of foreign doctors has decreased from 18% in end 2012. We will work to help our foreign workforce assimilate to the local environment to meet our healthcare needs.
As Dr Chia Shi-Lu mentioned, it is also important to ensure that good staff are retained. Through various efforts, we have reduced our public healthcare staff attrition rate from 10.1% to 8.4% between 2012 and 2016. Attrition for nurses has decreased from 8.4% in 2012 to 6.5% in 2016.
But the formal workforce is only one part of our care system. Caregivers play just as, if not a more important role, in our healthcare ecosystem. Assoc Prof Daniel Goh asked about our plans to support caregivers of seniors. We have expanded home and centre-based care services, as well as respite care services, including weekend respite at our SCCs, where caregivers can place their loved ones to be cared for, while they run errands or take a short break. AIC also started a three-year pilot since September 2015 to embed more comprehensive caregiver support services within five SCCs. These include supporting caregivers' emotional and psycho-social needs and assisting them with information and referral services. For caregivers requiring further assistance, the SCCs will also link them to a central pool of social work support. AIC has also rolled out AICareLinks at five hospitals and at its office at Maxwell Road. These are one-stop counters where caregivers can receive advice on services and schemes. Caregivers can also call AIC's Singapore Silver Line to receive assistance over the phone.
The Government has also supported households which need to hire FDWs to care for seniors and disabled persons with a reduced FDW levy of $60 per month and an FDW Grant of $120 per month. We also provide an annual training grant of $200 for caregivers of seniors and persons with disabilities.
MOH is also leveraging technology to care for seniors. We have started several pilots on senior monitoring using technology in Yuhua, Bedok and Marine Parade. Under the Community Network for Seniors pilot in Tampines, Eastern Health Alliance is piloting a call centre service called \"Careline\" to support seniors living alone. Seniors enrolled in the service can call the Careline should they need help. Careline will also make regular calls to seniors and provide them with useful health information. In line with Dr Lily Neo's suggestion, we are also working with MND and HDB to study new forms of housing and care options for seniors to age-in-place.
Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef and Ms Tin Pei Ling, as well as Mr Dennis Tan and Ms Joan Pereira, asked about support for mental health. MOH will further strengthen care in the community over the next five years in five ways.
First, to improve the early identification of mental health symptoms, frontline staff of selected Government agencies, such as HDB, the Singapore Police Force (SPF), the National Environment Agency (NEA), community partners and social service agencies, will receive basic training on mental health conditions. They will be trained to identify and respond to persons with mental health issues in the community, such as referring these persons to AIC for help. We will also continue to create more Dementia-Friendly Communities (DFCs), where residents, businesses and other partners are trained to identify and assist seniors with dementia.
Second, we will strengthen our response to mental health needs in the community. AIC will act as a \"first responder\" to mental health needs identified in the community and coordinate care across the health and social sectors. Community partners and caregivers looking after persons with mental health needs may call the Singapore Silver Line (SSL) or email for assistance and support. By 2021, we target to respond and support about 1,000 cases a year, up from the current 500.
Third, we will expand mental health and dementia services in polyclinics to make care more accessible. Our target is for one in two polyclinics to implement mental health clinics by 2021.
Fourth, MOH and MSF will work together to strengthen integrated health and social care services in the community. AIC will partner and support social service agencies so that they can support clients with stable mental health conditions. We will also expand our network of community outreach teams from the current 18 to 50 by 2021, to educate the public on mental health and reach out to vulnerable and at-risk individuals. MOH will increase the number of allied health community intervention teams from 14 to 18 by financial year (FY) 2021, to support GPs, community and grassroots organisations in caring for persons with mental health conditions.
Finally, we will strengthen IMH's post-discharge \"after-care\" support. MOH will resource IMH to widen their case management support so that more IMH patients will be supported in the post-discharge period and transit well back home. IMH expects to be able to support an additional 3,000 patients over the next five years, on top of the current 8,000 patients.
As we move beyond healthcare to health, we need to do more to tackle factors that contribute to ill-health and diseases. Tobacco use is one such major contributor in Singapore. HPB has a programme called \"I Quit\" that supports smokers to quit. It will extend the programme's outreach through roadshows at various community and workplace settings this year.
We want to protect our young from the harms of tobacco and lay the foundations for good health. In Singapore, nearly half or 45% of smokers become regular smokers between the ages of 18 and 21. According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), persons who do not start smoking before the age of 21 \"are unlikely to ever begin\". Findings from Needham, Massachusetts, the first US town to increase its minimum legal age (MLA) for sale of tobacco from 18 to 21, are promising. Youth smoking rates have fallen more rapidly here, compared to neighbouring areas. At least 215 localities in the US, including New York City and the states of Hawaii and California, have since increased their MLA to 21. Between December 2015 and March 2016, HPB conducted public consultation on further tobacco control measures. The feedback showed considerable support for raising the MLA in Singapore.
MOH will take further steps to reduce, if not eliminate, the opportunities for our young to be tempted and to take up smoking before 21. We will propose legislative changes to Parliament within a year to raise the MLA for sale of tobacco products to minors, from 18 to 21. The change will be phased in over a few years.
We are taking steps towards standardising tobacco packaging. Australia, France and the UK have all implemented standardised packaging. We have closely studied the experience of these countries and seen significant value in moving in this direction so as to reduce the appeal of tobacco products, particularly to youths, and raise the visibility and effectiveness of health warnings. We will conduct a further public consultation on standardised packaging this year to seek additional and more detailed views on possible standardised packaging measures. We will carefully review relevant considerations, including public health, intellectual property and international law perspectives, and ensure that any measures taken are consistent with our domestic law and international obligations. We will continue to monitor international best practices in tobacco control and will adopt appropriate measures to control tobacco use.
In conclusion, as healthcare needs continue to increase, we need to make bold changes in our healthcare delivery and workforce so that we can achieve our vision of better health and better care for all Singaporeans now and in the future.
The Chairman: Dr Tan Wu Meng, you have three cuts. Please take them together.
Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): Madam, my residents tell me that the Clementi Polyclinic is very, very crowded.
While the CHAS scheme helps bring some of the patients to nearby GPs, many Clementi residents are concerned whether the polyclinic will get more crowded in the years ahead, especially with new HDB developments, an ageing population, more chronic diseases and senior residents with mobility needs needing more space in the waiting room of the polyclinic as they move around.
Can MOH consider expanding the Clementi Polyclinic and other polyclinics nationwide in a similar situation? This will help MOH stay ahead of future demand and provide better care to keep our residents in better health.
Next, more broadly, primary care has to be the bedrock of a healthcare system, especially with an ageing population. Can MOH tell us how it plans to strengthen primary care nationwide so that more patients can be managed in the community more effectively? Will these networks link up with nursing homes, VWOs and other agencies like MSF's Social Service Offices, to provide more holistic care across the patient's journey in the community?
Next, on palliative care. As a doctor and as the son of a cancer patient, I have seen first-hand how important palliative care can be for adult patients. That need is even more crucial when the patient on palliative care is a child, a child with life-limiting illness. The child may not understand what is going on and the parents will need that extra support.
For the parents, the journey is heartbreaking when the child has a life-limiting illness. No parent wants to outlive their child. No parent wants to see their child suffering or in pain. This is why it is all the more important that MOH ensures that every child with a life-limiting illness, every such child and their parents, have adequate access to subsidised care in the community so that on this most heartbreaking of journeys, parent and child can be supported as best as possible.
Ms Joan Pereira: Madam, palliative or end-of-life care is still a sensitive topic in Singapore. Nonetheless, we need to persist with our efforts as a community, together with our health professionals, to raise palliative care awareness. We should encourage more dialogues to destigmatise end-of-life issues so that the early conversations can better inform care planning. Will the Ministry share an update about the public education initiatives to increase awareness about Advanced Care Planning (ACP), palliative care and end-of-life issues? How will MOH work with VWOs to improve public awareness of the accessibility and types of palliative care available?
For many families, increasingly, spouses and adult children are working full-time and need palliative care support for their loved ones. Will we be able to meet the demands for hospices and home palliative services? Will MOH be able to train enough qualified personnel to cope with the rising demand due to our ageing population?
In addition, how do we ensure that good quality palliative care will be accessible at affordable fees? Will the Minister share how funding and MediSave uses will be augmented to meet this need?
Finally, I would like to request MOH to work closely with AIC to ensure that attention is also paid to our caregivers' emotional state. AIC can support and help caregivers find closure when the loved ones pass on, so that they, usually family members, will not go into a depressive state.
Would the Ministry elaborate on the available support for the bereaved, especially those from our vulnerable groups, such as caregivers with low incomes or little family support?
Dr Tan Wu Meng: Madam, a Swiss study quoted on Channel NewsAsia looked at how doctors spent their time at work. In this overseas study by Wenger and colleagues, no relation to the football manager, Swiss doctors spent less than one-third of their time on direct patient care. The rest was used up by paperwork and administrative duties.
Madam, I think we can do much better than the Swiss. What measures is MOH taking to reduce paperwork and administration for doctors, nurses and healthcare workers? Furthermore, in the design of hospital wards and clinics, is MOH looking at economy of movement, making sure that staff do not have to move around more than necessary, making sure computer systems simplify rather than complicate? This can help our healthcare workers spend more time, and more quality time, with patients in better communication, better engagement, better care.
Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef: Madam, the healthcare industry is very labour-intensive. It is also a people- and patient-centric one, utilising the encounter-based delivery model. However, just doing our best and working very hard may not be good enough. As healthcare organisations face unprecedented challenges to enhance quality, productivity, reduce harm, improve access and efficiency, eliminate waste and lower cost, innovation and technology have to become a focus.
It may require some shift in mindsets to implement new organisational models, service delivery and customer relations. The Harvard Business Review states that 65% of healthcare interactions will be mobile by 2018. Investments in consumer-facing mobile apps, wearable technology, remote monitoring devices, virtual care and big data analytics will become common practices.
Data-driven healthcare creates a tremendous potential to make every care environment a data-driven learning environment. How are we doing in Singapore? How is MOH utilising data-driven healthcare to help formulate guidelines and policies and set new relevant key performance indicators (KPIs)? I strongly feel that across the continuum from primary to tertiary care, there is, indeed, room for a concerted effort to revamp, relook, review, reconnect and reinvent. At the end of the day, it is really about the smart balance of technology, both the digital and the human touch.
The Chairman:\tMinister of State Lam Pin Min.
The Minister of State for Health (Dr Lam Pin Min):\tMdm Chairman, may I have your permission to display some slides during my speech?
The Chairman: Yes, please. [Some slides were shown to hon Members.]
Dr Lam Pin Min: Minister Gan Kim Yong has highlighted key shifts in our healthcare system to help build a sustainable healthcare system for Singaporeans in the future.
I will focus on how we are working to implement the \"3 Beyonds\" − beyond hospital to community, beyond quality to value, and beyond healthcare to health – in laying the foundation for a healthier future.
Mdm Chairman, let me begin by illustrating with a story of two villages that are situated along a river. This river is the source of life as it provides food and water to the people living along it. However, the inhabitants up-river are dumping waste into the river polluting the water downstream. Villagers staying down-river are falling ill as a result of bathing in and drinking the polluted water.
The affected village has several options. It can invest substantial resources researching the health effects of polluted water or put lots of money into expensive technological solutions to treat and purify the water. It can also look for alternative sources of drinking water. All these options would translate into long-term commitment of time and resources in managing the consequences of a real problem. However, the underlying root cause has not gone away.
Alternatively, the affected village can work with the inhabitants upstream to identify and remove the source of pollution into the river. This would definitely help address the real problem, without having to resort to expensive and complex solutions. Yes, this upstream approach is one of the fundamental shifts that Minister Gan has alluded to in his speech − beyond healthcare to health.
Besides advocating health promotion in the general population, our focus now has shifted even more upstream to target Singaporeans as young as possible, from the preschool ages. The foundation of a healthier future is in our children and youth. There is strong evidence that good habits start from young, and these continue to reap benefits in healthier lifestyles and choices into adulthood.
Minister of State Dr Janil Puthucheary and I co-led an interagency NurtureSG Taskforce last year to jointly guide the development of a plan to enhance the health outcomes among our young. Mdm Chairman, before I elaborate further, I would like to request to deliver a summary of the NurtureSG plan in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Good health will lay a good foundation for the holistic development of our children and youths. However, we are now seeing several new trends, such as more frequent use of electronic gadgets, easy access to high-calorie food and drinks, and increasingly sedentary behaviour. Therefore, we need to look into nurturing healthier children and youths in a sustainable way.
Last year, Minister of State for Education Dr Janil Puthucheary and I co-chaired a taskforce to jointly develop a NurtureSG plan to enhance the health outcomes of young Singaporeans. NurtureSG focuses on the health of our children and youths in three health considerations, including physical activity and nutrition, mental well-being and sleep health. We will equip young Singaporeans, their parents, caregivers and teachers to help our children and youths lead a healthier lifestyle.
NurtureSG will focus on the greater engagement of parents by equipping them with relevant knowledge and parenting skills so that they can play an active role in providing a health-promoting home environment for their children. In addition, the physical and social environments are key determinants of health, particularly for children who are in the early stages of development. Hence, NurtureSG will also focus on fostering active and healthy living in the school and the community so as to integrate health promotion into the daily activities of our young.
In order to deepen and strengthen health education in educational institutions, we will provide more opportunities for children and youths to be more active in physical activities and have access to healthier meal options. We will help them understand the importance of quality sleep and enhance their socio-emotional skills so that they stay healthy, both physically and mentally.
As long as we all work together, I believe we can raise awareness of the importance of good health amongst young Singaporeans and create a healthier future for them.
(In English): We announced the plans for NurtureSG two weeks ago. I thank Dr Chia Shi-Lu for his strong support for the NurtureSG Taskforce's recommendations. NurtureSG seeks to foster healthier habits in our young in three key areas, namely, physical activity and nutrition, mental well-being and sleep health. And we will do so through two enablers: through parents, who are role models in shaping the attitudes and behaviours of our children, and through the school and community.
Dr Janil had elaborated during the MOE COS the various initiatives that mainstream schools will be embarking on to address these three focus areas. I will now share with Members what we will do in going further upstream to target children of preschool ages.
With regard to the nutrition of our preschoolers, let me share an example of how the HPB's Healthy Meals in Childcare Centres Programme (HMCCP) contributes to our vision of \"Healthy Meals for Every Child\".
This is Raenelle. Since 2015, she has been attending Agape Little Uni @ Sengkang, which participates in HMCCP. Raenelle has grown to love healthier food and is a health ambassador in her home. As a result, her mother, Regina, has adopted healthier cooking methods, such as steaming and stir-frying at home, and also taking right meal portions. And when they shop for groceries, they look for healthier food options contributing to a balanced diet. Although certain healthy food options can be slightly more expensive, there is also a wide variety of affordable alternatives labelled with the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS). By making the right choices, Raenelle and Regina are on track towards a healthier future.
To complement the efforts of improving nutrition in the meals served in preschools, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) will double the minimum daily time for physical activities for full-day preschool programmes to an hour a day, of which, 30 minutes will be conducted outdoors to cultivate young children's interests in physical activities.
We also have plans to teach our young to manage themselves well, by equipping preschool educators with the knowledge and understanding of socio-emotional development in young children.
Last but not least, we want to raise awareness on the importance and benefits of adequate and quality sleep. A lack of sleep is associated with impaired cognition, obesity and an increased risk of mental health issues. HPB will be launching a campaign in mid-2017 to share tips about good sleep habits. For example, parents who establish regular sleep patterns for children and reduce the amount of screen time for computers, television or mobile phones before sleep, will go a long way towards ensuring quality sleep and better physical and mental health for their children.
To Dr Chia Shi-Lu's queries on Nurture SG, the initiative will benefit our children and young from preschool to IHLs. The respective agencies will be supporting the respective recommendations. However, as this is a multi-year ongoing effort and builds on top of existing efforts on child health, it is more meaningful to focus on the programmes and on an overall budget.
As reported in HPB's student health survey in 2015, one in six of our Secondary 1 to Secondary 5, junior colleges and centralised institute students do not eat breakfast at all. This is of concern and we hope that Nurture SG's plans will better guide our youths to live a healthier life.
Minister Gan has spoken about the War on Diabetes. I will now focus on the clinical management of diabetes and the development and implementation of evidence-based clinical and lifestyle management of the disease. This work is led by a Disease Management Workgroup under the National Diabetes Prevention and Care Taskforce set up in July last year.
Good clinical management of diabetes is important, as poorly controlled blood sugars can lead to multiple complications in the long term, such as diabetic retinopathy, limb amputations and chronic kidney disease. In 2014, two in three new kidney failure cases were due to diabetes. Early detection and treatment can prevent or slow down the progression of diabetes-related kidney disease.
In 2011, the National University Hospital (NUH) and the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics developed the Nephrology Evaluation, Management and Optimisation programme (NEMO). The pilot programme initiates and optimises kidney protective medication for suitable patients showing early signs of kidney disease. As of September 2016, about one-third enrolled on the programme demonstrated improvements, while over 60% maintained stable kidney function. These positive outcomes give us confidence to scale this initiative nationwide.
From April this year, we plan to extend an enhanced version of the NEMO programme. We will call it \"HALT-CKD\", which stands for Holistic Approach in Lowering and Tracking Chronic Kidney Disease. The new national programme will benefit more patients nationwide and will be implemented progressively at all polyclinics.
Minister Gan also spoke about the setting up of the Agency for Care Effectiveness (or ACE). This will help clinicians and patients alike achieve value, beyond quality, in the area of drugs and healthcare technology, which will support our War on Diabetes. To better equip our primary care doctors to care for diabetic patients, we will roll out two Appropriate Care Guides (ACGs) in July this year. The first care guide will provide recommendations on medications for type 2 diabetes and, the second, a systematic way to manage pre-diabetes.
ACE also recently evaluated two classes of patented diabetic drugs. One of them was found to be significantly more cost-effective. Arising from this, MOH will be listing the drug from the more cost-effective group under the Medication Assistance Fund (MAF), and eligible patients can apply for financial support for this drug.
Patients themselves also have a vital role to play to achieve optimal control of diabetes. The key to managing diabetes starts with taking active steps to lead a healthier lifestyle and to comply with treatment. To better support patients, we are developing a framework to empower them to initiate and sustain lifestyle changes and enhance treatment adherence. Diabetic patients are also best managed when anchored in meaningful doctor-patient relationships in the community.
This brings me to primary care. Primary care is the bedrock of our healthcare system and the key to enabling the shift to bring healthcare beyond hospitals into the community. It is an integral component in our transformative efforts to bring patient-focused care closer to home.
Currently, only 20% of our primary care attendances are in polyclinics, the remainder are with private GPs. This is also reflective of where our primary care doctors practise today. Eighty percent of our primary care doctors are private GPs and a small number of them provide medical care in nursing homes and home medical services. Within primary care, we are also seeing an increase in attendances with chronic medical conditions, like diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia, rising from 18% in 2010 to about 27% today.
Our GPs are, therefore, very much a part of our healthcare ecosystem in delivering care in our communities and providing better chronic disease management for our patients. We have introduced the CHAS scheme in 2012 to provide means-tested patient subsidies at participating CHAS GPs. We have also piloted the Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in 2012 which have shown promising results, in terms of the outcome of chronic diseases management. This year, we will be scaling up our PCNs to better support GPs.
PCNs are made up of GPs who are organised into virtual networks and deliver care through a multidisciplinary team of doctors and nurses to manage patients' needs more holistically and effectively. Patients will benefit from nurse counsellors who will provide individualised advice to better manage their conditions. In addition, diabetic patients will be able to access diabetic foot and eye screening services more conveniently at the PCN GP clinics, allowing for early detection and treatment.
Through PCNs, GPs also have greater scale to link up with community providers. Dr Tan Wu Meng and Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef suggested strengthening primary care to manage patients in the community and better streamlining of care coordination across care settings. I agree with both of them. The RHSes and public healthcare institutions have care coordination programmes and care coordinators for patients with multiple needs and frequent hospitalisations. PCN care coordinators would also be able to spend more time evaluating care needs holistically and refer these patients to the appropriate channels of social assistance, including VWOs and MSF's Social Service Offices. The team-based arrangement will also facilitate like-minded GPs in cross-sharing and peer learning of best practices across PCNs.
MOH will provide GPs participating in PCNs with funding and administrative support to implement team-based care to better track the care outcomes and monitor patients more closely. MOH will be launching the PCN application call on 1 April this year for a period of two months and interested GPs are encouraged to participate in this application. Funding support will also be available to enable GPs to better care for patients with complex chronic conditions, such as diabetes.
I would like to share a story about Mr Mohd Bin Sahat who has been seeing his regular family physician, Dr Chong Chin Kwang, for about eight years to manage his chronic medical conditions. Since 2012, he has been utilising the PCN services at Dr Chong's clinic, which gives him access to ancillary services, such as diabetic foot and eye screenings. I would like to quote Mr Mohd and he said, \"I have received timely reminders on my appointments and follow-ups from the (PCN) staff…the (PCN) nurses also gave advice and recommended tips on diet and exercise. I really appreciate them.\"
I am happy to note that Mr Mohd's efforts in leading a healthy lifestyle, coupled with holistic chronic disease management by the PCN team, have helped him to manage his chronic conditions optimally.
Beyond PCNs, MOH will also continue to renew our primary care infrastructure. As announced last year, two new FMCs in Keat Hong and Tampines will be operational early this year. In particular, Tampines FMC will be located at the integrated complex, Our Tampines Hub, together with a Community Health Centre (CHC) and an SCC, providing our patients with a range of comprehensive community care options.
Residents in Jurong West and Punggol can also look forward to the opening of Pioneer and Punggol polyclinics this year. We are on track to operationalise new polyclinics in Bukit Panjang, Eunos and Sembawang by 2020. I am also pleased to announce that we will build a new polyclinic in the Kallang/Balestier area which is expected to be operational by 2020.
We are also working with the polyclinic groups to refresh the existing polyclinics, to evolve the polyclinics according to changing care needs. Polyclinics have progressively been renovated and expanded over the years.
Dr Tan Wu Meng had asked if Clementi Polyclinic can be expanded. I have good news for Dr Tan. Expansion plans are already being planned for Clementi Polytechnic and are expected to be completed by next year. My Ministry is also looking into partner arrangements to better care for patients. Since June 2014, Clementi Polyclinic has worked with NUHS-Frontier FMC to transfer over 6,700 patients from Clementi Polyclinic to Frontier FMC for primary care needs.
Finally, to future-ready our healthcare system, we will also be revising the PHMCA which was enacted in the 1980s. Dr Chia Shi-Lu asked for the progress of the review of PHMCA. While PHMCA has served us well in ensuring the delivery of safe and quality care, more IT-enabled interventions and mobile services have emerged in recent years. We need to ensure adequate standards for these services. It is important that our healthcare laws stay current and flexible to allow for these shifts in models of care.
I announced the revision of PHMCA in October 2016. Since then, we have actively engaged stakeholders, including hospitals and clinics, in focus group discussions. We have also engaged patient groups and members of the public to see how we can better ensure patient safety, welfare and continuity of care through the new Healthcare Services Act.
To date, we have held 11 Advisory Panel Discussion sessions and 34 Focus Group Discussion sessions. The feedback has been constructive and helpful. Both providers and the public have welcomed changes to license healthcare providers by services rather than by premises. They have also been supportive of changes aimed at making healthcare costs more transparent through the display of fees, more targeted financial counselling and bill itemisation.
Requirements to increase the accountability of healthcare providers and clinical oversight over more complex services have been generally positive. Various providers and members of the public gave useful suggestions on how we can enhance continuity of care for patients through an integrated NEHR.
One of our Focus Group Discussion participants, Dr Theresa Yap, commended NEHR as she felt that it not only enabled her to make better treatment decisions but also provided patients with greater continuity of care when they visited multiple healthcare checkpoints. Members of the public who were consulted were also supportive of NEHR as they felt that it would make healthcare less costly by preventing duplication of diagnostic tests and chances of erroneous prescription or drug interactions.
However, we are also aware of the concerns raised with regard to ensuring security of patient records, confidentiality of patient information and costs to providers. There are currently security measures in place and my Ministry will continue to strengthen the measures to address these concerns.
The draft Bill will be put up for public consultation this year. We welcome all healthcare service providers and members of the public to review the Bill and provide us with more feedback and suggestions.
Mdm Chair, our country's journey for better care and better health starts from a commitment and understanding of how to stay healthy in every individual. Healthy lifestyle habits keep chronic diseases at bay. Staying connected to a regular doctor with improved access to healthcare services within the community will allow for better care management. MOH will continue to review our system and ensure that it evolves to ensure a safe delivery of appropriate care to patients. I urge all Singaporeans and healthcare providers to partner us in our initiatives to build a healthier future for Singapore.
The Chairman: Minister of State Chee Hong Tat.
The Minister of State for Health (Mr Chee Hong Tat): Mdm Chairman, I will focus on how MOH is partnering communities, healthcare institutions, unions and companies to implement the three shifts that Minister Gan spoke about so that we can develop a sustainable healthcare system for all Singaporeans.
I agree with Dr Tan Wu Meng and Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef that we need to raise healthcare productivity through innovation and process improvements to deliver quality care and better value for our patients.
Since April 2012, we have supported more than 200 ground-up projects under the Healthcare Productivity Roadmap. Let me give some examples of how we have improved productivity in the healthcare sector.
Our public healthcare institutions did a successful pilot where selected patients with conditions like back pain can be directly referred by their polyclinic doctors for subsidised physiotherapy services, without having to go through a specialist. This improves patients' access to physiotherapy services and reduces unnecessary delays and referrals. It also allows the specialists to focus on other patients who require their services. MOH will work with our healthcare institutions to look at other areas where we can apply this approach to encourage right-siting and effective use of healthcare resources.
Dr Tan Wu Meng is right that we need to reduce administrative work for healthcare professionals so that they can focus on patient care. With this in mind, NUH reviewed its processes for documenting patient information and replaced hardcopy forms with electronic ones. Patient information is now collected just once, then stored and pre-populated, enabling our nurses to spend 10% less time on documentation.
We will look at further measures to cut down the administrative load for our healthcare workers across the healthcare system, including doing away with unnecessary surveys and form-filling.
Dr Tan also asked about the design of hospital wards and clinics. Tan Tock Seng Hospital has reduced walking distance for healthcare staff by nearly half through a remodeling of their wards. There is scope to further improve productivity through clever use of design and technology. This includes doing time-motion studies to monitor operational workflows and finding ways to optimise the processes and reduce inefficiencies.
Technology is a key enabler in our efforts to improve productivity. Our strategy for technology is three-pronged: digitise, connect, analyse.
First, our institutions need to digitise their information and processes to provide healthcare professionals the information they need for decision-making.
Next, we are strengthening connections across IT systems to facilitate the exchange of information, especially across different clusters and institutions. This includes linkages with VWOs and private sector providers.
Third, we are analysing the healthcare data collected to better predict care needs and utilisation patterns. For example, using data to identify and reach out to seniors who visit hospitals regularly to see how their healthcare needs can be better met through community and home care.
Madam, while technology is an enabler, the most critical factor for improving productivity lies with our people. Our healthcare professionals are well-trained and dedicated, often going the extra mile to look after their patients. I would like to thank our healthcare workers for their service, sacrifices and care to go beyond.
I also want to acknowledge the strong support from Ms Thanaletchimi and our brothers and sisters from the Healthcare Services Employees’ Union (HSEU) and thank them for their valuable feedback and active participation in improving our healthcare system. MOH greatly appreciates our partnership with the union. By working together as trusted partners, we increase our chances of success and shorten the time we need to reach our goals.
Madam, we need to look beyond the public healthcare sector, to work with private sector providers in both healthcare and non-healthcare-related industries like design, engineering and infocomm technologies.
Earlier this year, I launched the Philips Health Continuum Space in Toa Payoh. The company is now focusing on health-related products as a core business, bringing together expertise from different fields, including design and engineering. The innovation facility is a living lab for healthcare professionals to collaborate, co-create and test out healthcare solutions. I am glad that Philips is interested to work with local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups to use this facility and also to test-bed their solutions in the community.
Our startups are also providing innovative solutions to tackle healthcare-related challenges in Singapore. Ms Tin Pei Ling spoke about using digital technology to enhance eldercare. Home-grown company Jaga-Me offers \"home care on demand\" to give patients and their families access to professional home nursing and caregiving services. I met the founders. They are a group of young Singaporeans who are keen to make a difference in improving lives.
Another technology solution is T-Rehab, where patients carry out physiotherapy exercises at home using wearable sensors, with their progress monitored remotely by physiotherapists.
I encourage our healthcare institutions to work with startups like Jaga-Me and T-Rehab to support their innovations and use these new ideas to help transform our healthcare system. Not all the ideas will succeed. We must expect some to fail. The key is to have an environment where we can try new ideas and fail safely so that we can learn from these failures and continue to innovate by pushing the boundaries.
Madam, a priority for MOH is to promote healthy living. This is also a key focus for the War on Diabetes. Mr Christopher de Souza has asked for an update. Let me start with what we have done to encourage physical activity.
Minister Gan spoke about the National Steps Challenge. So far, nearly 500,000 Singaporeans of all ages have participated. For Season Two of the National Steps Challenge, participants have hit key milestones more quickly than Season One. One hundred and fifty thousand people clocked 10,000 steps or more on at least five days per week. Well done!
To step up the momentum, HPB has been working with SportSG to scale up popular programmes like Sundays @ The Park, Sunrise in the City and Fitness@Work to increase the variety of activities.
Next, on healthy eating. When it comes to preventing and managing diabetes, diet is a critical factor. While the decision and responsibility to eat healthily rest with the individual, MOH will continue to work with our partners to foster a supportive environment for Singaporeans to make healthy food choices.
We have increased availability of healthier meals in restaurants, food courts and hawker centres. HPB works closely with industry players through the Healthier Dining Programme and HCS programme. With MOE's support, schools can only sell packaged drinks with lower sugar content of less than 6%. It is important to help our children adopt healthy habits from young.
I applaud the People's Association for their initiative to cater healthier foods at grassroots events since December 2016. I have also done this for my constituency events and received positive feedback from my residents who appreciate our efforts to provide them with healthier meals and healthier snacks.
Madam, I am pleased to announce that from 1 April 2017, the public sector will likewise adopt healthier catering guidelines for all events and training courses. We want to provide tasty healthier choices for our public officers and guests so that they can enjoy the food while staying healthy and active.
I thank Mr Chen Show Mao for his suggestions on how we can promote healthy eating. HPB has been working on this important area over the last few years. To further encourage the use of healthier ingredients by the food industry, we will introduce the Healthier Ingredient Development Scheme (HIDS) from 1 July this year.
HIDS will provide funding support for food manufacturers to innovate and develop tasty products with healthier ingredients, such as incorporating more whole grains and using healthier cooking oils. The aim is to go upstream in the food manufacturing process, to increase the proportion of whole grains and healthier oils served in restaurants, food courts and hawker centres. Through this scheme, consumers can benefit from a wider variety of healthier meals, to help prevent and manage diabetes.
Food manufacturing is one of Singapore's strengths, and our manufacturers are recognised worldwide for the quality and taste of their products. By working closely with the industry, I am confident we can further enhance the sector's value-add by developing healthier products which taste just as delicious and riding on the trusted Singapore brand to expand our markets overseas.
I am encouraged to see more Singaporeans switching to healthier choices. The market share of HCS products has increased from 15% in 2012 to 18% in 2016. I believe this can grow further. Companies have also reformulated their products to reduce the amount of salt, oil and sugar so that they can qualify for HCS certification.
For example, the median sugar level of pre-packaged beverages has decreased from 9.5% to 6.5% over the past decade. Today, there are over 2,500 HCS products available across 70 food categories, compared to just 300 products when HCS started in 2001. The sale of HCS products has been growing at 9% annually, compared to 2% to 3% for other food products.
While Singaporeans are eating more healthily, we are still consuming too much sugar. This increases our risks of getting diabetes. On average, Singaporeans consume 12 teaspoons of sugar daily, more than the five teaspoons limit recommended by WHO. We also see a worrying trend of children and youths consuming more sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) than before.
Compared to food, SSBs are easy to over-consume as they do not provide a sense of fullness. Many are also low in nutrients and are essentially \"empty calories\". In Singapore, SSBs contribute 60% of our total sugar intake, higher than many other countries. Two-thirds of this sugar come from pre-packaged SSBs, such as soft drinks and packet drinks. Other countries have implemented a range of measures targeted at lowering SSB consumption to reduce obesity and chronic diseases like diabetes.
The Diabetes Taskforce has obtained views from industry players and individuals on how to reduce sugar consumption in Singapore, including from pre-packaged SSBs. We studied the practices in other countries, which include regulatory measures like soda tax, warning labels for high-sugar drinks and advertising restrictions. Mr Chen Show Mao has also highlighted some of these examples.
Madam, it is important to do further consultation with businesses and consumers before we decide on what to implement in Singapore. We will also continue to monitor the situation in other countries to assess the effectiveness of the measures that they have implemented in changing dietary preferences and consumer behaviours.
Madam, I thank Mr Leon Perera for his suggestion on using SIBs to fund efforts by NGOs to tackle diabetes. NGOs and VWOs are important partners for MOH.
In our War on Diabetes, we work with the Diabetic Society of Singapore (DSS) and Touch Community Services in areas, such as diabetes education, patient and caregiver support and disease management.
We work with and support the work of NGOs in different ways, such as funding them to provide services, extending seed funding for them to experiment with new ideas and collaborating with them through our RHSes.
For SIBs, some observers have noted the benefits, including those which Mr Perera highlighted. Others saw downsides, such as the complex negotiations among multiple parties, resulting in delays and high transaction costs and possible diversion of attention and resources away from important causes which are less measurable and harder to achieve outcomes.
In some countries, SIBs are used out of financial necessity due to insufficient public budget to support certain social programmes. Singapore is fortunate to be in a stronger fiscal position, thanks to our stable political system and the Government which has been planning long term and spending prudently within our means. We will continue to study different ways of funding and working with NGOs. Ultimately, regardless of the funding arrangement, what we need are collective action and strong partnerships among the Government, NGOs, industry players, communities and individuals to win the war on diabetes.
Another important area is to encourage early and regular health screening. For diabetes, the current arrangement is for Singaporeans aged 40 and above to go for screening every three years. Madam, age is only one factor. There are also other factors, such as family history, body mass index and so on.
Learning from the experiences of other countries, such as the US, UK, Australia and Finland, MOH will roll out the Diabetes Risk Assessment (DRA) tool from September 1 this year. DRA is an evidence-based, self-administered questionnaire to assess an individual's diabetes risk. It will supplement our current screening efforts.
From 1 September this year, we will also enhance Government subsidies for the Screen for Life programme to encourage more Singaporeans to go for screening and post-screening consultation at CHAS clinics. The fee for screening and the first post-screening consultation will be fixed at $5 for eligible Singaporeans and $2 for CHAS cardholders, both Blue and Orange. Pioneers will not have to pay. We will offer these services to them for free as a special benefit for our Pioneer Generation (PG).
The fixed fee of $2 and $5 will cover both the initial screening and the first post-screening consultation, if the test results show that a consultation is required. We want to reduce the drop-off rate of someone who is tested positive but does not follow-up to see a doctor for post-screening consultation.
Through these enhancements, we hope that more Singaporeans will go for screening, including those who face higher risks of getting diabetes. Early detection and intervention are important in preventing diabetes and managing the disease.
Madam, Mr Low Thia Khiang asked about pneumococcal vaccination. This has also been raised by other Members in the past, most recently by Ms Cheng Li Hui in October 2016.
Our vaccination subsidy policies are guided by recommendations from the Expert Committee on Immunisation (ECI). This is a committee which comprises specialists from public and private healthcare institutions in infectious diseases, microbiology, paediatrics and public health.
ECI will assess a vaccine based on factors, such as the burden of the disease in Singapore, safety and efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of the vaccine. Vaccinations, such as measles and diphtheria, are subsidised to achieve sufficient population immunity to prevent community outbreaks.
For pneumococcal disease, the risk of an outbreak is currently assessed to be low. Our incidence of serious invasive pneumococcal disease in Singapore is also lower than other countries, such as the US and Australia. Hence, the Committee has recommended a targeted approach for specific high-risk groups, such as children below five, seniors above 65 and individuals with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, asthma and heart diseases. They can use MediSave for pneumococcal vaccination.
Madam, currently, all Singapore Citizen babies receive a $4,000 Government grant in their MediSave account and parents can draw from this grant to defray the cost of recommended vaccinations, including pneumococcal. There are also generous Government grants via the Baby Bonus cash gift and the Child Development Account which can be used for pneumococcal vaccination.
Madam, I will now touch on palliative care. MOH has been increasing our support for this sector over the past years.
Ms Joan Pereira asked how MOH is working with VWOs to improve public awareness, quality and accessibility of palliative care. This remains a priority for us. We will work with community providers to reach out to the public through different channels, including using art as one of the ways to reach out to Singaporeans. Alongside such efforts, MOH will work with the Singapore Hospice Council on a structured three-year initiative to promote public understanding of palliative care, including how we can better support caregivers during grief and bereavement.
An important initiative is to help Singaporeans plan ahead for their care preferences through ACP, together with their loved ones and their care team. ACP is about respecting patient choice. We aim to reach out to 25,000 Singaporeans over the next four years. MOH will work with our community partners, RHSes and AIC to expand ACP in different care settings, such as specialist outpatient clinics and primary care.
Another area is to increase the capacity, accessibility and quality of palliative care services. I recently visited Assisi Hospice again and they have a new building with 85 palliative beds, including five beds for paediatric palliative care. They are also increasing their home palliative care services to about 1,000 patients each year. At the national level, we currently have 232 palliative care beds and about 5,500 home palliative care places per year and we are on track to meet the target of 360 palliative care beds and 6,000 home palliative care places per year by 2020. The palliative care workforce has also increased by 50% from 2011 to 2016.
With the added capacity, more Singaporeans with terminal illnesses can benefit from palliative care services. We are working with the Singapore Hospice Council to launch a quality improvement programme for palliative care providers, to maintain high quality standards as we increase our capacity in this sector.
Madam, based on a 2014 survey by Lien Foundation, 77% of Singaporeans preferred to pass on at home. To further enhance home palliative care services, our RHSes will work with community providers and VWOs to pilot integrated home palliative care programmes. Under these programmes, patients can receive medical and nursing care at home, as well as assistance in their daily activities. Patients requiring short inpatient stays will be cared for in community hospitals, before they return home.
I agree with Dr Tan Wu Meng on the need to support children with life-limiting illnesses. It is a difficult time for families which are facing this situation. From 1 August 2017, MOH will extend subsidies to paediatrics home palliative care to provide the families of these children with more financial support. This follows earlier measures by MOH, such as removal of the MediSave withdrawal limit in 2015 for patients on home palliative care for cancer and end-stage organ failure. We also introduced subsidies and MediSave coverage for day hospice care in 2016.
Madam, I thank Dr Chia Shi-Lu, Dr Lily Neo and Mr Louis Ng for their comments on ElderShield. We have formed the ElderShield Review Committee chaired by Mr Chaly Mah in October last year. The Committee has engaged different groups of stakeholders, such as caregivers, service providers, insurers and members of the public, through focus group discussions. The consultation process is still ongoing.
In doing its review, the Committee is looking at ways to enhance the benefits and payout period, while balancing the need to keep premiums affordable for all Singaporeans. It will continue to consult widely to gather further views and feedback.
Madam, ElderShield is an important risk-pooling scheme to prepare ourselves for an ageing society, as some of us will require extra help if we become seriously disabled when we grow old.
To sum up, MOH will focus on three key shifts for the next few years: beyond healthcare to health, beyond hospital to community, and beyond quality to value.
We will continue to grow a future-ready healthcare workforce and strengthen primary and community care. We will achieve these outcomes by working in partnership with communities, healthcare institutions, companies and unions. Our goal, Madam, is to help all Singaporeans achieve better health, better care and a better life. [Applause.]
The Chairman:\tWell, we have a bit of time for clarifications. Dr Chia Shi-Lu.
Dr Chia Shi-Lu: Madam, just some quick clarifications. First, the Minister mentioned that the reorganisation of the clusters is to enable us to pursue care transformation and, I quote, \"more effectively and decisively\". We note that the RHSes have also been in existence for a few years. So, could I just ask: what are some of the achievements of the RHSes when they were around?
The second clarification is for Senior Minister of State Amy Khor. Yesterday was International Women's Day. I just wanted a quick question about whether the Senior Minister of State could say something about initiatives to improve the health of women and what more is being planned in terms of women healthcare.
For Minister of State Chee, on productivity, we have been talking a lot about aged care. I was just wondering if there has been maybe equal at least, even additional emphasis, on productivity in the aged care sector and how the Ministry is encouraging manpower effectiveness in this sector, given that we can expect a lot more demand for manpower in the future.
And for Minister of State Lam, yes, last year, he mentioned about the one-doctor-one-patient initiative in the context of primary care. I was wondering what has the progress been on that particular front?
The Chairman: Minister Gan.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: Madam, let me give a quick answer. When we first set up the RHSes, they had a very clear mission, that is, to integrate care in the respective regions. The RHSes have since worked very hard to establish collaborations and partnerships with the regional service providers so that we can integrate care at the regional level and reach out to the population within the region. Over the last few years, they have done exactly that. This has also provided the impetus for the RHSes to be innovative, test out new models of care and provide the diversity needed for the healthcare system to evolve and to develop. Today, we are moving towards the three key shifts and this is why we are bringing the RHSes together so that they can leverage one another's strengths.
One example is the Eastern Health Alliance. Over the last few years, they have spent a lot of effort and invested heavily in community engagement. They have worked very well with the nursing homes in the area. With the GPs, they have the GPFirst programme. They will bring this experience in engaging the community players to SingHealth when they eventually come together and merge with SingHeatlh. We are leveraging the experience and knowledge that they have developed to help the integrated clusters move forward in a decisive and effective manner.
The Chairman: Senior Minister of State Amy Khor.
Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: First, I want to thank Dr Chia Shi-Lu for speaking in the interest of women and I must acknowledge that actually Dr Lily Neo also asked about women's health in her cut earlier.
First, let me say that women's health is an important priority for Singapore simply because they face significant health losses due to the various disease groups that affect them, as well as the fact that, of course, they have a longer life expectancy. As Dr Lily Neo says, they now still spend the longer life years in disability.
The Women's Health Advisory Committee, now known as the Women's Health Committee, was established in 2012. One key focus is on promoting screening, such as cancer screening and breast cancer screening, and we have worked with the Breast Cancer Foundation since 2012, particularly for low-income women. Since 2012, we have been offering mammograms for women from low-income families at no cost, together with Breast Cancer Foundation, and we have reached out to about 25,000 women.
In addition, we have promoted healthy lifestyle and habits to women at the workplace through our women's workplace health grant to about 108 companies. This programme has morphed into a workplace grant for companies with particular programmes that they can pick up.
The others will be outreach into the community through health talks, for instance, through HPB, as well as we have a women's health calendar that we have been publishing for many years, and in the vernacular also, to reach out to women.
Currently, we are promoting women's health in three aspects: firstly, is continuation of promoting breast cancer screening as well as follow-up through new outreach programmes and campaigns. The other one is on bone health, so we are targeting campaigns working towards World Osteoporosis Day, with targeted campaigns to raise awareness among women about the importance of bone health from young, not just for women in the older age groups. The third one, I am pleased to announce, is in support of diabetes. We are also working with the public hospitals to promote greater awareness about gestational diabetes. In fact, now, gestational diabetes screening is available in all public hospitals for pregnant women.
And that is important because studies have shown that, if you pick them early, then it will help to reduce complications during pregnancy as well as reduce the risk of having type-2 diabetes for the mother and child later on through preventive programmes.
HPB will also be designing and developing a mobile pregnancy app on HealthHub for pregnant women so that they can monitor their blood pressure level, blood sugar level as well as the body mass index (BMI). In addition to that, we will also be reaching out through the community to raise awareness about Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and to get people who had GDM to take preventive measures to reduce their risk of type-2 diabetes developing later on.
The Chairman: Minister of State Chee Hong Tat.
Mr Chee Hong Tat: Madam, I would like to address Dr Chia Shi-Lu's question on productivity for the aged care sector.
Madam, what I spoke about earlier in terms of productivity being a very important priority for MOH is not only for acute healthcare services. We also want to do this for primary care, step-down care and ILTC as well as for community care. This is something which we want to do throughout the entire healthcare system.
For aged care, for example, there are a few things we have worked together with the providers. In areas, such as cleaning, how do we have equipment and technology that can allow them to do cleaning in a more efficient and more productive manner, one that will require less manpower? The manpower challenges they face are actually similar to the manpower challenges that are faced by our acute healthcare institutions.
The second area is that we also want to see what we can do to multiply the impact that our healthcare workers can make. For example, in the area of physiotherapy, instead of one therapist attached to one patient, what they do now is that they have the equipment that can be programmed. You can choose the setting and it will record the performance of the user and that gets captured in the system and the therapist can then analyse to see whether the patient is keeping up with the programme, whether there is a need to make any adjustments. And one therapist can then look after several patients who are doing their exercises all at the same time. I think these are useful ways to try and see how we can multiply the impact of our healthcare workers.
One other example I would like to share, Madam, is because we have an ageing healthcare workforce, in tandem with our ageing population. One other priority for us is how can we help our older healthcare workers to continue working so that they can continue to contribute and serve the patients? Technology can come in as a very useful enabler. Lifting up patients, for example, from the bed to the wheelchair to go to the bathroom is a physically very demanding task. And as our healthcare workers get older, some of them will require some assistance. We can use hoists, machines and equipment that allow them to do the task competently, safely but also for them to be able to do this for longer periods so that they can continue to serve our patients for longer.
The Chairman: Minister of State Lam Pin Min.
Dr Lam Pin Min: Madam, let me address Dr Chia Shi-Lu's last clarification on primary care. As I have mentioned in my speech earlier, primary care is the bedrock of our healthcare system and we envisage that our primary care landscape will transform into one integrated primary care system, linking vertically with the hospitals as well as horizontally with our community partners. And more importantly, we believe in the central role of the family doctor. Thus, our vision of one Singaporean, one family doctor.
I just want to reassure Dr Chia that MOH is working very closely with our polyclinics, GPs and community partners to drive this transformation so that we can better anchor patients in the community.
The Chairman: Members, we do not have much time. One clarification and the responses alone have taken 10 minutes. So, please keep them short. Mr Low Thia Khiang.
Mr Low Thia Khiang: I have two clarifications. First, is there a new polyclinic planned for Hougang area? It is time for MOH to look at Hougang Polyclinic with the view of building a new generation of polyclinics to serve residents.
Secondly, I would like to know whether MOH has a target on foreign-local ratio for nurses and doctors.
\tThe Chairman: Minister of State Lam Pin Min.
Dr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank Mr Low for the clarifications. At this moment, we do not have any plans for a new polyclinic in Hougang but I would like to reassure the Member that MOH does look at the utilisation of polyclinics all around Singapore. If needed, we will look into expanding or even building new polyclinics.
We also want to encourage patients to utilise the CHAS GPs because we believe that there is spare capacity in the CHAS GP clinics that residents can utilise using their CHAS card. Also, as I mentioned in my speech, MOH is also looking at Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and, hopefully, with this pilot programme, we are able to reach out to even more patients in the Hougang area.
\tThe Chairman: Senior Minister of State Amy Khor.
Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: In reply to Mr Low's question about the foreign-local ratio for doctors and nurses, first, let me affirm that our priority is to build a strong local core of healthcare workforce, whether it is medical, nursing, AHPs or even healthcare support staff. So, the top priority is to build a strong local workforce. And, as I have said earlier, first of all, our medical intake has been increasing over the years and, with the addition of the new medical school, our intake will increase to 500 eventually. The AHPs, again, because we are working with SIT to convert some of the programmes into a degree programme, in fact, the first intake was over-subscribed by many times. So, we should be able to increase this further. Our target this year is to increase it by another 30%.
For nurses, that has been a challenge. It decreased for a while but with intensive efforts to reach out to students as well as even mid-career professionals through our PCP programmes, the intake for fresh students has turned around and it is increasing. So, currently, as I have noted earlier also, the foreign workforce for doctors is about 16% and for nursing it is 33%. For doctors, actually, it is has been going down. It was 18% for a couple of years, or between 18% and 19%. It has now gone down to 16%.
What we hope to do is to build up a strong local workforce. We have even implemented a pre-employment grant for overseas Singaporean medical students. We have managed to attract quite a number. Let me say, through the pre-employment grants, we have attracted some 700 Singaporean medical and dental students studying overseas between 2012 and 2016. That is in addition to our local intakes which have also been increasing. We have also awarded 1,200 scholarships for training in healthcare disciplines locally and overseas. I do not think we have a target but what we want to do is to make sure that we build up a strong local workforce.
The Chairman:\tDr Lily Neo.
Dr Lily Neo: Madam, may I seek clarifications from Minister Gan on my suggestion earlier on SAFEcare based on smart technology and preventive medicine? Does he not agree that this concept fits into two out of three of MOH's shift plans? Does he not think this concept, in fact, will reduce our total dependence on nursing homes? Therefore, will he not endorse, especially to enable our seniors to age gracefully in their homes?
\tThe Chairman: Senior Minister of State Amy Khor.
Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan:\tThis is in regard to Dr Neo's idea of providing services to homes, cluster kind of concept on assisted living. Let me say that, indeed, it is a very good idea. In line with her idea, we are already working with MND and HDB to look at new housing forms as well as care services. In some ways, we are already doing this. For instance, in the Kampung Admiralty Integrated Hub, there will be an active ageing hub that will provide senior care as well as active ageing programmes and homecare and home monitoring from the Active Ageing Hub for residents living in the studio apartments in that integrated hub.
The Chairman: Mr Dennis Tan.
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong:\tCan I have a quick clarification for Senior Minister of State Amy Khor? Is it possible in the interest of promoting better standards in nursing homes as well as for the benefit of the nursing home residents and their families that the audit reports be made available to the public, or at least an extract of the audit points?
Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: As I have explained earlier, we will do pre-licensing checks and then compliance checks after we have licensed them and, if necessary, also audits by independent auditors.
There is also a home nursing visitors programme where these volunteers will go in and they will get feedback from the residents as well as the families and access the home environment. What we do is put up the licence period of all the nursing homes on our website, including the kind of services they provide. From the licensing term that has been given, you would know if they had complied fully with our enhanced nursing home standards.
The Chairman: Dr Tan Wu Meng.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: Madam, I just have three short clarifications for Minister of State Dr Lam Pin Min. Firstly, would the Minister of State join me in saluting the efforts of the nurses, doctors, healthcare workers of diverse backgrounds throughout Singapore who work so hard and with so much heart to serve our patients in primary care and our hospitals?
Secondly, when a polyclinic expands, not in reference to any specific location, but generally, what kind of additional services may be provided? And does the Ministry take into account the demographics of the area?
Thirdly, when we expand our polyclinics, will the layout be flexible so that there is adaptability to address future changes in demography and clinical needs?
Dr Lam Pin Min: I thank Dr Tan for the clarifications. First of all, just let me say that for any expansion plans, we do take into consideration the demographic profile as well as the type of diseases, especially chronic diseases, that are being seen at those polyclinics. For example, in the case of Clementi Polyclinic, definitely, we will have child-related services, such as immunisation as well as child development assessment, because I understand that there are young family members there, and also chronic care management services which cover things like diabetic food screening as well as retinopathy.
We hear the Member's suggestions about the future needs of his residents and we will take those suggestions into consideration in our expansion plans, not just only in Clementi Polyclinic, but in other polyclinics as well
Last but not least, I do agree that we really need to thank all the healthcare workers, not just in Clementi Polyclinic, but in the whole of Singapore, that they have been doing a good job, the hard work to our patients.
The Chairman: Dr Lam, you can take that as a given. We thank everybody. They have all been working very, very hard. Ms Thanaletchimi.
Ms K Thanaletchimi:\tJust a quick one. I would just like to ask the Senior Minister of State Dr Amy Khor how prepared are our healthcare institutions in managing a diverse workforce? Do they have policies on diversity management in ensuring equal opportunities when the healthcare workforce comprised people of different nationalities or Singaporeans, as well as getting people of disabilities to work in the healthcare along with ex-convicts? They can be a potential alternate source of workers.
Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan:\tIndeed, the healthcare institutions do practise policies to ensure that there is diversity in their workforce. In the case of the disabled, for instance, they work with the various institutions representing the disabled community to employ the disabled where there is a job fit. In our hospitals now, there are already people from the disabled community who are employed. In terms of integration or assimilating people of different nationalities, especially the foreign workforce, there are orientation programmes to help the foreign workforce to integrate and assimilate into the workplace.
\tThe Chairman: Ms Chia Yong Yong.
Ms Chia Yong Yong (Nominated Member): A question for the Senior Minister of State on the charting of a future-ready nursing workforce. Does the Ministry believe that to do better, we need a mindset change and, therefore, not limit the roles of nurses to nursing care?
Are we prepared to take reference from countries like the US, for example, which have nurse practitioners in specialist areas who can provide consultation, manage simpler cases and, even in some cases, issuing prescriptions? In order to broaden the supply or value, beyond quality nursing services, will MOH consider creating a track for nurse practitioners to complement doctors in the anticipated, more complex healthcare management requirement?
The final question, will the nurse practitioner then be considered an integral part of our future-ready healthcare landscape, given that it can, in turn, encourage the return of Singaporean specialist nurse practitioners and, by reason of the greater empowerment and progression opportunity, thereby occasion and encourage an increased take-up of the nursing and basic care professions?
Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: Indeed, we are forming a committee to look into the curricular of our nurses in terms of training as well as curricular on the roles they play. That is part of our Future Nursing Career Review Committee's work. We will be engaging the nurses themselves as well as the various stakeholders to look into the training requirements as well as the curricular.
Indeed, as we talk about nurses doing what they are passionate about, what they are interested in, which is in clinical care, we are looking at, first of all, productivity initiatives, cutting processes which are not necessary, redesigning jobs and so on.
In addition, where there are jobs which could be done by others, say, healthcare support assistants and so on, that would also be taken into account. For the nurses, as I have said in the speech, for ENs, we will look at allowing them to do higher order jobs, higher value-added jobs, take on deeper roles. For RNs, there is this group of nurses, for instance, whom we call, \"Advanced Practice Nurses\". Many of the Advanced Practice Nurses are holding sessions in the community, for instance, educating patients as well as doing some medication work, which they are allowed to do. We will look at their scope of work and review them.
The Chairman: Ms Tin Pei Ling, last clarification.
Ms Tin Pei Ling:\tThank you, Madam. I would like to ask, in relation to NurtureSG, what is the current obesity rate of children in schools, what is being done to manage the children with overweight issues and, therefore, raise awareness about how being overweight will increase the risk of diabetes in future.
\tThe Chairman: Minister of State Lam Pin Min.
Dr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank Ms Tin Pei Ling for the clarification. I recall Ms Tin asked about the \"Trim and Fit\" (TAF) programme last year and I appreciate her passion on this issue.
While the obesity rate amongst our children is not alarming compared to the western countries, the proportion of overweight and severely overweight students in our mainstream schools has crept up from 10% to 12% in 2016. Under NurtureSG, a new programme for students will be implemented to provide more support to them.
Unlike the old TAF programme which actually focused very much on losing weight and, as a result, caused some forms of stigmatisation among the students, this new programme will focus on lifestyle as well as behavioural changes to cultivate healthy eating habits and regular exercise among the children. More importantly, we have to focus on the active involvement of parents as well to make it successful.
The Chairman:\tDr Chia Shi-Lu, do you wish to withdraw your amendment?
Dr Chia Shi-Lu: Madam, I would like to thank all colleagues who have participated in today's COS debate and, certainly, a healthy dose of appreciation to Minister Gan Kim Yong, Senior Minister Amy Khor, Minister of State Dr Lam Pin Min and Minister of State Chee Hong Tat, as well as the entire staff of MOH for illuminating the debate with their replies.
We may not know what the future brings but, certainly, on this basis, the future of healthcare in Singapore seems secure. Madam, I beg to leave to withdraw my amendment.
[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $9,200,108,100 for Head O ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $1,534,789,500 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 X (Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth)","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Madam, I beg to move, \"That the total sum to be allocated for Head X of the Estimates be reduced by $100.\"
This is an era of globalisation. Yet, international political turmoil, terrorism, threats and social division worldwide are pulling nations apart. To win popular votes, we see politicians in other countries playing up a variety of issues from religion to racism and trade protectionism. This gives rise to riot, hate crimes and, even long after the political race is over, it leaves behind deep divisions among its people.
According to a Cable News Network (CNN) report, eight in 10 Americans now believe their country is more divided on major issues compared to a few years ago. Apart from social differences, mistrust towards immigrants and fear of terrorism continue to plague and divide the likes of the US, Germany, France and so on.
The troubles of other multicultural countries, some closer to our nation, must serve as a stark reminder to Singaporeans that we must not take peace and harmony for granted. Our leaders who led the racial harmony movement were far-sighted. Beyond tolerance, they urged us to understand and respect one another's background as well as religion. So, what brings Singaporeans together?
I remember during the 1993 Malaysian Cup, the Singapore National Football Team played against Kedah and we won 2-0. Singaporeans gathered by the busloads in Kuala Lumpur to support our national team. Many were shouting their hearts out at home in front of their television (TVs). I remember the entire estate yelled. The whole town shouted. The entire nation rejoiced in one voice, regardless of race, language or religion. We had a similar reaction last year when Joseph Schooling won the first Olympic Gold Medal for Singapore. The entire nation was frozen and holding our breath during those 50.39 seconds. Again, the nation celebrated the success, regardless of race, language or religion.
Apart from sports that can bring Singaporeans together, there are many others. In March 2015, we all came together to mourn the passing of our beloved founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. More than 440,000 people queued for hours to pay their last respects at Parliament House and many others did that at the 18 community tribute sites.
Although we are one of the youngest nations on earth, we have demonstrated and risen to the occasion to overcome our race, language and religion divides and come together as one people, one nation. We must not rest on our laurels. The proliferation of Internet culture has blurred the lines between truth and lies. It is very convenient now to spread falsehood, with the purpose of inciting chaos and hatred. Frequent exposure to inappropriate ideology, along with the climate of dissatisfaction, can lead to the breakdown of our social fabric.
How does the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) intend to bring citizens closer together and strengthen that trust and the bridge that we have? What are the strategies to ensure that we remain united in the face of adversity? I would like to urge the Government on four points: (a) continue to deepen and broaden the partnerships between the people and the Government through programmes like SGCares, Our Singapore Fund, Youth Corps Singapore, Team Nila and through our culture and sports; (b) continue to grow our common spaces and values through our common experiences like National Service (NS) and the Outward Bound School (OBS), our arts and heritage and, in doing so, not forgetting those among us with disabilities; (c) strengthen and celebrate our national identity through heritage, our achievements and the Founders' Memorial; and last of all (d) I would like to suggest to have a dedicated TV and radio channel for all things Singaporean, such as Sports, Arts, Culture, Food, News, History and Fashion.
[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]
The Chairman: Mr Zaqy Mohamad.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang):\tMadam, in Malay please.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Madam, over the past few years, increasingly more support is being provided to workers from the professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) group through various programmes and assistance schemes like training in reskilling, job matching and others. I think few countries in the world provide such assistance.
However, it is understood that although there is help specifically targeted at PMETs, many may still experience uncertainty and doubt about their future within this challenging economic situation. This is especially so for those who lost their jobs or are employed in sectors or jobs that are impacted by the economy or have a bleak future.
I note that, for the Malay/Muslim community, many efforts have been done to help PMETs. For instance, the Council on Education for Muslim Children (MENDAKI), together with several Malay/Muslim bodies, made efforts help this group. In my opinion, for this particular group, there is a need for a more focused and meaningful assistance, for instance, by providing advice, counselling and networking opportunities. Can the Minister share what are the efforts and types of assistance that can be extended to this group?
Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap (Aljunied): (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Last November, this Chamber debated the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Bill. One of the issues that received attention and was hotly debated was the recommendation to hold a Presidential Election reserved for a minority race.
The Constitutional Commission made this recommendation because they felt the need to address the issue of perception that a minority race cannot assume the highest office in the land, that is, the office of President. This Chamber and Singaporeans were divided into two groups: those who supported it and those who did not support it. Those who agreed with the recommendation for a Presidential Election reserved for minorities argued that it is necessary to do so in order to signify and represent Singapore's multiracial constitution. For those who opposed, the argument is that its implementation will weaken the principle of meritocracy.
Madam, Parliament, except the Workers' Party Members of Parliament (MPs), resolved to accept the recommendation to hold a Presidential Election reserved for a minority race, in support of the Constitutional Commission's view that a Presidential Election reserved for a minority race will address the issue of negative perceptions that minorities are not qualified to occupy the highest office in the land. During the same debate, the Prime Minister announced that the upcoming Presidential Elections will be reserved for Malays.
The decision taken to reserve the Presidential Election for Malays, to me and also to many others, undeniably compromises the principle of meritocracy. I am also of the view that the decision to hold a reserved Presidential Election as an effort to address the issue of negative perceptions, shows that \"where there is a will, there is a way.\"
I have said many times before in this Chamber that among the aspirations or concerns of the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore is the sense or perception of discrimination that there are no equal and fair opportunities. For instance, there are still concerns among our community about Malay/Muslim individuals not being given equal opportunities to hold the rank of General in the army or a Permanent Secretary in a Ministry. Minister Yaacob spoke about and acknowledges this concern. During a dialogue session organised by the Feedback Unit's Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry @ Home (REACH), the Minister said in English that \"The Malay community is concerned not just about the President, but also Malay Permanent Secretary, Malay General... because we want to see representation across the entire Singaporean life\". I would like to add that the Malay/Muslim community is also concerned about Muslim women being allowed to wear the tudung when serving in uniformed groups like the army, the Home Team and nursing.
As I said before, Madam, \"where there's a will, there's a way.\" I sincerely hope that the Government can do something to address the concerns of the community.
Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] In order to be adaptable and future-ready, lifelong learning is a must for every individual. This will allow us to easily transit to a new industry or improve what we are already doing. The Muslim community understands this aspect and, as such, efforts by philanthropic organisations, mosques and self-help groups, like the Family Excellence Circles and MENDAKI Social Enterprise Network Singapore Pte Ltd (SENSE), have been dedicated towards education and upskilling.
Additionally, the creation of a MENDAKI division to promote SkillsFuture for Malay/Muslims was met with great interest from the community who welcomed it. I would like to ask the Minister if there are new and comprehensive plans to help the community make lifelong learning a way of life.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad: (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] SkillsFuture is more than just about providing SkillsFuture credits. Our hope is that the concept and objectives of SkillsFuture, including increasing awareness and fully taking advantage of this scheme, are understood by all Singaporeans, including Malay/Muslims.
All levels of society should make use of this scheme, from housewives to students, workers and also entrepreneurs. However, in order for SkillsFuture to be truly beneficial for them, it will require an understanding and knowledge on the best way to use it. A more focused help and guidance may be required by the Malay/Muslim community. For instance, students may need to know which roadmaps are relevant and which career paths will emerge. Some may not have the confidence and need guidance. Can the Minister provide the latest update on this effort?
Ms Rahayu Mahzam (Jurong) (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Syariah Court is one of the major institutions for the Muslim community in Singapore. This institution has overseen divorce matters since 1958 and, over the years, we have observed and continue to expect innovations and improvements in terms of its administration and management of duties in Court.
Last year, I asked about the review on the Court's processes and the application of technology, where possible. The Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, spoke about the establishment of a Quality Service Unit that will strive to ensure that every query will receive a prompt reply and Court users will have a positive experience. In addition, there is also the \"Differentiated Case Management Process\" where certain cases involving family violence will receive attention. I would like to ask if there are any other plans that the Syariah Court is implementing or will implement.
Apart from improvements to the Court's processes and systems, it is also important to ensure there is an adequate and trained workforce in order to address future challenges. These include the community's demand for speedier processes, legal issues that are increasingly complex, and a more holistic service for families.
What plans are being made to strengthen the capabilities of the Court's workforce, particularly in ensuring a continuous pipeline of talent who are suitable for service in the Syariah Court?
(In English): Last year, the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs highlighted that the Syariah Court was improving its Court processes. I believe there is a need to continue to review the processes and incorporate the use of technology, where appropriate. Could the Minister share on any further plans currently being implemented or planned for the Syariah Court? Also, it is important to develop the manpower and the capabilities of the officers serving in the Court. Is there a viable talent pipeline in place such that there will always be capable people ready to serve in the Court?
Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade):\tMadam, in Malay, please.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Malay/Muslim community has excelled and achieved a lot of success in many fields. However, there are still some who are trapped in a vicious cycle. At the constituency level, a lot has been done to help this group, in terms of financial assistance, jobs, groceries, learning and many more. At the national level, other channels of assistance are also being arranged.
One other group comprises families that came about from divorces and reconstituted families. Apart from the assistance schemes mentioned earlier, there are other dynamics and family challenges within this group that need to be addressed.
For this particular group, their problems sometimes get passed down from one generation to the next. How can we help them escape the situation and break the cycle? One important aspect is their mindset. What is the best way to engage them so that they can change their views and outlook that are negative and not progressive in nature, for the sake of their future?
Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio):\tMdm Chairman, in Malay, please.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Our Malay/Muslim community has become increasingly more diverse and varied as our larger Singapore society becomes more globalised and complex.
Other than matters related to faith, beliefs and practices, our Malay/Muslim community also needs to be prepared and to receive sufficient guidance in addressing global issues, such as xenophobia, racial and religious discrimination, threats of terrorism and misguided beliefs.
We are increasingly seeing more xenophobic and discriminatory acts and speeches taking place in the developed world, such as in the US, France, the Netherlands and Australia, against Muslims and people of colour and minority faiths, which have caused much concern.
Our Malay/Muslim community in Singapore needs to be ready when faced with such situations fueled by hate so that we are able to counter them with intelligence, conviction, love and patience.
In addition, there are numerous opportunities globally for us to learn new skills, develop our entrepreneurial spirit and get employment opportunities.
Our mainstream school students are being prepared to be globally-ready and future-ready. Our full-time madrasah students would also need to expand their skillsets and knowledge base, beyond just being trained to be asatizahs.
Can the Minister share how the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) can help our asatizahs to be better equipped to address such global issues and also help our madrasah students to be globally-ready and future-ready?
Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (Nee Soon) (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Madam, last year, the Minister announced that the Mandatory Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS) will be implemented from January this year. This scheme can help to ensure that those who offer religious guidance and training are qualified to do so. Many Singaporeans I have met are supportive of this initiative.
Can the Minister update the House on the progress of the scheme's implementation?
Mr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol) (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Madam, there are three areas that I would like to bring to the Minister's attention regarding the support being provided to madrasah students.
Firstly, there is presently a growing demand from the Malay/Muslim community who want their children to undergo an alternative education that also includes their desire to provide a more spiritual upbringing for their children. However, many Malay/Muslim residents lamented that they were unable to do so due to the quota. Could the Minister, therefore, share whether the quota of 400 students per cohort is adequate to fulfil the religious needs of the Malay/Muslim community? Does MUIS have plans to request for an increase in this quota to meet the community's demand?
Secondly, the madrasahs are expected to meet some outcomes based on their performance at the national examinations. Hence, could the Minister also share whether the performance of madrasah students in the national examinations have shown improvement over the last five years?
Finally, the Prime Minister announced at the 2015 National Day Rally that the Government will work with MUIS to strengthen the teaching of secular subjects in our madrasahs by providing financial support to upgrade teachers of secular subjects and also fund awards for students who do well in secular subjects. Can the Minister provide the latest update?
Mr Saktiandi Supaat:\tMadam, in Malay, please.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Last year, the Minister announced plans for Madrasah Al-Arabiah to have a new home in Toa Payoh. This is good news as the existing building is old and a makeover is long overdue.
However, what is important to me is the madrasah's environment and not merely its physical aspect. These days, mainstream schools that are part of the national education system are equipped with facilities and technology to keep up with the times and provide the children with the necessary exposure to the relevant technology.
I would like to know how the building design and the infrastructure of the new madrasah will encourage the learning of new skills and knowledge among its students and are also relevant for our modern society in this digital era?
Furthermore, how can the students and the school interact with and contribute to the heartland community around the area?
Mr Amrin Amin (Sembawang):\tMdm Chairman, in Malay, please.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Muslim community's monthly contributions to the Mosque Building and MENDAKI Fund (MBMF) was reviewed and increased last year. Can the Minister clarify how the increase has spurred the construction and upgrading of mosques to fulfil the community's socio-religious needs?
Last year, our community celebrated the construction of the Maarof Mosque in Jurong West. This year, we are looking forward to the opening of the Yusof Ishak Mosque in Woodlands. Can the Minister inform us when the Yusof Ishak Mosque will be officially opened?
Ms Rahayu Mahzam (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) is an Act that, among other things, makes provisions for the administration of MUIS, the Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM) and the Syariah Court. It is an important piece of legislation that sets the basis for matters relating to the administration of the Muslim community in Singapore.
This Act was last amended in 2009. Given that some time has passed since then, may I ask if there are plans to review and update this Act so that it adapts to present circumstances?
In particular, are there any plans to amend the provisions within AMLA and the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Rules (MMDR) that decide on matters relating to the processes of the Syariah Court?
(In English): AMLA makes provision for three key institutions in the Malay/Muslim community, namely, MUIS, the Registry of Muslim Marriages and the Syariah Court, amongst other things. The last time it was amended was in 2009. Given that some time has passed since the last amendment, could the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs update us on whether there are plans to amend AMLA?
In particular, are there any plans to review AMLA and MMDR to see if the provisions match the existing circumstances of the community as well as the current practice of the Syariah Court? I believe that efforts can be put in place to further enhance the Syariah Court's delivery of services through a review of the Act and the Rules. Issues, such as jurisdiction, the hukum process, the talak declaration process, may be some of the areas that the Court may wish to review. It is useful to look at the existing procedures and forms and amend AMLA and MMDR accordingly to make the process more expedient to better serve the community.
Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong (Non-Constituency Member): Madam, Community Clubs (CCs) are meant to be common spaces for shared activities to promote the social bonding of all Singaporeans, regardless of race, language or religion. However, the number of private tuition centres that have sprung up in the CCs raise several questions.
First, are these private tuition centres offered subsidised rent for operating within the premises of the CCs and, if so, what is the basis for the subsidy? If the private tuition centres are paying competitive market rent, then the question is: is it right for CCs to monetise the common space for private ends? What are the communal activities that are being displaced by the tuition centres?
The more fundamental question is whether this contradicts the Government's education policy. Two years ago, then-Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat said, \"Singapore needs to make the transformation from a 'scarcity mentality' that focuses on a single pathway to success to an 'abundance mentality' with multiple pathways\". He was responding to concerns raised by Members of this House regarding Singapore's pervasive tuition culture. CCs should not be reinforcing this tuition culture.
The Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Madam, I seek your permission to display some slides on the LED screens.
The Chairman: Yes, please. [Some slides were shown to hon Members.]
Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Madam, more than ever before, we face an uncertain world. The past year has seen a culmination of trends of many years in the making. Global economies are facing difficulties. Communities in many countries have become more fragmented, while social support systems are straining in the face of growing challenges.
However, I am confident we can find a way to remain resilient. Our community has worked hard in partnership with the Government and we have come far. In a uniquely Singaporean way, we have embraced diversity and forged strong bonds with people of other races and religions. We can never be certain of the future, but we can be stronger if we look out for one another. We can be confident of success if, together, we build a more resilient and confident community.
Madam, we will achieve this through three key strategies. First, our community institutions will enhance efforts to develop a future-ready and resilient workforce. Second, we will strengthen and safeguard our families. Third, we will nurture a strong socio-religious sector.
To ride the transformation in our economy, we must work together to expand the opportunities for our community to be upskilled and ready for the jobs of the future. Yayasan MENDAKI currently provides assistance to low-wage workers and their families through its subsidiary, MENDAKI SENSE. However, as Mr Zaqy Mohamad highlighted, we should also support the lower-middle income PMETs. I have heard their anxieties and worries. MENDAKI SENSE will step up its efforts for PMETs to better prepare against employment setbacks.
In this regard, Madam, I have asked Parliamentary Secretaries Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and Mr Amrin Amin to lead this important task. They will co-Chair a new committee to help lower-middle income PMETs. This committee will focus on helping this group retrain and rebound from potential employment setbacks. One area for improvement is the community's take-up of national skills-upgrading initiatives, such as SkillsFuture. As of December 2016, out of 126,000 Singaporeans, only 8.4% of Malays have used their SkillsFuture Credits. More can be done to explain and link them to SkillsFuture and other national schemes. We will push hard to encourage more to try and, for those who do, we want to support them.
One individual who worked hard and benefited from skills-upgrading is 34-year-old Dzahri Bin Dzulkifli. Dzahri was an information technology (IT) Technician for six years before he took on an enhanced, multifaceted role as an information and communications technology (ICT) analyst and trainer. To add value to his new role, Dzahri attended MENDAKI SENSE's International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) course in 2016. He has completed six modules ranging from Basic to Advanced programmes, putting in hard work outside of work. Dzahri is now into his fifth year in this role and continues to find meaning in what he does. Dzahri's example shows that while training may not be easy and may not pay off immediately, it pays off with perseverance.
To help workers like Dzahri, MENDAKI SENSE will step up its efforts, in partnership with Workforce SG and SkillsFuture SG, to provide good employment opportunities that resonate well with the community. But at the same time, more must be done to make continual learning and training a social norm or a natural impulse of our community.
So, as Mr Saktiandi Supaat has asked, how can we help grow this culture of lifelong learning? Madam, Yayasan MENDAKI has always pursued efforts to empower our community through education. This year marks MENDAKI's 35th anniversary (M35), which it will be celebrating through a series of initiatives.
Let me share on three M35 measures. The first is Digital Learning@MTS. This is a pilot programme to promote e-learning among students in the MENDAKI Tuition Scheme (MTS) and to engage them beyond the usual three-hour weekly MTS sessions. Digital Learning@MTS was recently launched on 18 February 2017 with 150 Primary 4 and Primary 5 students at three MTS centres.
Second, MENDAKI is producing the Keluarga Bestari book, a collaboration between MENDAKI and Singapore Press Holdings which features the success stories of Malay/Muslim families. We hope that these stories of ordinary and everyday heroes will inspire the rest of our community. Further, the sale of these books will contribute to the Educational Trust Fund, which supports the education of children from nursery up to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
Third, MENDAKI will organise an Education Symposium to discuss the important positive role that parents must play in their children's development. MENDAKI will be inviting 500 key stakeholders and national partners to discuss issues and research on early childhood education at the symposium.
I have outlined some of MENDAKI's plans to promote learning at an early age, but more work will also be done downstream. Mr Zaqy Mohamad asked for an update on MENDAKI's Future Ready Unit. Launched last year, the unit has conducted several engagement sessions to promote SkillsFuture, particularly among students and parents. These efforts have reached out to over 1,000 students and young adults to better understand and support their aspirations.
Moving forward, MENDAKI will run more of such programmes to forge a future-oriented mindset among our young. It will also introduce a new Future First programme for Malay/Muslim students in the Higher National ITE Certificate (NITEC) courses this year. Starting with about 150 students, the Future First programme will take a skills-based approach to developing competencies, such as critical thinking, communication and IT skills.
Mdm Chairperson, our key community organisations are working hard in partnership with Government agencies to support the community in the areas of education, employment and employability. There are families facing socio-economic challenges and we must do all that we can to help them.
Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked how Government agencies and community organisations have been coordinating efforts to better support the low-income and stepfamilies. One way we do this is to nurture strong and stable families and ensure that the services we provide meet the needs of these families. The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) partners Persatuan Pemudi Islam Singapura (PPIS), on the Vista Sakinah programme. Launched in 2011, Vista Sakinah provides specialised marriage education and support programmes for remarrying couples and stepfamilies. Since its inception, more than 1,600 couples have benefited from the remarriage preparation programme and more than 1,200 families have benefited from the post-marriage support.
Vista Sakinah will continue its good work for remarrying couples and stepfamilies. One initiative involves tapping on our asatizahs, or religious teachers, who have relevant skills and good outreach. We want to encourage our asatizahs to broaden how they can serve the social needs of our community, and remarriages and stepfamilies are one group which requires support.
One example is Ustaz Muhammad Hafiizh Rapiee, who has been conducting support sessions for stepfamilies since 2014. These families face complex and challenging issues. To help Ustaz Hafiizh, Vista Sakinah familiarises him with the families' situations so that he can provide complementary religious guidance. Ustaz Hafiizh is currently one of 11 asatizahs engaged by Vista Sakinah.
Another example of the benefits of working together was MSF's collaboration with MUIS and MENDAKI in organising the 5th Engaging Hearts and Minds Seminar. Held last October, and themed \"Seeding Resilience for Our Children\", the seminar shared trends and insights on contemporary child-raising from the sociological, religious and practice perspectives. Such sharing is important so that educators, social workers and asatizahs are able to better understand the families' needs and tailor their interventions accordingly.
Ms Rahayu Mahzam asked for an update on the Syariah Court's (SYC's) plans to improve its capabilities. Over the next two to three years, SYC will be enhancing its case management system and processes to provide users with a more client-centric experience, with a focus on improving online services. With these systemic improvements, SYC will better serve their clients.
Mdm Chairperson, SYC administers the Muslim family law relating to divorces. It must, therefore, be staffed by capable people and open to a diversity of talents. I am happy to announce that two new Presidents have joined SYC last year, that is, Ustaz Muhammad Fazalee Jaafar and Ustazah Raihanah Halid, both of them are on secondment from MUIS and have the religious qualifications as well as the necessary skills and temperament to administer Muslim divorces.
The secondment is part of a broader collaboration between MUIS and SYC to ensure that there is a robust talent pipeline to lead our Muslim statutory institutions. I thank the retiring Senior President, Ustaz Mohamad Rais, as well as President Zainol Abideen Hussin, for mentoring these new Presidents so that they would be able to carry out their responsibilities well. Let me also place on record my gratitude to both the Senior President and President Zainol for their long years of service and contribution. SYC will continue to tap on their services even after their retirement.
This brings me to my third key thrust − growing a strong socio-religious sector. The Singapore Muslim community draws strength and guidance from our asatizahs. In turn, our asatizahs have the responsibility to provide the community with sound religious guidance that is appropriate for our Singapore context. This is especially so amidst an increasingly diverse and vibrant socio-religious landscape, a point that Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar has also noted.
A key example of this is our Fatwa Committee, which has the responsibility of guiding Muslims on contemporary socio-religious issues. Chaired by our Mufti, the committee comprises experienced local asatizahs who issue fatwas, or religious opinions, to help Singaporean Muslims understand and balance their religious and civic identities and obligations. In deliberating on a wide range of issues, the committee has also tapped on experts from diverse disciplines. Our fatwas have endeavoured to help Singaporean Muslims stay true to the teachings of Islam while living out their lives in modern, secular and multicultural Singapore.
At the inaugural Fatwa Conference on 11 February this year, our Mufti, Dr Mohamed Fatris Bakaram, said that \"Finding answers to new questions is not as straightforward as conveniently saying, 'Let's go back to the Quran and Sunnah'…A responsible fatwa authority is one that provides guidance to real challenges faced by the community.\" He also cautioned against feeling contented with \"the voluminous compilations of positive law produced by classical scholars however excellent these intellectual treasures might have been\". I agree with the Mufti wholeheartedly and understand that the Fatwa Committee may, at times, depart from the positions of religious bodies elsewhere in the Muslim world. I hope that Singaporeans will appreciate the Committee's efforts in providing religious guidance that is contextually appropriate for the diversity in our Muslim community and in our multiracial and multi-religious society.
With this in mind, MUIS is developing a Fatwa Rulings Compilation. The first of five volumes was launched at the recent Fatwa Conference and is an important contribution to scholarship and as a source of public education. MUIS also hopes that Singapore's experience at making progressive fatwas can contribute to the advancement of global Islamic jurisprudence.
Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar asked how MUIS can help better equip our asatizahs to meet the needs of the community, while Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim asked for an update on the mandatory ARS. The Mandatory ARS came into effect on 1 January 2017 and now covers all asatizahs, including Quran teachers. To date, more than 2,500 asatizahs and Quran teachers have registered under this initiative. Registered asatizahs are assessed to have the minimum requirements to provide religious instruction.
This system provides the community with greater assurance that those who offer religious guidance have the baseline qualifications and training. It is not just about the asatizahs' paper qualifications. Their religious guidance must also be compatible with our cherished values and way of life in modern, multicultural Singapore.
Many of our asatizahs are graduates of the six full-time madrasahs offering primary, secondary and pre-university education to more than 3,500 madrasah students. Madrasahs play an important role in developing future generations of asatizahs with strong grounding in both the religious and secular subjects.
To Mr Zainal Sapari's question, the existing madrasah quota of 400 students per cohort has been able to produce the asatizahs needed to meet our community's needs. MUIS monitors these numbers and also looks at the competencies required. To ensure that our asatizahs meet these competencies, it is imperative that we continuously focus on raising the quality of madrasah education and inspiring our students to do their best.
In the last few years, our madrasah students have improved their performance in the national examinations. In 2016, 98% of madrasah students who sat for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) were eligible for a secondary school course, up from 91% in 2012. More students are also qualifying for the Express stream. These trends bode well for the future of our asatizah fraternity and Muslim institutions.
In his National Day Rally speech in 2015, the Prime Minister announced that our Government would strengthen the teaching of secular subjects in the six full-time madrasahs. I am pleased to announce that the Government has set aside up to $1.5 million annually to support the training of madrasah teachers who teach secular subjects and provide incentives to encourage madrasah students who do well in secular subjects. Students can now look forward to about 350 new awards being given out for good performance from this year onwards. Teachers will also benefit from additional training funds and incentives that scale with their qualifications.
I would also like to share that MUIS will match the Government's assistance in the form of new student awards and teacher training grants for religious subjects. This partnership between the Government and the community will encourage our madrasah students and teachers to continue to improve themselves and be the best that they can be.
As part of its wider support for the madrasah sector, MUIS is also developing a new Madrasah Al-Arabiah campus in Toa Payoh. Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked for an update on the design of the campus. This new campus will have up-to-date IT infrastructure and facilities to aid learning and is estimated to cost about $17 million. MUIS has set aside $10 million for the new campus, with Madrasah Al-Arabiah engaging the community to co-fund the remainder. MUIS will consult the school's community on the campus design in the third quarter of 2017.
Mdm Chairman, MBMF is a uniquely Singaporean approach to meet our socio-religious needs. In response to Mr Amrin Amin's question, I would like to update that MBMF collections within the first six months of the revision have been healthy. The support for the changes to MBMF is an affirmation of the affluence of our community and of our spirit of self-help. Through MBMF, we come together to build our mosques, strengthen our religious education and uplift Muslim families.
The rate revision last year will also help ensure that there are sufficient funds to pay for current and future mosque developments. Mr Amrin Amin had asked for an update on the construction of the Yusof Ishak Mosque in Woodlands. Funded by MBMF, the Yusof Ishak Mosque is the 26th mosque to be built under MUIS' Mosque Building Programme. I am happy to update that the mosque is nearly complete and will open to the public in April 2017. With a unique architectural design and a capacity to accommodate 4,500 congregants, the Yusof Ishak Mosque will be an institution that we can all be proud of.
Beyond building new mosques, various other upgrading works have also been carried out, such as the Sallim Mattar Mosque, Al-Falah Mosque, Al-Khair Mosque, Al-Muttaqin Mosque and a temporary prayer facility at Al-Istighfar Mosque. I am happy to report that since MBMF was used for MUIS' Mosque Upgrading Programme in 2009, MUIS has provided a total of 23,200 additional prayer spaces for the Muslim community.
Lastly, Madam, Ms Rahayu Mahzam asked for an update on plans to amend AMLA. Our agencies have been working closely together to finetune this key legislation for our community. The proposals seek to reinforce Muslim institutions, enhance the management of Muslim assets and further strengthen Muslim families. We will be putting up the draft proposals for public consultations on Tuesday, 14 March. Allow me now to continue my speech in Malay.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Madam Chairman, in view of the uncertain global climate, the Malay/Muslim community has no option but to be prepared to continue adapting ourselves so that we can progress together with the other communities in Singapore. I believe that we are able to do it because we are in a good position as a result of our close partnership with the Government for over 50 years. We are now more confident to face challenges.
I have mapped out three strategies to further strengthen our collective endeavours. Firstly, our community organisations will intensify the efforts to shape a resilient and future-ready workforce. Secondly, we will fortify and safeguard the institution of family. Thirdly, our socio-religious life will be enriched further.
With the expected slowdown in the country's economic growth, there is a need to upgrade the skills of Malay/Muslim workers at all levels. Efforts to increase the community's awareness and encourage them to take advantage of national skills upgrading schemes like SkillsFuture, must be intensified. Community organisations will work with the Government to ensure that Malay/Muslim workers can obtain better job opportunities. Low-wage workers will continue to receive assistance from MENDAKI SENSE. However, we are also aware of the challenges faced by the lower-middle income group comprising PMETs. To that end, a committee co-chaired by Parliamentary Secretaries Assoc Prof Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and Mr Amrin Amin will be formed to help PMETs, in particular, to address employment challenges. Among other things, they will receive help in retraining and making preparations in case they are retrenched.
In preparing for a more challenging future, we need to acquire and embrace the spirit of lifelong learning. Therefore, Yayasan MENDAKI will focus on efforts to inculcate lifelong learning, in addition to empowering the community through education.
On the occasion of MENDAKI's 35th anniversary, several initiatives will be introduced to achieve this objective. These include the launch of Digital Learning@MTS to encourage online learning for students from MTS; publishing a book titled \"Secrets of Successful Families\" that showcases success stories of Malay/Muslim families; and an Education Symposium to discuss the important role of parents in their children's development.
Strong families are pillars of the nation. Hence, Malay/Muslim community organisations will continue to complement national programmes to strengthen the family institution. SYC, as an important institution that administers Muslim family law, will ensure that family interests will be a key priority. The case management systems and processes at SYC will be enhanced to make it more user-friendly, especially by improving online services. SYC also received two new Presidents last year, Ustaz Muhammad Fazalee Jaafar and Ustazah Raihanah Halid. They are officers seconded from MUIS. This collaboration between MUIS and SYC is part of the efforts to ensure a continuous flow of talent in order to strengthen the administration of Islamic institutions in Singapore.
Madam, several MPs asked about the efforts to strengthen our socio-religious sector. Last February, MUIS organised the inaugural Fatwa Conference to share how the institution of fatwa or Islamic legal rulings has guided our community. Since 1968, the Fatwa Committee has issued fatwa that touch on various aspects of life so that our community can lead a religious life that is suited to our context.
I applaud MUIS' efforts to publish a compilation of fatwa that not only serves as a source of reference, but also shows that we, as a minority Muslim community, are able to contribute to the development of global Islamic jurisprudence.
The socio-religious needs of Malay/Muslims in Singapore are constantly met by our professional and competent group of asatizahs. Therefore, the quality of madrasah education will be enhanced further. At the National Day Rally in 2015, the Prime Minister expressed the Government's support for the teaching and learning of secular subjects in all six of our full-time madrasahs. Today, I am pleased to announce that the Government has allocated up to $1.5 million per year to support the training of madrasah teachers who teach secular subjects and to provide incentives to students who excel in secular subjects.
As for religious subjects, MUIS will match the Government's support by introducing awards for students and training grants for teachers in religious subjects. In addition, the Madrasah Al-Arabiah building will have a new look. Costing about $17 million, the new building will be built in Toa Payoh and will be equipped with the latest IT infrastructure. MUIS will contribute $10 million. The balance will be co-funded by the madrasah and the community.
I am grateful that MBMF, something that is uniquely Singapore, has been effectively supporting our socio-religious needs. The community's contributions to MBMF are still healthy after the contribution rates were revised last year. This shows that our community is getting more affluent and our gotong royong spirit is even stronger.
AMLA will also be updated so that the institution of the family is empowered, our community's assets are enhanced and the administration of our institutions is strengthened.
Madam, what I have just presented was our strategy to propel the Malay/Muslim community towards achieving our aspirations, as enquired by Mr Faisal Manap. I agree that we want to achieve even more in all aspects of life in Singapore. But this will take time, and my colleagues and I are confident that all our efforts thus far will bring about the excellence that we want to achieve for our community.
Madam, as the Malay poem goes:
\"The insect struggles to destroy its prey
Boring into trees, its stab ruinous
But our struggle is to uplift the community
Wrestling against the waves of our times.\"
If a wave comes and spreads prejudice and suspicion, we, in Singapore, foster understanding and strengthen the ties that bind us. If a wave comes and spreads enmity, we unite to strengthen our friendship. This is the Singaporean way.
When Singaporeans form friendships and kinships that are multicultural in nature, we embody the true meaning of diversity. These norms and values reflect the stature and purity of thought.
The experience of other countries is a lesson for us on the negative consequences when we fail to take into account the public good. There will be uncertainty, suspicions will become rampant and the space for understanding will become narrower. For me, wisdom is more meaningful than a burning desire that ignores what is appropriate for public good. That is why our Pioneer leaders display wisdom when resolving complex issues. As the Malay saying goes, \"When faced with a delicate problem, handle it carefully and wisely to avoid making it worse.\"
As a small nation, Singapore is vulnerable to all kinds of uncertainties that can affect its stability. Nonetheless, having a positive and far-sighted attitude has helped us overcome challenges and differences in a mature and sincere manner.
What is clear is that the Malay/Muslim community can take pride in our collective accomplishments and our contributions to Singapore over the past 52 years. So, let us continue to work together with the Government, to help one another and unite to overcome any obstacles with confidence, so as to create a brighter future for all of us.
(In English): In closing, every one of us in our community has hopes and dreams for ourselves, our families and our children. It was no different for our parents and grandparents, who had striven hard to forge a future in a new nation. Their future then is what we enjoy today. Our Singapore Muslim community can be proud of how far we have come over the past 52 years. Today, we stand strong because of our can-do spirit and strong Muslim institutions. We stand strong because, as a community, we work together and care for one another.
By building a resilient and confident community that stands united with the rest of Singapore and in partnership with the Government, we shall overcome whatever challenges that come our way. [Applause.]
The Chairman: Minister Chan Chun Sing.
The Minister, Prime Minister's Office (Mr Chan Chun Sing): Madam, community centres (CCs) provide community services to meet the needs of our residents. CCs are managed by local community leaders and volunteers. They determine the mix of services and programmes in consultation with the residents. Examples include social services, after school care, tuition and other forms of support.
I can understand Assoc Prof Daniel Goh's concerns with the local tuition culture. There are many forms of tuition and student guidance services. They range from those providing help to (a) students who need more guidance to keep pace with their school work; (b) others who are pursuing excellence in some subjects. The range of providers include volunteers helping less privileged students, as well as paid, organised classes.
Stopping the conduct of all tuition classes in CCs will remove access to affordable services that some residents and students legitimately need. On the other hand, many other things will need to be done to change the broader tuition culture that Assoc Prof Daniel Goh speaks of. Our communities will have to determine the balance and the type of services that they wish to provide and access at all CCs.
The Chairman:\tWe have five minutes of clarification. Mr Zainal Sapari.
Mr Zainal Sapari:\tMy clarification is for Mr Faisal Manap whether he is aware that there is actually a Malay Brigadier-General who is still actively serving in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as an NSman and he is Brigadier-General Ishak Ismail.
The Chairman:\tMr Manap, do you want to respond?
Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap:\tMadam, I would just like to mention that the issue I mentioned about the General was actually a quotation from Minister Yaacob.
The Chairman:\tIf there are no clarifications. Yes. Mr Manap.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap: Madam, thank you allowing me to seek clarifications. I have two clarifications for the Minister. Firstly, I would like to ask regarding MUIS rendering assistance to Madrasah Wat Tanjong Islamiyah in terms of renewing its land lease. Madam, before that, I would like to declare that I have a child studying in Madrasah Wat Tanjong. I just want to know what is the update on the assistance rendered to Madrasah Wat Tanjong at the current moment. Can I know which fund is MUIS tapping on? Thirdly, can I also know whether there are any terms and conditions attached to this assistance?
My second clarification is regarding ARS. Can I get a clarification from the Minister whether religious teachers from schools of thoughts other than from the mazhab will be officially recognised under ARS?
Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: I thank the Member for the two questions. On the second question, we will consider all legitimate schools of thought which are recognised under the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). For example, I have already mentioned in my response on mandatory ARS that we will look also to include the Jafari Shia group which is recognised by OIC.
To the Member's first question, I cannot reveal the full details. Things are under negotiations. We recognise that we want to assist Madrasah Wak Tanjong because it is part of our entire madrasah ecosystem. The lease issue is a bit complicated. There are details which have been worked out between MUIS and the Madrasah Wak Tanjong. But suffice for me to say that our first principle is to ensure that Madrasah Wak Tanjong continues to exist.
Secondly, that Madrasah Wak Tanjong continues to receive the support from MUIS to upgrade its curriculum which we have been doing thus far. So, whatever support we have given to the Joint Madrasah System (JMS) madrasahs is also extended to the other three remaining madrasahs. Once the details are out on how we can work together to ensure that the lease for the space for Madrasah Wak Tanjong has been approved, we will announce the details.
The Chairman:\tMr Saktiandi.
Mr Saktiandi Supaat:\tI just have two clarifications following the Minister's announcement about Madrasah Al-Arabiah, which I think is good news. My first question is about the estimated completion time of Madrasah Al-Arabiah in Toa Payoh. The second question is whether, with the new location, there will be an increase in student capacity in the new school.
Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: I must apologise I do not have the details of the timing. But I suspect it will take about three years because we have to demolish the building. As I mentioned in my reply, we will consult with the mosque community on the design in the third quarter and, certainly, we will draw upon the Member's experience in Toa Payoh to help us also to see what is the best design possible.
In terms of capacity, as you know, we have an intake of 400 every year. So, we have to design for the steady state. But at the secondary level, we do allow students coming from other systems to come in, too. The numbers are stabilising. But I have instructed MUIS to make sure that we plan it in such a way that if we want to expand to one or two more classes, we should have the capacity to do so. Since we are building the building from fresh, from start, it is a green field, we might as well plan ahead for some additional capacity, just in case.
The Chairman: We will proceed with the other cuts. Mr Henry Kwek.
Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry (Nee Soon): Mdm Chairman, generosity is written in our hearts. But work is needed to bring out this generosity. And as our young society matures, we must establish the social norms that encourage our people to take care of one another, to build a shared future together, to create ties that bind us together.
Establishing such social norms is important. To reword a famous phrase by Winston Churchill, \"First we build a society, thereafter the society builds us\".
And no one group by themselves, including the Government, has a monopoly on the ideas to build an ideal Singapore. That is why I am heartened to see MCCY's emphasis on encouraging our citizens to step forward to co-create Singapore.
As such, can MCCY provide an update on how the Government is progressing to: one, encourage more Singapore Citizens to actively participate in volunteering and charity work? Two, to partner with citizens, social service organisations (SSOs) and corporations? Three, to move forward initiatives, such as Our Singapore Fund, SGCares, Champions of Good, and Company of Good Fellowship?
Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): Madam, I would like to see more of our senior citizens volunteering as part of active ageing. Volunteering connects our seniors to others in our community, provides fun and a sense of fulfilment, and benefits their mind and body. Many studies have found that volunteers report higher levels of happiness. Researchers at the London School of Economics even discovered that the more people volunteered, the happier they were. Among weekly volunteers, 16% of those in the study group felt very happy, an increase in happiness comparable to having an income of US$75,000−$100,000 versus US$20,000.
How is MCCY partnering senior citizens, SSOs and corporations to encourage more seniors to actively participate in volunteering and charity work?
I understand many organisations encourage and express appreciation for their volunteers through various incentives. For example, museums invite their volunteers for previews and provide them with priority for shows. However, public awareness is not high. I would like to suggest that MCCY raise awareness through more publicity in the media and road shows, for example. We should acknowledge and recognise our senior volunteers' efforts more publicly and this will help draw even more seniors to our cause.
Our Singapore Fund (OSF) supports initiatives to bring our community together and promote our Singapore Spirit and shared values. I would like to ask if there are any projects supported by OSF initiated by seniors and, if so, how many such projects there are to date and whether the Ministry can share examples of these projects.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): The Government is providing funds to help firms internationalise and build capabilities to operate overseas. We should do the same for our Institutions of a Public Character (IPCs). We should support our local IPCs which internationalise, fly the Singapore flag proudly overseas and lend a helping hand to our neighbours. Let us be seen to not just venture into other countries to compete, to take, but to also give and to help. Can the Minister share if there are plans to provide this help and, in particular, to remove the 80 is to 20 Fund Raising Rule for local IPCs which have projects overseas? We should let the public rather than the Government decide on how donations are spent.
Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee): Mdm Chairman, walk down South Bridge Road and you will have a little microcosm of Singapore's history, culture and hard-won harmony. Within sight of one another are the Chulia Mosque, Sri Mariamman Temple, the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Fairfield Methodist Church, each unique in its faith tradition but integral parts of Singapore's short 50 years of being.
But we know from our own history that what we have today was born out of painful memories and a collective wish never to return to the tensions of the past.
We also only need to look around us and realise that things can change very dramatically. Terrorism in Nice, Istanbul, Berlin, Paris, Jakarta, Baghdad. Racial and religious tensions in Syria, Pakistan, Myanmar, even in the US.
Singapore is an open society. People are free to come and go. Public places, including places of worship, can become targets. When I am at my own parish church on Sundays, we have large numbers of visitors mixing easily and freely with regular parishioners, a reflection of the welcome and openness, but also revealing the troubling potential of becoming a \"soft target\". The same is true for many other places of worship, be they mosques, temples or churches.
As part of SGSecure, religious institutions and religious leaders need to ensure the safety of congregations and also play a larger role in helping others in the community so that society remains united and can recover quickly from any potential terrorist attack.
Religious and community leaders have a special responsibility to speak up in times of crisis to convey messages of calm and solidarity to their respective congregations and, again, to the wider society.
With 32 churches and almost 360,000 members, the Archdiocese of Singapore has been putting in place plans to ensure safety and preparedness for their congregations. The Archdiocese's emergency response operations team has also been actively sharing their experiences with other religious groups. MUIS, the Hindu Endowment Board, as well as the Singapore Buddhist Federation, also have their own teams in ensuring that their places of worship are kept secure and their congregations kept alert. So, the leadership of our various religious institutions need to make it a point to also reach out to leaders from other faith traditions.
Because beyond plans and contingencies, it is the human-to-human relations that are the most important. Trust cannot be built unless you know one another. Can the Minister, therefore, share how the Ministry will work with our religious leaders to enhance community resilience and for religious organisations to be prepared for possible crises?
Singapore, after all, is only 50 years young. We envision a long road ahead, and our policies reflect that approach. Getting to SG100 will not be without its challenges. But if we do it together and stand united in the face of adversity, we will survive and thrive.
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Madam, the effort to develop understanding and appreciation of different races and cultures amongst Singaporeans should start early with our children and youths. Our perspectives and habits are formed through our experiences and interactions with the people around us. Therefore, it is important to expose our young to the diversity of cultures and differences of opinions through organic platforms to help them develop more holistically. With such platforms, young people from different backgrounds can interact, learn about one another and have open and frank conversations about their differences.
Clearly, the school is a natural platform for this purpose. However, there may be certain limitations in schools because of school hours or because the students from one school may be from a similar background. In any case, I believe our bonds can be strengthened through sharing many more experiences together. NS is a good example of a shared experience that has created strong bonds. I have often envied my male family members and friends for having gone through NS.
There are, indeed, many avenues to create shared experiences through sports, outdoor activities and the arts and culture. I note that many programmes and activities have already been put in place. I would like to know the Ministry's future plans in developing more platforms and bringing youths from different backgrounds together. In ensuring a good mix of students, I also hope that the Ministry intends to involve students from schools like the madrasahs in various national platforms and programmes so that there are meaningful interaction and exposure to a diversity of views amongst our youths.
Mr Kwek Hian Chuan Henry: Mdm Chairman, when I talk to tertiary students, especially those who are about to graduate, I get a sense that some of them are worried about getting a good job. It is not easy for our youths to grapple with, especially as this is a sudden change from the very positive employment market for fresh graduates until recently.
I recall my own personal experience. When I graduated from university in 2000, my peers and I graduated into a recession. It was quite disorientating for us to go into university in a boom-time, only to graduate into a bleak employment situation.
We all know that the economy ebbs and flows and the future is likely more uncertain than the past. So, the answer is not to insulate our people completely from the uncertainty, because we cannot. The answer is to train our youths better to help them to be more resilient in all situations, including the employment situation.
How can MCCY and the National Youth Council (NYC), in conjunction with tertiary educational institutes, help our tertiary students develop this resilience in the face of changing job realities? How can we encourage our youths to widen their career path selections, embark on internships and networking, and to pursue further studies to gather deep skills?
Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap: Madam, in November last year, this House debated on the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Bill. One of the contentious issues debated was on the proposal to have a reserved minority Presidential Election. The Constitutional Commission has mooted this proposal as they viewed that there is a need to address the issue of perceptions of minorities not able to access the highest office in the land. The House was divided on this issue and so was the nation. Those who supported this proposal argued that it is necessary to do so to symbolise Singapore's Constitution of multiculturalism. As for those who opposed it, the argument is that such implementation will undermine the principle of meritocracy.
The decision to have a reserved Presidential Election for the Malay community, to me and also to many, has, to a certain extent, compromised the principle of meritocracy. I am also of the view that the approach taken by the Government in mitigating the issue of perception of inequality by implementing a reserved Presidential Election for Malays shows that if the Government has the will to do and chooses to do it, it can be done.
I have said this a few times and I am going to repeat it again. One of the concerns of the Malay/Muslim community that is still lingering in our mind is the feeling of being discriminated, not being given equal and fair opportunity. An example − there are still concerns from the community that a Malay individual is not able to assume the rank of a General in the army, a Permanent Secretary in the Ministries. Minister Yaacob acknowledged these concerns during his interaction with tertiary students at a recent REACH-organised event. Minister Yaacob said, I quote, \"The Malay community is concerned not just about the President but also Malay Permanent Secretary, Malay General because we want to see representation across the entire Singaporean life.\"
To add on to the Minister's point, I would also like to say that the Malay/Muslim community is also concerned about Muslim ladies not being able to wear the tudung while serving in our uniformed groups − SAF, Home Team and nursing. As I have mentioned earlier, when there is a will, there is a way. I do sincerely hope that the Government will address the Malay/Muslim community's concerns in entirety.
Mr Leon Perera (Non-Constituency Member): Madam, according to one recent survey of a thousand Singaporeans by Ipsos SSI, 42% would emigrate if given the chance. This is alarming. I have two suggestions.
Firstly, would the Government consider a scheme to incentivise Singaporeans living abroad to return home? For example, New Zealand offers a one-off temporary tax exemption for certain types of foreign income for returning New Zealanders who did not reside in the country for 10 years prior. Malaysia has a similar Returning Expert Programme.
My second point is on the management of the arts sector. I think a free and vibrant arts scene is probably not the number one consideration for most people's migration decision but neither is it completely irrelevant. Here, I would like to return to a theme I spoke about twice last year, which is, the conditions for Government support for the arts. The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye is a wonderful Singapore graphic novel that has won many, many local and international awards over the past one-and-a-half years and, yet, the National Arts Council (NAC) withdrew its publishing grant, citing that, \"…it's re-telling of Singapore's history potentially undermines the authority or legitimacy of the Government and its public institutions\".
Managing the arts sector in this way risks creating a climate of self-censorship and politicisation of the arts. In so doing, it reduces one liveability factor and makes Singapore that much less attractive as a home for all its people, regardless of political viewpoint.
The same survey that I cited showed 59% of Singaporeans valuing \"being just and fair to all\" and 52% valuing \"being progressive\". I would like to urge the Government to remove political conditions attached to arts funding, with exceptions solely for artworks that promote criminality, racial or religious tensions.
Ms Sun Xueling (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Madam, every year, River Hongbao has an exhibition area showcasing our arts and heritage to visitors. This year, students took an active step by curating the exhibition on local festivals and local foods with Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall and serving as student ambassadors to the million visitors who visited River Hongbao. From their happy and excited faces, I could tell that the students enjoyed and were proud of their efforts to co-curate our arts and heritage.
The experience of curating facts, interesting practices and unique displays of our arts and heritage can thus be a fun and learning experience for our students. Through embarking on this across schools or even at a national level, they get to know the subject matter better and also appreciate the common experience and opportunities to get to know friends across the cohort.
I would like to suggest that students be encouraged to embark on local or national level projects involving the curation of our local arts and heritage. This could be in the form of co-curricular activities (CCA) and can be guided by a teacher. Such collaborative efforts across schools can also promote bonding within cohorts and be a shared experience forming a collective memory for cohorts of students.
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Madam, the Ministry has made much effort to nurture arts appreciation amongst the young, for example, through school programmes at preschools and community programmes like ArtReach. The exposure to arts as well as heritage is an important component in ensuring the holistic education and development of our young. In the local context, it is important in helping our children and youths understand and appreciate the different cultures in Singapore and build their national identity. We should, therefore, continue to build on these efforts and ensure that children and youths, regardless of social background, are given the same opportunities and exposure.
I feel it is easy enough to create generic programmes and platforms. It may be more difficult though to ensure meaningful appreciation of the arts and heritage, sustained participation as well as continued engagement. A meaningful programme should not just be about attending once-off art classes, museum tours or heritage trails. There must be assessment of the impact of the programmes in reaching out to different groups in the community. In particular, it is important to ensure that those from lower-income families also continue to have access to these programmes. Parents from these families may worry about time and cost in engaging in what may be perceived as enrichment and non-essential programmes.
I would, therefore, like to know more about the Ministry's efforts in place to continue making arts and heritage accessible to those from lower-income families. What more can be done to encourage these families to participate in the various arts and heritage programmes?
Ms Joan Pereira: Madam, it has often been said that man can survive without art but what a poor life it would be. I fully agree. Arts and heritage activities add colour and vibrancy to our lives. They are the perfect platforms for us to engage one another and help nurture our common identity and national unity.
Hence, it is important that our arts and heritage programmes and spaces are available to all Singaporeans. In particular, we must reach out to vulnerable Singaporeans so that they, too, can participate fully in our cultural and community events.
What measures does MCCY have to ensure that our arts and heritage programmes are accessible to the lower-income and disadvantaged groups? Besides removing or lowering the barrier of entry fees, we should also invite them through sponsored trips to the sites of the activities. Often, they are not even aware of them due to more pressing issues in their lives. Mdm Chairman, in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] I would like to suggest that we attract more seniors to our museums by offering tours in the vernacular languages and making the experience more interactive. For example, at the end of the tours, there could be quizzes with prizes to add a bit of spice and fun. Such formats will engage the visitors at a deeper level as the competition will spur them to pay attention and ask questions. If the tours could also involve youth volunteers, there would be good opportunities to promote intergenerational bonding.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Tanjong Pagar): Mdm Chairman, Members have spoken on the need to expand and enhance shared experiences that connect us as Singaporeans. One way is through sports, which brings Singaporeans from all walks of life together. On the playing field, regardless of our differences, we learn shared values like resilience, mutual respect, fair play and teamwork. Many of us played sports in school but, often, we are unable to find a suitable place to continue playing the sport together and we lose the camaraderie.
Since its launch, ActiveSG has facilitated booking of sports facilities and registering for Healthy Lifestyle programmes for close to 1.2 million members. Are there any plans by the Ministry in the coming years to promote the creation of and participation in more sporting activities at the community level? For the past three years, how many people have successfully tapped on the Friendship Grant to initiate sports activities in their communities?
Beyond programmes, we also need spaces for communities to play sports together and foster social bonding. Are there any upcoming plans under the Sports Facilities Master Plan to provide new spaces for more community use? Can the Ministry consider conducting talks to graduating secondary and junior college students to encourage them to continue their sporting activities together after graduation? We can start with the school's graduating sports teams. A system to match these teams to community sports facilities within their own neighbourhood would allow them to continue playing together even after they graduate.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Madam, last year, our nation was very much impressed and inspired by the performance of Paralympics Gold Medallist Yip Pin Xiu. While the memories are still fresh, I hope the Ministry will strike while the iron is hot and expand on the Disability Sports Master Plan (DSMP) and keep growing inclusive spaces for people with disabilities.
I would like to ask for an update on the 18 recommendations under DSMP that was proposed and accepted by the Government since last year. What is the take-up rate for DSMP as well as how many have benefited from this Master Plan? How many inclusive gyms are there in Singapore and what is the average usage? Is the Ministry actively working closely with persons with disabilities to ensure their regular participation and enjoyment of sports, arts and culture? The Government is doing a lot to support the likes of Yip Pin Xiu, but I hope non-competitive regular Singaporeans on the streets are also getting the help and push needed to participate in sports and also other cultural activities, to give persons with disabilities the opportunity to lead an active and enriching life.
We should see more facilities enabling barrier-free accessibility at places, such as sports stadiums, art galleries, cultural institutions, museums and so on. Can the Government legislate as well as to ensure all sports, heritage, arts and culture developments have inclusive spaces in mind?
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: Madam, we need greater access to sports facilities to enable wider participation, whether as athletes, spectators or volunteers. In this regard, schools have many sports facilities that are not used after school hours, such as indoor halls, basketball courts as well as the football fields. The public should be given greater access to use these facilities to support their sporting endeavours.
Opening more sports facilities in schools and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) for use by the community is also beneficial, as it would reduce the need for new infrastructure to be built. At last year's Committee of Supply (COS), the Ministry shared that 15 more sports halls have been opened for sharing with the public through the collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MOE).
What is the status of this project? How many schools have facilities under the Dual-Use Scheme? Has there been progress since, and can we step up the opening of schools' sport facilities to meet the community's needs? Is it possible to avail the sports facilities in all schools to the public after school hours on all weekday evenings?
Can the Ministry also consider upgrading the ActiveSG online portal and mobile app to help match last-minute cancellations of facilities bookings with people who have spontaneously decided to play the sport and are looking for an available venue?
The Chairman: Mr Faisal Manap, please take your two cuts together.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap: Madam, our former which is also our first National Stadium was opened in July 1973 and officially closed on 30 June 2007. For a period of 34 years, the former National Stadium had lived up to its name and status as a national icon. It has hosted a total of 18 National Day Parades (NDPs), two Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games and one Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, and many memorable sporting tournaments, such as the Malaysia Cup. Our National Stadium was also the birthplace of our popular Kallang Wave. I think everyone can attest to the fact that our former National Stadium had brought Singaporeans together, feeling the oneness, shedding tears of joy and despair, especially during the soccer matches that involved our national football team.
Our current National Stadium is built on a public-private partnership model. It has been open for almost three years. Within this period, there had been media reports citing challenges faced by event organisers as well as some of our national sports associations (NSAs), such as the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), to secure the National Stadium for our football matches involving our national team.
There was also a media report on what the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), as the NDP organiser, had to go through challenging negotiations with Sports Hub Pte Ltd for the 2016 NDP. I understand one of the challenging factors faced by the event organisers and our NSAs is the rental fee. I do hope that the Ministry will be able to facilitate in mitigating the present challenges faced by event organisers and our NSAs, especially FAS, so that 30 years down the road, Singaporeans will have the same recollections of fond and nostalgic memories similar to that of our first National Stadium.
Madam, I have two questions for the Ministry with regard to Singapore football. Firstly, I have asked the Ministry during the COS debate in 2015 for an update on FAS' goal for Singapore football. The last goal was set in 1988 by our former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, a popular one, indeed, Goal 2010, to qualify for the World Cup 2010. In reply, the Ministry said that there is a taskforce that is looking at setting out the goals and strategic directions for Singapore football in the coming years. May I have an update on what has been done so far and whether there is any goal set?
Madam, my second question is on FAS. In the Ministry's reply to my colleague Ms Sylvia Lim's query during the debate on the President's Address on 29 January 2016, it was mentioned that FAS would be having their annual general meeting (AGM) in June 2016. As reported in the media on 8 November 2016, FAS had an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) a day before, which was on 7 November, and the meeting had decided to postpone its first-ever election of the Council for 30 years to a date before May this year. Can the Ministry share the exact date for the FAS Council election and, two, what causes the delay in the election of the FAS Council?
Mr Ganesh Rajaram (Nominated Member): Mdm Chairman, Singapore football has been hogging the headlines for all the wrong reasons. In October last year, we sank to our lowest ever world ranking of 171. Currently, we are at 164 and things do not look like they are going to get better anytime soon. The S-League is dying a slow and painful death. It was not long ago that 60,000 Singaporeans were cheering on the national football team. Where did it all go wrong?
As a fan and a journalist who covered the sport in the 1990s, I would like to suggest the reasons for this sad state of affairs are a lack of leadership and passion.
Mdm Chairman, I think most of us in this House are familiar with the glory days of Singapore football. The 1970s and the 1990s were the golden era of local football, when the National Stadium was packed to the rafters and families were glued to their television (TVs) for \"live\" telecasts. We idolised the players, legends like Quah Kim Song, the late Dollah Kassim, Mohammed Noor, Eric Paine, Fandi Ahmad and V Sundramoorthy.
To me, however, both these periods owe their success primarily to two leaders. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the late Mr N Ganesan and, in the 1990s, it was former Cabinet Minister Mr Mah Bow Tan. I had the privilege of knowing both these gentlemen. Let me give Members an insight into why they succeeded.
I first met Mr N Ganesan in the early 1970s when I was about six or seven. Mr Ganesan was a family friend and he would be a frequent visitor to our home. I used to look forward to his visits as he was fiercely passionate about football and told me endless stories about my local football idols.
Mr Ganesan was Chairman of FAS from 1974 to 1981. He was credited with numerous achievements, including winning the Malaysia Cup in 1977 and 1980, starting the Lion City Cup tournament for the under 16s, inspiring the Kallang Roar at the National Stadium by building a national team that was feared in the region.
Mr Ganesan was a full-time lawyer but was at the Jalan Besar Stadium every day to watch the Lions train. He was omnipresent, always available to speak to anyone, from players to coaches and staff at FAS. His leadership style was down-to-earth and accessible. And he created an air of camaraderie and family at FAS. And because his passion was so infectious, it caught on, creating a culture of volunteerism and selflessness that resulted in one of the most successful periods for local football.
The other more recent golden era of local football was the 1990s when Singapore won the Malaysia Cup in 1994. We saw the birth of the S-League in 1996, and our famous Tiger Cup win in 1998. All of these were under the leadership of one individual, former Cabinet Minister Mr Mah Bow Tan, who oversaw FAS for a period of 13 years, from 1991 to 2004.
I covered the 1993 and 1994 Malaysia Cup campaigns as well as the inaugural S-League season of 1996 as a journalist. I remember Mr Mah as a quiet, stern leader, quite the opposite of Mr Ganesan in terms of personality. But Mr Mah was a leader who got things done. He brought a sense of purpose, discipline and work ethic to FAS. Despite his hectic Ministerial duties, he would be present at most matches and training sessions. He ran a very tight ship, and this flowed through right down to the administration of the S-League and the clubs. Things worked like clockwork − schedules, fixtures, press briefings.
When Mr Mah briefed the media about the setting up of the S-League, there was a steely determination and resolve that said, \"We will make this work\". And he did! It was an unenviable task during a difficult time. Would we be able to replicate the success of the Malaysia Cup with our own fledgling league? But after just a year of planning, Mr Mah oversaw the launch of the S-League in 1996. The 1996 S-League grand final was played at the National Stadium between Geylang International and the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club (SAFFC) in front of 30,000 fans! Against all odds, Mr Mah had delivered on his promise, and our own professional football league was born.
So, why have we come to where we are today? To me, there is a dearth of strong passionate leaders like the late Mr Ganesan and Mr Mah in local football.
What we do not need is fair weather leadership. Over the last few years, we have seen members of the FAS leadership team donning their jerseys and attending only big-ticket matches, but they are nowhere to be seen during training sessions or regular games. We have seen high-ranking FAS officials making trips across the globe and taking selfies with football superstars while the S-League is floundering. We have seen S-League clubs sign on washed-up, has-been, ill-disciplined foreign stars, garnering lots of press, but little else. These same clubs were having financial woes when they realised they had bitten off more than they can chew. They would do well to remember the likes of Mohammed Khakpour and Hamid Reza Estili, the Iranian footballers who were foreign signings in the early days of the S-League. They were unknowns who became household names because of their dedication and quality. Both players went on to represent Iran in the 1998 World Cup.
Mdm Chairman, as FAS gears up for its first-ever open elections later this year, my hope is that real leaders with real passion and no hidden agendas would step forward and get the game back to where it should be. At our height, we were ranked number 73 in the world, and this was only in 1993. I am sure we can get there again.
Mr Darryl David (Ang Mo Kio): Mdm Chairman, 2016 was a tremendous year for Singapore sports. Olympic medallist Joseph Schooling and Paralympians Theresa Goh and Yip Pin Xiu, among others, united us as a country and drew from us a collective roar of delight. They made all of us feel proud to be Singaporean.
I believe that while we should continue to promote and support sporting excellence across the traditional sports, such as swimming, sailing, shooting and so on, however, I also believe that we should recognise achievements in other non-traditional sports where Singaporeans have excelled at a regional and international level.
Take the case of Kyra Poh, the indoor skydiver who captured a gold medal in the junior freestyle category at the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) World Cup of Indoor Skydiving in October 2016 and who was recently crowned as the \"world's fastest flyer\" at the Wind Games in Spain.
Then, there are Singapore ice-skaters Chloe Ing and Yu Shuran who are making an impact in the regional figure-skating arena. I know Minister Grace Fu featured Shuran on her Facebook page. I follow your page, Minister Fu. Both did well at the recent Asian Winter Games in Japan and Shuran has become the first Singaporean to qualify for the World Figure Skating Championships at the end of the month. With the sport due to feature in the SEA Games in Malaysia this year for the first time, I am confident that both these young ladies will do us proud if they are going to be competing.
Sometimes, it is also about making that regional and international impact considered significant in a particular sport and not just look at the Olympics and world championships as a standard. So, l would suggest that we have other benchmarks, too. While swimmers or runners can be assessed quantitatively by their timing, how do we benchmark athletes who have achieved in areas that cannot be measured quantitatively?
For example, could a young Singaporean tennis player who is regularly beating juniors in his or her age group in a country like Australia or the US be given more Government support? If a Singaporean youth was selected to train and play with Barcelona or Chelsea's youth team, how could the Government support that? Asians play regularly across European top football leagues not just for their marketing potential but because they have shown that they are good enough.
Mr Ganesh Rajaram talked about the S-League. I have faith that a Singaporean playing in one of the top football leagues in the world one day is a possibility and that will certainly put us on the global stage and perhaps do wonders to rejuvenate the sport here. Can the Government do more to perhaps support the Singaporean who finds himself in this position?
My suggestion is let us support more new sports in new and diverse ways that will promote inclusiveness, nurture talent and allow for that collective roar of delight from Singaporeans from all walks of life.
The Chairman: Dr Lim Wee Kiak, please take your two cuts together.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Madam, watching our local talents receive global recognition and put our little red dot on the world stage is certainly a euphoric feeling. Such moments really bring Singaporeans together. I believe this is not just due to the pride, but also the encouraging notion that one can achieve their dreams as Singaporean in every field, including sports and the arts. We have a small population, which means a smaller pool where we can select and groom our sports and arts talents from. We also have limited resources. Despite the odds, we are glad that our fellow Singaporeans have done us proud in arenas on the global stage. Currently, how much support is allocated to our local sports and arts heroes? How can we enable them to bring out their best?
The past year has seen successes in international sports competitions and arts scene. Can MCCY further enhance the support system so that local sports and arts talents can continue to achieve their success? While the Government may not be able to continue to give more financial support to athletes and artists, more can be done to rally the community, the commercial and philanthropic sectors to provide resources needed for their training and competitions. I would suggest for MCCY to set up an organisation dedicated to fundraising and securing sponsorships to help our local talents so that they can concentrate on what they do best.
My second cut on projecting the Singapore culture. Chairman, Singaporeans learned a lot from documentaries and TV serials from Japan and South Korea. The Japanese pop (J-pop) and later the Korean pop (K-Pop) groups have significant followings not just among the young but amongst the seniors, too. I enjoy \"Japan Hour\" which really whets our appetite by showing us mouth-watering Japanese food. It is through such projection of soft power that they subtly exert their influence and project their respective countries' interests. It showcases their culture, food and way of life.
I think Singapore should learn from all these. We should have a \"Singapore Hour\" that showcases attractions, our multicultural festive celebrations, our huge diversity of food from the street, from our hawkers or the Michelin-starred restaurants, our sport events like Formula One (F1) Singapore Grand Prix as well as Dragon Boat Regatta.
Wherever I travel and check into hotels, I will be on the lookout for Channel NewsAsia (CNA) on the hotel TV channels. I am always happy and feel connected back home just by tuning in to CNA, listening to our own local news. CNA is a good example that we should leverage and expand further to showcase and project Singapore culture.
MCCY should explore and develop more ways and more channels for the projection of Singapore culture to the region and globally. This will not only further our national interests abroad but also rally Singaporeans to cherish and preserve our culture. In doing so, it will foster a more united and cohesive Singapore.
Mr Yee Chia Hsing (Chua Chu Kang): Mdm Chairman, I have received some feedback that our local artists are finding it difficult to find suitable locations to exhibit their artwork, conduct classes and hold workshops. Some of these artists thus have to either operate out of their own homes or rent small spaces in various locations. This is not ideal, as being scattered all over makes it difficult for the public to view the works of various artists in one location.
JTC has set aside Block 71 and two nearby blocks at Ayer Rajah Crescent as a launchpad for local startups, offering space for these startups at lower rental rates to help them. The presence of many startups in one location also helps to build an ecosystem, promote greater creativity and the sharing of ideas.
Does MCCY currently offer something similar for our local artists? If not, can the Ministry consider taking over some unused Government buildings, such as former school premises, for this purpose?
The Chairman: Mr Kok Heng Leun, you have six cuts. Please take them together.
Mr Kok Heng Leun (Nominated Member): Mdm Chairman, it has been five years since the Report of the Arts and Culture Strategic Review (ACSR) was released and it is, therefore, timely for us to review. So, I would like to request that MCCY provide a report on the progress to date, as well as any hurdles faced in the process.
Next, I would like to offer my take on some concerns on the ground, collated after consultations, and explore strategies for the road ahead.
Our arts and cultural landscape reflect our diversity as a nation. There is always something that caters to everyone − traditional to experimental, entertaining works to thought-provoking ones. It is this very diversity that makes the Singapore arts and cultural landscape so exciting and full of vitality which we must strive to encourage.
This is why I feel the need to emphasise the importance of experimental, avant-garde art. These are artworks by creators who think out of the box. They represent adventure, exploration and offer new ways of seeing, ahead of their time. Thus, this spirit is not specific to the arts. We see and celebrate this as well in entrepreneurs, researchers and scientists.
Just like other front-runners, such artworks always meet with hesitation, if not suspicion and derision, by the general public. Yes, it is common for people to resist the unfamiliar. However, it is the unconventional who bring new knowledge, understanding and change.
As a city state that wants to be at the forefront of innovation, we must embrace artists who have the boldness and imagination to dream extraordinary dreams.
Exploratory works are meant to be contentious, meant to generate critical discourse. It is by grappling with difficult issues that we discover the depth of human thoughts and emotions, understand differences, learn to empathise and celebrate diversity.
Last year, there had been examples of such bold works resulting in controversy but, unfortunately, stopping short of critical dialogue, like Five Easy Pieces at last year's Singapore International Festival of the Arts (SIFA), and Undressing Room and Naked Ladies at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. The loudest, brashest and most obstinate voices, unfortunately, silenced any possibility of critical discourse. Precious opportunities for mutual understanding and mediation were lost.
Instead, most of the time, the artists come across as depraved or immoral, with little avenue to express their positions except in their artwork, which may have been banned or censored or which would have only reached out to a small minority of the population.
In addition, how do we deal with sections of the public that promote hate under the guise of moral beliefs? If an artwork is deemed \"objectionable\" by one out of 99 people, should that artwork be removed, censored or banned? I look forward to the day when a representative from the Government will say to an outraged member of the public who wants an artwork banned: if you are offended, do not watch, but there are people who want to watch.
My point is, we must inculcate in society an appreciation for the value of critical discourse. We must encourage our people to want to talk about the arts and culture and, to do so, we must understand the value of arts and culture.
Of course, some may say, how do we value arts and culture when we are still concerned about costs of living? But both are not mutually exclusive. Valuing the arts means appreciating its intrinsic values. Arts open up society and shape society, just like we cannot ignore Da Vinci and how we talk about the Renaissance.
How, therefore, do we help Singaporeans to value arts and culture?
One of the clearest ways to do this is through arts education. We need to go beyond simply making students sit through assembly shows or music classes. How can we empower our educators to help students see in new refreshing ways and connect arts to life? We need consistency and rigour in our pedagogical approach to move beyond mere presentation of art and towards seeing art in the everyday. We are not asking all students to be artists. But we can find the artists in them.
At the same time, we need to educate our students on the arts and cultural icons in Singapore. In schools, you often see replicas of paintings by Van Gogh and Monet. But where are our works by Liu Kang, Georgette Chen and Chen Wen Hsi? If our younger generation cannot access narratives of local artists easily, how can they develop national pride in our arts? Every child in every school should be familiar with Leong Yoon Pin, Tang Da Wu, Isa Kamari and the list goes on and on.
This leads me to the importance of documentation. I hope MCCY can look into national centres that archive the rich history and development of the arts as part of our cultural and social fabric.
The history of art must include the critical discourse that is generated from artwork. To improve critical discourse, we need to boost research and encourage more critical writing and documentation. This need to document the arts is especially crucial for our traditional artforms, which we are running against time and need to find new ways to innovate whilst preserving their craft.
This leads me to my next query. In 2016, various arts groups at Stamford Arts Centre had to vacate their premises and be resettled, with the centre supposedly being earmarked to be developed as a Traditional Arts Centre. But a year on, we have not heard progress on this matter. I would like to ask: why was there a rush to vacate the previous tenants then? Why has the plan for the Traditional Arts Centre not been implemented yet? So, what is the plan?
Decisions on our cultural assets involve multiple Government agencies and we need to reinforce interagency dialogue and collaboration. The missteps of Ellison Building and Surviving Syonan Gallery again highlight the importance of good engagement. I also urge MCCY and the Government to put cultural impact assessments as an important process in forming any major national policy.
Our accomplished artists are recognised nationally yearly through the Young Artists Awards and the Cultural Medallion Awards. Last year, upon being conferred the Cultural Medallion, 86-year-old Mdm Nona Aishah said, \"It should have happened 10 years ago. I am too old to receive this now.\" She is right. We could have given her the award earlier for her dedication and craft all these years. At 86 years old, how would this trophy and grant help her to continue her \"artistic pursuits?\" How many other older artists have we not heard about, let alone given recognition to?
There are also other arts workers who have been toiling behind the scenes quietly for decades. This include TK Sabapathy, art historian and critic, and Tay Tong, producer of TheatreWorks. Yet, because they are not practising artists, even if many within the arts community may find them deserving of the Cultural Medallion, they cannot be considered under the current scheme. So, how can these silent heroes and heroines be recognised?
One of the visions of ACSR is to increase community involvement in art-making, and two very recent cases made me think more deeply about this.
I am sure everyone by now is aware of the Golden Foil Stair at Jalan Rajah, created by La Salle College of the Arts student, Priyageetha. I saw her this morning. Some residents have safety concerns about it, but others, including myself, think it is a brilliant piece of art. The Town Council has weighed in to say the installation is unauthorised. In another case, a unique installation of dolls at a void deck, created by a Mr Or, was asked to be dismantled. Yet, this installation had injected life into that void deck.
In both cases, these installations are in public spaces and they are clear examples of ground-up community art. Arts in the community is often spontaneous and interventionist, as it should be. It serves as a response to the place and people around it and engages and enlivens the community in a positive manner. Should our policies not adjust so as to allow more community engagement and participation in the arts? Should all agencies and the public not learn how to converse about how to share public space and not mute these ground-up creativity?
Also, should our definition of \"community\" be inclusive of foreigners in our midst − our migrant workers and domestic helpers − who share our common spaces and actively contribute to our country? I hope MCCY will consider offering more support to marginalised groups and events, such as the Migrant Workers Poetry Competition and Dibashram, which offers cultural activities to the Bangladeshi community.
Lastly, on cultural leadership. We have seen some major shifts in leadership at a few of our largest arts organisations. Both the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of the Singapore Arts Museum left last year. But to date, no replacements have been announced. The National Arts Council, after a significant period without its CEO, recently had a new appointee in Ms Rosa Daniel, who is concurrently the CEO of the National Heritage Board (NHB) and Deputy Secretary of MCCY. I have no doubt of Ms Rosa's credentials which put her in good stead for the job, but her multiple posts beg the question as to how she will manage all of them, given the time and energy they require.
Is there a lack of potential candidates for such leadership roles? If so, how are we developing new leaders for the future? Arts institutions need to have artistic leadership at the forefront and should not be driven by just administrative or financial objectives. As such, I look forward to hearing from MCCY on how it will work with the community to cultivate such leaders, either for future positions at the helm or contributing actively on directorial boards.
I would emphasise that only if these leaders − and I would also include all leaders of other sectors, as well as Government Ministries − embrace arts and culture as essential to our being, then Singapore will move closer to being a liveable and resilient city for a dignified and humanistic being.
Mr Darryl David: Mdm Chairman, Marcus Garvey, a political leader and publisher, once said, \"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots\". To remain rooted in our Singapore culture that has evolved over many decades, even centuries, let us invest in our heritage so that it binds us together.
Exploring that plate of laksa, lontong, chicken rice or prata can take us through a trek to explore our history. We are not just foodies; we connect through food. Our communal values can be seen in the way we congregate at hawker centres and respect one another's religious dietary habits. Indeed, one endearing characteristic of many Singaporeans is how we can talk about our favourite food or what we are going to have for our next meal, even as we are eating.
After all, our local food has gained international recognition through celebrity chefs like Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay and our kaya kopitiams now dot the region. So, let us continue to blog about food and share through community events, traditional and social media and through food fairs.
The musical arts are also an important part of our heritage. Can we not engage in experimentation via projects, such as the one undertaken by five Republic Polytechnic's Diploma in Sonic Arts students in 2015? They then recorded notes played using the dholak, an Indian drum, and 24 other traditional Indian, Malay and Chinese instruments featured on a special edition SG50-themed electronic keyboard. Team leader Azurah Jan Che Onn Azahar saw it important to have all the sounds saved, \"so future generations will know the music of the cultures of Singapore\".
These are just two aspects of our uniquely Singapore heritage, but there is more, so much more. I would thus like to ask the Government if a better understanding of culture can be woven into our school curriculum through a Heritage Involvement Programme in which students spend a stipulated number of hours each year being exposed to various aspects of Singaporean culture and heritage.
Mdm Chairman, a tree is as strong as its roots. For us to remain singularly Singaporean, let us invest in our culture and heritage, because I believe that it is only through a deep appreciation and understanding of our culture and heritage that we can continue to strengthen and enhance our Singaporean identity.
The Chairman: Order. I propose to take the break now.
[(proc text) Thereupon Mdm Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House. (proc text)]
Mdm Speaker: Order. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair again at 5.20 pm.
Sitting accordingly suspended
at 4.55 pm until 5.20 pm.
Sitting resumed at 5.20 pm
[Mdm Speaker in the Chair]
[(proc text) Debate in Committee of Supply resumed. (proc text)]
[Mdm Speaker in the Chair]
The Chairman: Minister Grace Fu.
The Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien):\tMadam, with your permission, I will display some slides.
The Chairman:\tYes, please. [Some slides were shown to hon Members.]
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: MCCY's work goes to the heart of our nation. What we do in building \"heartware\" is often intangible, non-quantifiable. But there are moments when it becomes clearly evident when everyone feels the same strong emotion deep in our hearts, when we all feel the pulse of our nation's heartbeat.
In 2016, one defining moment took place at 9.12 am on the morning of 13 August. Across the island, Singaporeans held their breath as they witnessed history being made in a swimming pool halfway across the world. From runners at a Charity Run, to football \"kakis\" meeting up for their regular weekend game, Singaporeans watched the most significant 50.39 seconds in our sporting history. For the first time, we heard Majulah Singapura being played at the Olympics. Singaporeans celebrated wildly. We hugged one another. We proudly \"Whatsapp-ed\" the photo of our hero to everyone we knew. Thousands lined the street to welcome Joseph Schooling home and congratulate him, regardless of race, language or religion.
These moments will be part of our common memory for years to come. They reflect our national pride and celebrate our common journey. We saw this at the height of our SG50 celebrations, too, when our Jubilee Weekend peaked at 2015 hours on 9 August with 200,000 gathered around the Marina Bay dressed spontaneously in red and white, or during the SEA Games when Singaporeans sang our National Anthem loudly even when the public address system malfunctioned. Moments like these affirm the work of MCCY.
The work of MCCY matters more than ever at a time when the world around us is becoming increasingly uncertain. In developed countries, growing discontent with globalisation has fueled a mood of nativism. During the Budget and COS debates, Members like Dr Tan Wu Meng, Mr Kok Heng Leun, Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin, Mr Amrin Amin and Mr Lee Yi Shyan rightly noted that we are witnessing the rise of post-truth politics, where many inhabit echo chambers unwilling to distinguish fact from fiction.
Within our region, the threat of terrorism is on the rise. Issues of race and religion loom large, with the potential to stoke tensions. Beyond these traditional fault lines, there is a growing risk of rifts along the lines of class, ideology and nationality.
As Dr Lim Wee Kiak pointed out, in these uncertain times, the question facing us is whether we have the social ballast to remain united and resilient in adversity. The strength of our national identity and solidarity will be central to how we fare in a more volatile future.
We have been described as a small \"sampan\" in a big ocean. In turbulent times, when many countries seem to be listing and about to tip, we need steady hands to right the ship and guide it to safety. Yet, survival and success depend not only on the captain, but on all aboard. Likewise, the Government does its work best when it does it together with the Singaporeans we serve.
So, in this coming year, MCCY will partner Singaporeans in nation-building at three levels.
We will nurture a caring people, because we need to look out for one another. We are as strong as the most vulnerable among us. We will grow a cohesive society, because a society that stands as one will be able to do difficult things together and overcome the toughest challenges. And we will build a confident nation, because the courage to dream brought us to where we are today, and the same courage will propel us towards an even brighter future.
Firstly, nurturing a caring people. We want to grow a civic culture of consideration, care and contribution. These are virtues that Singaporeans can show by caring for one another, their community and their country.
During the Budget Debate, Members like Ms Rahayu Mahzam and Ms Tin Pei Ling spoke about the need to grow a spirit of volunteerism. Mr Henry Kwek hoped to see more citizens volunteering.
The Minister for Social and Family Development talked about building a community of volunteers. Together with MSF and our partners, we are growing SG Cares, a nationwide movement to harness the goodwill of Singaporeans, inspire them to step forward and support them to help others in need. Through SG Cares, we can realise a more caring and compassionate society. We may be a small nation, but we can have a big heart.
Ms Fion Phua is one example. She started Keeping Hope Alive, a ground-up initiative of about 60 volunteers that include doctors, plumbers, carpenters, students and families. Every Sunday, they deliver porridge to residents from over 150 rental flats. They help the seniors trim their toenails, cut their hair, check for expired food or medication, replace faulty appliances and so on.
These volunteers develop a deep understanding of the needs of the families over time and are able to support them well. The sense of community grows and the circle of caring and giving expands over time.
One volunteer, Ms Siti Nurani Salim, felt so inspired that she started Project Goodwill Aid, reaching out to other needy families in other estates. From distributing groceries to helping underprivileged children acquire items for school, Project Goodwill Aid has visited more than 1,000 households.
This is the spirit we hope to cultivate through SG Cares − communities self-organising to care for its members and inspiring others to do good. For giving to truly make a difference to the lives of people, you need to know well the person you are helping. It is the members of each community who truly understand the needs of their neighbours and friends who are best placed to help make Singapore a truly caring society.
SG Cares is a call to all of us to step up to help a neighbour or a cause. It will create conditions for volunteerism. SG Cares will organise the efforts of relevant public agencies, activate networks of volunteers to collaborate, and encourage corporates and non-profits to join in partnership. By linking needs on the ground with the time and talent of volunteers and the resources and capabilities of corporates, we will grow opportunities for volunteerism.
Over time, SG Cares will build capability in organisations to better engage volunteers, equip them with the necessary skills and training, and strengthen volunteer management capacity in our SSOs. That way, we can grow and sustain a vibrant giving landscape.
Ms Joan Pereira reminded us that seniors can be a part of this movement, too. The Silver Volunteer Fund supports volunteer programmes involving seniors, including the training, management and recognition of senior volunteers.
There are many ways for seniors to volunteer near home. Many of the Pioneer Generation Ambassadors (PGAs), for example, are seniors. One of them, Mr Wong Phui Sian from my constituency of Yuhua, is one of the most senior PGAs at 75 years young. Mr Wong has been doing house visits twice a week since he signed up as a PGA in 2015. He also volunteers at the community garden actively.
The youths of today will be the pioneer generation of tomorrow. Youth Corps Singapore provides volunteering opportunities for youths from all walks of life to contribute to a more caring Singapore.
Project Cent$ible is one such effort. In partnership with Lakeside Family Services, a group of Youth Corps members developed a financial literacy programme for families living in a transitional shelter. The young volunteers conducted a series of workshops that taught basic financial knowledge and helped cultivate a habit of saving.
Last year, Youth Corps launched its signature programme, \"Common Space for Common Good\", to bring young volunteers together to serve the community. This year, we will launch the inaugural Youth Corps Service Week to encourage youths to contribute to social and community causes.
Young or old, we can all contribute to issues that concern us and exercise shared responsibility to shape the future. We have been providing the space and resources for citizens to develop their own ideas. To encourage more citizens to take the lead in ground-up action, we launched Our Singapore Fund (OSF) to support projects that build national identity or meet social and community needs.
Mr Henry Kwek and Ms Joan Pereira asked about the status of OSF. To date, close to 40 projects have been supported. They range across the arts, heritage, community and volunteerism sectors. Collectively, they supported projects reaching out to over 37,000 people.
Wheels@Ubin was a project we supported through the SG50 Celebration Fund. Members may be familiar with this project. In 2015, they brought about 100 wheelchair users to enjoy the sights of Pulau Ubin. It involved volunteers from Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT), Changi Sailing Club, the Navy and many VWOs.
I met the team recently when they visited MCCY. Their application for funding under OSF was successful and, this year, they plan to include not just wheelchair users but also the visually impaired. We are happy to see that they are continuing with this meaningful project and are glad to support them again.
Projects like Wheels@Ubin exemplify the Singapore spirit and show how Singaporeans from all walks of life can come together to help one another. Through OSF, MCCY hopes to encourage more Singaporeans to step forward.
Singaporeans also care about how they can play a part in enriching our culture. Our support and funding for the arts and culture will continue to raise arts excellence, grow audiences and ensure that our offerings are accessible to all. We will cater to the emerging needs of the culture sector, whether it is in arts practice, audience development, capability development, or internationalisation.
Our approach has been to partner the private and people sectors to grow our culture scene together. The Minister for Finance announced a top-up of $150 million to the Cultural Matching Fund (CMF). Since CMF was implemented in 2014, we have committed about $150 million out of $200 million allocated. As of December 2016, over 80 organisations under the cultural sector have benefited from CMF. We hope that this top-up will encourage more philanthropy to the sector and provide Singaporeans another avenue to support a cause they care about.
CMF has contributed to developing artistic excellence. Singapore Dance Theatre (SDT) is one example. The additional resources enabled SDT to perform in the region, nurture more local choreographers through annual workshops, and reach out to more schools and communities through their arts education programme.
By topping-up the fund, we hope to sustain the momentum of giving to the arts and heritage sector. MCCY will take the opportunity to review CMF as part of our regular review of how we fund and support the arts and culture.
MCCY's second focus is enhancing a cohesive society. Our future depends on our ability to maintain social cohesion. Our multiracial and multicultural identity must be a source of strength and not a cause of fracture.
We may come from different lands and speak different languages. We are proud of our own cultural heritage. Yet, we identify ourselves as Singaporean.
Our museums, galleries, sports centres and community centres are spaces that bring people of diverse backgrounds together. Our religious organisations, youth networks and civil society groups enhance intercultural understanding. They enlarge our social commons and provide opportunities for Singaporeans to connect and bond.
At a time when tensions are tearing at the fabric of other countries, the bonds and bridges we build in times of peace will enable us to stand together in a crisis.
Mr Alex Yam and Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked how we can preserve our social fabric. We need to partner community leaders and members, and strengthen community vigilance at all levels to absorb shocks and bounce back quickly from any crisis.
We meet apex leaders from major religious and ethnic groups regularly to discuss racial and religious issues on a national platform. At the local level, every constituency has an Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle (IRCC) that promotes racial and religious harmony.
We need to take our efforts one step further. In line with SGSecure, MCCY is establishing a SGSecure Community Network (SGCN) to complement the work of IRCCs on the ground and strengthen the Government's partnership with religious organisations. This network will connect with all religious organisations, going beyond the local IRCCs to include those that are not members.
All religious organisations should be plugged into the SGSecure movement, so that they are well-informed and can count on one another for help when the need arises. In the hours and days after a terrorist attack, we need respected community and religious leaders to convey messages of calm and solidarity to their congregations and to the wider community.
The SGSecure Community Network will prepare our places of worship to be crisis-ready in case of a terrorist attack.
Earlier this year, together with the Home Team, we conducted two Counter-Terrorism Seminars for religious and community organisations. Over 500 leaders from nearly 180 organisations were briefed on how to develop crisis management plans and ways to keep their followers safe. Here is one session where the Roman Catholic Archdiocese shared its crisis plan with the leaders of other faiths. It reflected the cooperation and trust among the religious organisations. More Counter-Terrorism Seminars are being planned.
There is also a need to broker honest conversations in a safe space on sensitive issues like race and religion, especially among our youths as Ms Rahayu Mahzam noted. We have been supporting ground-up projects that do this through the Harmony Fund.
\"Youth Unconvention\" is one such project by the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP). It brought together diverse participants to have frank and respectful discussions on issues of national identity, terrorism and racism over a full day conference. So, we have brought the religious leaders together and we have also brought youths of different faiths together.
While Singaporeans support racial and religious diversity, there are still knowledge gaps around religious practices. Left unaddressed, the knowledge vacuum could be filled by irresponsible voices that seed prejudice.
We will deepen religious understanding through in-depth engagements. MCCY will work with community partners to clarify the practice of religion in a multiracial, multi-religious society, and address sensitive questions in a mutually respectful setting. We will also work with community partners to produce content, such as short videos and brochures, which address common, but often unasked, questions on the practices of different faiths. Mdm Chairman, allow me to speak in Mandarin for the next section.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] In Singapore, people of different beliefs and races coexist peacefully and look out for one another. To preserve our multiculturalism, we must bring religious and racial groups closer together and use the strength of the community to counter terrorism threats.
In line with the SGSecure movement, MCCY is establishing an SGSecure Community Network, to complement IRCC's work on the ground. The SGSecure Community Network will connect all religious groups, incorporating groups that have yet to join the IRCC. After a terrorist attack, these senior leaders of religious and community organisations will be our core mobilisers to convey messages of calm, assuage fear and restore solidarity in the days after.
MCCY will collaborate with religious and community leaders to create more platforms for the public to learn and appreciate the various religious beliefs and practices in Singapore. For instance, through the Harmony Fund, we supported the Nanyang Confucian Association's \"Confucianism and Islam\" seminars, which discussed common values across Confucianism and Islamic theologies and practices. Such seminars provide valuable platforms for the Chinese community to understand the principle of peace advocated in Islam ideology, and a safe space for discussion to address queries and dispel misconceptions about Islam.
(In English): Mr Melvin Yong asked how sports can break down social barriers, promote inclusion and bring communities together.
Since last year, ActiveSG launched three sports academies in basketball, football and tennis and two sports clubs for athletics and outdoor adventure. They offer quality programmes at very low cost for young children. They also bring families and neighbours from all backgrounds together.
When we launched the Athletics Club, a group of mothers who called themselves \"Bedok Mums\" requested for such a programme at the Bedok Sports Centre for their children. ActiveSG Athletics Club started the programme there and the group of mums and dads meet regularly, twice a week in fact, while accompanying their children. They share parenting tips on the track side. From the photo, we see multiracial, three-generation groupings forming friendship along with their children.
In 2017, ActiveSG will be launching more academies to provide additional pathways for members to engage in and through sports. They include traditional sports like badminton and hockey, and non-traditional sports that are gaining popularity, such as frisbee and floorball. The programmes will cater to different competency levels and provide young adults with both recreational and competitive opportunities to remain active in sports even after leaving the school system. To encourage more seniors to be physically active, an Active Masters Programme will also be launched to offer modified sports and fitness activities suitable for their physical conditions.
Under the Sports Facilities Master Plan, we will expand the rollout of the Sports-in-Precinct (SIP) programme to additional precincts, to ensure a good geographical spread and create more sporting spaces near homes. Fifty million dollars has been set aside for this. Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng will elaborate on this.
Mr Kok Heng Leun asked how we can introduce our students to local artworks. And Ms Sun Xueling asked about co-curating our arts and heritage with students. Ms Rahayu Mahzam and Ms Joan Pereira asked about the need to ensure access to arts and heritage.
One way is to expose students to our local arts and heritage scene at an early stage. MCCY is working with MOE to develop more structured student visits to our arts and heritage institutions.
At present, some schools already organise visits to our institutions. Some 50% of Primary 5 students have visited the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), tapping on exhibits in the museum to complement their Social Studies syllabus. By discovering the stories behind the artefacts, students learn about what we inherit from past civilisations. They get to appreciate how history impacts our lives today and develop a habit of learning outside the classroom, beyond textbooks.
MOE and NAC are piloting museum-based learning as part of the arts curriculum. Last year, Primary 4 students from 15 schools visited institutions like the National Gallery Singapore as part of this pilot. Students from one such school, North Spring Primary, got to understand the history of Singapore through Chua Mia Tee's piece titled \"National Language Class\". Through this, students learn to appreciate art, the work of Singapore artists and how their art chronicles our shared history.
This year, NAC will be piloting a Performing Arts-based Learning Programme for lower secondary students, to complement the General Music Programme. Students can look forward to attending a concert by, say, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Through this programme, students will learn about concert etiquette and develop a greater appreciation of musical concepts in an orchestral setting.
Our aim is for students who have gone through our public school system to have an appreciation for Singaporean artworks. The experiential learning in arts and heritage can become a common reference point for our young, regardless of their background. We hope it will be a shared experience that all our students enjoy, and that it will cultivate the audience of the future.
OBS is another experience that we hope all Singaporeans will come to share. Last year, we announced the construction of a new OBS campus on Coney Island as part of our National Outdoor Adventure Education Masterplan. In January this year, we launched the MOE-OBS Secondary 3 Programme. By 2020, students from all secondary schools will have the opportunity to attend a five-day OBS expedition.
The new OBS@Coney will stretch the ability of our youths to work together and build resilience. We will combine several schools in one camp to encourage youths to work with peers from different backgrounds. There will be new features, such as advanced rope courses, that require participants to work in teams. They will also undertake water expeditions around mainland Singapore and learn to respond to challenging scenarios with limited resources.
The new campus will triple our capacity for youth development to about 45,000 youths annually. We hope that this experience will toughen our youths, create shared memories and forge a more cohesive society for Singapore.
Madam, a caring and cohesive society lays the foundation for a confident and resilient nation. Seventy five years ago, our Pioneers went through one of the darkest periods of our history. The fall of Singapore taught us a painful lesson about the importance of national defence. So, we built up the SAF to safeguard our sovereignty and, this year, we commemorate 50 years of National Service.
New threats have emerged. Today, we face down the threat of terrorism, tomorrow it might be economic restructuring. But whatever future challenges might arise, we can overcome them if we have the inner confidence that comes from a strong Singapore Spirit, one that is built on values, such as unity and resilience.
During the Budget Debate, Mr Kok Heng Leun described how the arts and culture can build resilience. I agree. Art and music are important parts of what it means to be a well-rounded person and help articulate the voices of a multifaceted society.
That is why we want Singaporeans to be active participants of the arts and to be proud of our arts and heritage institutions and achievements. There is much to be proud of. Our cultural scene has come a long way. More Singaporeans recognise the value of arts and culture, and participation in arts and cultural activities has increased across the board.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked how we are helping our artists and athletes realise their aspirations and how Singapore is projecting soft power. The growth of a vibrant arts ecosystem has seen our young artists develop a good international reputation. One example is Wong Kah Chun. At 30 years old, he has conducted orchestras in more than 20 cities. Last year, Kah Chun won the prestigious Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Germany. It is actually the Olympic equivalent for music.
Kah Chun's parents bought him his first trumpet when he was a band member at River Valley High School. During NS, Kah Chun played the trumpet so often in the SAF Band that he suffered damage to his lips, so he switched to composition and conducting. Scholarships came from Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, the National Arts Council and the Public Service Commission and allowed Kah Chun to pursue his music education and career, while the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) gave him opportunities to hone his musical craft.
Despite his achievements, what I really like about Kah Chun is that he has a heart for the community. Last year, he partnered \"Superhero Me\", a ground-up community arts movement, and set up Project Infinitude to bring music to underprivileged and special needs children. He roped in fellow musicians from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and Asian Contemporary Ensemble to teach the children to play musical instruments through a 10-week programme. For the first few weeks, they got to try a variety of instruments and then they will select their own and then, for the last few weeks, they will practise a piece and have a little concert to perform; and the concert is coming soon.
I met one of them at last weekend's session. Brandvan Yang, the boy who is wearing a cape in the photo, because it was \"Superhero Me\", so he puts on his superhero cape. He told me that he loves the violin because it helps him feel relaxed and calm. He even asked me if I was in a music CCA in school. It was a moving moment to listen to the children play. Kah Chun and his friends, all highly talented musicians, are using their gift to inspire Singaporeans who might not otherwise have the opportunity to be exposed to music. These are children from a block of rental flats across the premises, and this little boy who played violin for me actually told me quite proudly that it was \"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star\", in minor key.
Similarly, Team Singapore athletes have been great role models to us. Their achievements over the years show we can make our dreams a reality. We want to sustain a strong showing at the SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games and continue to nurture champions at the Asian and world levels.
Mr Darryl David called for greater efforts to promote sporting excellence. We will enhance our High Performance Sports (HPS) system. I wish to highlight some lessons from our own and other countries' experience at recent major Games.
Podium success at world championships and the Olympics requires a focused and sustained effort at all levels. A talented and dedicated athlete is a necessary starting point. To groom that athlete into a world champion, we need great coaches supported by deep sports science and sports medicine capabilities. The Singapore Sports Institute (SSI) and the National Youth Sports Institute (NYSI) are critical enablers in this process. For example, performance analysts help swimmers improve their performance by providing underwater video feedback on how the swimmers can improve their stroke mechanics. We must focus on applying science and know-how to help our athletes raise their game.
Another learning point is that success at the elite level requires long-term commitment. We did not produce champions overnight. Schooling is a two-time Olympian, Pin Xiu and Theresa are three- and four-time Paralympians respectively. Growing our pipeline of talent and grooming them for podium success require long-term athlete development plans and the resources and technical expertise to create a high-performance training and competition environment. The day-to-day training and competition environment is critical. SportSG and NSAs will have to work closely so that efforts are aligned and optimised.
Finally, we need our corporates, parents and the wider public to rally behind our athletes. That is why we are setting up a \"One Team Singapore matching grant\" which will match sports donations up to $50 million into the Vision 2030 Fund, dollar-for-dollar, over the next five years.
We will review our HPS system with these principles in mind. Being a small country without a large population base, we must ensure that resources are used effectively for sustained performance. This will require a long-term focus, technically sound training plans and continuity of effort.
Our heritage forms an integral part of our national identity. Historical buildings, our urban landscape, our food and festive celebrations, all tell stories of where we come from, who we are today and our legacy for the future. Mr Darryl David and Mr Kok Heng Leun asked how we are strengthening our identity and resilience through heritage. We have made considerable effort to preserve our heritage assets with the help of the people sector.
One example is \"My Community\", which has been documenting social memories and championing community heritage in Queenstown, Singapore's first satellite town. Working with NHB, they have taken the initiative to research and put together heritage trails that bring visitors to landmarks, such as the first Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats at Stirling Road.
To celebrate the civic life of the neighbourhood, \"My Community\" has been putting up exhibitions to showcase the social history of the area. They are not just preserving heritage, they are adding to the richness of cultural life in the community through their own efforts and initiatives. Complementing these ground-up efforts, NHB has launched nationwide surveys on our tangible and intangible heritage in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Both surveys are guided by NHB's Heritage Advisory Panel comprising experts from various fields. Next, we plan to put in place a strategy to document, promote and safeguard our heritage.
NHB will be embarking on a Heritage Plan for Singapore, which will be a comprehensive national blueprint for our heritage sector. Our goal is to preserve and celebrate our shared heritage as Singaporeans. We will also make legislative changes so as to implement the plan in the coming years. It will be drawn up in consultation with heritage stakeholders, the public and other Government agencies. Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng will share more later.
Our sporting and cultural heroes are an inspiration because they epitomise the Singapore Spirit. They show us the importance of having a bold vision, to commit to excellence, determination, a sense of resilience and sacrifice. These are values and ideals exemplified by Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his team who founded independent Singapore.
We have been actively engaging Singaporeans to co-create a Founders' Memorial that commemorates these values and ideals upon which our nation was built. Singaporeans young and old, expressed strong support for such an effort. Many expressed the hope that the memorial will help current and future generations to cherish and live by such values and ideals.
In February, the Founders' Memorial Committee led by Mr Lee Tzu Yang announced that a majority of Singaporeans engaged thus far support Bay East Gardens as the preferred site of the memorial. We thank the Committee for leading this community effort. The work does not stop here. We want Singaporeans to be involved at all stages of conceptualising the Memorial. A public showcase will be launched next week to gather more views on the desired attributes of the Memorial. This will guide the next steps of the design and development. Ultimately, the Memorial will be one for the people, by the people.
Mdm Chairman, to borrow the words of the Committee, we are an unexpected nation that succeeded against all odds. Through courage and diligence, our forefathers forged a nation. Through determination and adaptability, they turned challenges into opportunities. With integrity and a commitment to nation-building, they united a people.
This tells the extraordinary story of the Singapore Spirit. When it is ready, the Founders' Memorial will serve that purpose − to continue telling the story. And the story does not end there. We will write the next chapters together. We will be Singaporeans who care for one another, Singaporeans who overcome challenges together, and Singaporeans who dare to dream and are not afraid to pursue our aspirations and our passions for a better Singapore.
The Chairman: Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (Mr Baey Yam Keng):\tMdm Chairman, with your permission, I will display some slides.
The Chairman:\tYes, please. [Some slides were shown to hon Members.]
Mr Baey Yam Keng: The Minister spoke about our plans to engage more Singaporeans through our arts and heritage offerings. Singapore's culture scene has, indeed, come a long way.
Mr Kok Heng Leun spoke about the need to take stock of what has been achieved under ACSR and our plans going forward to 2025.
Our efforts under ACSR are bearing fruit. More Singaporeans are attending arts events and visiting our museums and heritage institutions. Our surveys have shown that eight in 10 Singaporeans attended an arts event or activity in 2015. In the same year, museum visitorship also reached an all-time high of 3.75 million. More Singaporeans also believe in the value of the arts and culture. Nevertheless, more can still be done to make culture a part of everyday life and to ensure that culture is inclusive and accessible to all. We will continue to develop and support programmes that can connect with various segments of Singaporeans.
Mr Kok also spoke about involving non-Singaporeans in our arts programmes. Through the Presentation and Participation Grant, NAC recently supported Kapor ChatParty by The Octopus Residency, a ground-up initiative that aims to foster a sense of community in Little India, whether for residents, patrons or visitors.
As we broaden community outreach and accessibility, we agree with Mr Kok on the value of arts and culture. This is MCCY's mission. Over the years, we have expanded the space for artistic expression and divergent views. At the same time, however, we need to be mindful of our social and cultural context and balance this with mutual respect of views and social harmony. While we acknowledge that the arts can be a good platform to teach critical thinking and promote deeper understanding of issues, it is also important for the content and presentation to be context- and age-appropriate. We will continue to work with various stakeholders to bridge this understanding so that we can enlarge the common space for artistic expression and foster a better appreciation of the value of the arts.
We applaud the work that Mr Kok's theatre company, Drama Box, has undertaken to address sensitive issues, such as race-based tensions, conservation and development through forum theatre, and we hope to learn more from the experience.
I would like to refer to Mr Leon Perera's question. NAC funding guidelines are published and are part of the funding agreement between NAC and the grant applicants. NAC seeks to enlarge the space for the arts to flourish without compromising on social cohesion and stability. As such, NAC does not fund activities which undermine public institutions, political parties or figures, regardless of political affiliation. We believe that confidence in public institutions is fundamental to the future of Singapore.
Mdm Chairman, ACSR has funded many initiatives to raise arts excellence. In 2015, Singapore returned to the Venice Biennale. The recent Singapore Biennale 2016, which presented 10 Singapore works, has just ended with record visitorship numbers of more than 614,000 visitors. In 2016, SIFA featured 20 productions, including collaborations between Singaporean and international artists, such as Brian Gothong Tan's Tropical Traumas: A Series of Cinematographic Choreographies, which was presented at Ron Arad's 720° stage at Gardens by the Bay.
We will intensify our efforts to raise arts excellence while increasing connection with and accessibility to the arts and, in so doing, help nurture a confident people with pride in their culture and heritage.
We agree with Mr Kok on the importance of making arts a part of our shared spaces and are very encouraged by Priyageetha Dia's creativity to enhance our living spaces. Understandably, there could be concerns from residents that the local Town Council needs to address. Hence, we encourage young artists to work closely with the precincts and space managers to enliven our community. One recent example is young artist, Jaxton Su, who worked with the property owner to develop a large-scale mural along Race Course Road which was supported by NAC's Matchbox Grant. NAC will be happy to facilitate this process.
Mr Kok asked for an update on the proposed Traditional Arts Centre. NAC worked closely to support all affected arts groups from the Stamford Arts Centre throughout the upgrading process. Most of the affected arts groups have either moved into other NAC arts spaces or have found spaces through private leases. The last tenant vacated in end November last year. Since then, NAC has completed a feasibility study and will be starting refurbishment works. When the new Stamford Arts Centre is ready in 2018, it is envisioned to be a vibrant space for the performing arts, especially traditional arts. It will bring rich performing traditions closer to the community and support innovative content creation while deepening its relevance in modern Singapore. One idea is to have a residency programme to help seed new collaborations and compelling content. NAC also hopes to get the local Waterloo community more involved through the incubation of community arts projects.
Next, I would also like to address Mr Kok's point on developing artistic leadership in our major cultural institutions. We agree that it is important to have these institutions represented by individuals who are passionate about the arts and culture. We are privileged to have many distinguished arts practitioners sitting on our various boards. For example: Dr Meira Chand, author of the story behind The LKY Musical, serves as a Council Member on the National Arts Council; Mr Gaurav Kripalani, Artistic and Managing Director of the Singapore Repertory Theatre, serves on the board of the National Heritage Board; and Ms Aidli Mohamed Salleh Mosbit, a highly regarded playwright, director, actor, writer, designer and educator and also Young Artist Award winner, serves on the board of the School of the Arts.
Besides having a good understanding of the arts and culture, it is important that Board Directors also represent diverse views and offer skills that are fundamental to good governance, such as in audit, finance, legal, audience development and philanthropy.
Mdm Chairman, leadership positions in our cultural institutions are critical functions that require not only a good understanding of the arts and culture, but also administrative skills and whole-person capabilities. The Chief Executive and Artistic Director oversee the implementation of our cultural policies and set the programming direction. They are our main interface with the artistic community, patrons and audiences. They are responsible for stewardship and governance of public resources. It is, therefore, important to identify the right candidate for these key positions.
We are cognisant of the need to develop a pipeline of cultural leaders in Singapore. That is why in 2015, MCCY set up the Culture Academy to nurture the next generation of cultural leadership in the public sector.
We also agree with Mr Kok that producers play an important role in a vibrant arts and heritage ecosystem by helping our artists put their work out. Besides NAC's Creative Producer Development Programme, our cultural institutions like the Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay, also play a role in developing such expertise. For instance, the Esplanade co-commissions productions and shares risks with producers to develop a canon of Singapore works. Beyond our shores, the Esplanade and NAC also pave the way for our producers to connect with international markets. This approach helps to develop a pool of producers who can contribute to art-making both locally and internationally.
As Mr Kok highlighted, our arts and culture landscape today is a product of the legacy of many artistic pioneers. It is the amalgamation of efforts of not just artists, but also a wide range of other professionals with creative, management and technical expertise. We recognise the contributions of these individuals who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes. They can be great mentors to our future generation of cultural professionals. We will continue to look at platforms to recognise them and help them share their expertise with the artistic community as well.
Mr Yee Chia Hsing asked if it is possible to provide low-cost spaces for artists to showcase their art works or conduct classes. We currently offer a range of long-term housing and short-term rental options at subsidised rates to support our arts sector. The short-term options, in particular, are flexible and cater to different needs. For example, the Greenfield Project located at Block O of Goodman Arts Centre offers multi-purpose and project studios with options for rental, either on an hourly, daily or monthly basis.
Beyond Government spaces, we partner the private sector to co-locate arts groups in commercial developments under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA's) Community Sports Facilities Scheme (CSFS). For instance, Very Special Arts has taken up a space at Changi City Point Mall since 2011.
Mdm Chairman, as we build a strong local cultural scene, Dr Lim Wee Kiak rightly pointed out that we should also share our unique culture with the rest of the world. Given our warm cultural ties with many countries, we have been able to showcase our arts and culture through cultural exchanges and collaborations.
In 2014, MCCY established the Cultural Diplomacy Fund (CDF) to raise the international profile of Singapore artists and cultural institutions and to grow our diplomatic space by showcasing the \"softer side\" of Singapore.
These efforts provide opportunities for our artists to grow. They also profile cultural excellence beyond our shores, strengthen capabilities and develop markets for Singapore's culture sector. This year, Singapore will be represented at the Venice Biennale with multidisciplinary artist Zai Kuning's showcase Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge, a culmination of over 20 years of research on Malay culture and history in Southeast Asia. At the recent Singapore Art Week, visitors to Gillman Barracks had the chance to observe the artwork in progress when Zai's studio was open to the public then. Works like Zai's, which will be in Venice from 13 May to 26 November, will help to profile Singapore artists both at home and abroad.
As Mr Darryl David highlighted, heritage and culture can build and develop a stronger sense of identity in Singaporeans. We agree and are working to preserve and promote our heritage in a more comprehensive way.
As the Minister earlier shared, NHB will be developing a comprehensive national blueprint for our heritage sector. The Heritage Plan for Singapore will set out the national vision and action plans for a museum and heritage landscape that will foster a stronger sense of belonging and identity among our people.
One aspect of the Heritage Plan that NHB will be looking at is policy and legislative reviews that will enable us to better conduct the task of archaeology in Singapore. This will contribute towards a fuller picture of Singapore's history, going much further than half a century of Independence.
Members may recall the 2015 archaeological excavation at Empress Place. We uncovered some 3.5 tonnes of artefacts from 14th century Singapore or, more accurately, Temasek. The 300 to 500 copper coins from different time periods in imperial China, 12th century Ceylon, and coins used by the Dutch East India Company, suggest that 14th century Temasek had been a well-established international trading hub. In the absence of written records, these artefacts provide clues to the kinds of activities that took place on our island.
Mr Kok Heng Leun spoke about the importance of engaging different segments of society on how our heritage is documented, acknowledged and shared. The Heritage Plan aims to nurture an active community which takes ownership of our heritage. We will seek the views of different groups of stakeholders and different segments of society on a wide range of topics, such as heritage preservation, heritage education and promotion, and making heritage spaces and programmes more accessible and inclusive.
Over the next few months, NHB will continue to hold engagement sessions with heritage stakeholders and partners, including academia, experts, industry practitioners, community and heritage groups, youths, volunteers and educators. Singaporeans will also be invited to provide their views on the Plan later this year at public roadshows, online platforms and other channels. We target to publish the first edition of the Heritage Plan in early 2018, with an update every five years. Mdm Chairman, please allow me to elaborate on the Heritage Plan in Mandarin.
(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mdm Chairman, NHB and MCCY will be embarking on the important task of inspiring the Singapore Spirit through our diverse cultural heritage. NHB will be developing a whole new, comprehensive Heritage Plan for Singapore that complements the earlier announced ACSR plans.
We will gather public feedback and discuss how to systematically document and preserve tangible and intangible heritage, as well as the commonly neglected community heritage. NHB has already started working on these areas. Through the Heritage Research Grant, academic Dr Koh Keng We conducted research on the local history, rituals, institutions and networks of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. At the same time, NHB also launched a survey on intangible cultural heritage last year.
Cultural heritage has always been the microcosm of human development. Thus, Singaporeans are our best advisors and resources for this blueprint. Besides working with the various Government agencies, it is also crucial for NHB to gather ideas from the public through different platforms. We can then share details of this plan with Singaporeans next year. From 2018, the plan will guide the long-term development of our cultural heritage. In this way, we will increase Singaporeans' participation, deepen ownership of our heritage and inspire the Singapore Spirit. We will review this plan every five years, so that it will be a blueprint for Singapore's cultural heritage that truly belongs to us.
(In English): Beyond arts and heritage, sport is another arena where communities can come together as one. Complementing the programmes offered by ActiveSG, we will continue to expand and enhance access to sporting spaces through the Sports Facilities Master Plan. Every year, millions of Singaporeans make use of public sports facilities and the numbers continue to grow.
Mr Melvin Yong spoke about making sports facilities in schools available to the public. Under the Dual-Use-Scheme (DUS), members of the public can and are making use of facilities like the Indoor Sports Halls and school fields after school hours. As we announced last year, we will continue to progressively open up all remaining indoor sports halls and fenced fields in Government primary and secondary schools by around 2020. Over the past year, we opened up around 50 more facilities for shared use and are on track to meet our target.
Complementing DUS, the Sports-in-Precinct (SIP) programme also creates accessible play spaces for use by the local community. We initiated a pilot project in Boon Lay. With the completion of Phase One, residents now enjoy local facilities like the street soccer court and a multi-purpose community lawn court, both laid with an artificial turf. The street soccer court is well-received and is enjoyed by the youths, who would otherwise usually play on the more common hard court or at the void deck.
Besides Boon Lay, residents in Jurong Spring can also look forward to similar facilities later this year. We will be expanding the programme to include precincts that are not under HDB's Neighbourhood Renewal Programme. We will initiate around 20 SIP projects across the island by 2020, supported by a budget of $50 million. More residents can enjoy playing sports closer to home.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap spoke about hosting national events at the National Stadium. The Singapore Sports Hub was designed to be an integrated sports, entertainment and lifestyle hub for the community and our athletes. It is a place where we can enjoy shared experiences and build strong bonds amongst Singaporeans.
In just under three years since the Sports Hub began operations, we have seen the National Stadium play host to major events, including the SEA Games, ASEAN Para Games, NDP, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Singapore Rugby 7s, the StanChart Marathon Singapore 2016, and concerts, such as Madonna and A-mei. The Sports Hub Community Play Days and Experience Sports sessions, which are free to the public, have also been organised to encourage more to come and enjoy the offerings at the Sports Hub.
Nonetheless, more can and should be done by Sports Hub Private Limited (SHPL) to enhance the vibrancy of the Sports Hub and improve the quality of its calendar of events and programming. These should include major international events, as well as those that the community can participate in.
On the issue of event hiring cost, the operator, SHPL, has indicated that it will seek to keep third-party costs for events at the Sports Hub in check. We have communicated to SHPL that they should have transparent and defensible pricing policies that make them attractive as a venue to event organisers.
The Minister earlier shared that we will be enhancing our HPS system. I would like to reassure Mr Ang Wei Neng and Er Dr Lee Bee Wah that we continue to provide significant funding support for our NSAs. The Government currently provides about $45 million annually in funding to NSAs, which marks a slight increase over the previous years.
While SportSG's funding helps NSAs to defray part of their operational costs, NSAs are primarily run, organised and funded by their respective fraternity and need to be accountable to their members for their performance.
Mr Ganesh Rajaram and Mr Faisal Manap spoke about the state of football in Singapore and the role that FAS and its leadership could play to revitalise the football ecosystem. We note that the development of Singapore football is currently undergoing a significant transition with FAS due for elections this year.
FAS has been under the guidance of a Provisional Council since 16 November 2016 after the term of the last Council expired. Until the new leadership is elected, the direction of FAS remains uncertain. We urge FAS to conduct the election soon.
Mdm Chairman, football has a large following in Singapore and generates a lot of public interest. FAS will need to work closely with its stakeholders, including SportSG, as it develops its multi-year strategic plan. The plan must address areas, such as youth and coach development, community outreach and participation, and football excellence. We look forward to discussing with the new leadership its future plans for Singapore football and how FAS' plans align with SportSG's Vision 2030.
Mr Ganesh's point about the importance of strong and competent leadership applies not only to FAS but to all NSAs. Our NSAs need leaders who can unite their fraternities around a sound strategic plan for the development of their sport. They must build organisational capabilities that ensure robust governance and effective execution of the strategic plans. They have to invest in and develop professional coaches and officials to help enthusiasts and athletes raise the game. Finally, they need to build a sustainable ecosystem for the sport. With strong leadership, good governance, effective management and sound technical capabilities, the sport as a whole can then develop and grow to its full potential.
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien:\tMdm Chairman, with your permission, I will display some slides.
The Chairman:\tYes, please. [Some slides were shown to hon Members.]
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: Mr Henry Kwek has asked about corporate giving. The corporate sector is stepping up, and Deloitte Singapore is a good example. When we hosted the 2015 SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games, Deloitte provided sponsorship and their staff volunteered in creative and marketing support for the Games.
As an active member of the spexBusiness Network under SportSG, Deloitte has provided career development opportunities to Team Singapore athletes, such as netballers Charmaine Soh and Kimberly Lim, and recently retired shuttler Derek Wong. The athletes enjoy a work environment that supports their success in the sporting arena and the workplace.
Deloitte has also partnered NorthLight School to help the students develop their skills and talents through sports. And as part of their annual day of service, Deloitte organised a dragon-boat session at the Sports Hub for the students.
We would like more companies to follow Deloitte's lead and give back to society. Last year, the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) launched the Company of Good Programme. The programme helps Singapore-registered companies build capability in giving and connects them with other businesses to champion corporate giving. Today, there are more than 470 members in the network.
To strengthen the culture of corporate giving, NVPC is launching two new programmes this year. The Champion of Good programme recognises companies that demonstrate best practices and are committed to advocating corporate giving in Singapore.
The second programme, Company of Good Fellowship, aims to grow a community of corporate leaders and develop their capabilities in leadership and corporate giving, through targeted training, mentoring and networking opportunities.
I agree with Dr Lim Wee Kiak and Ms Joan Pereira that sports and culture must be accessible to all. Last year, we announced the Disability Sports Master Plan. Under this plan, we are expanding access for persons with disabilities to take part in sports and developing the organisational and professional capabilities to do so. SportSG has launched a Centre of Expertise for Disability Sport in Sengkang, with plans to set up at least five such centres in the next few years. It has also offered programmes in swimming, wheelchair rugby, which is held in Toa Payoh, goalball, wheelchair tennis and badminton, and will introduce new ones in football and boccia. We have an Inclusive Gym at the Enabling Village, and there are plans to introduce this at ActiveSG Sports Centres in Bedok, Jurong West, Tampines and Toa Payoh.
We will ride on the momentum from the ASEAN Para Games and the Paralympics, and work with partners to raise public awareness for disability sports. One recent collaboration is with four undergraduates from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) through their final year project, aptly named \"Project This Ability\". To promote para-sports as a social activity, they translated the International Symbol of Access into signs that depict wheelchair users playing sports. These new signs will be placed at educational institutions, sports centres and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations.
I attended their Para Sports Day last Saturday at the Enabling Village, where over 230 persons with disabilities, family and friends gathered to try different para-sports. By raising the profile of para-sports and inviting everyone regardless of ability to try, the students are helping to foster an inclusive sporting community. They are doing a very good job in introducing para-sports to persons with disabilities. They are generating awareness, getting people involved; they are doing a wonderful job for NTU undergraduates.
Our cultural institutions are also making their spaces more accessible. The National Gallery has monthly \"Gallery Signs\" tours, which are led by a docent and a sign language interpreter. At the Singapore Art Museum, many of the works in the annual Imaginarium exhibition can be explored using touch or hearing. This enables visitors with hearing or visual impairment to appreciate the works.
This year, we will strengthen special needs training for museum staff, docents and volunteers. We will also be adopting the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to allow persons with disabilities to use picture cards to communicate their needs.
With regard to Ms Joan Pereira's suggestion to have museums conduct tours in vernacular languages, these are currently available at many of our national museums and heritage institutions. With these developments, everyone can participate more fully in sports and the arts.
Mr Louis Ng spoke about IPCs that extend overseas to help our neighbours. IPCs enjoy Government support. They are allowed to issue tax deduction receipts on qualifying donations. Hence, there is an expectation that IPCs exclusively help the local community. Where there is an exceptional basis to allow otherwise, the Minister may grant a waiver so that they can conduct overseas activities.
With regard to fundraising for foreign charitable purposes, at least 80% of funds collected by both IPCs and non-IPCs must go towards charitable purposes in Singapore. This ensures that resources are not collected from the public for overseas causes at the expense of local needs. The Commissioner of Charities can and does, on a case-by-case basis, waive this rule to support, for example, appeals in aid of providing immediate disaster relief.
Mr Henry Kwek highlighted the challenges that youths face as they enter the workforce and the need for resilience and confidence. We agree that these are important values which cannot be acquired overnight, unfortunately. They are cultivated over time by family, parents and in our schools. Later experiences at OBS, Youth Corps Singapore and NS reinforce these qualities.
Our role at MCCY is to grow these strengths in our youths and empower them to chart their own paths as they transit from school to the workplace.
*SCAPE, for instance, offers personal development workshops to help youths gain awareness of their aptitude and interests and work towards their future aspirations. *SCAPE also exposes youths early to possibilities in the working world by bringing practitioners from different industries to share about their experiences.
In addition, we are partnering IHLs, agencies, such as SkillsFuture Singapore and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), to enhance career guidance through roadshows, industry talks, mentorship as well as the upcoming MySkillsFuture portal.
Employment aside, youths face other issues when transiting from school to the working world. To help them plan, save and realise their aspirations, we have been working with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and other agencies to equip them with basic financial literacy and planning skills. We are also partnering NurtureSG and the Ministry of Health (MOH) on youth mental well-being and self-care, as it is important for our youths to maintain a sense of perspective and stay balanced in the face of challenges.
Mr Leon Perera asked about what MCCY is doing to attract overseas Singaporeans to return. While the issue of emigration comes under the purview of National Population and Talent Division (NPTD), MCCY's Overseas Singaporean Unit (OSU) keeps in contact with Singaporeans living overseas to maintain their ties back to Singapore. We engage them through social media, update them on the latest policy announcements and developments in Singapore, conduct talks with business and Government leaders, and support events which bring Overseas Singaporeans together, such as Singapore Day.
OSU coordinates the various Government channels to facilitate the return of Overseas Singaporeans and ease in the transition. For example, the Overseas Singaporean Portal offers information to support the relocation journey of overseas Singaporeans customised to their profiles and needs. In addition, MOE has a one-stop interface for returning Singaporean students to support their school placement.
For Singaporeans who choose to remain overseas, we hope they continue to fly our flag high, believe in Singapore and find ways to create our nation's future together.
Mdm Chairman, MCCY's work goes to the heart of the nation. The pulse of the nation beats through our arts, heritage, community, sports and youth sectors.
At our museums and galleries, we feel that heartbeat. Through the arts and heritage, we celebrate the energy of Singapore's cultural diversity.
At our stadiums and sports centres, we feel that heartbeat. We cheer for our sporting heroes and, like them, we pursue our dreams and reach for the stars.
Through OBS, our children feel that heartbeat as they support one another and develop the qualities they need to overcome tomorrow's challenges together.
With a strong heart that beats as one, we will build a caring and cohesive society, a confident and resilient nation, and a better home together. [Applause.]
The Chairman:\tWe have a bit of time for clarification. Yes. Mr Kok Heng Leun.
Mr Kok Heng Leun: I would like to thank the Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary for answering a lot of my questions. And I was reminded to say that I also agree that both MCCY and NAC have, over this one year, helped me a lot in terms of bridging a lot of discussions.
I have four to five clarifications. First is good news about the arts education and bringing the students to galleries and performances. I just want to know that through this process, besides disseminating information and knowledge about the art, would there be an interface that allows students to have creative responses to the experience that they had? I think that is the most important part of that art experience. That interface requires a lot of thought and good people to work on it. How would the Ministry be working on that?
The second thing is the Stamford Arts Centre issue. To be honest, during that time, when the tenants were asked to move in a very hurried way, there was quite a lot of unhappiness amongst the group. I heard from them during the process. I think it is not easy for an arts group to move from place to place and that created quite a lot of displacement because there were not very clear plans on how they could move to other places.
The Chairman:\tMr Kok, can you please keep your clarifications short? Just confine it to clarifications. No speech, please.
Mr Kok Heng Leun: Okay. I hope maybe NAC and MCCY can look into that matter. The third thing is the Culture Academy which I think it is really very good. Would this academy create panels as well as discussion possibilities to deal with very difficult, critical discourse issues related to art? Because if it is attended by a lot of Government officials, that would be very good to start conversations from that point.
Lastly, which is about the staircase, the golden foil staircase. I want to clarify that this artist has made considerations on the material to be used so that it was not slippery at all. However, I think what happened here is that we really probably need to relook at policies, especially dealing with public spaces, especially when such intervention happens. I think this is a very good case for us to look at such issues. If you all need, you can come to me and I can bring you on a tour.
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: I will respond to Mr Kok. I think his suggestions about building creative responses through an interface among students and enabling the creativity that emerges as a response to the artwork is a valid one. That is the reason why we are progressing slowly and steadily with discussions with MOE so that the programme that we design will take in considerations, such as what the Member has suggested and also the capabilities we have to carry them out. It is not easy to bring 40,000 students through the galleries. We need to pitch it correctly. We need to find the materials that will have the learning outcomes that meet the needs of MOE. I think we are in the process of having that dialogue and having that pilot project basically to address the issues that the Member has raised.
On the golden foil staircase, if I may give a response. I think the first rule of any artist who wants to do community art is to ask for permission from the property owner. I think that is basic courtesy that the owner should have a right to say yes or no. When you have raised an issue and raised a proposal, then both parties can sit down and see how to best meet the needs of both parties.
The Chairman: Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng.
Mr Baey Yam Keng: On Stamford Arts Centre, we totally agree that any displacement of artists and arts groups is considered very painful, especially some arts groups that have been there for many years. NAC would learn from this experience because there could be other opportunities or other arts venues that require redesign or redevelopment. We definitely want to prevent such anxiety on the artist/arts group and we will seek to do better.
On the Culture Academy, the Academy regularly invites practitioners and experts from overseas to share their experiences so that our cultural professionals can learn from the best practitioners out there. Part of that curriculum also include that kind of conversations and to learn from other places which are more advanced in terms of different stakeholder engagements in making decisions on development or in other areas.
The Chairman: Mr Kok.
Mr Kok Heng Leun:\tIn response to the golden foil, because that is actually a public space. How we negotiate public space really needs a lot of more discussions. I would like to take that further with the Minister. So, that is one clarification. Secondly, which I forgot just now, which I want to ask again was the issue on cultural leadership. I do not think I got quite the answer about why Rosa Daniel took up three roles at the same time. Mind you, again, I said I have no issues with her being in that role, but it is just that one person to take up three roles, are there no other choices that we have?
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien:\tMdm Chairman, I appreciate Mr Kok's concern. Indeed, to be heading NAC and also as a Deputy Secretary in a Ministry is a heavy task. Please be assured that we have identified a successor. It is just that, at this point in time, we are not ready for the announcement. So, actually, it is a temporary situation.
The Chairman: Dr Lim, do you wish to withdraw your amendment?
Dr Lim Wee Kiak: On behalf of the Government Parliamentary Committee as well as the colleagues of this House, it remains for me to thank Minister Yaacob, Minister Chan Chun Sing as well as Minister Grace Fu and Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng for their very well-considered response to all our questions, and to all the staff of MCCY as well as related Statutory Boards for their hard work. This is the heartbeat of the nation. So, please continue to work hard. We will be there to support them as well. May I beg leave now to withdraw my amendment?
[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $1,554,607,300 for Head X ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)]
[(proc text) The sum of $605,178,900 for Head X 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 – Heads C, D, F, G and Z","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"The Chairman: I shall now deal with the remaining Heads of Expenditure in respect of which no amendment stands on the Order Paper Supplement. In respect of the Main Estimates, they are Heads C, D, F, G and Z. I propose to take those Heads of Expenditure en bloc.
Question, \"That the sums stated for Heads C, D, F, G and Z which appear in the last column of the Schedule of estimated expenditure under the Main Estimates on page 6 of Paper Cmd 8 of 2017 stand part of the Main Estimates,\" put and agreed to.
The Chairman: In respect of the Development Estimates, they are Heads C and F.
[(proc text) Question, \"That the sums stated for Heads C and F which appear in the last column of the Schedule of estimated expenditure under the Development Estimates on page 7 of Paper Cmd 8 of 2017 stand part of the Development Estimates,\" put and agreed to. (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 – Total Sums for Main Estimates, Development Estimates and Resolutions","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"[(proc text) Question, \"That the sum of $33,240,004,900 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the Public Services shown in the Development Estimates for the financial year 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, contained in Paper Cmd 8 of 2017,\" put and agreed to. (proc text)]
The Chairman: Resolutions to be reported.
[(proc text) Thereupon Mdm Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House. (proc text)]
The Senior Minister of State for Finance (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mdm Speaker, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has come to certain resolutions.
First resolution reported −
[(proc text) \"That the sum of $87,564,044,800 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Main Estimates for the financial year 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, contained in Paper Cmd 8 of 2017.\" (proc text)]
Second resolution reported −
[(proc text) \"That the sum of $33,240,004,900 shall be supplied to the Government under the Heads of Expenditure for the public services shown in the Development Estimates for the financial year 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, contained in Paper Cmd 8 of 2017.\" (proc text)]
Ms Indranee Rajah: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That Parliament doth agree with the Committee on the said resolutions.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Resolutions accordingly agreed to. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Suspension of Standing Orders ","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"The Leader of the House (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien):\tMdm Speaker, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move a Motion to allow the Second Reading of the Supply Bill and the Supplementary Supply [financial year (FY) 2016] Bill to be taken now?
Mdm Speaker: I give my consent. Does the Leader of the House have the general assent of hon Members present to so move?
Hon Members indicated assent.
Mdm Speaker:\tLeader, please proceed.
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That, notwithstanding Standing Order No 70(1), the Second Reading of the Supply Bill and Supplementary Supply [Financial Year (FY) 2016] Bill be taken now.\"
Madam, the Committee of Supply has concluded the consideration of the Estimates of Expenditure for FY2017/2018 and the Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for FY2016/2017. The necessary resolutions of the Committee of Supply have been reported to the House without any amendments. It will make sense for the House to now proceed to the Second Reading of these Supply Bills to complete the proceedings on this year's Supply business.
The agreement of the House is therefore, sought to suspend Standing Order No 70(1) to allow the Supply Bills to be read for the second time now.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Resolved, \"That, notwithstanding Standing Order No 70(1), the Second Reading of the Supply Bill and Supplementary Supply (FY2016) Bill be taken now.\" − [Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien] (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Supply Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BP","content":"[(proc text) Order for Second and Third Readings read. (proc text)]
Mdm Speaker: Senior Minister of State Indranee Rajah.
The Senior Minister of State for Finance (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Second time.\"
In accordance with Article 148(1) of the Constitution, Heads of Expenditure to be met from the Consolidated Fund and Development Fund, other than statutory expenditure, have to be included in the Bill to be known as the Supply Bill. The purpose of the Supply Bill before Members is, therefore, to give legislative approval for the appropriations from the Consolidated Fund and Development Fund to meet the expenditure in the Financial Year, 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018. The Heads of Expenditure and the sums that may be incurred in respect of each Head are shown in the Schedule to the Bill. These have been approved by the House in the Main and Development Estimates of Expenditure for the Financial Year, 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, as contained in Paper Cmd No 8 of 2017.
The Supply Bill, when approved, will empower the Minister to issue warrants, authorising Expenditure up to the amount for each Head as shown in the Bill to be paid out from the Consolidated Fund and Development Fund. Madam, I beg to move.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Second time. (proc text)]
Ms Indranee Rajah: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Third time.\"
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Third time and passed. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Supplementary Supply (FY2016) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BP","content":"[(proc text) Order for Second and Third Readings read. (proc text)]
Mdm Speaker: Senior Minister of State Indranee Rajah.
The Senior Minister of State for Finance (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Second time.\"
The purpose of this Bill is to make provision in accordance with Articles 148(2) and 148C(2) of the Constitution for additional expenditure in excess of the provisions authorised by the Supply Act 2016. The additional sums have been presented as Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for the Financial Year, 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017, as contained in Paper Cmd No 9 of 2017. Madam, I beg to move.
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Second time. (proc text)]
Ms Indranee Rajah: Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That the Bill be now read a Third time.\"
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Bill accordingly read a Third time and passed. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Acknowledgement to the Chair","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"The Leader of the House (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien): Mdm Speaker, we have come to the end of this year's Budget and Committee of Supply (COS) debates. Please allow me to round up.
The Minister for Finance said in his Budget Statement that \"Budget 2017 outlines how we can thrive in an uncertain and rapidly changing world.\" Over the past eight days, Members in this House debated how we could do this, and many asked pertinent questions about how we can pull together and move forward in challenging times.
Budget 2017 comes at a time when we must be prepared to deal with change and adapt. Businesses are bracing themselves for difficult economic headwinds. Our workers are concerned not just about the job situation in the immediate future, but also about longer-term prospects. With the Committee on the Future Economy's (CFE's) report still fresh on all our minds, it is no surprise that the Ministry of Manpower topped the list on total speech time for the cuts filed, followed closely by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of Education. Members devoted significant amounts of time scrutinising the CFE initiatives. Some asked how we can help our workers \"Adapt and Grow\" better, others asked how we can support our small and medium enterprises to digitalise, innovate and scale up globally to seize new opportunities. The attention on education and national development was also not unexpected. Members in this House rightly pointed out that preparing for the future economy does not only involve our businesses and workforce, but it also requires our young and our city to be resilient and future-ready.
Some Members reminded us that Singapore's future hinges not just on our jobs, the economy and our infrastructure. It is also about our people. In tough times, will we stand united as one or will we fracture into polarised communities? Do we have the courage to dream big and scale new heights or do we just settle for getting by? Will Singaporeans pause to lend a helping hand when we can, or will we leave others behind in pursuit of our own goals? How well we respond to the challenges and opportunities of the future is not just a matter of policies and incentives, but also a matter of \"heart\".
Some Members worried that the Public Service might have lost its heart. I certainly do not think so. From the Committee of Supply (COS) debate, it is evident that our Public Service is bound closely to the people it serves. Across the sectors, public servants are working hard to transform our economy, safeguard our security, protect our environment and build an inclusive society.
But the Government does not have all the answers, and we cannot steer this ship alone. We need businesses, unions, community organisations and individuals to work in partnership with one another and the Government. If we all have that \"heart\", that desire to forge a better future for all Singaporeans, we can build a stronger, big-hearted Singapore.
Mdm Speaker, it has been an intensive eight days for this House, with Sittings lasting up to 9.00 pm on many occasions. We started the debate on three Bills, followed by Budget 2017, the Supply Bills and are doing several Bills later. It was, indeed, a full agenda. In total, Members filed 545 cuts this year. That is an increase of 9% from last year, and the highest in the past five years. This speaks to the scale of the challenges we face and the dedication of the Members.
Members on both sides of the House like Mr Patrick Tay, Mr Desmond Choo, Assoc Prof Daniel Goh, Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, Mr Lim Biow Chuan, Mr Chen Show Mao, Mr Ang Hin Kee, Ms Foo Mee Har spoke up for our workers − the rank and file, professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), older workers, freelancers and unemployed alike. Members on both sides of the House united behind our foreign policy goals.
Several Members − Dr Lim Wee Kiak, Ms Cheng Li Hui and Mr Zainal Sapari − highlighted the concerns and challenges faced by our youths, while others − Ms Chia Yong Yong, Ms Denise Phua, Dr Lily Neo and Ms Sylvia Lim − spoke passionately of how we can be more inclusive as a society and made heartfelt appeals on behalf of single parents, divorcees and vulnerable families as Ms Tin Pei Ling, Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin, Mr Louis Ng, Ms Rahayu Mahzam and Ms Jessica Tan have done.
The debate has been spirited and vigorous. Some took to the floor with moving anecdotes. Nominated Members like Mr Ganesh Rajaram, Mr Kok Heng Leun and Assoc Prof Randolph Tan offered fresh perspectives by drawing on their expertise and experience. Tears were shed, not once but three times.
All in all, Members stayed true to reflecting the views of their constituents and were not afraid to press the front bench for answers to difficult questions. I thank Members for undertaking their roles with dedication and for upholding the high standards of decorum in this House. Whatever their cause or conviction, there is no doubt that the hearts of all Members beat for Singapore.
This Budget comes at a particularly difficult time, no less because of the turbulent global environment that we are in. Our domestic imperatives added urgency and challenges. The Budget will put us in a good position for the future if we can implement it well with the support of the people. There is no magic formula to follow. We will need to constantly recalibrate our strategies as we prepare our economy, our people, our environment and our society for the future. Let us now get down to work. With a solid foundation, an enterprising spirit or, should I say, an entrepreneurial dare, and a heart for Singapore and our fellow Singaporeans, let us move forward confidently together as a nation.
Finally, Mdm Speaker, we would not have had such a smooth COS if not for your stewardship of the debate proceedings. Your endurance and ability to stay alert for many hours at a stretch never fail to impress us. On behalf of the House, we thank you and your Deputies for chairing the sessions and maintaining the high standards of this House. We are grateful for your accommodation of multiple requests, such as changes to the Order of Business, exemption of notice period, extension of Sitting time, all done in the name of productivity. Our appreciation also goes to the entire Parliament Secretariat for the assistance rendered and the translators who persevered along with us.
Let us also acknowledge the officers from the Ministries and agencies who have supported us in the front bench, as well as members of the media, including those behind the cameras, for bringing the debate to all Singaporeans. Thank you very much.
Mdm Speaker: Hon Members, let me first start by saying that it was, indeed, a real pleasure to have our Minister for Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat, back in Parliament to deliver the Annual Budget Statement and also to address Members' concerns and queries in the Budget Debate. We are most thankful to him.
The Budget was delivered against the backdrop of a world in the grips of growing uncertainty in the global economy brought about by disruptive technologies and innovation and the accompanying rise of populism and protectionist sentiments in a number of countries. Besides taking stock of the local and global economies, the Budget also set out to explain the various policies and programmes in a way that could resonate with people both inside and outside the House.
The front bench took pains to expand on their respective Ministries' plethora of programmes to prepare and assist Singaporeans to be future-ready to tackle the challenges ahead and chart the way forward, guided by the recommendations contained in the report of the CFE.
Be it digitisation or digitalisation, innovation technology, the Future@Work national training programme, 21st century competencies, nurturing the joy of learning in our students, developing entrepreneurial dare and developing deep skills and expertise, Ministers, Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries took turns to flesh out and explain at length and in detail the complexities of each of their schemes and programmes to Members, who literally left no stone unturned to make sure that Singapore and Singaporeans' best interests are served.
I note that this year I did not hear a lot of new acronyms, though. So, that I think is great progress. I would like to commend all Members, both from the front bench and the back bench, for their great effort and in doing Singapore proud.
For those in the front bench, it is always good to be reminded of what our founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, had in mind when he said in Parliament on 23 October 1981, and I quote, \"To be trusted by the people as the older leaders have been trusted, the young leaders must learn to translate these figures and hard-headed analyses of complex problems into warm, simple and human terms, terms which the ordinary people can understand\", unquote.
What shines through very clearly in this two-week Debate is that while we look at the big picture and examine the details, Singapore and our fellow Singaporeans are never lost sight of but are always at the centre of it all. This is as it should be. There was that good mix of heart, head and the occasional humour. There was down-to-earth pragmatism as well as dashes of idealism and level-headedness, always with two feet firmly on the ground. Compassion was never far away, with mutual respect, cordiality, rationality and reasonableness being unmistakable marks.
Some Members were visibly moved as they spoke of the plight and frustrations of Singaporeans facing difficulties in their lives. It shows the heavy burden that is on the shoulders of each Member. Although schemes are available, these unfortunate Singaporeans must be helped to avail of them and thrown a lifeline if necessary. Help schemes must help.
There was also a noticeable convergence of views from both the Government and Opposition when it comes to protecting our sovereignty. This coming together, for matters touching on the country's interests, can also be seen at overseas Parliamentary meetings when Members are representing Singapore. Anyone following this Debate would have also noticed that Members, some more vehemently than others − I think you know who I am referring to − were also on the same page when it came to fighting for municipal issues in their respective constituencies.
To be fair, during the cuts, Members raised many local, regional and international issues, with direct or indirect implications for Singapore, with sharp, incisive remarks that have become a hallmark of our Parliament. We may be business-like, but in no way do we lack the cut and thrust of Parliamentary debate. I think the point is also made by the Prime Minister. If only Members could learn to do away with long preambles and go straight to the point raised in their questions and clarifications, they would not need to deliver their speeches at breakneck speeds.
My speech would not be complete without my acknowledging and thanking the following persons for their invaluable assistance and contributions to this Debate:
My two Deputy Speakers for standing in for me during the latter parts of the debates.
Leader of the House and her Deputies for their guidance and assistance in running the business of the House.
The Whip and his Deputies for ensuring the debates run smoothly and according to schedule.
The Clerk of Parliament and her staff, all the staff of Parliament − actually we have only about 50 staff; I was told each American senator has almost the same number of staff, each American senator − so, the Clerk of Parliament and her staff for their unstinting support in making sure that Sittings run smoothly and efficiently.
The many civil servants from the various Ministries who would turn our meeting rooms into their temporary office to provide crucial administrative support to their Ministers. Their behind-the-scenes work may be unobtrusive but they must be duly recognised for the important role they play in this Debate.
Needless to say, my biggest vote of thanks must go to all hon Members. It is your contributions and understanding that have made this Debate outstanding in many respects, and my job as Speaker a gratifying and fruitful one, although, at times, my Deputies and I had to intervene to remind you of your allotted time − very gently, most times. Your cooperation and forbearance have helped to make it all possible.
Thank you all for a good Debate. Thank you.
","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 tomorrow at 11.30 am.\" – [Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien]. (proc text)]
Adjourned accordingly at \t7.07 pm.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Children who Start Primary School Education without Attending Preschool","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"1 Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Education (Schools) for each year from 2011 to 2016, how many children have started their primary school education without having previously attended kindergarten.
Mr Ng Chee Meng: From 2011 to 2016, 99% of each Primary 1 cohort have attended at least one year of preschool.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null}],"writtenAnswersVOList":[],"writtenAnsNAVOList":[],"annexureList":[],"vernacularList":[{"vernacularID":1763,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Gan Kim Yong","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Gan Kim yong(1).pdf","fileName":"Gan Kim yong(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1764,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Dr Lam Pin Min","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Lam Pin Min(1).pdf","fileName":"Lam Pin Min(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1765,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Zaqy Mohamad","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Zaqy Mohamad(1).pdf","fileName":"Zaqy Mohamad(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1766,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap(1).pdf","fileName":"Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1767,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Saktiandi Supaat","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Saktiandi Supaat(1).pdf","fileName":"Saktiandi Supaat(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1768,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Zaqy Mohamad","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Zaqy Mohamad(2).pdf","fileName":"Zaqy Mohamad(2).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1769,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Ms Rahayu Mahzam","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Rahayu Mahzam(1).pdf","fileName":"Rahayu Mahzam(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1770,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Prof Fatimah Lateef","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Fatimah Mateef(1).pdf","fileName":"Fatimah Mateef(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1771,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Intan(1).pdf","fileName":"Intan(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1772,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim(1).pdf","fileName":"Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1773,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Zainal Sapari","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Zainal Sapari(1).pdf","fileName":"Zainal Sapari(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1774,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Saktiandi Supaat","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Saktiandi Supaat(2).pdf","fileName":"Saktiandi Supaat(2).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1775,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Amrin Amin","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Amrin Amrin(1).pdf","fileName":"Amrin Amrin(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1776,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Ms Rahayu Mahzam","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Rahayu Mahzam(2).pdf","fileName":"Rahayu Mahzam(2).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1777,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Yaacob Ibrahim(1).pdf","fileName":"Yaacob Ibrahim(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1778,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Ms Joan Pereira","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Joan Pereira(1).pdf","fileName":"Joan Pereira(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1779,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Grace Fu(1).pdf","fileName":"Grace Fu(1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1780,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Baey Yam Keng","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20170309/vernacular-Baey Yam Keng(1).pdf","fileName":"Baey Yam Keng(1).pdf"}],"onlinePDFFileName":""}