Mdm Speaker: Order. I wish to inform hon Members that under the provisions of Standing Order No 102, I have on 5 September 2013 nominated the following Members to fill vacancies in the respective Standing Select Committees:
(1)\tMr Gan Thiam Poh to be a Member of the Public Accounts Committee in place of Mr Desmond Lee; and
(2)\tDr Lim Wee Kiak to be a Member of the Public Petitions Committee.
The nominations take effect from 5 September 2013.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Revision of Question Time","subTitle":"Motion","sectionType":"OS","content":"The Leader of the House (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mdm Speaker, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move that Question Time at this day's sitting be exempted from the provisions of Standing Order No 22(1) so as to enable Questions for Oral Answer to be taken till 4.00 pm today?
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[(proc text) indicated assent. (proc text)]
[(proc text) With the consent of Mdm Speaker, and the general assent of Members present, (proc text)]
Page: 11
[(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)]
[(proc text) Resolved, \"That notwithstanding Standing Order 22(1), Questions for Oral Answer set down on the Order Paper for today be taken till 4.00 pm today.\" (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase","subTitle":"Impact on Singapore's security needs","sectionType":"OA","content":"1 Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked\tthe Minister for Defence in light of the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase, how will the Government maintain the Republic of Singapore Air Force's operational readiness and ensure that Singapore's security needs will not be compromised.
\tThe Minister for Defence (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mdm Speaker, the Member Dr Lim Wee Kiak has asked a highly relevant question as the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase (PLAB) must never compromise the ability of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) to safeguard Singapore's security and sovereignty.
Indeed, this was the over-riding and primary consideration when MINDEF and the SAF studied the possibility of relocating PLAB. We were mindful that the current capabilities of the RSAF were achieved over four decades and remain critical to protect a small country like Singapore which lacks strategic depth.
The RSAF's superior air defence and strike capabilities have been built up through prudent and steady investments of resources and land allocation for our defence needs. Over the years, we have acquired, adapted and developed advanced technologies and state-of-the-art platforms to provide more accurate and timely early warning and situational awareness of potential threats. We will continue to invest in these capabilities.
In particular, the RSAF is putting into place a state-of-art multi-layered Island Air Defence System to provide a comprehensive shield protecting Singapore against airborne threats. This includes at the outer perimeter, our existing Gulfstream-550 Airborne Early Warning aircraft, which replaced the E2C in 2012, and significantly enhanced our early warning and air defence
\tPage: 12
capabilities through its better endurance and longer range of detection.
I would like to announce today that the SAF will also be acquiring the ASTER-30 Surface-to-Air Missile System. This missile defence system against airborne threats is used by advanced militaries such as France and Italy. The ASTER-30's capabilities are many times more potent than our current I-HAWK ground-based air defence system. The ASTER will allow us to engage multiple threats simultaneously and from a longer distance. It will complement the SPYDER, which we have already operationalised – it is a mobile, shorter-range, quick reaction ground-based air defence system – and together, they will provide a layered air defence shield.
The RSAF will also be looking to upgrade its fighter fleet. We plan to upgrade our F16s to modernise their avionics and extend their lifespan. Our F15SGs were recently acquired and have proven themselves in recent multilateral military exercises with advanced Air Forces like those from the US and Australia during Exercise Cope Tiger and Exercise Pitch Black. Also, as announced at the Committee of Supply in March this year, we are evaluating the suitability of the advanced multi-role F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in meeting our long-term security needs to further modernise our fighter fleet and replace our older aircraft.
These advanced capabilities that I have mentioned have been built up through steady defence investments over the years, and have now provided the confidence for MINDEF and the SAF to consider relocating PLAB in the long term to meet national development needs.
In 2011, MINDEF and the SAF conducted a thorough assessment of our capabilities and security threats for the long term. We satisfied ourselves that our security would not be compromised and that relocation of PLAB could take place after existing airbases at Changi East (CAB) and Tengah (TAB) have been expanded to accommodate relocated assets and facilities.
The expansion of CAB and TAB will be necessary to house relocated fighter and support squadrons as well as accommodate facilities currently housed in PLAB. As Members would recognise, this undertaking is complex but the RSAF will use this opportunity to build anew through innovative operational concepts and advanced airbase designs, which will enhance the effectiveness and resilience of the airbases. Newly expanded and improved airbases together with advanced fighter fleets protected by a multi-layered air defence shield will ensure that the RSAF maintains its deterrent edge and continues to be an
\tPage: 13
effective and formidable Air Force.
PLAB's relocation will be a long-term and complex undertaking. MINDEF will be working closely with MND on the detailed planning and implementation of the relocation over the next two decades.
\tDr Lim Wee Kiak (Nee Soon): Mdm Speaker, let me thank the Minister for his comprehensive answer. I would like to ask the Minister: does this relocation change the order of battle (orbat) of the entire Air Force and what is the estimated cost of the entire relocation?
\tDr Ng Eng Hen: First, I would say that Paya Lebar Airbase's relocation is a long-term plan. It does not in any way affect current operations or manning at PLAB. Dr Lim asked for orbat. I would say that generally, the answer is no. It does not affect the orbat. We will continue to modernise our air fleets, as I have said. I also announced that we are currently looking at the F-35s. We will take our time because that is a long-term need.
He also asked for cost. It will be costly because it is a complex undertaking that will require fairly intense and sometimes highly skilled engineering to accommodate some of the facilities. In coming to this decision, we have worked together with MND to calculate the trade-offs, and on balance, because of the space that is released from the relocated Paya Lebar Airbase, including the height templates around it, on a nett basis, it is many billion dollars worth of positive returns to the people of Singapore. That is the basis on which we have made the decision.
\tMr Nicholas Fang (Nominated Member): Thank you, Mdm Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if there is a potential in the future for all our airbase facilities to be consolidated in a possible location, and what are the factors that might actually contribute to us consolidating them in that way.
\tDr Ng Eng Hen: As I have said in my reply, we took a very detailed study of this possibility just to relocate Paya Lebar Airbase. I am not at liberty to release all the classified information that we looked at, but it was a balance between our ability to preserve RSAF's capabilities and to protect Singapore. It is not our intent to squeeze our defence assets to the most efficient because there is the issue of ability of operational needs. This configuration, with an expanded Changi Airbase and expanded Tengah Airbase, fulfils those needs.
\tPage: 14
Already, the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase is a long-term initiative and we have given this a timeline of perhaps around 2030. This will serve us for the longer term and there are no plans and no studies to even further consolidate.
\tMr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Mdm Speaker, I thank the Minister for the announcement that the HAWK system would be upgraded. I am a HAWK officer. In fact, a whole squadron of men and women has been dedicated to manning the system for many years. Therefore, my question is, how much overlap would there be to ensure that a whole squadron of men and women are equipped with the new upgraded system that the Minister talked about.
\tDr Ng Eng Hen: Mdm Speaker, first, let me thank the Member Christopher de Souza for protecting our skies through the HAWK system. We will ensure that officers like him and units which are caught in the transition will be smoothly transitioned to new systems. We have done it before, as we did with SPYDER that replaced various other systems. This is not the first time that we have changed systems. I am confident that we will put in the gears smoothly.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Discovery of Empty Ballot Boxes","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"2 Mr Pritam Singh asked the Prime Minister in light of the discovery of used election ballot boxes that were not disposed of in a proper manner (a) who was responsible for the lapse and what action has been taken against the person; (b) whether these boxes were for the 2011 presidential election and, if so, whether there was any breach of section 37 of the Presidential Elections Act; (c) whether there were any other ballot boxes or presidential election paraphernalia that were similarly mishandled in the course of the presidential election; and (d) what role does the Elections Department play in ensuring that such episodes do not occur and what oversight responsibilities does the Elections Department have over their appointed contractors. \t
\tThe Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Chan Chun Sing) (for the Prime Minister): Mdm Speaker, I understand that Mr Alex Yam had also filed a similar question for a subsequent sitting.
Let me first assure Members of the House that the discovery of used empty ballot boxes does not constitute a lapse in the election procedures that ensure the integrity of the election process. There is a rigorous process to ensure
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security of the vote and voting secrecy at each election. There is no break in the chain of custody of ballot papers from the polling station to the counting centre, and from the counting centre to the Supreme Court where the ballot papers are retained in safe custody for six months and then subsequently destroyed. For transparency, the process is open to observation by candidates and their agents who are present.
Ballot boxes are boxes so designated and used for the deposit of ballots cast in an election on Polling Day. These boxes are marked and are shown to be empty to candidates and their polling agents who are present before they are sealed by election officials at the polling station before the start of the polls on Polling Day. These boxes are treated from this point as controlled items for use for the casting of ballots. After the polls have closed, election officials at the polling station seal these ballot boxes containing the ballot papers which have been cast. Candidates and their polling agents who are present witness the process and may also place their own seals on the ballot boxes. The sealed ballot boxes carried by the election officials are then transported under Police escort to the counting centre. A Police officer is on board the bus used and stands guard over the ballot boxes throughout the journey.
At the counting centre, before the ballot boxes are opened, candidates and their counting agents who are present may inspect all the boxes again to ascertain that all the boxes are accounted for, and that no others are present; and that the seals of all the ballot boxes are intact and have not been tampered with. The seals are then broken and ballot boxes are opened, and the ballot papers therein are poured out, sorted and counted. The emptied ballot boxes are ascertained in the presence of all to be empty and cease to be a controlled item and are put aside with other discarded material to be later collected by the Elections Department (ELD)'s contractor for general disposal.
After the election result has been announced by the Returning Officer, the ballot papers and other official documents used in the election are placed into separate boxes and sealed, witnessed by candidates and their counting agents who are present, who may also place their own seals on these boxes. These boxes are then conveyed by Police escort and retained in safe custody for six months at the Supreme Court. After six months, they are destroyed by incineration, unless directed by order of the President.
The empty ballot boxes set aside at the counting centres, along with other paraphernalia like disused writing material, emergency lanterns and any other equipment and leftover general items are supposed to be collected by a contractor appointed by ELD from the counting centres the day after Polling Day.
\tPage: 16
In the event that the contractor is unable to collect all or any of these items the day after Polling Day, such items are then kept in the storeroom for the contractor to collect on another date. The used and empty boxes and other debris collected are disposed of by the contractor. This arrangement has been in place for years over several elections without issue.
The fact that some boxes were recently found clearly suggests an oversight by working personnel on the ground involved in the collection of such discarded material after Polling Day. Although, as I had explained, this does not constitute a lapse in the election process proper, I have directed ELD to study how such an incident can be prevented in future to avoid undue alarm or confusion. However, such a tightened process to ensure disposal of such discarded material and debris should be practical and not onerous.
Following this incident, ELD has also since checked with all the 164 schools that were used as counting centres to see if there are any other such discarded empty used ballot boxes or other similarly non-controlled election paraphernalia or items kept in their stores. They have since found several such disused boxes in the stores of five schools used as counting centres. These will be collected by the contractor for general disposal.
Member of Parliament Mr Pritam Singh asked whether there is any breach of section 37 of the Presidential Elections Act with regards to this specific case. The investigation by the Police thus far shows that there is no offence disclosed under section 37 of the Act, which relates to the tampering of ballot boxes before and while in use, but investigations continue as to the unauthorised removal of these disused boxes from a locked storeroom.
\tMr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): I would like to thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply and the detail at which the Minister went through the elections process proper. Coming to my question, I refer to the press release by ELD on 30 August, where it was stated that ballot papers and other documents used in the elections, are placed into separate boxes and sealed for safe custody at the Supreme Court and then six months later, for disposal. Can I ask the Minister if these other documents include spare ballot boxes and their locked down form and if the other documents used in the elections are to be placed in separate boxes and sealed for disposal, are there any other election related items that are also similarly disposed by the appointed contractor?
\tMr Chan Chun Sing: The answer to the first question is no. They are not the same boxes and there are no other things that are similarly in that category.
\tPage: 17
For the disposed items, or what we call, the non-controlled items would be collected by the contractor for subsequent disposal. This may include other writing materials that are non-controlled items. At no point in time is any controlled item being mixed or left unattended.
The entire process is controlled and carefully watched from the beginning of the polls until the boxes are emptied out. Once the boxes are emptied out, the boxes cease to be called election boxes. They will be known as discarded boxes and the boxes that are used to store the materials for safe keeping at the Supreme Court is a different set of boxes.
\tMr Alex Yam (Chua Chu Kang): Mdm Speaker, I thank the Minister for his reply. Two supplementary questions, please. One, is this the first time such an incident has occurred and whether there were previous examples of these? The second is that section 49 of the Parliamentary Elections Act has a list of required steps for the disposal of items. Of course this does not include the non-controlled items at the moment. I am wondering if the Ministry would consider the inclusion of additional items under this schedule.
\tMr Chan Chun Sing: Mdm Speaker, let me first clarify the difference between controlled items and non-controlled items. In this particular case, the empty disused boxes are non-controlled items. For the ELD, the priority is to ensure that all controlled items, for example, ballot papers are properly accounted for and this, we have done so over the course of the election.
The other question is whether there had been any previous instances whereby non-controlled items were similarly found. We are unaware of this but following this incident, we have done a thorough check on all the counting centres and indeed, we found there were some non-controlled items that were not collected by the contractors, and we will tighten up this process even though they are non-controlled items.
\tMr Pritam Singh: I thank the Minister for the reply. As the Minister suggested in the initial response that he gave, some people were unduly alarmed at the presence of the spare boxes being discovered. To avoid this sort of alarm in future, would the Minister, depending on the Police investigations and other discussions that take place with regard to the incident, consider including spare boxes as controlled items in future elections?
\tMr Chan Chun Sing: Mdm Speaker, let me say it once again. Spare boxes are not controlled items. The life span of a controlled item in this case, the box,
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starts from the moment before the polling starts, whereby in the presence of the election officials, the candidates and all their agents, they are shown the empty boxes. The life of the box starts once the box is sealed with the proper seal and then from that point onwards, it is known as a controlled item with the seal under the watch of the election officials all the way until the counting centre.
The life of the ballot box ceases when the seal is broken and the ballot papers are emptied out and the box is certified to be totally empty. That will be the end of the life of the ballot box.
As to whether we would include the unused boxes as controlled items, we will take this issue and study it with ELD. But I must emphasise again, unused boxes are not controlled items. The Member's question is whether ELD will include them as a controlled item, but these boxes are just like any other box.
The most important thing, to ensure the integrity of the process, is that once it is sealed with all the necessary markers, it is a controlled item and from that point onwards, we must make sure that the box is always under the watch of the election officials and the agents, and at no point must there be a break in the chain of the controlled item.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Qualification Criteria for Community Health Assist Scheme","subTitle":"Inclusion of Singaporeans under 40 years","sectionType":"OA","content":"3 Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for Health if he can provide more details on the qualification and inclusion of Singaporeans under the age of 40 years in the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) and whether the qualification can be simplified by using a pre-approval process in order to bring those who need help onto the scheme as quickly as possible. \t
\tThe Minister for Health (Mr Gan Kim Yong): Mdm Speaker, from 1 January 2014, the qualifying age for the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) will be removed. This will allow Singaporeans of all ages in lower and middle income households to access subsidised care at private General Practitioner (GP) clinics and dental clinics near their homes.
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For existing Health Assist cardholders who have family members in their household who are 40 years and below, we will automatically include their family members into the scheme with effect from 1January 2014. They will receive their Health Assist cards from 26 December 2013 onwards.
For younger households who only meet the revised criteria now, they can already start to apply for the scheme now and each household will only need to submit one application form, which is available at the Restructured Hospitals, Polyclinics, Community Centres and Clubs (CCs) or Community Development Councils (CDCs) and they can also download the forms from the CHAS website. We will also work with grassroots organisations to reach out to needy households in the community to help them apply for the scheme.
\tMs Foo Mee Har (West Coast): I thank the Minister for making the process so seamless. The Singaporean families, especially those who already qualified for the CHAS card, would greatly benefit from the streamlined process. I have a supplementary question for the Minister. If a CHAS eligible household suffers a drop in the household income within the two-year validity period – say from $1,500 to $900 per capita household monthly income either because of loss of employment or due to changes in household members' employment – would the Minister consider upgrading the CHAS subsidy level from orange to blue?
\tMr Gan Kim Yong: The answer is yes. Please apply and we will review on a case-by-case basis. If the income has indeed dropped, we will give you an upgrade to the blue card. The idea is that this card eventually aims to help the low-income and the middle income and if you need help, we will try our best to help.
\tMr Baey Yam Keng (Tampines): I would like to ask the Minister, with these changes, does the Ministry expect more private GPs and clinics to come on board the scheme? And what would Ministry be doing to encourage more to join the scheme?
\tMr Gan Kim Yong: Mdm Speaker, we are already progressively seeing more and more GPs signing on and we want to continue to reach out to them. In fact, through our Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), we have been engaging the private GPs to explain to them what the scheme is about and how they can benefit from this scheme as well as help us to reach out and benefit the needy patients. More and more GPs and dental clinics are coming on board. We will continue to step up our efforts to reach out to them to encourage them to sign
\tPage: 20
up.
Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade): Mdm Speaker, can I just ask the Minister: for clinics that are displaying the CHAS logo, both dental and medical clinics, are there only specific procedures that are applicable to CHAS subsidy? I have got lots of residents who are now coming forward to say that when they go for certain procedures, they are told that these are not covered under CHAS.
\tMr Gan Kim Yong: First, let me explain the CHAS was conceptualised primarily to take care of chronic diseases. Therefore, if we are going to see the GPs for chronic diseases which are covered under the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP), treatment for the diseases would be covered by CHAS. Other conditions will not be included, but we also cover outpatient acute conditions for the blue card as well.
For the CDMP, we recently announced that we are going to expand the list from 10 conditions to 15 conditions. We will continue to review whether there is a need to further expand the CDMP as we go on and as we gain more experience with the five new diseases.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Projected Increase in MediShield Payouts","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"4 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Health what is the projected annual increase in MediShield payouts if (i) all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents are enrolled (ii) all pre-existing, congenital and neonatal conditions are covered; and (iii) the maximum coverage age is removed. \t
The Minister for Health (Mr Gan Kim Yong): Mdm Speaker, as part of the overall healthcare financing review to ensure that healthcare remains affordable for all Singaporeans, MOH is studying the introduction of better coverage for large bills and moving to life-long MediShield coverage for all Singaporeans.
As the move to MediShield Life is a major policy shift, we will have a public consultation exercise later this year to seek Singaporeans' views on the proposed MediShield Life. The details and costs of the MediShield Life, including the likely impact on the payouts from MediShield Life if all pre-existing conditions and all residents are covered for life, are currently under
\tPage: 21
study. More details will be shared during the public consultation exercise.
\tMr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Non-Constituency Member): Madam, I have three supplementary questions. First, my concern is that the increased coverage will also come with higher premiums. While I support the increased coverage, my concern is that these higher premiums will be a financial burden on some members, especially the elderly and the low income. So, my questions are: is the Government planning to subsidise MediShield Life premiums as part of its overall plan to increase the healthcare budget, because currently MediShield is completely self-funding and receives no Government subsidies? Secondly, can the Government provide more details about the Pioneer Generation Package that was announced during the National Day Rally? Would it be means tested and what is the cut-off age? Lastly, when will the full details of MediShield Life be announced?
\tMr Gan Kim Yong: Mdm Speaker, first let me explain that today, the Government already indirectly subsidises MediShield because the Government provides top-ups into MediSave, and MediSave is being used to pay for the premium for MediShield. So, indirectly there is Government subsidy for MediShield, particularly for the lower income. Going forward, with MediShield Life, as the Member has rightly pointed out, with enhanced benefits, the pay-outs will increase and that is the objective of enhancing the benefits, and therefore the premium has to go up as well.
The Government is very conscious about the impact of higher premiums and, therefore, we have already made the commitment that we will make sure that the lower income as well as older Singaporeans who may not have sufficient savings, will be looked after. We will make sure that the premiums, with Government subsidies, will be affordable for them. That is the first question.
The Member also asked about the Pioneer Generation Package. The details are being worked out now. In due course, we will reveal more details on who will qualify for Pioneer Generation Package and what is provided for in the Pioneer Generation Package. I urge the Member to be patient. We will reveal that in time.
Last question is about the details of MediShield Life. We will have a public consultation. We are still working on MediShield Life and what form it will take. But the key parameter is that we want to make sure that all Singaporeans will be included and they will also be included throughout their lives. Therefore, we
\tPage: 22
will remove the age limit on MediShield Life.
As for the other features, for example, how we can enhance the payouts, how we can help to reduce the co-payment especially for the larger bills, these are the details that the Ministry is working on now. During the public consultation, we will share more details. And we hope to be able to give even more details and the broad shape of the scheme by the next Committee of Supply (COS) debate.
\tMs Denise Phua Lay Peng (Moulmein-Kallang): Mdm Speaker, I would like to thank the Health Minister for accepting the feedback from the ground and several of us in the House to include those with pre-existing congenital conditions in MediShield Life. My question to Minister is: what are the details of the public consultation that Ministry is currently conducting, because it has just completed one public consultation before it has come up with this plan to include these others who were previously not included. The second is: when will MediShield Life be expected to be implemented, because there are quite a number of Singaporeans who are currently not receiving any basic health insurance at the moment?
\tMr Gan Kim Yong: Mdm Speaker, let me just explain that we have conducted a few rounds of public consultation on healthcare. In fact, the consultation is ongoing. So, we consult the public on many issues including Medisave, MediShield, as well as how we can help them with the medical costs in general. This coming public consultation is aimed specifically at MediShield Life and what the features are, and how do we make sure that it is practical and meaningful to the man in the street, to the patients who need help, and what are the features and the costs involved. There are several aspects to be dealt with in the consultation.
We will produce a consultation paper shortly before the consultation exercise starts, to outline what are the key things that we are consulting the public about. I will again urge the Member to be patient and it will be out soon.
As to when MediShield Life will be implemented, this is quite a major shift and, therefore, we will need to take a bit of time to work out the details and consult the public as well. I think it will take some time. We do not think it will be completed within a year. We hope to be able to implement MediShield Life by 2015.
\tPage: 23
In the meantime, I am very conscious that the Member has asked what about those who need help who are not covered. For now, until we implement MediShield Life, for those who are excluded currently, if they still need help in terms of financial support, they can approach our hospitals or public health institutions and we have schemes to help them, especially for the lower income and, for the older Singaporeans. So, help is available even before MediShield Life comes into being, but with MediShield Life, they will have greater assurance that their healthcare bills will be covered by insurance.
\tMr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): I would like to thank the Minister for his answer. Post-National Day Rally discussions with the residents in Ulu Pandan have received warm acceptance for us taking care of the Pioneer Generation. My question is: many of them are advanced in years and, therefore, many would have pre-existing conditions. Would we try to keep premiums low, even for those who have pre-existing conditions, and also spread it out for those younger than that? Would the Minister do his best to keep premiums low? That is really the nub.
\tMr Gan Kim Yong: The short answer is yes, we will try our best to keep the premiums low and affordable. The Government will pay particular attention to those who are in the lower income group and those who are elderly who may no longer be working, and also may not have accumulated sufficient savings because they might have started work many, many years ago. And during those years, their incomes were limited. These people belong to the group we call the Pioneer Generation. We will look after them and make sure that the premiums will be affordable to them, so that they will be covered by MediShield Life.
As I have said, MediShield Life is meant to cover all and to cover for life. If there are people who cannot afford it and drop out of the scheme, it will not be MediShield Life. An important feature of MediShield Life is to ensure that all of us are covered.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Disclosing Identities of Applicants for Appointment as Nominated Members of Parliament","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"5 Assoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Minister of Defence and Leader of the House whether the identities of applicants seeking appointment as Nominated Members of Parliament can be made public and, if not, what are the reasons for not disclosing the identities of applicants prior to
\tPage: 24
or after the appointment process.
\tThe Minister for Defence and Leader of the House (Dr Ng Eng Hen): The Member has asked whether names of those seeking appointment as Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) can be made public. The legal requirements and administrative processes for selecting NMPs for appointment by the President are laid out in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution which was drafted after extensive consultation and debates. This was in 1989−1990 when then Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong moved the Constitution Amendment Bill to provide for NMPs in this Parliament. The Bill was referred to a Select Committee to examine in detail the merits and demerits of various modes of selecting NMPs including the question which the Member has asked today, that is, whether the process should be made more public.
This Select Committee, after careful deliberation, submitted their report to Parliament then and therein did not support an open process as it would, and I would quote here, \"cause considerable discomfiture and embarrassment to the persons concerned and their families. Few, if any, individual being considered for NMP would want to subject themselves to such public scrutiny\". Instead, the Committee proposed the current method of selection where NMPs are selected through a Special Select Committee of Parliament.
The 1990 Select Committee on the Constitution Amendment Bill also made two specific proposals which have been incorporated into our processes. First, that the Special Select Committee obtains the views of other Members of Parliament (MPs) before it made its final recommendations to the President. This is provided for in section 2(3) of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution. Second, that the criteria for selecting NMPs be put out, which have been spelt out in section 3(2) of the Fourth Schedule, and I will read it:
[(proc text) \"The persons to be nominated shall be persons who have rendered distinguished public service, or who have brought honour to the Republic, or who have distinguished themselves in the field of arts and letters, culture, the sciences, business, industry, the professions, social or community service or the labour movement; and in making any nomination, the Special Select Committee shall have regard to the need for nominated Members to reflect as wide a range of independent and non-partisan views as possible.\" (proc text)]
The Fourth Schedule did not impose a requirement for the Special Select Committee to publish the identities of all the candidates who apply to be NMPs. Indeed, the 1990 Select Committee on the Constitution Amendment Bill argued against it, as I have explained.
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Mdm Speaker, I think the reasons cited for limiting the process to the Special Select Committee are still valid. Revealing the names of unsuccessful candidates may give rise to speculation and public debate on their suitability. It may also cause those who are not appointed discomfort or embarrassment. This may deter potential good applicants from participating in the NMP process in the future. Other Parliaments also approach this matter in the same way. For example, in the United Kingdom, there is a scheme which invites members of the public to submit names for appointment to the House of Lords. The nomination and assessment process is undertaken by the House of Lords Appointments Commission which treats all nominations and supporting information in confidence.
\tAssoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene (Nominated Member): Mdm Speaker, I thank the Leader of the House for his reply. I am aware of the Select Committee report. I would like to know, given the desire for more transparency, whether the identity of the applicants can be made known. If someone is prepared to serve, there should not be a concern about whether he or she will or will not get appointed. Essentially, my concern is whether we can add transparency into the process.
\tDr Ng Eng Hen: Mdm Speaker, I would think that Parliament in 1990 debated this thoroughly and was in no less pressure or desire to have transparency. But as I have outlined quite in detail the reasons why an open process, on the balance, was not supported and preferred by the Special Select Committee. I would leave it to the Member to see who were the Members of the Special Select Committee that sat to put up recommendations to the President for the appointment of the NMPs, but thus far, I do not think there has been a large issue in terms of integrity and transparency as he points out.
The reasons why the process should not be made public, as recommended by the then-Special Select Committee, are still valid. The Member says that those who want to put themselves up for public service should not feel embarrassed or discomfort. I would presume he is speaking for himself and for others who wish to reveal. But the truth is there may be others who do. It is a balance and I think we would keep to this system because it has worked well. Certainly, I think the Members who have been selected into this House as NMPs have done credit to the House.
\tPage: 26
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Remuneration of Senior Management Staff at Town Councils","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"6 Mrs Lina Chiam asked the Minister for National Development what is the average salary of the General Manager or the most senior management staff of the Town Councils managed by elected Members of Parliament from the Government party. \t
\tThe Senior Minister of State for National Development (Mr Lee Yi Shyan) (for the Minister for National Development): Mdm Speaker, the employment terms of the General Manager of a Town Council are not regulated by MND. We do not collect information on Town Councils' General Managers' salaries.\t
\tMrs Lina Chiam (Non-Constituency Member): Mdm Speaker, I thank the Senior Minister of State for the answer. I would like to just ask one question. Are all these General Managers or senior management officers affiliated to the party? \t
\tMr Lee Yi Shyan: Mdm Speaker, most Town Councils operate on the basis that they engage a managing agent and the selection of managing agents is through open tender. On that basis, the most competitive managing agent will have to be selected and they themselves will appoint their staff to perform the jobs. I cannot answer the Member's question but this is how it is done in the interest of the public.\t
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Housing Options for Divorcees with No Children","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"7 Dr Chia Shi-Lu asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether more housing options may be made available to divorcees who have no children living with them; and (b) whether the debarment period may be shortened or lifted for elderly, low-income divorcees who may have more limited housing options. \t
\tThe Minister of State for National Development (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for National Development): Mdm Speaker, HDB treats divorcees who have no children in their custody as singles. There are a few housing options available to them.
\tPage: 27
They can buy a new HDB flat if they form a family nucleus with their parents. Those who prefer to live independently or with another single under the Joint Singles Scheme, can purchase a resale flat if they are 35 years or older. If they are 55 years or older, they can buy a Studio Apartment. If they are HDB first-timers and earn not more than $5,000 per month, they can now also apply for a 2-room Build-to-Order (BTO) flat in a non-mature estate.
Eligible divorcees can get housing grants and a HDB loan to help in their flat purchases. As for those who have no other housing options or family support, they can then apply for a public rental flat with another single.
A divorcee who wants to buy a resale flat or Studio Apartment is not affected by any debarment period. For others, the debarment period was reduced from five years to three years in March this year. If there are extenuating circumstances, HDB is prepared to exercise flexibility. Such flexibility is exercised on a case-by-case basis, depending on the circumstances of each case.
\tDr Chia Shi-Lu (Tanjong Pagar): I would like to thank the Minister of State for his very comprehensive reply on the options that are available to this group of Singaporeans. I have two supplementary questions. The first is considering the new BTO for Singles Scheme, could I clarify whether this particular group of single divorcees with no custody of their children can be considered also as first-timers or will they only be considered as second-timers? The second question is with regard to the debarment period for rental housing. For some of them who may not be prepared or be in a state to apply to buy a house – whether it is resale or BTO – whether the debarment period for rental housing for this particular group of low-income or single divorcees can be further lowered.
\tDr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Mdm Speaker, for the first question, on whether we regard divorcees as first- or second-timer, it really depends on whether they have been tagged as having taken the first subsidy on their matrimonial home. Sometimes, they may have purchased a home but not tagged as a residential occupier or as a first-timer. As long as they are first-timers at the point of divorce, then they are eligible to purchase the 2-room BTO flats that we just allowed for singles, and they have to meet the eligibility criteria like age and income.
Secondly, on the issue of whether the debarment period for divorcees for rental flats can be reduced or waived, it really depends first on whether they
\tPage: 28
have custody of the children. We are more sympathetic towards to divorcees who do have custody of the children and when they form a family nucleus. They are bound by the demand debarment, but we have seen cases that require some further assistance and we are prepared to look at those. If they do not have custody of the children, we treat them as singles and we hope that they can also try to look for housing options on their own. If they are above 35 years of age, they can always apply for rental flats under the Joint Singles Scheme.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"HDB Rental Flat Applicants","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"8 Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the total number of HDB rental flats that are currently occupied; (b) what is the average length of occupancy in these rental flats; (c) whether HDB has plans to help these occupants attain home ownership; (d) what is the number of approved applicants currently placed on the waiting list and how many applicants have been rejected since 2011; and (e) whether HDB has done a study to understand the systemic causes for the increase in rental flat applications and, if so, what are the plans to address these issues. \t
The Minister of State for National Development (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for National Development): Mdm Speaker, there are 48,200 households living in HDB rental flats. Their average length of stay is 11 years.
We help all low-income families, including HDB rental tenants, own their homes. New HDB 2-room flats are priced affordably, with a significant market discount. In addition, first-timer low-income households can receive the Additional CPF Housing Grant and the Special CPF Housing Grant of up to $60,000. With these grants, they can buy a 2-room flat for as little as $16,000 in the latest Build-To-Order (BTO) launch. Public rental tenants also enjoy priority allocation of 5% of new 2-room and 3-room flats in BTO or Sale of Balance Flats exercises. In 2011 and 2012, 630 rental tenants progressed to own homes.
There are 1,900 registered applicants waiting to be allocated a rental flat. Since 2011, HDB has received 23,900 applications and 13,700 were not eligible. Most of them could afford to purchase a small flat or had family support. We have to turn down their applications, so that we can focus our help for the truly needy. Where there are genuine hardship cases, HDB does exercise flexibility, even if they do not fulfil the eligibility criteria.
\tPage: 29
HDB works closely with MSF and other social agencies like the Community Development Councils, the Social Service Offices and Family Service Centres to understand the challenges facing low-income and vulnerable families. We find that housing difficulties typically occur as a result of underlying socio-economic problems, such as unstable employment, family conflicts and marital problems. HDB thus works closely with these social agencies to complement housing assistance with other forms of social support, including employment assistance and training.
\tMr Zainal Sapari (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Madam, I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Given the rising cost of renting a unit from the open market, can HDB consider using an affordability index that takes into account the applicants' gross family income and market rental prices to assess applicants' ability to get suitable accommodation for themselves?
\tDr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Madam, affordability is also dependent on the family's capability in budgeting their income and expenditure. We try to help them in various ways: first, we do financial counselling for the families, especially on how they manage their expenses, and depending on the number of children they may have. The current pricing or fees for rental flats are already heavily subsidised. We try to allocate them to the truly needy. We do have criteria in place, for example, the household income criterion. But we do take into consideration the number of children in the family. As far as possible, we have a broad guideline in relation to the criteria that we put in place for families who are eligible for rental flats, but beyond that, we look at individual cases and try to help them as far as possible to be allocated rental flats when they really, truly need them.
\tMr David Ong (Jurong): Mdm Speaker, I wish to ask the Minister of State what is the current stock of balance rental flats, that is, the on-going balance stock of rental flats. I do see that some blocks still have empty units of rental flats. And so, in view of the high demand for rental flats, how can the Ministry expeditiously allocate these flats out?
\tDr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Madam, as I have mentioned earlier, we have a stock of 50,000 rental flats, of which 48,200 have been allocated. We have about 1,300 rental flats that are awaiting allocation. It is an on-going number because there are rental flats that are returned to us when families move out. Right now, we are looking at allocating the 1,300 flats I mentioned. The speed at which we can allocate the flats really depends on the availability of those flats and the readiness of those flats. Sometimes, yes, as the Member
\tPage: 30
mentioned, we see empty flats available, but it does not mean that they are not being allocated. They are being allocated, but sometimes, flats are affected by the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) quotas. But we try to allocate to those families who are on the queue as soon as we can. We have reduced the duration or the waiting time in the queue from 21 months to the current average of seven and a half months.
\tMr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Mdm Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of State on rental flats. I understand that previously the Minister for National Development had announced that the plan was for 57,000 rental flats to come on stream. Can I just confirm when the additional 7,000 will be available?
\tDr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: In fact, we plan to ramp up supply for rental flats up to 60,000 by 2017. We have reached the level of 57,000 rental flats and we are moving upwards to enhance the number to 60,000 by 2017.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Flexibility in Ethnic Integration Policy for HDB Flats","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"9 Mr Hri Kumar Nair asked the Minister for National Development whether the Ethnic Integration Policy is still necessary with respect to purchasers and whether the Ministry will exercise flexibility in cases where the owner needs to sell his flat for financial reasons but is unable to secure a purchaser of the relevant race. \t
The Minister of State for National Development (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for National Development): Madam, the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) was implemented in 1989 to prevent the formation of ethnic enclaves and promote racial harmony in HDB estates. This policy is still needed, to ensure a good mix of residents of different races in different neigbourhoods and blocks of an HDB estate.
The EIP limits are consistently applied across all ethnic groups. Currently, only 11% or 18 of HDB neighbourhoods are affected by the EIP limits. For these neighbourhoods, flat sellers are usually still able to secure buyers from the eligible ethnic groups given the large volume of resale transactions annually. For owners facing financial difficulties and cannot service their mortgage, HDB has various financial assistance measures to assist them.
\tPage: 31
\tMr Hri Kumar Nair (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mdm Speaker, I thank the Minister of State for his response. I have had instances of residents coming to me saying that they are unable to sell their flats which have been on the market, in one case, for at least eight months, because they did not receive offers from persons of the relevant race. In cases like that, where they can demonstrate that they did not receive offers, will HDB exercise some flexibility?
\tDr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Madam, we will look at appeal cases on a case-by-case basis, but our observation is that for those cases affected by EIP, often times, it depends on the practical nature of the asking price. We noticed that in many cases that are affected by EIP, at the end of the day, they are able to sell their flats. Majority of the cases that are affected by EIP are being sold either at or above valuation. The way we look at it is: we want to try to encourage these families to look at the conditions of their flats and to try their best to find buyers.
Yes, I understand that sometimes they are not able to receive any offers, but when we look deeper, often times, it is due to the kinds of prices that they are prepared to receive. The prices that they are prepared to offer are also dependent on the characteristics of the flats. If we looked at the figures, even in the Member's constituency in Bishan-Toa Payoh, the majority of flats that are affected by EIP have been able to be sold by sellers at or even above valuation. There are also flats that are not affected by EIP that were sold at below valuation. So, I think the EIP alone is not one of the key factors in determining whether the seller is able to sell their flats. We recognise that some face more challenges than others but, by and large, our data show that it is not impossible for them to be able to find the buyers of the necessary ethnic group.
\tMr Gan Thiam Poh (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Thank you, Mdm Speaker. May I know whether the Minister of State will consider extending the EIP to private estates and private and executive condominiums?
\tDr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Madam, I think the laughter from the other Members of the House reflects the answer. It is beyond the Government at this point in time. We understand the importance of the EIP and because 90% of Singaporeans live in public housing estates, we want to ensure that the ethnic mix is useful for our society to continue to function. Within private housing estates and condominiums, these units are bound by the Management Councils' regulations. We will leave it at that. But we hope that Singaporeans will also be able to appreciate the mix that is required and that it would come naturally in the private estates. We hope that Members will continue to support
\tPage: 32
the EIP within the HDB estates.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Affordable Pre-school Fees","subTitle":"Government-run kindergartens' role to influence fees","sectionType":"OA","content":"10 Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Education whether the Government kindergartens can adopt an added purpose of sending an industry signal to for-profit private pre-school operators not to increase fees beyond the reach of parents. \t
\tThe Senior Minister of State for Education (Ms Indranee Rajah) (for the Minister for Education): Mdm Speaker, MOE's pilot kindergartens seek to provide quality and affordable kindergarten education for children from a wide range of family backgrounds. Teaching and learning materials developed will be shared with the rest of the pre-school sector to catalyse quality improvements.
The monthly fee is kept affordable at $150 for Singapore Citizens. While other operators can take reference from the fees of MOE pilot kindergartens, this is not the key purpose of the pilot kindergartens.
Notwithstanding this, we recognise parents' concerns about pre-school fees. One of the key priorities of the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) is to keep early childhood programmes affordable, especially for low- and middle-income families. Apart from providing subsidies to parents, ECDA will continue to support Voluntary Welfare Organisations and Anchor Operators to provide quality pre-school services at an affordable fee in the heartlands. ECDA will expand the Anchor Operator scheme to more operators, so that more parents and children may benefit.
ECDA also provides guidelines to ensure that fee revisions are carried out in a transparent manner. Centres are required to give parents sufficient advance notice, and can only revise fees at the start of an academic year. Centres are also advised to clearly explain the basis for their fee increase to parents and directly engage parents who face difficulties in meeting the fee increase.
\tMr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): Mdm Speaker, I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for her comprehensive reply.
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Indeed, MOE kindergartens are a very good place to start and it is an excellent initiative. I have spoken with young parents and they welcome the added contributions to Child Development Accounts (CDAs). Unfortunately, some of the same young parents say that unscrupulous private operators in the forms of kindergartens and childcare centres use the increase in the CDA to raid and justify to themselves an increase in fees. So, sometimes, it is sort of like a dog catching its tail. More subsidies go into the CDA, and then the private childcare operators are sometimes unscrupulous to raise fees. That catches some parents off-guard.
My question is, could there be some form of fee justification that can be built into the industry, especially for the private, for-profit operators, and submission of those fee increases to MOE, and some form of general justification as to why. If it is for increase in salaries for teachers, then that may be a good reason. But if it is just to increase profit, it may not be a good reason.
\tMs Indranee Rajah: Mdm Speaker, if I may address the Member's questions: sometimes, there is confusion as to what MOE's role is, and what the role of MSF is. If I could assist in this regard: MSF is the Ministry that looks after the pre-school sector as a whole. MOE's role is to look at curriculum and to provide input on that to make sure that the educational portions are addressed. And then, of course, MOE had recently entered into the pre-school space by having MOE kindergartens.
With respect to the question that was originally asked, as to whether MOE's entry into the market could have an added purpose of affecting the fees of the private operators: as I have answered, that is not the primary purpose, although the entry of MOE into that space with the provision of the MOE kindergartens will undoubtedly be something that the private sector pre-schools have to take into account because there is now an alternative that is providing pre-school education at an affordable rate.
With respect to the question that the Member has just raised about fee justification for the private pre-school operators, as indicated in my earlier answer, I believe that they are required to justify any fee increase to ECDA which oversees the pre-school sector. They must justify by giving the reasons for the increase and give six months' advance notice to give parents sufficient time to find an alternative if the parents are not able to afford that. If in the course of giving their justifications, it appears that that is not sufficient, I am sure that that is something that MSF will take into account.
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\tMr Christopher de Souza: I thank the Senior Minister of State for the tutorial of the delineation of the two Ministries. I would like to ask, therefore, that the MSF considers this very seriously on a whole-of-Government approach, that the MSF takes this very seriously because there has been quite a lot of feedback from young parents with pre-school-going children that whenever there is an added contribution from the Government into the CDA, somehow, magically, the fees increase downstream. I do think that we need perhaps a little bit more teeth to ensure that the minority, unscrupulous private childcare operators do not have a free rein on increase of fees.
\tMs Indranee Rajah: Mdm Speaker, I would agree that that is valid concern on the part of the parents and I will without any doubt convey that to the Minister for the Ministry of Social and Family Development.
Mdm Speaker: Maybe the next time, Mr de Souza, you might like to direct it to the relevant Ministry to get a direct answer.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Ownership of Underground Space","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"11 Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Law in light of plans to develop underground space more extensively, what is the Government's position on the ownership of underground space in Singapore. \t
\tThe Senior Minister of State for Law (Ms Indranee Rajah) (for the Minister for Law): The Minister for National Development discussed recently some of the possibilities that could be explored: underground transport hubs, pedestrian links, cycling lanes, utility plants, storage and research facilities, industrial uses, shopping areas and public spaces. This will make Singapore an even more vibrant and exciting city.
On the question regarding ownership of underground land, our law assumes that the owner of the surface land also owns the underground space, to a depth that is reasonably necessary for the use and enjoyment of the property.
MND's objectives are important ones. MinLaw will work with the industry on how these objectives can be realised and will, in this context, also consider the experiences of other countries on what would be a sensible approach. Some countries, for example, allow owners of the surface land to have a certain depth
\tPage: 35
of underground space for their use, while enabling deeper subterranean space to be used for underground projects. We will consult stakeholders and set up a sound framework for agencies to realise the vision of more space to live, work and play.
\tMr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah): Madam, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State whether in view of these plans to better use the underground space, would we be expecting new laws or legislative clarifications on the rights of landowners? In particular, I would like to ask whether MinLaw sees underground space to be a mortgageble asset in the future, something that has an ownership to it, that is, an asset that can be mortgaged.
\tMs Indranee Rajah: Mdm Speaker, these are certainly issues that we are studying. We would not have any details at this stage as the idea of the subterranean space is something that has been recently mooted by MND. As indicated in my earlier answer, we are certainly supportive of this. The question is: to what degree, what depth, to what extent, how would you treat this underground space? I can assure the Member that we are in the process of looking at it. As and when there is sound framework available, we would certainly come up with a concept for the public to comment on and to get ideas.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Income Threshold for GST Voucher","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"12 Ms Lee Li Lian asked\tthe Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance with regard to the cash component of the GST Voucher (a) why is the Assessable Income (AI) of $24,000 used as a threshold for eligibility; (b) whether the Ministry plans to review this threshold in light of inflation and, if so, when; and (c) whether basic annual salary instead of AI can be used to determine eligibility.
\tThe Senior Minister of State for Finance (Mrs Josephine Teo) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Mdm Speaker, the GST Voucher helps lower- and middle-income Singaporeans with their costs of living. It comprises three components: cash, MediSave and U-Save.
Of these three components, the GST Voucher – Cash is targeted at those who are less well-off and who require the most help in meeting immediate needs. We have used, as an eligibility criterion, an Assessable Income threshold
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of $24,000 as this covers the bottom 40% of Singaporean workers. It also covers those who do not earn an income, such as housewives and retirees.
It is appropriate for a nation-wide scheme like the GST Voucher that we use Assessable Income instead of basic annual salary as a measure of how well-off a person is. Assessable Income includes other forms of income from employment, such as allowances, bonuses and commissions, which can be significant sources of earnings in certain jobs. It also includes other income, such as rental income. It is fair and transparent that these sources of income are counted in. If instead we use basic annual salary, as Ms Lee Li Lian suggests, those who are well-off because they earn large commissions or bonuses will also benefit from the GST Voucher – Cash.
We, therefore, use Assessable Income as the criterion. The Assessable Income threshold is reviewed every year, and our reviews will take into account changes in incomes, to ensure that we continue to target those who need the most help.
\tMs Lee Li Lian (Punggol East): Mdm Speaker, I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. I have one supplementary question: whether the Ministry can consider, as I have mentioned earlier in my PQ, using basic salary instead of Assessable Income, with the provision that the Assessable Income is not more than a certain number of times of the basic salary, since allowances make up a substantial portion of low-income workers' pay. As such, they may inadvertently be left out of the scheme. For the Ministry's consideration, please.
\tMrs Josephine Teo: Mdm Speaker, I thought I should perhaps point out that of the three components of the GST Voucher, only the GST Voucher – Cash uses Assessable Income as a criterion. GSTV – U-Save and GSTV – Medisave, in fact, do not use Assessable Income.
Also, in addition to the GST Voucher, there were other types of assistance in this year's Budget. For example, HDB households were eligible to receive Service and Conservancy Charges rebates. Individuals could also receive Medisave top-ups or benefit from enhancements to the Workfare Income Supplement. And Singaporeans who need additional assistance could also turn to the Community Development Councils to tap on other schemes available.
Nonetheless, I would like to thank Ms Lee for her suggestion and it is something that we will look at when we review the Assessable Income
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threshold.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Report by Suara Musyawarah Committee","subTitle":"Areas of concern to focus on","sectionType":"OA","content":"13 Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar asked the Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs in view of the report submitted by the Suara Musyawarah Committee, whether there are new areas of concern that the Malay/Muslim community will need to particularly focus on and address. \t
\tThe Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Madam, I had announced in my Hari Raya speech in August last year that an independent committee would be set up to engage members of the Malay/Muslim community. The Suara Musyawarah Committee, chaired by Haji Sallim Abdul Kadir, has since completed its work and handed me its report on 7 July 2013. This report, Madam, is a compilation of the Committee's findings on the Malay/Muslim community's main areas of interest and concerns today, as well as their hopes and aspirations for the future.
Madam, I would like to commend the Committee for their dedication to this challenging task. In a short span of seven months, they worked tirelessly to dialogue with more than 500 members of the Malay/Muslim community from all walks of life, be they residents in rental housing, single mothers or professionals. For a small, independent committee that had to work within a tight timeframe, this extensive outreach is remarkable and it has initiated conversations with people who otherwise might not have come forward to share their stories or their views.
On the whole, the report reflects the positive ethos that the Malay/Muslim community sees itself as part of the broader Singapore community and has the desire to move forward and do better. I am also heartened by the report's comprehensive scope, which covers issues ranging from education as a conduit for upward social mobility to social consciousness.
As the report aptly points out, the passionate conversations on how to move the Malay/Muslim community forward pre-date the Committee and should continue well into the future. Pragmatically, the community recognises
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that we should leverage on collective resources to improve outreach efforts, as well as programmes and services for vulnerable segments of the community in particular.
This report sends an important signal that even the less advantaged among us are hopeful that they can do better than the previous generation. Vulnerable families whom the Committee spoke to are clear that they are not looking for hand-outs but prefer to be given appropriate opportunities to achieve self-reliance and upward mobility. This is the kind of active participation that our community needs to be open to and ready for. With greater community and national-level support to optimise the potential of vulnerable groups, the next phase of our community's development will be to contribute even more significantly to Singapore's continued success.
To this end, our community should also embrace a broader definition of success beyond academic achievement. The Committee recommends media engagement to disseminate the message that the pursuit of excellence in all that we do is an Islamic virtue. We have to strive for peaks of excellence where individuals are passionate about and rise to the top of their respective fields. Indeed, it would bode well for the Malay/Muslim community in the long term to adopt this new mind-set and develop talents in diverse arenas to serve our community and society at large.
Other recommendations in the report are also worth exploring further. I encourage organisations that have a keen interest in uplifting the community to study the report fully and develop appropriate programmes that are able to lead our community to greater success.
\tDr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio): Mdm Speaker, I thank the Minister for the reply. While it is heartening to note that the community generally is coming together in trying to forge our way forward, I would like to ask the Minister whether existing programmes are sufficient to address these new areas of concern that you mentioned earlier and what are the specific roles that Malay/Muslim organisations (MMOs) can play in this.
Finally, how can the information-gathering process that has been started through the Suara Musyawarah initiative be continued within the community because I think that it is a very good platform to gather even more diverse views and concerns from the community?
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\tAssoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: I thank the Member for the two supplementary questions. For the second question, there was a recommendation by the Committee that we should continue with the conversation. Clearly, we cannot do as the way we have done, which means I have to set up another committee. But the idea of reaching out to groups that we would not have heard before is an important point. We are studying this to see how best we can continue with the conversation.
One idea is to go back to the various groups that they have met to close the loop on some of the suggestions that they have made and how those suggestions have been implemented by the various organisations. But we are studying it.
On the Member's first question as to whether or not there are sufficient programmes, the short answer is that there is never a sufficient number of programmes because we need to do a lot more. But clearly, in certain areas, we need to pay greater attention and I mentioned this during the recent Hari Raya speech. One area which the Committee recommended – and I think we should do this – is about how to reach out further to the vulnerable groups. I have tasked both MUIS and MENDAKI to study this, on how best we can leverage on existing structures within the community to reach out to the more vulnerable in our community so that they have access to all of our programmes.
Here, the role of the MMOs are very important because, firstly, they have their own networks, their own resources on the ground. If we can again leverage on them and get them to do more in terms of reaching out to their clients and beyond their own existing client base, then there would be a good outcome. Secondly, I have also encouraged the various organisations to study further the recommendations, whether there is room for them to either expand their existing programmes or adopt new programmes.
We have announced new funding that the Government has given to Malay/Muslim Community Development Fund (MMCDF) and, therefore, there are additional resources for us to do a lot more. We are planning to meet the various MMOs to explain to them the areas that we would like them to go into so that we can tap on this new funding.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Leadership Development at Malay/Muslim Institutions","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"14 Mr Zainudin Nordin asked the Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs in view of the recent leadership change in MUIS (a) whether there are more changes to be expected in MUIS and other Muslim-related institutions; (b) what are the mid-term and long-term plans and development that the community can expect from these changes; and (c) whether there are challenges to the identification and development of high calibre and quality officers to head important institutions such as MUIS. \t
\tThe Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Madam, from 7 August 2013, Haji Abdul Razak bin Hassan Maricar is the new Chief Executive (CE) of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, or MUIS. When the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) was amended in 2005 to create the CE post, I had explained in Parliament that this was to strengthen MUIS' executive leadership and align its governance practices to other statutory boards where there is a clear separation of board responsibilities and executive functions. This change took some time to plan and execute, because changes in the leadership of this key Malay/Muslim institution must be carefully undertaken.
With this, the MUIS Council will be chaired by a non-executive President, with a CE reporting to the Council. This separation of functions will enable experienced and qualified Muslim public officers to be appointed as the CE. The position of the non-executive President can then be filled by a person with stature and standing in the community, who does not have to run MUIS on a day-to-day basis at the same time. So, I am grateful that the previous President Haji Mohammad Alami Musa has agreed to remain as the non-executive President. This will ensure continuity and stability in MUIS before a successor is appointed later in the term.
Leadership renewal is critical to maintaining the effectiveness of our key Muslim institutions and Malay/Muslim organisations in a continuously changing landscape. We will continue to identify capable persons to lead our key Muslim institutions. Indeed, there are challenges finding top-calibre officers to fill echelon positions, as is the case with all other organisations. One strategy that I am keen for MUIS to push further is the cross-posting of high potential Muslim officers between MUIS and the wider public service. This will enable MUIS officers to pick up broader public service capabilities, and allow other
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officers to be groomed for future positions in MUIS.
Continuity and innovation are two prongs of what the community can expect from these leadership changes. MUIS will continue to carry out its statutory functions, such as regulating haj and halal matters.
Earlier this year, MUIS unveiled its fourth three-year plan after extensive consultation with the community and stakeholders. For the next three years, MUIS will focus on (i) developing asatizahs; (ii) increasing its outreach to our young; and (iii) strengthening madrasah education. Building resilience in zakat receiving families and strengthening our mosques as important socio-religious nodes to serve the community are two other areas in which MUIS will carry on in its fourth three-year plan. Madam, I am confident that the new CE, who has been part of the MUIS' senior management team since 2007, will ably lead MUIS in implementing its vision as laid out in the fourth three-year plan.
\tMr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Supplementary question, Madam. I would like to ask the Minister: are there mid-term or long-term plans or strategy that the Ministry is thinking about to further enhance beyond the institution? There are other Malay/Muslim organisations that are quite important in the community, be it in the area of leadership or even management.
\tAssoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Madam, I think it is an important point for us to think together as a community. As I mentioned in my reply, leadership positions not only within key Muslim institutions, such as MUIS or MENDAKI, but also for the Malay/Muslim organisations are a point worthy of our reflection and consideration.
Having said that, we do not have authority over the MMOs but, clearly, we understand that there is a need to continue to renew and upgrade the leadership. In line with that aspiration, with the recent funding increase from the Government for the Malay/Muslim Community Development Fund, the plan is for us to set aside part of the funds towards capability development programme for the Malay/Muslim organisations and we hope that the MMOs can tap on this funding to not only improve governance but also training for their senior management because we believe that by providing resources and opportunities for the leadership within the Malay/Muslim organisations to be groomed and to be trained, they will be able to better run their programmes and provide relevant programmes for the community.
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\tMr Zaqy Mohamad (Chua Chu Kang) (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mdm Speaker, allow me to speak in Malay since we are celebrating Malay Language Month this month. I would like to ask the Minister what MUIS' plans are to enable the Muslim community in Singapore to face the challenges of the Islamic world in an inclusive manner, since the Islamic world today is facing rapid changes. Secondly, would the Minister also explain how MUIS' organisation can be fine-tuned to study the long-term issues for the Muslim community in Singapore?
\tAssoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Mdm Speaker, with your permission, can I reply in Malay, or do I have to reply in English?
Mdm Speaker: Malay will be fine.
\tAssoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Thank you, Mdm Speaker. That is certainly one important issue because we know that MUIS, as a key institution in our community, is responsible for providing guidance to the community. Just as there are challenges all over the world today, we acknowledge that MUIS has an important role. One way is for us to strengthen the religious leadership within MUIS, where, together with the Mufti's Office, we conducted programmes for our religious elites both in Singapore and overseas.
For example, we recently conducted a joint programme with the Mufti's Office in Cairo, Egypt, where 30 religious teachers or asatizahs received training on how the\tfatwas were issued in Cairo. This allowed our religious teachers to understand the process on how the scholars of Cairo, Egypt, went through in arriving at a fatwa. Our hope is that with this training, our religious teachers can help to provide answers and guidance to those who seek it. Secondly, what MUIS has done is to monitor what is happening, not just in Singapore, but around the region, so that we understand the new trends, and the implications of such trends on our community, so that we can provide guidance to our community.
\tMr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap (Aljunied): Madam, allow me to speak in Malay.
(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] I would like to comment or seek Minister's views on the strengthening of religious leadership. I understand that many of the programmes conducted by the Malay/Muslim organisations are religious in nature, where they do not get much funding from the MSF. Does
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the Minister or MUIS have plans to work closer with MSF to allow these religious programmes to receive more funding?
\tAssoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] As part of the Government's philosophy, we are a secular Government where religious programmes are not funded by the Government. This is a policy that we have accepted, not only for the Malay community, but also other communities. But at the same time, we know that the programmes conducted by the Malay bodies are important and necessary for our community. Therefore, in this regard, MUIS has distributed zakat funds and other funds belonging to us, to Malay bodies that conduct religious programmes. So, I feel that there is no lack of funds. What is important is for us to ensure that the programmes that we conduct are relevant and are also directed to those in need. If there is more detailed feedback, I can discuss it with Mr Faisal Manap.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Remuneration for Social Workers","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"15 Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development in addition to focusing on how social workers are remunerated, whether the Ministry can study and look into the compensation and benefits of other professionals serving in the social service sector so that they are assured of a fair and competitive total package. \t
16 Dr Chia Shi-Lu asked\tthe Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry can provide an update on the measures to increase the number of social workers and support staff and to boost the image of the profession through advertising and various forms of the mass media.
17 Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what plans and programmes are put in place to attract young and capable Singaporeans into the social work profession; (b) how will the Government determine \"competitive\" pay for social workers and whether their salaries will be pegged to other vocations such as nursing or teaching; (c) how does the Government intend to achieve wage consistency among the 1,400 accredited social workers across different VWOs; and (d) how does the Government intend to ensure career progression and mobility of social workers in order to make the vocation an attractive one. \t
\t
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The Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Chan Chun Sing): Mdm Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 15, 16 and 17 together?
Mdm Speaker: Yes, please
\tMr Chan Chun Sing: Mdm Speaker, MSF and the National Council of Social Service have and will continue to initiate and support efforts in attraction, development and retention for all social service professionals, including social workers.
We have expanded talent pipelines to bring more people into the profession. There are now more scholarships and sponsorships for both young students as well as mid-career entrants to pursue a career in the social service sector. We continue to work with Institutes of Higher Learning to review and expand cohort sizes where necessary. We are also reaching out to overseas Singaporean students to profile career opportunities in the social service sector.
We have also started redesigning jobs for more efficient and effective manpower deployment. For example, we have established the position of Social Work Associates who will work alongside and support social workers. Demand for the diploma course for Social Work Associates has been strong and subsequent cohorts have been expanded.
Paying competitive wages is an important factor to attracting and retaining good people. MSF provides salary benchmarks for key professions in the social service sector, not just for social workers but also for therapists, psychologists, teachers for early childhood intervention programme and management staff. These are pegged to equivalent jobs in the market and factored into MSF's funding to voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs). Just last year, MSF increased funding to VWOs by $10 million. The organisations were provided with pay guidelines and HR consultancy services to help them implement effective remuneration systems. More than 85% of our funded VWOs have since raised salaries of their professionals by a median of 8%. We will review funding norms for VWOs periodically, and make adjustments as necessary, to keep pace with salary benchmarks.
Beyond salaries, we will also continue to work with employers on professional development of social service professionals. The Social Service Institute will serve as the focal point for learning and manpower development in the sector. It will provide more robust training and varied learning
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opportunities. A new one-stop Career Centre for the sector has also been set up within the Institute to better engage potential entrants and uplift the image of social service professionals.
\tMs Denise Phua Lay Peng (Moulmein-Kallang): I thank the Minister for the upward revision of the salary packages, especially for the social workers, and for communicating very frequently what it does for this professional group. Can the Minister confirm again that the other professionals, such as the therapists, educators and psychologists, are also paid competitively, especially across the public service sector versus the social service sector? And do the agencies, for example, reviewing these salaries have access to MOE, the Government or MOH, their salary scale data?
My next point is instead of communicating primarily what the Ministry has done for social workers, to ask the Minister not to leave the other professionals out and to communicate across the media and other groups about what it does for the rest of the sector as well.
\tMr Chan Chun Sing: Mdm Speaker, I thank Ms Denise Phua for her supplementary question. The answer is, yes. Indeed, when we talk about the social service professionals, we do not just include the social workers but we also include the other social service professionals like therapists, counsellors and early childhood intervention professionals. So, indeed, we take it as a collective package.
Let me just explain a bit about this benchmarking exercise. Since one or two years back, we have started a regular benchmarking exercise. We asked ourselves, for the people who join the social service sector, what would their equivalent pay be if they had opted for a similar job in another industry or in the other Government agencies? For example, medical social workers, who are also part of our social workers community, would be used as one of the benchmarks. Then there are other Government civil servants whom we also can use as part of the benchmark. So, we do collect these data and we use an independent agency to set this benchmark for us to set realistic salary benchmarks for our social service professionals.
Ever since our effort last year, we are quite confident that, for the new entrants, we have closed the gap a bit. There is still a bit more to go but, in the next phase, we are actually going to look at the mid-career entrants and also the more senior social service professionals because we find that the gap between what they would command if they had chosen an equivalent job
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elsewhere, there is still a bigger gap than the entrants. So, we will continue to work on this and, indeed, we will communicate to everyone that it is not just the social workers that we are talking about when we talk about social service professionals, we are also talking about the therapists, counsellors and so forth.
\tDr Chia Shi-Lu (Tanjong Pagar): I thank the Minister again for his reply. I am sure we will see a great increase in the need for social workers with all the new initiatives that are going out, for example, the social service centres. I was also heartened to hear in the Minister's reply, when he mentioned about the Social Work Associates. In terms of reducing the pressure of recruiting new social workers, all of whom will require a degree, is the Ministry looking at expanding the role for these Social Work Associates so as to increase the talent pool of social workers but, at the same time, reduce the immediate pressure of recruiting social workers?
\tMr Chan Chun Sing: Mdm Speaker, I thank Dr Chia Shi-Lu for the supplementary questions and some of the suggestions. Indeed, let me explain that to attract enough people to meet the needs of the social service sector, we adopt a multi-pronged approach.
On the one hand, we try to increase the pipeline for the trained social workers and because these are usually degree holders, there is a finite number that we know we can realistically recruit from the market.
The second prong of our approach is to increase the pipeline of the social work associates. They may not go through a course with the same academic rigour as the social workers per se, but they have sufficient training to allow them to complement the work of the trained social workers. That is the second prong.
The third prong of our approach has to do with the fact that we are going to up the training of the many social service assistants, staff that are now currently being deployed at the social service offices. Previously, they undergo some training but we are going to intensify the training so that they can do more of the social service work, at least as the first line to do the triage, before we refer the more complex cases to the social workers.
In this way, we can do a triage of the complexity of the cases where the more straightforward uni-dimensional cases can be handled maybe by some of the social work associates or some of the better-trained social service staff. Then, for the more complex cases, we can hand it over to the professional social
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workers.
There is another prong of work that we are doing in order to lighten the workload of the social service professionals and this is the backend system behind the scene. Today, typically, a social worker may spend up to 40% or 50% of their time doing administrative work, meaning that they have to write the case files and transfer some of the data. We are trying to simplify this by investing in a comprehensive social service IT Masterplan which will come online, hopefully, by 2016. This will allow the social service professionals to share data at the same time to make the case management that much easier, very much akin to what we have for the healthcare system.
\tMr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap (Aljunied): Minister mentioned just now that there was an average increment of 8% in terms of the increment for the salary. May I know whether MSF has set any target, to what level MSF wants to achieve in terms of increment for the salary?
\tMr Chan Chun Sing: Mdm Speaker, let me clarify. What I said was that the median was 8%, not the average. But having said that, it is not one specific target for the entire social service sector because there are different tiers of social service sector professionals and their pay gap has differences in the magnitude. So, for different sectors, for different tiers, we will set different targets. Our aim is to progressively close the gap between what they will command on an alternative career construct in a comparable industry.
\tMr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Just a short supplementary question. Minister, I applaud and support all the steps that we are taking in this sector. I would like to ask whether the Ministry has a sense of the current shortfall of workers and professionals in this sector. I ask this because I expect that, in fact, the demand for these professionals and then other workers in this area will only grow and intensify. I hope that beyond making it more attractive for our citizens to work in this sector, if need to, we should allow the FSCs and the VWOs to also look at alternative sources outside the sector.
\tMr Chan Chun Sing: Mdm Speaker, let me thank Mr Seah Kian Peng for his supplementary question. Yes, indeed, we do make a projection on the needs, especially with our ageing population, the number of social workers and social work associates that we will need. So, we do have a projection. And I would say that it is particularly challenging not just for the baseline social workers but actually for what we call the specialists, those that specialise in, for example, family violence, spousal abuse. So, we need social workers not just to have the
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requisite numbers. We also need a certain critical mass of social workers with the requisite depth and skills to handle the more complex cases going forward.
On the suggestion of allowing the social service sector to have non-traditional sources of manpower, indeed, actually, that is already ongoing. Some of our Family Service Centres (FSCs), indeed, do recruit from overseas. But we understand that it is not so easy to recruit a person from overseas to work in the social service sector in our own domestic social service sector because, culturally, there are differences. Language-wise, there are also differences. Even to recruit youngsters to work in the social service sector, sometimes, our youngsters also do not have the necessary dialect skills to communicate with our elders. These are some of the challenges.
So, while we have a broad-based approach towards expanding the pipeline to recruit more people into the sector, what we also need are also niche capabilities in some of these specific areas where more attention is required.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Update on Construction of Sports Hub","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"18 Mr Nicholas Fang asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth whether he can provide an update on the progress of construction of the new Sports Hub and whether it will be available for use for the National Day Parade in 2014. \t
\tThe Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (Mr Lawrence Wong): Mdm Speaker, the construction of the Singapore Sports Hub is currently progressing on schedule. Based on the progress so far, the Sports Hub should be able to begin operations in April next year as planned. This means that the new National Stadium would technically be available for the National Day Parade in August next year. However, there are detailed logistical and operational requirements, including sufficient lead time for rehearsals, which need to be catered for the NDP. So, the NDP organisers are studying these detailed requirements, before deciding on the venue of the NDP next year.
\tMr Nicholas Fang (Nominated Member): Thank you, Madam. One supplementary question. The preparations for the National Day Parade typically require about a year's worth of planning. Is there any concern on the part of the Ministry about the potential delay in terms of the preparation build-up and
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impact on next year's parade?
\tMr Lawrence Wong: I thank the Member for his supplementary question. The planning and the preparations of the National Day Parade, indeed, have a long lead time. Actually, it is already in progress. It is a matter of deciding on the venue and I believe the National Day Parade Organising Committee, which has already been set up, are in close discussions with the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and the Sports Hub Private Limited, which is the private-sector partner of the Sports Hub Project, and they will be deciding on the venue by the end of this year.
\tDr Janil Puthucheary (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Thank you, Madam. A supplementary question. Would the Minister consider that, wherever the venue is for the National Day Parade in 2014, that improved access for citizens in wheelchairs be considered?
\tMr Lawrence Wong: I thank the Member for the supplementary question and I should avoid giving a tutorial on which Ministry is responsible for the organisation of the National Day Parade. It actually comes under MINDEF and not MCCY. But I will convey the feedback to the Minister for Defence and I believe that the National Day Parade Organising Committee would take that into consideration when organising next year's National Day Parade.
\tMr Seah Kian Peng: My supplementary question is under your purview, Minister. I would like to ask whether there are any plans that are firm for the floating platform. I have found the floating platform to be a very, very nice facility. I hope this would become a permanent feature and we could use it and enhance it and not take it away.
\tMr Lawrence Wong: I thank the Member for the supplementary question. Indeed, the Singapore Sports Council is looking at the floating platform long term. I think it is a wonderful stage which we are very mindful can be used for things beyond the National Day Parade. When the new National Stadium is ready and we have the National Day Parade potentially moving to the new National Stadium, we can consider long-term potential uses for the floating platform. So, that is being studied, not just by Singapore Sports Council itself, but also in partnership with potentially other agencies which may have an interest in the long-term uses of the floating platform.
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\tMr Nicholas Fang: Madam, just a quick clarification. The Acting Minister did say a decision by the end of this year. Is that correct?
\tMr Lawrence Wong: Yes, it is by the end of the year.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"COEs for Commercial Vehicles","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"19 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Transport (a) how many commercial vehicles were replaced under the Early Turnover Scheme for Category C (Cat C) vehicles between 24 April 2013 and 31 August 2013; and (b) with the Cat C COE prices hitting a historical high, whether the Ministry will consider implementing additional measures to help owners of commercial vehicles to renew their fleet. \t
\tThe Minister for Transport (Mr Lui Tuck Yew): Mdm Speaker, as at the end of August 2013, a total of 101 commercial vehicles had been replaced under the Early Turnover Scheme. Interest has started to pick up in recent months, with 52 of these commercial vehicles replaced in August alone, compared to 49 in the first three months. We would certainly like to see higher take-up rates for the Scheme, going forward.
In this regard, we have received feedback for possible enhancements to the Scheme and we will consider these suggestions in due course. I understand that rising Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices is one of the cost-related challenges faced by businesses. To help businesses with this aspect of their cashflow and to provide them more flexibility, the Minister for Finance had announced in this year's Budget the lifting of the restriction on vehicle owners who renew their Cat C COEs for five years so that they can now renew again for a further five years thereafter.
Since the announcement, about 96% of Cat C COE renewals have been for five years instead of the 57% prior to the policy change. So, now, almost all the Cat C renewals are for five years instead of about half prior to this change.
There are also several schemes to help businesses with general cost concerns. These include the Productivity and Innovation Credit Scheme which offers tax reductions to companies that invest in improving productivity and driving innovation.
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\tMr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong): Thank you, Mdm Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for the comprehensive reply. In addition, I am glad that the Minister had also accepted my suggestion to tweak the definition of Cat A COE, a suggestion I made earlier this year.
The objective of the tweak is to make the COE system more socially equitable so that Cat A COE is mainly reserved for cars with OMV of $20,000 or less, catering to Singaporeans with a smaller budget to buy cars. Similarly, we would like MOT to adopt the same principle to help the SMEs to purchase commercial vehicles at a reasonable price and not be squeezed out by MNCs with deep pockets. Thus, I have two supplementary questions for the Minister.
Firstly, would the Minister consider making the Early Turnover Scheme even more attractive as many old fleet owners find that they could fetch a higher price in the resale market, as compared to scrapping a vehicle by taking advantage of the Early Turnover Scheme? The second supplementary question is: would the Minister consider splitting the Cat C COE into two categories or more, one for small commercial vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes and another for commercial vehicles of more than 3.5 tonnes?
\tMr Lui Tuck Yew: Mdm Speaker, first, let me thank Mr Ang Wei Neng for his suggestions on how to improve the categorisation of the COEs for private cars. Indeed, his suggestions and those of a number of other Members of Parliament have been very helpful in this regard and we tried to look at them very closely and we had, of course, not been able to adopt all the suggestions that were put forward, but I thank you all nonetheless for giving the inputs.
On making the Early Turnover Scheme (ETS) even more attractive, well, this is in the early stages. We had committed to run this programme for two years. We are starting to receive feedback already and we certainly will take this feedback and others that will come in into consideration when we look at how we can further improve the scheme going forward.
On Cat C COEs, I understand the point that is raised by the Member because, today, we obviously have the light goods vehicles, the heavy goods vehicles and the very heavy goods vehicles all lumped into the same category and, therefore, there is some concern that we may be disadvantaging some of the lighter goods vehicles in this regard and this is something that the Ministry will look at going forward.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Update on Rollout of Bus Service Enhancement Programme","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"20 Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Transport (a) if he can give an update on the progress of the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP); and (b) whether the Ministry has plans to (i) accelerate BSEP and (ii) improve bus reliability by shortening long bus routes. \t
\tThe Minister for Transport (Mr Lui Tuck Yew): Mdm Speaker, since the launch of the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP) a year ago, in 2012, a total of about 250 new buses have been added to the industry fleet under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP). This is out of the 550 buses that the Government had committed to. On top of these 550 buses, the operators themselves will add in another 250. But here, I am talking about the 550 buses and we have, over the past one year, added about 250 of these buses. By the end of this year, more than half of the 550 buses committed by the Government will be on our roads. Fourteen new bus routes have been introduced and 111 of the existing bus services have been improved.
The feedback that I am getting from the ground on the BSEP is positive. Many people are asking whether and when they can have the BSEP buses and new routes in their constituencies. Therefore, we have been discussing with the public transport operators on how we can accelerate this programme and I intend to implement the introduction of the bulk of the 550 buses by the end of 2014, instead of 2016.
Mr Gan has also suggested the shortening of bus routes to improve bus reliability. This is, indeed, a very good suggestion and an important one, as empirical data tell us that longer trunk routes are far less reliable than shorter routes. Therefore, we will continue to optimise the bus routes to improve the reliability of our buses when suitable opportunities arise, such as the opening of new rail lines or new integrated transport hubs.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Impact of Growing Private Tuition Industry","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"21 Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the effect of \"shadow education\" on social mobility and providing children with equal opportunities; (b) how has the growing private tutoring industry impacted the Ministry's ability to retain good teachers within the mainstream education system; (c) whether more should be done to make private supplementary tutoring less necessary and desirable in our system; and (d) whether the Ministry collects data to monitor this industry and its various impacts.
\tThe Senior Minister of State for Education (Ms Indranee Rajah) (for the Minister for Education): Mdm Speaker, I thank the hon Member for her question. Education continues to be an important avenue for social mobility. We are committed to supporting every student, regardless of his or her family background.
Our education system is run on the basis that tuition is not necessary. Some parents believe they can give their children an added advantage by sending them to tuition classes, even though their children are doing reasonably well. We cannot stop them from doing so.
However, tuition can be counter-productive for students who are already doing reasonably well in school. It can create unnecessary stress, make them easily bored in class and take time away from other programmes and activities which would have contributed to their holistic development.
For students who need additional support, we have comprehensive levelling-up programmes to ensure that they develop a good foundation in English and Mathematics. Our teachers are committed to their students' learning progress. They will provide remedial and supplementary classes for students who need the additional support. There are also community tuition schemes, like those run by self-help groups, and, in addition, many teachers, professionals and tertiary students also volunteer their time to help weaker students.
With MOE's comprehensive levelling-up programmes and the additional support given by the community, private supplementary tutoring is not necessary. We hope that parents will not add on to their children's workload and stress level by sending them to unnecessary tuition classes.
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Separately, the tuition industry has not made any significant impact on teacher attrition. The resignation rate of the Education Service remains low – at around 3% annually. In our exit interviews and surveys, joining the tuition industry has not been cited as a major reason for teachers leaving the Education Service.
To grow our pool of good teachers, MOE will continue to invest in attracting, developing and retaining our teachers. We offer teachers an attractive and meaningful long-term career, with opportunities for career progression and professional development. We also support them in fulfilling their career aspirations and meeting their work-life needs.
\tMs Janice Koh (Nominated Member): Mdm Speaker, I have just one supplementary question. I am happy to hear that MOE does not feel that private supplementary tuition should be desirable within a child's educational track, so to speak. However, based on scattered but available data, about 97% of Singapore students are enrolled in tuition and enrichment compared to, say, 49% of Primary school students and 30% of Secondary school students in 1992. The data is from 2008. The increase has been quite significant. Spending on tuition has also grown from about $410 million in 1998 to $820 million in 2008.
Based on our most recent household expenditure survey, Singaporeans spend about 1.1% to 2.2% of their household expenditure on tuition and educational expenses. Richer families spend a higher absolute amount and also a higher proportion of their household expenditures.
Mdm Speaker: Ms Koh, you may want to put your question.
\tMs Janice Koh: Is there a need, or is there some concern, to study this relationship between household income and expenditure on tuition and its impact on social mobility, given that we are facing rising income inequality and rising costs in Singapore? And what would be the impact of this study on our educational policy and our approach to making educational opportunities equal for all?
\tMs Indranee Rajah: Mdm Speaker, there are actually two separate concepts embodied in the supplementary question asked by the Member. One is social mobility and the other is why parents go for tuition. If I may address the second question first. It would be a social mobility problem if the only way you could pass an examination in our education system is if you had tuition. Then it would be a social mobility problem because questions of \"Can you
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afford tuition?\" would come into play and, if you cannot, it means you are not able to make it. But that is not the case.
As I have indicated in my earlier answer, the education system is designed to be passed even without tuition generally. Having said that, we recognise that there are those who will not do as well as the others and who need support. For that, if we did nothing and we just left the children alone, that would be wrong. Because we recognise that for those who need additional support, we must help them. And because additionally, this Government and my Ministry recognise that those from lower income backgrounds will have more difficulties in being able to get tuition and pay for that, that is the reason why a comprehensive levelling-up programme has been introduced in the schools and that is across-the-board. That would be particularly useful for those who are unable to afford private tuition but, certainly, it is not limited to that group because the levelling-up programme is basically for anyone or any child who is not doing well in a particular subject.
That leads us to the other question which is why do so many parents still nevertheless send their children for tuition, including that group where the children are actually doing reasonably well in school. And there, really we have a situation where it is a question of what the parents think or what the parents believe. MOE's position is that actually such additional tuition for those who are doing reasonably well in school ought not to be necessary. We certainly do hope that the parents would have a more calibrated and balanced view of tuition and only send their children if there was a real need for it. Because if not, doing it within the context of the school and doing the levelling-up programmes within the context of the school would be a much better approach.
\tMs Denise Phua Lay Peng (Moulmein-Kallang): Mdm Speaker, I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. And I am very excited actually about MOE's vision to make every school a good school and, for example, to use technology and share best practices, to level up especially those who are weaker.
Just a couple of questions for the Senior Minister of State. I believe that there is some data to show that the tuition industry is – and these are a few years' old data – at least $800 million. I think, by now, it could be a $1-billion industry. If a survey is done, I think there are quite a number of star tutors or good tutors in the tuition industry who actually are ex-employees of MOE.
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I wonder if MOE could perhaps get together a taskforce, workforce or work team to take a serious look at this phenomenon and to advise what is the real status quo. And also to advise if there is a package of solutions, if needed, that could be implemented to address this phenomenon, if found out to be true.
\tMs Indranee Rajah: Can I clarify with the Member, when she says this phenomenon, exactly what phenomenon does the Member mean?
\tMs Denise Phua Lay Peng: That many households actually spend quite a bit of money on tuition in the hope that their children could do better and could get into what they perceive are better schools.
\tMs Indranee Rajah: Insofar as the concern is that so many parents are sending their children for tuition, the key is really in whether or not, these parents believe that having that extra tuition is going to make the difference. And that is the point that I alluded to earlier, which is that within our school system, it is possible to pass the examinations without having to go for additional tuition where the child is doing reasonably well. It is a different thing if the child is having difficulty in coping with the lessons.
We can understand from the parent's point of view that every parent wants their child to have the best possible shot and, for many of them, for whatever reason, some of them believe that having tuition would give their children that additional edge, which we do not think is necessarily the case. So, the key to that really is in the parents' mindsets and belief. And we hope that the message will get out to parents not to pile on unnecessary tuition onto students.
\tDr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio): A question for the Senior Minister of State. I agree with the point raised by the hon Member Ms Denise Phua that there are quite a number of private tutors who used to be teachers with MOE in the past. I am quite concerned about this. I wonder whether MOE will consider reviewing the provision given to teachers that they can give private tuition – existing current teachers who can give private tuition for up to about six hours per week; whether that can be reviewed where teachers can no longer do so. That could probably be a start to trying to curb this attraction towards the private tuition industry.
\tMs Indranee Rajah: Mdm Speaker, insofar as the question is about good teachers leaving the Education Service to go into the private sector, as I indicated in the earlier answer, in general, the attrition rate is low. It is not to say that there will not be some who leave for whatever reasons and go into the
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private sector. Certainly, we would want to retain as many as we can in the Education Service.
Just as a quick rundown. The types of reasons that have been given for teachers leaving the Education Service are a whole range. Some have given domestic or personal reasons, some list external competition, they want to do other things, some for health reasons, some because they are not happy with the job but that is actually a very low percentage and then others which did not divulge their reasons.
That said, I think the key point made by Ms Denise Phua and Dr Intan is, if there are good teachers who would otherwise stay and if they can be kept within the Education Service, then that I feel we should certainly do so and our Ministry would look to the question of what these teachers feel would be a good reason for them to stay with the Education Service and if there are those who have left because of whatever reasons – they feel that they would get a better job or better opportunities in private sector – then we have to see whether those are people who can be persuaded to stay or for whatever reason they feel that no matter what, they would go out into the private sector. We can certainly look into that.
\tMs Janice Koh: Thank you, Mdm Speaker. I just wanted to clarify the last part of my question which was not answered – whether the Ministry would consider studying the impact of tuition and enrichment on educational attainment, since so little data is available on the private tuition industry and its impact on our children.
\tMs Indranee Rajah: We do not currently have the data to make such assessments of the impact. If you think about it, when the children go for tuition, they would not necessarily inform the Ministry: whether they are going for tuition, what their tuition is for and the impact that the tuition has had on them.
At this stage, I think I would not be able to say definitively that we would be able to do such a study based on the data that we have. But it is something that we can certainly keep an eye out for. We will think about that to see whether or not there is something which has a significant impact. We have to think quite carefully how we are going to do it. Because the actual mechanics and logistics of doing something like that have to be thought through quite carefully and you have to think where you get the data, how you analyse the data and how you interpret such data.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Punishment for Drink-driving","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"22 Mr Baey Yam Keng asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs with regard to drink-driving accidents resulting in injuries or fatalities, whether the Road Traffic Act can be amended to further differentiate between the type and length of punishment for accidents caused by carelessness and drink-driving.
\tThe Second Minister for Home Affairs (Mr S Iswaran) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs): Mdm Speaker, depending on the facts of the case, a driver who causes a fatal traffic accident may be charged under the Road Traffic Act or the Penal Code for one of the following offences:
One is the offence of causing death by a negligent act under section 304A(b) of the Penal Code which carries up to two years' imprisonment and/or a fine;
The second, is the offence of causing death by a rash act under section 304A(a) of the Penal Code which carries up to five years' imprisonment and/or a fine; or
Finally, the offence of causing death by dangerous driving under section 66(1) of the Road Traffic Act which carries up to five years' imprisonment for a first offender and up to 10 years' imprisonment with caning for repeat offenders.
A driver who causes an injury accident will similarly be charged for one of a range of different offences, depending on the facts of the case.
A driver who causes a fatal or injury traffic accident while driving under the influence of alcohol will face an additional drink-driving charge under section 67(1) of the Road Traffic Act. Under this charge, the maximum penalty for a first offender is a fine between $1,000 and $5,000 or imprisonment up to six months. If the driver is a second-time offender, he can be sentenced to a fine between $3,000 and $10,000 and imprisonment up to 12 months.
Subsequent offenders who have caused serious injury or death in a traffic accident may be punished with up to three times the punishment specified for drink-driving, in other words, between $3,000 and $15,000 in fines, up to 18 months' imprisonment, and the punishment would include caning as well.
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The court views intoxication of the driver as an aggravating factor and, in the case of fatal accidents, will generally sentence the driver to imprisonment. In egregious cases, where the driver significantly exceeds the legal alcohol limit, the prosecution will seek a sentence that reflects the driver's callous disregard of the law and the safety of other road users. Drink-drivers will also be disqualified from driving for at least 12 months.
Our laws, therefore, already provide for a range of offences and punishments that allow the prosecution and the courts to take calibrated actions with respect to the different cases of accidents caused by carelessness and drink-drinking according to the individual circumstances and culpability of the driver.
Hence, we do not see the need to amend the Road Traffic Act to further increase the range and severity of the penalties.
Madam, I would also like to inform Members that the Traffic Police takes a comprehensive approach to deter and discourage drunk driving. Apart from regular drink-driving enforcement operations, the Traffic Police also conducts education initiatives, such as the annual Anti-Drink Drive Campaign, to discourage motorists from driving to drink and to educate the community on the consequences of drink-driving.
\tMr Baey Yam Keng (Tampines): Thank you, Mdm Speaker. The driver is taught to drive only when he is in full control of the vehicle. So, when the driver knowingly exceeds the legal limit of alcohol consumption and proceeds to drive, he has no reason to be let off lightly.
Given the increasing number of drink-driving cases and also fatal accidents involving drunk drivers, I would like the Minister to consider reviewing the penalties, including setting a minimum sentence for drivers who cause death when they exceed the legal limit, even if it is the first offence.
\tMr S Iswaran: Madam, I appreciate the Member's sentiments but I would like to also use this opportunity to clarify. The Member stated that the deaths and injuries arising from drink-driving incidents have been on the rise. In fact, the data suggests the contrary. The number of fatal and injury drink-driving related accidents has fallen from 179 cases in 2008 to 98 cases in 2012. However, as the Member has rightly pointed out, such incidents do loom large in our consciousness and we are concerned for the lives that are lost or injured.
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The Member has also argued for a mandatory minimum sentence. Madam, we reserve this approach for the types of offences or situations which are quite exceptional. We have done so, for example, for unlicensed money-lending harassment which causes damages and for certain types of drug-related offences and so on. But, really, we have been using this sparingly because we want to reserve it for where the circumstances and nature and trends of the offences in question warrant such action from the legislative perspective.
Having said that, I want to reiterate the point I made at the start. Today, we have a range of offences that are prescribed in the different Acts that are available for the Prosecution to take calibrated action and for the Courts to decide on the appropriate level of punishment to be meted out. The record shows that so far, this system has worked well but we will bear the Member's suggestion in mind if the situation changes and it warrants a review.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"GST Levied on Taxi Rentals","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"23 Mr Ang Hin Kee asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether the Ministry will consider a review or removal of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that is levied on the daily rental of taxis which taxi drivers have to bear. \t
\tThe Senior Minister of State for Finance (Mrs Josephine Teo) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Mdm Speaker, Mr Ang has asked whether the GST chargeable on the rental of taxis can be reviewed or waived. Taxi rental is part and parcel of the costs incurred in a taxi trade which attracts GST. We had designed our GST system to be broad-based, with few exemptions, to keep our GST rate low.
Traders, generally, meet their GST costs from their earnings. Alternatively, they could register for GST which would allow them to charge customers for GST and claim GST costs.
It is understandable that taxi drivers may not find it worthwhile to be GST-registered, especially as fares are set by the taxi operators. The Government is prepared to work with the National Taxi Association and taxi operators to explore if there are other options which could improve the taxi drivers' recovery of their GST costs.
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\tMr Ang Hin Kee (Ang Mo Kio): Madam, I thank the Senior Minister of State for taking into consideration our suggestion. Let me first declare that I am also the Executive Advisor for the National Taxi Association.
Today, the costs incurred by taxi drivers not only include the GST that is levied on them for the daily rental of the vehicle but also the $5,100 a year diesel tax levy that is levied on taxis that are using diesel.
Over the years, our taxi vehicles have moved towards Euro IV, Euro V standard which is less polluting and also more efficient in terms of the type of pollutants that are released to the environment.
The $5,100 levy that was levied on older diesel vehicles, such as older models of taxis, should therefore be reviewed today because we have better models on the road. And that is also another option that we hope that the Ministry can consider in order to lower the costs that are incurred by taxi drivers on a daily basis other than just the vehicle rental but also this element of GST, in addition to the diesel levy of $5,100.
\tMrs Josephine Teo: Mdm Speaker, I thank Mr Ang for his suggestion. I fully appreciate the cost pressures that taxi drivers face in carrying out their trade. He has asked specifically on the special tax on taxis. Rightfully, this is not part of the original question. I am going to invite him to file a separate question and I can give him a fuller response.
But Madam, briefly, and also for the benefit of Members of the House, the annual special tax on taxis is levied on diesel taxis given that we do not impose a unit tax on diesel fuel. So, I just like to point out that if we were to charge taxis the equivalent volumetric tax that we do for a petrol-driven car, it would actually incur a higher tax than the annual special tax that taxi drivers now pay, or that is actually levied on taxis now. In other words, it is already a concession.
The second point is that the special tax on taxis, in fact, has remained unchanged since 1998 and it was temporarily reduced in 2001 and 2003 as part of recessionary measures. But otherwise, it has not changed for the last 15 years. So, these are just some points, Mdm Speaker, for Mr Ang's consideration.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":" Impact of Potential Rising Interest Rates on Singapore Economy","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"24 Mr Arthur Fong asked the Minister for Trade and Industry in view of an impending rising interest rate environment and tapering of the third round of quantitative easing (QE) in the US (a) what is the prospect for the Singapore economy in terms of export outlook and domestic economic growth; and (b) how will the Ministry help SMEs to adapt and cope with possible higher costs and changes in demand. \t
\tThe Minister for Trade and Industry (Mr Lim Hng Kiang): Mdm Speaker, the tapering of the quantitative easing (QE) programme in the US and subsequent normalisation of interest rates is likely to take place gradually, in tandem with a strengthening of the underlying economic conditions in the US. This is in line with the Federal Reserve's position that the QE tapering will take place only when the economic and labour market outlook in the US has improved.
In this situation, financial markets are likely to adjust to the QE tapering in an orderly manner. The impact on our exports to the US will therefore be small, as US economic growth is not expected to be significantly affected by the tapering. Accordingly, the overall impact of the QE tapering on the Singapore economy is likely to be limited.
Nevertheless, the Government is mindful of the risks of a more disorderly process of QE tapering. In particular, if the QE tapering is done prematurely or if financial markets overreact to the QE tapering leading to a sharp spike in interest rates, the US economy could stall. In this scenario, our exports to the US will be adversely affected. There will also be a sharp pullback in financial markets, which will affect the sentiment-sensitive cluster of our finance sector, including stock broking and fund management activities. These will, in turn, significantly affect our economic growth. However, our assessment is that the risk of such a scenario is low.
Barring the materialisation of downside risks, the main challenge that the eventual QE tapering will pose for businesses in Singapore is the normalisation of the interest rate environment. Due to unprecedented loose global monetary conditions, our domestic interest rates have remained unusually low for the past few years. However, when global monetary conditions start to return to normalcy with the QE tapering and the subsequent rise in US interest rates, domestic interest rates will also rise in tandem. This will, in turn, translate into
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higher borrowing costs for businesses, especially our SMEs.
Businesses should be prepared for the eventual rise in our interest rates, as it will not be prudent for the Government to lower borrowing costs for businesses artificially. Instead, the Government will continue to support our SMEs by helping them to raise their capabilities and productivity so that they can grow their revenue and cope with higher borrowing costs. In addition, to ensure that credit remains accessible to our SMEs, SPRING has schemes, such as the Micro Loan Programme, the Local Enterprise Finance Scheme and the Loan Insurance Scheme.
\tMr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah): Mdm Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister while we are likely to see the unwinding of the quantitative easing in US, we may see another round of quantitative easing in a major economy in Asia which is Japan, which will also be introducing quantitative easing, and the result of which is significant weakening of the Japanese yen.
I would like to ask the Minister whether we would see another source of hot money coming into Singapore because of the QE in Japan, and whether that devaluation of the Japanese yen will lead to competitive devaluation among Asian countries and, therefore, impacting our competitiveness.
\tMr Lim Hng Kiang: Mdm Speaker, the monetary policies of the major developed countries will differ slightly but, overall, the global conditions point to a tightening of monetary policies. That is the gist of my answer – that our SMEs have to be prepared for this normalisation of the interest rate environment.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Tackling Cross-border Human Trafficking","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"25 Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs if he will provide an update on Singapore's partnership with countries within the region to deter the scourge of human trafficking. \t
26 Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs whether the establishment of the INTERPOL Global Complex in Singapore will enhance the regional and inter-government effort to
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reduce and abolish the incidence of cross-border human trafficking.
\tThe Second Minister for Home Affairs (Mr S Iswaran) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs):\tMdm Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 25 and 26 together, please?
Mdm Speaker: Yes, please.
\tMr S Iswaran: Thank you. Madam, Singapore has been working closely with the international community to fight human trafficking, also known as \"Trafficking In Persons\" or TIP.
In 2010, Singapore formed the Inter-Agency Taskforce on TIP, co-chaired by MHA and MOM, to develop and implement whole-of-Government strategies to combat TIP more effectively. In March 2012, Singapore launched a National Plan of Action that maps our strategies and plans to combat TIP.
The TIP Taskforce works closely with overseas law enforcement agencies and embassies of countries that victims may originate from. This close cooperation ensures that reports of trafficking are quickly and thoroughly investigated. Information sharing and upstream enforcement against human traffickers also prevent other innocent victims from being exploited.
Singapore participates in various regional and international efforts to combat TIP, including the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) and its Working Group on Trafficking in Persons. At the operational level, Police attend meetings of the ASEAN Heads of Specialist Units (HSUs) on Trafficking. These are useful platforms for enhancing cooperation and sharing of information among the ASEAN countries. Beyond ASEAN, we also work with partners, such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Group of Friends (GoF) United Against Human Trafficking in New York and Geneva, to find better ways to combat TIP.
The Member has also asked about INTERPOL. Police have been working with INTERPOL to share information on trafficking, as well as offer assistance to investigate into potential TIP cases. Comprising 190 member countries, INTERPOL facilitates international police cooperation even where diplomatic relations do not exist between particular countries. It offers law enforcement agencies opportunities to network and to enhance their capabilities through sharing of information, conducting training workshops, and collaborating on tactical operations. With the establishment of the INTERPOL Global Complex
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for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore, we will have a cutting-edge research and development facility for the identification of crimes and criminals, innovative training, operational support and partnerships, to combat transnational and syndicated crimes, such as human trafficking.
Beyond operational and enforcement issues, MSF works with regional counterparts and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), in providing care and protection to TIP victims. For instance, the voluntary welfare organisation running our TIP shelter collaborates with a network of NGOs in various countries to provide assistance and temporary accommodation to TIP victims upon their return to their home country.
Singapore remains committed to fight TIP in a comprehensive way and also strategically and effectively. Given the complexity and transnational nature of TIP crimes, continued international and regional partnerships are critical to fighting such crimes.
\tMr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): I would like to thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. I have seen some of the views of NGOs. In fact, I spoke with one NGO, made up of Catholic nuns, and they gave me a paper which they did research on, and they came up with some proposals on how to help the accused trafficker. Therefore, would the Ministry be open to more cooperation with impartial NGOs to reach out to the vulnerable ones – vulnerable women and children – because I think it would be easier for them, especially if they are trafficked on vulnerable positions, to speak with a disarming NGO rather than a Government officer who perhaps wants to interview them rather than just receive sharing from these vulnerable people?
The second supplementary question is on legal tools for extra-jurisdictional reach. Many of these are cross-border crimes. Would we be open to creating an Act or a Bill with extra-jurisdictional reach, where the aiding and the abetting of the crime happen overseas?
The third supplementary question is this. The Misuse of Drugs Act is feared in Singapore. And I think we need, in my humble view, something similar in the form of legislature to deter and attack the scourge of human trafficking within ASEAN, especially if it comes through our corridors. Therefore, would there be open consideration for a similar Act, say, an Organised Crime Act, which would go upstream and tackle the people who are actually behind this horrible trade?
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\tMr S Iswaran: Madam, I thank the Member for his detailed suggestions. First, on cooperation with NGOs – I think the Member used the term \"impartial NGOs\". First, in general, there were four prongs in the way we are dealing with this issue, and I want to reiterate them because I think it is noteworthy. It is prevention of the crime; prosecution of the offenders; protection of the victims and partnerships with other countries, embassies and NGOs, the private sector. The Member's suggestion on cooperation with NGOs is, therefore, welcomed. We are open to the idea. We work closely with MSF. Depending on the nature of the proposal and the ideas that are put on the table, I think we can take that discussion forward.
Second, I think the two points are inter-related. The Member's question was whether we would contemplate, given the nature of this crime and given it is transnational, transboundary and organised in nature, and consider an Act, like an Organised Crime Act, and whether we would contemplate extra-jurisdictional reach in that regard. We are studying the merits of the possibility of such an Act for organised crime and we will take into account some of the points the Member has made.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Impact of Personal Data Protection Act on Healthcare Information ","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"27 Dr Janil Puthucheary asked the Minister for Communications and Information (a) to what extent is healthcare-related information affected or excluded by the Personal Data Protection Act; and (b) whether citizens' access to healthcare information about themselves will be affected by this Act. \t
\tThe Minister for Communications and Information (Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Madam, the healthcare sector and healthcare-related information will continue to be regulated by existing laws, such as the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Act. These laws set out data confidentiality and disclosure requirements relating to healthcare information. Medical professionals and healthcare institutions will continue to be subject to existing patient confidentiality requirements. Patients will also continue to be able to request for medical reports about their health status from healthcare institutions, as with current practice.
The Personal Data Protection Act, or the PDPA for short, will not override these existing laws and requirements. The PDPA is a baseline law that ensures a common standard of protection for individuals' personal data across the
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economy, especially in sectors where rules on the management of personal data are currently lacking. For sectors that are already regulated by other laws and regulations, such as the healthcare sector, the PDPA will apply concurrently. Organisations in those sectors will continue to comply with the requirements under their current laws and regulations as well as the PDPA. Where there are cases of inconsistency, the provisions of those other written laws will prevail.
\tDr Janil Puthucheary (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Madam, a supplementary question for the Minister. For third-party providers that are not covered under the healthcare Act and MOH that are collecting information, either IT-providers or phone service providers, there is uncertainty because some of the information is collected in the context of healthcare but is not technical or medical information. Would that information be covered under the Personal Data Protection Act or the existing regulations?
\tAssoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: For third-party providers, in certain cases, depending on what exactly the use of the data is collected for, we have to look at the usage. By and large, it should be covered because you are basically working on instruction of another party to collect the data for certain purposes. Therefore, the individual who is actually giving up the information must be assured that data is collected for that particular purpose. As far as we are concerned, the baseline of the PDPA will prevail across but, if there are exceptions to be made, we have to look at the exceptions because there are exceptions within this threshold.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Guidelines on Visual Materials Shown in Lectures at Tertiary Institutions","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OA","content":"28 Mr Baey Yam Keng asked the Minister for Communications and Information (a) what are the current censorship regulations and guidelines on visual materials, particularly videos, shown as part of lectures in our tertiary institutions; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider providing more leeway so that lecturers can have a wider range of materials to draw upon for illustrative purposes, given that the screening of such materials will be in a controlled and facilitated environment. \t
\tThe Minister of State for Communications and Information (Ms Sim Ann) (for the Minister for Communications and Information): Madam, the Film Act requires that all films and videos that are meant for commercial screening or retail sale should be submitted to the Media
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Development Authority (MDA) for classification. Age-restricted films are also subject to age checks by the cinema operators and retailers. This is necessary to prevent under-aged viewing of mature content, while providing adults with a wider choice of content.
In the case of our tertiary institutions, we recognise that lecturers and students of media or related courses may require access to a wider variety of films, including films that are classified R21. MDA, therefore, provides some leeway to these institutions to screen films for educational purposes, on condition that these films have either been previously classified by the MDA, or prior approval has been sought from the MDA before the films are acquired. These films should be screened either within their library premises, or during lectures and tutorials under the supervision of a lecturer. In addition, our tertiary institutions are required to put in place measures to control the access and movement of their age-restricted materials.
Mdm Speaker: Order. End of Question Time.
[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos 30, 32-33, 35, 38, 41-42, 44, 46-48, 50, 52-67, 69-74 and 76-82 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix. Question Nos 29, 31, 34, 36-37, 39-40, 43, 45, 49, 51, 68 and 75 have been postponed to the next available sitting of Parliament.]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Property Tax (Amendment) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BI","content":"[(proc text) \"to amend the Property Tax Act (Chapter 254 of the 2005 Revised Edition)\", (proc text)]
[(proc text) recommendation of President signified; presented by the Senior Minister of State for Finance (Mrs Josephine Teo); read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available Sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. (proc text)]
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Income Tax (Amendment) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BI","content":"[(proc text) \"to amend the Income Tax Act (Chapter 134 of the 2008 Revised Edition) and to make a consequential amendment to the Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act (Chapter 86 of the 2005 Revised Edition)\", (proc text)]
[(proc text) recommendation of President signified; presented by the Senior Minister of State for Finance (Mrs Josephine Teo); 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":"Jurong Town Corporation (Amendment) Bill","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"BI","content":"[(proc text) \"to amend the Jurong Town Corporation Act (Chapter 150 of the 1998 Revised Edition) and to make consequential amendments to the Urban Redevelopment Authority Act (Chapter 340 of the 1990 Revised Edition)\", (proc text)]
[(proc text) presented by the Minister for Trade and Industry (Mr Lim Hng Kiang); 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":"Adjournment","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"[(proc text) Resolved, \"That, at its rising today, Parliament do stand adjourned to a date to be fixed.\" – [Dr Ng Eng Hen]. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Assistance for Children of Disadvantaged Families","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"The Leader of the House (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mdm Speaker, I beg to move, \"That Parliament do now adjourn.\"
[(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)]
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Dr Lily Neo (Tanjong Pagar): Mdm Speaker, I would like to suggest that this House implement measures to ensure that disadvantaged children, many of whom are from the lowest-income families, receive the assistance they badly need to break free from their predicament and to let our society become stronger and fairer.
John, not his real name, is a 10-year-old Chinese boy who lives in my HDB rental estate. He was born to a single mother and has been cared for by a guardian, his mother's male friend, since he was four. John's mother is and has been in jail for the past six years. John is very much alone; wandering around by himself in the neighbourhood, playing truant from school often and doing poorly in his studies.
Ahmad, not his real name, is a 5-year-old boy who has never attended childcare or pre-school education. He can only respond in his mother tongue and he does not even know the English alphabets. Ahmad has four other younger siblings from one to four years old.
For a long time, Madam, we have adopted the policy that the best way to help our disadvantaged children from lower-income families is to assist them to attain academic achievement in order to climb the social mobility ladder in due course. The same policy also emphasises the motivation for families to encourage hard work and self-help.
I have mentioned earlier only two examples of how children may still be disadvantaged today. The problem here, really, is the social predicaments these children are facing with regard to home environment, peer and neighbourhood influences, as well as parental guidance that have disabled them from benefiting fully from our education system. It appears that children living in poverty benefit less than non-poor children in spite of the same exposure to our education system. Disparities between poor and non-poor children exist from as early as Primary 1.
Ideally, children should not suffer from the unfortunate circumstances into which they are born. They ought to be given special attention and given extra assistance so that they can get the opportunity to break free from being disadvantaged and from remaining in their poverty trap.
I would entreat this House, Mdm Speaker, to set up targeted and encompassing interventions for the disadvantaged children mainly from the lowest income families. Let us implement effective and evidence-based
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interventions early so that families receive the appropriate assistance as early as possible. The three approaches we should adopt are: (1) targeted family support and outreach; (2) early intervention; and (3) parenting programmes.
Targeted family support and outreach. I would like to suggest that we identify and intervene very early on the families that need special attention. The purpose is to assist young disadvantaged children who do not have the same level of support or are unable to benefit from the same opportunities as others. Targeted interventions should be designed and used to identify problems early and prevent them from recurring. There should be a range of interventions that is able to provide support for differing and varying types of needs of families. Family support encompasses a range of assistance with the purpose of strengthening families and promoting the well-being of their children. Families needing this kind of support include those with single mothers, unemployed fathers, families in poverty, broken families without adequate housing, disabled children and those with special educational needs.
A child's physical, social and cognitive development during his/her early years strongly influences his or her school-readiness and educational attainment, economic participation and health. Evidence has shown that development of early cognitive ability is strongly associated with educational success, higher income and better health later in life. The early years are also important for the development of non-cognitive skills, such as application, self-regulation, resilience and empathy. These are the emotional and social capabilities that enable children to make and sustain positive relationships and succeed both in school and in later life. High-quality provision at this age has a long lasting impact on a child's chances.
Key research findings strongly indicated that outreach is an essential factor in ensuring that intervention and support can be targeted at the most vulnerable families in the community. Family support can be informal or therapeutic, reactive when parents are struggling or anticipatory in order to prevent problems from arising in the first place.
May I suggest that we identify the lowest income families and the children that can potentially be disadvantaged from as early as at the time of birth registration? This would pre-empt our losing track of these children and only meeting them at Primary 1, which is the current status for far too many children. The aim is to follow up on such families with specially assigned social workers and to offer assistance to those who have less than favourable home environments. These families receive more individualised support in a holistic
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way so as to spot and to tackle emerging difficulties.
Targeting parental risk factors, as well as child outcomes, reduces the risk of problems being passed on to children as they grow up. We need to provide guidance and support to the parents for better home environments. Some of these families may need extra assistance, such as domestic violence, anger control, drug abuse, alcohol problem, medical care and divorces, all of which increase the risk of poor children outcomes.
The problems experienced by some children and families may respond to a single intervention, others will require longer-term support and some may also be complex. It is, therefore, crucial that a continuum of support and communication can be provided and with the resources to meet the specific needs at a particular time. I hope that such provisions can be created and sustained with the implementation of the right policy.
Early intervention. According to Nobel Prize-winning economist Prof James Heckman of The University of Chicago, early interventions \"promote schooling, raise the quality of the workforce, enhance the productivity of schools and reduce crime, teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency\".
Recent research in neuroscience, developmental psychology, economics and other fields suggest that the earliest years of life may be a particularly promising time to intervene in the lives of low-income children. Mdm Speaker, special attention and assistance given in the first few years of children's lives lead to better economic, social and emotional benefits later on for both individuals and for society as a whole.
In UK, it was found that high-quality early education is crucial to making a difference in achievements of children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, since an overwhelming majority of children who had a good level of development in the foundation years go on to achieve well in later stages of learning. Intervening earlier with troubled families not only prevents children and their parents from falling into cycles of deprivation, anti-social behaviour and poverty but also saves thousands, if not, millions in the longer term. In fact, studies of early childhood education programmes typically find that disadvantaged children benefit much more from these interventions than do non-poor children.
Our Government sees the importance of early childhood education and has amended and improved this sector recently. I feel that it is very crucial that the
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disadvantaged children get the proposed high-quality childcare and pre-school education as well as the subsequent after-school care. Thus, vulnerable children should be given subsidised pre-school education and, furthermore, a certain number of such pre-school education places should be reserved for them.
Parenting programmes. Parents have the most significant influence on children, and parenting has profound consequences for their children's lives in the future. Training in parenting skills should be facilitated for vulnerable families in order to improve the well-being and behaviour of their children.
Some families in difficulty may need personalised assistance in psychological counselling for stress and depression, medical care, difficulty with their children's behaviour, strained relationships and financial assistance. These families can benefit from better social skills, self-efficacy and self-confidence. The assigned social workers for these families will need to collaborate with different agencies to provide the correct solutions. Whilst our Government has always emphasised the virtue of self-reliance, exceptions have to be considered for those families who need that extra help and funding from the Government. The purpose in assisting such families is to achieve a more conducive environment for their children. This will ensure healthier subsequent stages of their children's development.
These families will need continued follow-up unless there is a change for the better in the home environment. This may mean following these families for their children to go through from their Primary 1 education to their Secondary school education. A specifically assigned social worker for such children will ensure familiarity and continuum of family service.
The link between reducing child impoverishment and parental employment is strong. In UK, a survey had shown that the risk of relative impoverishment for a child in a workless household is 53%. This falls to 7% for households in which all adults work.
May I suggest that our Government enable better opportunities for the parents of these families to increase their skills level? This can help them progress to sustainable employment. Some of them may have complex needs, especially non-working mothers who are furthest away from the labour market. They need a hands-on approach by social workers in meeting their needs and in pre-employment training. These may include improving literacy and numeracy skills and confidence building. Poverty alone is not a block to good parenting but low levels of literacy, numeracy and confidence are. Such parents
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need convincing that they can bring real and lasting benefits to their children.
Our Government, Mdm Speaker, firmly believes that every child should have the chance to succeed, regardless of his or her background. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shamugaratnam had said that more must be done to level opportunities for young children in Singapore. He said, and I quote, \"intervene early, intervene upstream, not downstream\".
Inter-Ministry collaboration. In recognising the value of prevention and early interventional benefits, I now beseech our Government for the creation and provision of inter-Ministry collaboration and communication, with the clarity of purpose and the determination to make improvements for families in need over the immediate and long term. The relevant Ministries are: MSF for welfare, childcare and parenting programme, MOE for educational needs and after-school care, MND for housing needs, MOM for job upgrading and matching and MHA for the well-being of adolescent children.
According to an MHA report, there were 1,535 juveniles arrested in Singapore in 2012. MHA believes in early intervention to seek and to identify pre-delinquents or youths in order to correct their behavioural or criminal tendencies before delinquency results.
In four decades of research into the origins of violent behaviour, Prof Richard Tremblay of the University of Montreal has found solid evidence that the most aggressive and violent adolescents did not become more violent in their adolescent years. They were already very violent at age six and had much higher levels of violence than other children of the same age at age three. Those who have not learnt to control their aggressive reactions by the time they enter the school system enter a vicious cycle of negative interactions, where rejection from their peers, because of their aggressive behaviour, leads to more aggression.
Thus, with a policy for collaboration and communication between Ministries in place, early intervention and follow-up of such children will be possible with better outcomes. The Scandinavian countries consistently lead international comparisons in terms of child welfare and general well-being. Recognising the value of prevention and early intervention programmes, in the last 20-30 years, these countries have increased investment in such channels. International research suggests that the most successful programmes tend to share common characteristics: they target specific populations; they are intensive, they focus on behaviour, they include both parents and children and
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they stay faithful to their programmes.
Community volunteers. Volunteers from the community are an invaluable resource that should be tapped. I would like to illustrate an example in my constituency which is set up by my grassroots volunteers and completely run by generous donors and volunteers from the community. It is called CATCH, which stands for Children And Teens Community Hub. This centre is situated at Jalan Kukoh RC. This centre has more than 100 participating members ranging from age six to 16 years from nine blocks of HDB rental flats. Sponsored full-time staff supervise these children daily. CATCH members can come daily to this centre for their tuition, school-work supervision, computer classes, games and indoor activities. These children get free meals and snacks daily, sponsored by food catering companies. Their tuition classes are conducted free-of-charge by tertiary students of NUS and Singapore Polytechnic. Local parents in financial difficulty that assist in this centre get allowances to support their families. The grassroots volunteers take turns to take the children out for outings and outdoor sports.
I hope that MSF will facilitate the setting up more of such avenues towards building social support networks for families and children, where communities can come together to contribute and make a difference for the better in the lives of others.
Madam, I would like to end by quoting what the Prime Minister said at the National Day Rally, \"Today, the situation has changed. If we rely too heavily on the individual, their efforts alone will not be enough, especially among the vulnerable, like the lower-income families, like the elderly. There are some things which individuals cannot do on their own, and there are some things which we can do much better together. So, we must shift the balance, the community and the Government will have to do more to support individuals\". Thank you, Prime Minister, for saying that.
Thus, let me entreat this House to take this initiative today to intervene early and assist the vulnerable children and ensure that they do not fall into the perpetuating cycles of deprivation. Let the children have a good start in life. Help them to level up and to achieve a better future. [Applause]
The Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Chan Chun Sing): Mdm Speaker, let me first thank Dr Lily Neo for speaking on behalf of
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our children, especially those with special needs and from the disadvantaged backgrounds. MSF agrees with many of the points made by Dr Lily Neo. Let me in the next few minutes share with this House the principles in the design of our social service system in order to meet some of the aspirations stated by Dr Lily Neo. These three key principles that we always abide by are equity, efficacy and efficiency.
Let me start by sharing on the design principles of equity. Our belief is that we must provide more for those with less. We do not want to apply universal subsidy because we have found this to be wasteful and not targeted. I will give some examples of how we target our help to those with the least. These include Public Assistance, but specifically, for children and for children with special needs, we have a tiered subsidy framework to help the children from disadvantaged backgrounds more. For example, in our childcare subsidy, we have targeted our help to the bottom two-thirds of our entire population base while everyone in the population enjoy a baseline subsidy. At the lowest end of the curve, a family earning about $1,000 or so, can send their child to a childcare centre at $3 per month, and, very often, many VWO hosts would even raise this amount of money to help out the families with the least.
On the other hand, we have also made sure that for every child that is sent to a childcare centre, the family would not need to pay more than 10% of their household income for a mass market option, which is why we are working very hard to expand the mass market option childcare centres available to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Let me share more about the principles of efficacy through integration, and efficiency through integration, which are what Dr Lily Neo has mentioned. There are five aspects of our integration that we would like to talk about in the design of our social service system to help those with the least. The first is the integration of programming. We want to provide holistic and multi-dimensional help, as alluded to by Dr Lily Neo. We know that many of these needs are, indeed, multi-dimensional – they do not just require financial help – very often they require help in healthcare, housing, employment, social-emotional support and family support.
We know that such complex problems will require multiple agencies to come together and this is one of the reasons why we have implemented the Social Service Office across the entire island to make sure that we link up different Government agencies to provide the help as a package to the families in need. We acknowledge that we can do more and we want to do more. We are working with various agencies now to roll out a Vulnerable Family Pilot
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Programme towards the later part of this year, whereby we can pool different agencies' resources together to focus the help on those families who are most in need.
The second aspect of integration has to do with the integration of the different stakeholders' roles. And we agree fully with Dr Lily Neo that the role of the community is as important in the support of these families in need. This is the reason why MSF has started the Family Matters! initiative which encompasses Family Matters at work, in school, community and business. We want Family Life Education to permeate every aspect of society. We also want our VWOs to reach out upstream to the families most in need. For example, I am very happy to see that agencies like the CDAC have started programmes to help families in need and they cater time for these families in need to attend those programmes because many of them are working and the time slots when they can attend such programmes may not be the conventional ones that we are used to.
Nothing can replace the role of parents and their immediate families. And for many of the examples that the Member has mentioned, indeed, we want to provide more help for the parents of these children to be able to take care of their own families, to have a stable environment so that their children can benefit from that stable environment and progress in their education. Because without proper education and healthcare, they will be disadvantaged in time to come and a vicious cycle will set in.
The third aspect of integration is exactly the integration across time. We want to do much more in terms of upfront prevention and upfront intervention. For example, in the pre-school sector, we have various initiatives to make sure that we target our help to those students in need as early as possible. This includes having the Pre-school Opportunity Fund that helps VWOs to improve the programmes that they are able to roll out to some of these children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
We also have the Integrated Childcare Programme that provides children with mild learning disability, focused attention. Currently, we have 17 centres with more than 100 places around the island. For children who need more, we have the Developmental Support Programme. Currently, we have this rolled out in 239 centres offering almost 1,000 places.
For children with even more severe needs, we have the EIPIC Programme with 17 centres and over 2,000 places. But for other children who come from
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low-income family background and who may not speak English as their natural language, we have the Focused Language Assistance in Reading Programme to be rolled out in various pre-schools to help them level up their literacy and reading skills before they reach Primary school.
The fourth aspect of integration is what I call the integration of our five-ring social service chain. I call this the five-ring social service chain because it encompasses the communities, the SSOs, the FSCs, the specialist centres and institutions as a last resort. Let me go through each of them in detail.
First, the local community and the grassroots organisations. These are especially important for us to build that community to care for those families who live in the community and who have special needs. One of the reasons why we have been able to reduce the people not attending pre-school from 5% many years back to less than 1% now is because of the active participation of the grassroots leaders to go and seek out the children who are not attending pre-school, provide them with the help and make the effort to let them join pre-schools and even sponsor some of their needs as well.
The second ring of our five-ring social service chain has to do with our forward deployment of Social Service Officers into the communities, enhanced with the local planning teams. The role of these local planning teams is to integrate the efforts across the various Government agencies so that we can provide the consolidated package of help to the families in need. And this will include help from HDB on housing needs, MOE for financial assistance in the schools, social assistance from MSF and other agencies.
Now, beyond relying on the grassroots organisations and the SSOs, we are also expanding the capacity of our Family Service Centres. We intend to increase the number of Family Service Centres from the current 40 to 50 in about two to three years' time. Beyond the Family Service Centres who are providing care for the complex cases, we also have specialist centres like TRANS and PAVE – these are centres that provide specialist help to families in need, for example, for cases of spousal abuse or elderly neglect. As a last resort, we will have national institutions to house some of these children who might be in distress. But we really want this to be a last resort.
From the research done by other countries, the best environment for children is still to live in the community, if possible, to live in a homely environment; which is why we are trying to enlarge the Foster Parent Scheme so that children from distress families can have a proper home environment to
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grow up in, in the community rather than spending their time in and out of institutions that are run by the Government agencies.
So, this is what we want to do better to integrate our whole social service chain – the five rings of our social service chain that starts from the grassroots organisation to the Social Service Offices, to the Family Service Centres, specialist centres and to the institutions.
The last aspect of our integration is the integration of the backroom. This is where we are paying a lot of attention to the development of our social service IT Masterplan. The IT Masterplan provides a few important roles for the social service sector. The first is that it frees up the capacity for our social service professionals to focus their work on touching lives at the front end.
I shared just now that a typical social service worker may spend up to 40% of his or her time doing administrative work, trying to fill up the forms and trying to write up the case notes. If we are able to get this system up, essentially, we are almost able to double the capacity of our social service professionals with the existing number.
The second thing that this Social Service IT Masterplan does is that it will help us to share the data across different agencies, which means that somebody living at Bedok, if they move to Jurong, the case file can be transferred like the medical records, to the Family Service Centre that is operating out from Jurong, without having the need for the family in distress to redo all his administration again.
The last thing that this IT system seeks to do is to allow us to use data to drive current and forward planning and we aim to have all the VWOs on board. There is a lot of data out there that we can harness to plan for our future social services. For example, in the current rollout of the Social Service Office, as we roll out the number of centres across the entire island, we are using the exact data that we have to site it where we need it most.
Mdm Speaker: Minister, as your time is about to expire, would you like to wrap up your speech?
Mr Chan Chun Sing: So, in conclusion, Mdm Speaker, there is much more that we would like to do for the needy, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special needs. We are very keenly aware that we are not dealing with statistics, we are dealing with people's lives and
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we must always act in the best interests of the child, be it in the case of marital conflict, divorce proceedings or fights over a child's custody. But we cannot do this alone. We cannot rely on policies and institutions alone. We need everybody to join hands and open our hearts and open perhaps our homes to some of these children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Most importantly, we need quality and quantity manpower and this is where we would like to put in much more effort to attract Singaporeans to come and join us.
Finally, we cannot just manage today's problem. We also have to build capacities for tomorrow's challenges and this is an area where MSF is working hard on, using the data we have now to forecast the needs that we will need in about five to 10 years' time. Some of these challenges will include the children from cross-cultural marriages and this will be a topic that we will delve into in future. Thank you, Mdm Speaker.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":"Matter Raised On Adjournment Motion","questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Mr Lee Kuan Yew's Ninetieth Birthday","subTitle":"Statement by Leader of the House","sectionType":"OS","content":"The Leader of the House (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mdm Speaker and Members of this House, thank you for allowing me to say a few words before Parliament adjourns on this special occasion. I say it is special because, today, 16 September 2013, is the ninetieth birthday of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding Prime Minister.
An amazing fact is that Mr Lee has been a Member of this country's legislature for 58 years since 1955, when he was elected into the first Legislative Assembly of Singapore, Parliament's predecessor. Singapore then was not even yet independent and still a colony. On length of service alone, 58 years is a remarkable record. But it is what Mr Lee has accomplished for Singapore over that lifetime of service and struggle that is astonishing and without peer. I would not recount these accomplishments today. It is not possible to do so in a few minutes, and any attempt would commit an injustice.
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But I would, on behalf of all Members, express our profound admiration and gratitude on Mr Lee's birthday. Shakespeare wrote, \"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them\".
Singapore was not born into greatness but hardship and poverty. Mr Lee, through his singular mission and dedication, steered this country to Independence and laid the very foundations that transformed Singapore into a modern and thriving metropolis. He led and forged a nation which, today, is admired worldwide for its prosperity, harmony and stability. In lifting an entire nation and improving countless lives of Singaporeans of several generations, Mr Lee Kuan Yew has left a lasting legacy to all of us and achieved greatness.
Mdm Speaker and Members of this House are delighted and honoured to be able to share this special occasion on his ninetieth birthday with Mr Lee in this House and he has made special efforts to be in this House and, I think, against the doctor's advice. All Members wish him happiness and continued good health. Happy Birthday!
[(proc text) Hon Members rose to their feet and applauded. (proc text)]
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":" ","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"OS","content":"Mdm Speaker: Order. The time allowed for the proceedings has expired.
[(proc text) The Question having been proposed at 4.02 pm and the Debate having continued for half an hour, Mdm Speaker adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order. (proc text)]
Adjourned accordingly at 4.32 pm
to a date to be fixed.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"On-site Location of Childcare Services at Government Buildings","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"
30 Mr Alex Yam Ziming asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) how many Ministries and Statutory Boards provide in-house childcare or infant care services currently; (b) whether the Ministry will consider asking all Government agencies to pro-actively provide for such services; and (c) whether the Government will take the lead to incorporate such services into new Government buildings.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) engages Ministries and Statutory Boards, including those in new buildings, to facilitate the setting up of workplace childcare centres. It also provides development grants, as well as furnishing and equipment grants, for the development of the centres. Today, about half of our Ministries and Statutory Boards have childcare centres located within their premises.
In assessing the feasibility of childcare centres in their buildings, organisations consider factors, such as demand from employees, availability of suitable space and premises and existing childcare services in the vicinity. ECDA will continue to promote the development of workplace childcare centres, in both Government and commercial buildings, to meet the needs of working parents.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Plans for Raising Total Fertility Rate","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"32 Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Prime Minister in order to raise our total fertility rate (TFR) to 2.0, what is the ideal number of children that each married Singaporean woman should have, and what plans does the Ministry have to achieve this.
Mr Teo Chee Hean (for the Prime Minister): A total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.1 is needed for each generation to replace itself. At current singlehood rates, each married citizen woman would need to have 2.43 children on average for
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Singapore to have a TFR of 2.1. In 2012, married citizen women in the 40-49 age group had 1.99 children on average.
While more Singaporeans are staying single, marrying later and having fewer children, marriage and parenthood aspirations remain strong. The National Population and Talent Division's 2012 survey found that over 80% of Singaporeans want to marry and have two or more children.
Supporting Singaporeans in achieving their aspirations to marry and start families is a key Government priority. We enhanced the Marriage & Parenthood (M&P) Package earlier this year by
(a) Making it easier for married couples to obtain housing to support earlier marriages and births;
(b) Defraying medical costs relating to conception and delivery;
(c) Further defraying child-raising costs, including childcare and healthcare costs;
(d) Helping working parents to balance work and family commitments; and
(e) Introducing paternity and shared parental leave to encourage fathers to play a bigger role in parenting.
The Social Development Network (SDN) creates opportunities for social interaction and reaches out to 130,000 singles.
Beyond the M&P Package, MSF has committed $40 million under the Family Matters! Initiative to support family life education. People-sector organisations, such as I Love Children, also play an important role in encouraging Singaporeans to consider family as central to our lives.
I encourage everyone – as family members, friends, colleagues and employers – to help foster a pro-family culture and encourage those around us to prioritise marriage and parenthood as important life goals.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Relevance of Admission into Gifted Education Programme for Direct School Admission into Secondary Schools","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"33 Mr Hri Kumar Nair asked the Minister for Education to what extent will a student's acceptance into the Gifted Education Programme be relevant under the proposed new Direct School Admission scheme.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: The Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme seeks to promote holistic education by recognising a more diverse range of student strengths, abilities and achievements, other than performance at the national examinations, as criteria for school admission.
A student's acceptance into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) is not in and of itself a sufficient criterion for admission via DSA. They are still subject to merit-based admissions criteria set by the respective schools.
Some schools consider student achievements in the GEP, for example, their achievements in academic competitions and participation in special projects.
This is no different from recognising students for their sports talent, demonstrated in their passion in training, their achievement in sports competitions, and/or their ability to be selected for and remain part of their respective national junior sports team.
MOE will broaden the DSA scheme to take into account personal qualities and attributes, such as character and resilience. Details will be announced in due course.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Safety and Security in Areas Close to Foreign Worker Dormitories","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"35 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs what are the measures taken to (i) ensure the safety and security of residents living in housing estates that are within close proximity to foreign worker dormitories; and (ii) minimise disturbances to residents when they congregate at void decks and spaces within the housing
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estate.
Mr Teo Chee Hean: Foreign workers complement our local workforce and contribute to our economy. The vast majority of foreign workers is law-abiding and come to Singapore to earn an honest living and support their families back home. The Government understands Singaporeans' concerns over potential disamenities and possible impact on safety and security where there are large congregations of foreign workers, especially near residential estates. There is an inter-agency effort underway to address this issue, with the implementation of various measures to address these concerns. They include providing for workers recreational needs, stepping up the presence of uniformed officers, involving foreign workers themselves in crime prevention, and educating foreign workers on Singapore's laws and social norms.
First, we require dormitory operators to provide social and recreational amenities within dormitories. We also set aside land near clusters of dormitories for recreation centres for foreign workers. One such centre is the Singapore Contractor Association Ltd (SCAL) Recreation Centre at Soon Lee Road in Jurong. These facilities cater to the workers' recreational and social needs outside of work.
Second, the Government deploys Auxiliary Police Officers and Security Officers in areas with high concentrations of foreign workers. These officers conduct foot patrols in foreign worker congregation areas to assuage residents' security concerns, help detect and deter crime, enforce against anti-social behaviour, such as spitting and littering, and improve the safety and security of residents living in housing estates close to foreign worker dormitories. Since October 2012, CCTVs were also deployed at 20 foreign worker congregation hotspots to complement the patrols, as a pilot to test the effectiveness of CCTVs in managing congregations.
Third, we involve foreign workers in crime prevention through the Foreign Workers Ambassador Programme. Reliable foreign workers are identified and trained on crime prevention, so that they can share this knowledge with fellow workers. This programme has been implemented in various foreign worker dormitories and was also recently implemented in Nee Soon, where the ambassadors assist to mediate disputes which arise amongst workers, to maintain peace and order in the dormitories. Some foreign workers also volunteer with the Citizens-on-Patrol (COP) groups to spread crime-prevention messages within the foreign worker community. For example, the Toh Guan Patriots is a group of 30 foreign worker volunteers who assist in relaying crime
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prevention messages and advice against anti-social behaviour to other foreign workers in their neighbourhood.
Fourth, the Government educates foreign workers on Singapore's laws and social norms through regular roadshows and training courses.
The Government will continue to work together with all stakeholders in the community to maintain safety and security, and reduce any social disamenities that may arise in housing estates located near to foreign worker dormitories.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Singapore Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation's Status as National Sports Association","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"38 Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth in view of the revocation of Singapore Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation's status as a national sports association (a) what is the direction forward for professionals and amateurs involved in the sport and what kind of support will be available for them; (b) currently, will the athletes be able to represent Singapore at regional and international competitions; and (c) will the Singapore Sports Council be involved in planning any remedial actions so that considerations can be made to reinstate their status.
Mr Lawrence Wong: National Sports Associations (NSAs) are responsible for representing the interests of their sport and their athletes. In the case of the Singapore Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (SBBF), despite repeated interventions by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) to help address the series of administrative lapses and doping infractions, the NSA has failed to fulfil its obligations as the governing body for bodybuilding. SSC has, therefore, assessed that the SBBF does not have the capability or the credibility to remain as the NSA for bodybuilding and has decided to revoke its NSA status.
SSC and the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) are in discussion with parties that have the potential to represent the interests of the bodybuilding fraternity and support its athletes in the capacity of an NSA. When the new NSA is formed, SSC will work with it to develop the sport and support the athletes.
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Despite the revocation of the NSA status, bodybuilding athletes can still participate in regional and international bodybuilding competitions through their respective bodybuilding sports clubs, which are affiliated to the regional and international federations organising these events. For major games, such as Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games, if there are bodybuilding athletes selected by the SNOC to represent Singapore at these Major Games, then the SNOC and SSC will directly oversee the training and preparation of these athletes.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Anti-littering Patrols in Tanjong Rhu Area","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"41 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources whether there are plans to step up anti-littering patrols in the Tanjong Rhu area on weekends.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Since August 2013, NEA has stepped up its enforcement efforts at two park connectors lining the banks of Marina Reservoir, namely Geylang Park Connector and Tanjong Rhu Promenade. This is to address the behaviour of irresponsible park users and joggers who litter near the benches, leaving behind food waste, empty cans and bottles despite adequate bins in the area. NEA has observed that much of the littering occurs between late at night and early morning on weekends and will focus its enforcement efforts there.
Our parks are meant for everyone's enjoyment and it is important that we all do our part to help keep our parks clean. Besides not littering themselves, park users should also actively discourage others from littering. We must create a norm where litterbugs are made to feel unwelcome for their anti-social behaviour. This way, we will be better able to arrest the problem of litterbugs.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Waiting List for HDB Subsidised Rental Flats","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"42 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the current number of applicants on the waiting list for
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HDB subsidised rental flats; and (b) when will this waiting list be cleared.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: There are 1,900 registered applicants on the waiting list for public rental flats. On average, the applicants will be allocated a flat within 7.5 months. However, the actual waiting time for each applicant differs, depending on the zone selected, the choice of flat type, as well as the EIP quota for the block and the neighbourhood.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"MUIS' Administration of Haj and Korban Activities","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"44 Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap asked the Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs in view of the Report of the Auditor General for FY12/13 (a) what are the reasons for the failure to refund Haj administration fees to the 2,369 applicants who cancelled their applications; (b) with regard to the tender called by MUIS in 2007 and 2010 for the supply of korban sheep and ancillary services (i) what is the basis for the contract to be awarded even though the selected vendor did not fulfil some of the mandatory criteria; (ii) what are the reasons behind the irregularities found in the tender process; and (iii) whether the principles of transparency, and open and fair competition have been properly adhered to during the process.
Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: MUIS collects Hajj administration fees to cover related operational costs, including the cost to send a Hajj Mission comprising doctors, nurses and Assistant Pilgrim Officers, to provide medical and welfare services to our pilgrims at the holy land.
Every year, MUIS sends out notification letters to registrants to confirm if they would like to perform Hajj that year. If they do not respond to the first notification, MUIS tries to contact them again to find out if they would like to defer their Hajj or cancel their registrations so that refunds can be made. However, the response rate has been poor, resulting in the accumulation of fees collected over the years.
MUIS has tightened the management of its Hajj administration fees. In 2010, the Hajj rules were amended to allow registrants to defer their chosen pilgrimage year only once, as compared to previously where MUIS would allow multiple deferments or the continued roll-over of the registration if there was
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no response from registrants. Under the new rules, the registration will be cancelled after one deferment and the Hajj administration fees, less $50 for MUIS' administration cost, will be refunded if their registration is cancelled.
MUIS will publish a notice in the newspapers to inform registrants whose registrations have been cancelled. MUIS will also list their names on the Government portal for unclaimed monies (www.unclaimedmonies.gov.sg). For registrants who have passed on, MUIS will refund the fees to their next-of-kin, whom MUIS will reach via the last known addresses of the deceased applicants.
There is no active livestock sector in Singapore. We have to import livestock in modest numbers once a year for Korban during Hari Raya Haji. It is a religious rite that can only be carried out over a very short window period, making quality and delivery of the livestock crucial.
MUIS undertakes the procurement of livestock for Korban by an open tender in Gebiz (Government procurement portal) for the procurement of the Approved Korban Vendor. As Singapore is a very small market, only very few vendors have come forward to bid for the tender to supply sheep for Korban. Two vendors put in bids in 2007 and only one in 2010.
One of the items which MUIS had previously specified as mandatory was the \"Service Plan Representation Sheet\", a document which should contain various details, such as the vendor's source of financing and identification of risk factors. While the intent was to ensure that the vendors were able to deliver quality livestock for Korban, MUIS notes on hindsight that it may not have been practical for vendors to submit such detailed information by the tender closing date. MUIS has since reviewed the mandatory requirements at the tender submission stage and simplified the tender requirements.
Korban is carried out in mosques. The cost of ancillary services in the Auditor-General's report refers to the mosques' operation costs which include costs of tentage and other logistics. This was derived based solely on cost recovery.
I am assured that the principles of transparency and open and fair competition had been adhered to. Nonetheless, MUIS acknowledges there are areas for improvement and will continue to work on strengthening its processes.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Engaging Companies to Tackle Transnational Haze Problem","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"46 Assoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources in tackling the root causes of the transnational haze problem (a) whether the Ministry has engaged, and to what outcomes, Singapore and Singapore-based companies in the palm oil industry on responsible plantation practices; and (b) whether the Ministry can consider imposing environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting requirements and chain of custody certification requirements on these companies as part of their licence to operate in Singapore.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Assoc Prof Eugene Tan has correctly identified that the root cause of the transboundary haze problem is a commercial one. Errant companies have been clearing land on their concessions through illegal burning because it is the cheapest way to do so. There has been inadequate enforcement to stop them, even though it is clearly against the laws of Indonesia.
As Members would recall, MFA had formally sought clarification from Indonesia, through a diplomatic note, on whether Singapore-linked companies are involved in illegal land clearing practices in Indonesia. MFA also requested that Indonesia provide any evidence of wrong-doing that Indonesia has. We are still awaiting Indonesia's response. If there is credible and usable evidence that Singapore-owned companies or companies operating in Singapore are involved, we intend to take further steps against these errant companies. Of course, the primary responsibility for taking action against these companies still lies with Indonesia, where they are allegedly conducting such illegal activities.
On our part, as my Cabinet colleagues and I have mentioned before, Singapore is also considering legislation to enhance the penalties for companies that embark on irresponsible actions that damage the environment, affect public health adversely and cause transboundary effects. Such legislation will not be easy to draft but we hope to send a clear and unequivocal signal to all companies that this type of behaviour is not acceptable and governments are going to hold them accountable for such misconduct. My Ministry is engaging companies and discussing with them ways to further strengthen environmentally sustainable practices.
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This leads to Assoc Prof Eugene Tan's question on the issue of imposing environmental, social and governance reporting requirements and chain of custody certification requirements on companies as part of their licence to operate in Singapore.
We believe that the entire value chain has to adopt sustainable practices as a feasible and a viable way of doing business. Ideally, companies should see responsible cultivation as a competitive advantage, as a growing number of consumers will demand sustainably-produced goods over time. There are already some positive signs that industry is self-organising towards this goal.
For example, I commend the Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility for its work to promote sustainability reporting by all major companies. It has recently organised a stakeholder consultation on sustainable agriculture business principles. The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is also exploring initiatives on sustainable agriculture, with the overall objective to reduce the occurrence of haze – not just for Singaporeans' sake, but also for the health of residents who live around the land clearing areas. I understand that SBF is planning to organise an Asia Pacific Sustainability Leadership forum for key industry players interested in sustainable development, and that a plenary session concerning haze has been planned. Such initiatives should be encouraged and supported. We, as consumers, must also do our part to encourage this by purchasing sustainable products.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Economic Cost of Haze Occurrence in June 2013","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"47 Mr R Dhinakaran asked the Prime Minister (a) whether the Government has calculated an estimated economic cost to Singapore and companies here due to the haze episode in June 2013; and (b) whether there was a loss of productivity due to employees being unable to perform their duties effectively.
Dr Ng Eng Hen (for the Prime Minister): As the haze affects all of Singapore, there will be an adverse economic impact. Studies have shown that the tourism sector, and other sectors which rely on outdoor activities, are the most affected by haze.
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When the period of haze lasted as long as it did in 1997, the costs due to forgone revenue and loss of productivity were estimated at up to S$318.6 million1. In this recent episode, the actual number of days when the PSI level was unhealthy was limited as Singapore alerted the Indonesians to the problem as soon as we experienced hazy conditions. The actions of the Indonesians and favourable winds reduced the potential economic impact of the haze. As a result, absenteeism rates did not rise significantly during the week of the haze, and businesses did not experience a sharp drop in activity. However, our polyclinics did see an increase in visits for haze-related conditions2.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":["1 : Two sets of estimates of the economic cost of the 1997 haze can be found in \"Indonesia's Fires and Haze: The Cost of Catastrophe\", by Priscilla M. L. Hon (1998) and in \"The Economic and Social Cost of the 1997 Fires\", by Euston Quah (1999). Of the two, Quah's estimates are more widely quoted. Quah cites S$318.6m as the upper bound estimate of the direct costs of the 1997 haze. The upper bound of the estimated total economic cost of the haze (direct and indirect) is cited by Quah as S$425m. More details about the two sets of estimates can be found in the Supp Info.","2 : Asthma, Bronchitis, Emphysema, Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTI), Acute Conjunctivitis, Acute Myocardial Infarction and Ischaemic Heart Disease (AMI and IHD)."],"footNoteQuestions":["47"],"questionNo":"47"},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Impact of New BTO Flats in Yishun Area on Public Transport Loads","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"48 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Transport with many new BTO flats coming up in the Yishun area, what is the expected increase in commuters taking public transport in the next four years.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: LTA takes HDB's staging plans for BTO projects into account when planning Singapore's land transport system. For the Yishun area, there is an expected 20% increase in completed public housing dwelling units from 2013 to 2016. We expect ridership on trains and buses to increase in tandem, and have put in place plans to enhance the capacity of public transport in the area.
For instance, we will increase rail capacity by 30% along the north-south corridor over the next few years, with 13 more trains entering service on the
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North-South and East-West Lines by 2014 and a further 28 trains by 2016. The signalling system for the North-South Line will also be upgraded by 2016, which will reduce waiting times between trains during peak periods to 100 seconds from 120 seconds today. The Thomson Line, starting from 2019, will significantly expand capacity further along the north-south corridor and connect commuters to five other MRT lines when fully opened. Where necessary, we will also introduce new bus services or re-route existing ones to ensure that bus capacity remains adequate.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"HDB Estates Selected for Home Improvement Programme (HIP)","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"50 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for National Development (a) on average, how many estates are selected for upgrading each year since the introduction of the Home Improvement Programme (HIP); (b) to date, what is the number of flats eligible for HIP and still awaiting implementation; and (c) whether the Ministry will further increase the momentum of the HIP for HDB estates.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The Home Improvement Programme (HIP) was introduced in 2007. Since then, 119 projects have been selected for implementation. This is an average of 17 projects each year. In total, over 100,000 flats in 943 blocks have been selected.
Two hundred and seven projects covering about 200,000 flats are awaiting selection for HIP. We have stepped up the pace of HIP to 28 projects a year. If budget permits, we will further step up to 35 HIP projects to benefit 35,000 flats each year from next year onwards.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Utilisation of Medisave for Treatment of Chronic Diseases","subTitle":"From 2009 to 2013","sectionType":"WANA","content":"52 Mr Png Eng Huat asked the Minister for Health from 2009 to date (a) what is the number of Singaporeans who have used up their annual Medisave withdrawal limit for the treatment of chronic diseases by September of each year; and (b) what is the age profile of these Singaporeans.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: Use of Medisave for outpatient treatment under the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) is subject to an annual limit per Medisave account, which was raised from $300 to $400 on 1 January 2012. The annual limit is reviewed regularly to help Singaporeans pay for basic healthcare needs.
The number of patients benefiting from Medisave use for CDMP conditions grew from 97,000 in 2009 to 149,000. Close to 90% of them were subsidised patients, of which 20% or about 26,000 patients fully utilised the annual limit in 2012. This was lower than the average of about 28% from 2009 to 2011. The proportion of patients who fully utilised the limit was similar across the ages.
Patients who visited the polyclinics for treatment of CDMP conditions incurred an annual bill of $200 on average, well within the annual withdrawal limit. Patients whose conditions are more complex may need specialist outpatient care and incur higher bills. Patients can also tap up to 10 Medisave accounts of their immediate family members if their annual bill exceeds the withdrawal limit. For subsidised patients with financial difficulties, they can also apply for assistance under Medifund. To further help this group of patients better afford their treatment, MOH will be increasing the subsidies at the Specialist Outpatient Clinics for the lower- and middle-income. More details will be released in the first quarter of 2014.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Prevention of Suicides","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"53 Mr Laurence Lien asked the Minister for Health (a) what was the number of attempted suicides in 2012 compared to the number in 2011; (b) what were the main reasons for suicides, attempted and successful, among Singaporeans in 2012; and (c) what new measures are being considered to help Singaporeans cope with emotional distress.
54 Ms Faizah Jamal asked the Minister for Health (a) whether studies have been conducted to look into the rates of suicides, especially within the 20-29 age group; (b) what has been done to counsel the affected families; and (c) what more can be done to support young people.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: According to Police records, the number of attempted suicides increased from 1,009 in 2011 to 1,090 in 2012, or an increase from 19.5 to 20.5 per 100,000 total population. The number of deaths arising from suicide rose from 8.1 per 100,000 population in 2011 to 10.3 per 100,000 in 2012. However, year-to-year fluctuations may not be representative of longer-term trends.
Suicidal behaviour has a large number of complex underlying factors, including family, social, economic and mental health issues. A local study based on Singapore's suicide statistics from 2000-2004 had reported that relationship problems were associated with one-third of all suicides, and financial or employment issues were associated with a further one-third. For suicides amongst the elderly, gradual physical disability and suffering were important risk factors, especially if coupled with a lack of adequate community and family support. However, it is important to note that it is often not just one factor but a combination of several factors interacting with each other which may trigger suicidal behaviour.
We adopt a multi-pronged strategy to prevent suicide. These include collaborative efforts among different Ministries, such as MSF, MOE, MHA and MOH and stakeholders in the social sectors. The broad approaches involve i) building greater resilience in the population; ii) developing targeted interventions for high-risk individuals, and; iii) increasing public awareness of mental health issues.
Building resilience takes place at many levels. In schools, students are taught to set realistic and achievable goals for themselves, build positive and
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healthy relationships with others, and to seek help when necessary.
HPB also has a peer support training programme which trains selected tertiary students on mental health issues, including suicide prevention, and equips them with peer support skills to reach out to their fellow schoolmates in need. The Community Health Assessment Team (CHAT), launched in 2010 and led by IMH, is another programme that includes efforts to reach out to distressed youths from Post-Secondary Education Institutions (PSEIs), such as Polytechnics or ITEs.
For the elderly, social support is a key element in the prevention of suicides, and this is provided through community services, such as active ageing programmes and wellness centres managed by the People's Association that encourage socialisation and promote an active lifestyle. For elderly persons who live alone, there are befriending programmes and Senior Activity Centres that offer support through centre-based activities and home visits.
There are a variety of professional services to support persons who are at risk. Family Service Centres (FSCs) provide professional intervention and support to help families and individuals resolve their social and emotional difficulties and to regain stability and independence. FSCs will also help to pool together community resources and services to help them as necessary.
Hospitals provide crisis interventions for patients who have attempted suicide. They act to reduce the risk of identified suicide attempters through (i) elimination of acute suicide danger, for example, hospitalisation, sedation, crisis-intervention; (ii) adequate treatment, for example, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy; (iii) provision of follow-up care for those with high suicide risk; and (iv) counselling and support groups for patients both within the hospital and in the community.
To increase public awareness of mental health issues, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) conducts public education programmes regularly to promote mental well-being among children, adults and seniors. These programmes include workshops at the workplace where young employees pick up skills to manage stress and build their resilience. A workplace mental health promotion grant was put in place from 2011 to support employers in carrying out mental health promotion activities.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Conversion of Military Driving Licence to Civilian Licence","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"55 Mr Pritam Singh asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs what are the conversion criteria for NSmen who seek to convert their military driving licences into civilian driving licences.
Mr Teo Chee Hean: To convert a military driving licence into a civilian driving licence, a serviceman must have completed at least 22 months of military service and during this time, he must have driven at least 7,000 km. He must also possess good driving and disciplinary records. Specifically, he must not accumulate eight or more demerit points, or be suspended or disqualified from driving for a period of one year or more. This set of criteria has been imposed in view of the different requirements and operating environments faced by military and civilian drivers.
Servicemen who do not fulfil the conversion criteria will have to be further assessed through the Traffic Police's usual driving tests before they can qualify for civilian licences.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Emergency List of Items","subTitle":"Enhancing Total Defence efforts","sectionType":"WANA","content":"56 Mr R Dhinakaran asked the Minister for Defence (a) whether our total defence plan can be strengthened by way of an \"emergency list of items\" being circulated to all residents during peace time so as to reduce the occurrence of anxious purchasing, shortage and profiteering during an emergency; and (b) if so, what is the Government's plan to ensure that all residents have this list of items ready.
Dr Ng Eng Hen: As part of our on-going Total Defence efforts, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has been working to enhance the emergency preparedness of the civilian population. Since 1990, they have published the Civil Defence Emergency Handbook, which provides advice on dealing with various emergencies, such as fires and floods. The handbook is distributed to members of the public at various Emergency Preparedness Days
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and at Community Emergency Preparedness Programme sessions. It is also available for download from the SCDF website and there are plans to disseminate it through mobile applications.
The handbook advises all residents to prepare their own ready bag, which is a bag of essential items needed during an emergency. The list of essential items serves only as a guide and individuals will still need to customise it for their own specific needs, such as with personal medication that their families may require. Learning from the recent haze episode, Singaporeans may also wish to include N95 masks into their ready bags, to avoid having to buy the item at the last minute. I believe that many have already done so. A poll conducted by REACH from late July to early August 2013 showed that about seven out of 10 Singaporeans have N95 masks at home.
The Government will continue to help those who need special assistance to cope with emergency situations. For instance, in July, the People's Association distributed 30,000 WeCare Packs, which contained medical and food supplies, to the poor and elderly folk who live alone3.
While the Government takes the lead in the management of a national emergency, we need individuals to take responsibility for preparing themselves and their families adequately. Doing so augments the Government's contingency plans and ensures that, as a nation, we are resilient and prepared for emergencies.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":["3 : Each WeCare package contained basic medical supplies, such as medicine for colds, eyedrops and Panadol, as well as food items such as instant noodles, biscuits and canned food, enough to last one person about three days."],"footNoteQuestions":["56"],"questionNo":"56"},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Exempting Taxis from ERP Charges for Admission into Central Business District","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"57 Mrs Lina Chiam asked the Minister for Transport whether taxis that are not carrying passengers can be exempted from ERP charges so as to incentivise them to enter the Central Business District to pick up passengers.
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Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Taxis are subject to ERP charges as they take up road space and contribute to congestion just like other vehicles.
To encourage taxis to enter the Central Business District (CBD), taxi companies have introduced the City Area Surcharge for trips originating from the CBD. This surcharge applies every day during the evening peak period between 5 pm and midnight. In addition, Comfort and CityCab reimburse their drivers for the CBD ERP charges if they are unable to pick up a passenger within 15 minutes of entering the CBD empty during the evening peak period.
We will continue to monitor the taxi situation, including in key areas, such as the CBD, and where necessary, we will see how we can refine our policies and regulatory framework to ensure a good match of supply and demand.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Road Closure for Singapore Night Festival","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"58 Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Transport (a) other than Armenian Street, why no other road closures were permitted for the recent Singapore Night Festival; and (b) whether LTA will, in future, consider temporary road closures and extending public transport operating hours to improve the public's enjoyment of this event.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: LTA and the Traffic Police worked closely with the National Heritage Board (NHB) to facilitate the closure of Armenian Street and a lane closure on Loke Yew Street during the Singapore Night Festival 2013. While Stamford Road was closed for previous editions of the Festival, the ongoing construction of a Downtown Line station at Bencoolen Street has changed the overall traffic flow in the area. It was not possible to close Stamford Road since last year as it would have resulted in significant traffic congestion and affected bus services.
The benefits of a road closure to support an event must be carefully balanced against its downsides, such as the inconvenience to bus commuters, motorists and other stakeholders in the area. There may also be safety implications as road closures can prevent or delay emergency vehicles from reaching their destination.
LTA has worked with the public transport operators to extend their operating hours on occasions, such as Christmas and New Year's Eve. These extensions are kept to a minimum as they would reduce the night hours
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available for maintenance works to be carried out.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Wage Increase Component for Low-Income Earners","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"59 Mr Png Eng Huat asked the Acting Minister for Manpower of the estimated 151,000 full-time resident workers earning $1,000 or below in basic monthly income from work in June 2012, what percentage of these workers receive the full built-in wage increase of $50 recommended by the NWC in 2012.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: In mid 2012, the National Wages Council recommended that for workers earning a basic monthly salary of up to $1,000, companies grant a built-in wage increase of at least $50. The Ministry's Survey on Annual Wage Changes showed that as of December 2012, six in 10 private establishments with employees earning a basic monthly salary of up to $1,000, had given or decided to give wage increases to these employees. This included three in 10 which gave at least a $50 built-in wage increase to this group of workers.
The same survey found that 35% of full-time resident employees earning a basic monthly salary of up to $1,000 who had been with the private establishments for at least one year, received built-in wage increases of at least $50.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Take-Up Rate for Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"60 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for National Development since the launch of the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) (a) how many married first-time applicants for HDB flats have taken advantage of PPHS and, of these, how many are married with children; and (b) how many rental flats under PPHS are currently available as of 31 August 2013 vis-أ-vis the number of applicants.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Three hundred and twenty-seven married couples have taken up rental flats under PPHS. Of these, 225 couples are married with children.
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We have more than 800 vacant flats available for rental. We will soon announce some enhancements to the scheme to benefit more Singaporean families waiting for their new flats to complete.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Encouraging Greater Take-up Rate for Humanities Subjects","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"61 Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Education (a) what is being done to encourage principals and school leaders to increase the take-up rate of Humanities as full subjects at Upper Secondary level and Institutes of Higher Learning; (b) what is being done to support students from schools that do not offer full Literature, Geography or History at \"O\" levels but who wish to take up these subjects; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider setting up an external academy for Humanities to pool resources and cater to such students.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: At the Secondary level, students offer a range of subjects as part of a broad-based education. While schools are given the autonomy to decide on subjects to be offered at the upper Secondary level, MOE has actively encouraged schools to promote the teaching of the Humanities. To support schools, MOE has designed syllabuses that are relevant and forward-looking and the development of resources that support teachers in teaching the Humanities more effectively. MOE will continue to provide support to schools so that more students would offer the Humanities.
MOE also offers the Humanities Scholarship Programme in some Junior Colleges to provide for students passionate about the Humanities to pursue it at a deeper level. The intent is also for such students to continue pursuing the Humanities at the tertiary level.
Our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) similarly offer many options in the Humanities, some of which are new programmes and initiatives to attract students to the Humanities. One such initiative is the newly-established Yale-NUS College at NUS, which allows students to develop integrated competence in Social Sciences and the Humanities.
It would not be necessary to set up an external academy as there is sufficient capacity for teaching Humanities in schools and in our IHLs.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Compulsory Vaccination for Children","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"62 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the rationale for some vaccinations, including the pneumococcal disease vaccination, under the National Childhood and Adolescent Immunisation Schedule which are required for Primary 1 registration being chargeable for Singaporeans at polyclinics; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider making all vaccinations under the Immunisation Schedule free for Singaporeans.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: To help parents defray the cost of childhood vaccinations, the use of Medisave was extended to cover the cost of all vaccinations in the National Childhood Immunisation Schedule (NCIS), up to $400 per account per year from June 2013. The Government has also provided a MediSave Grant of $3,000 for all newborn Singaporeans which can be used to pay for these vaccinations.
In addition, vaccinations under the NCIS that confer strong herd immunity against the respective diseases for the whole population are offered free for citizens at the polyclinics. In doing so, we hope to encourage a higher uptake of these vaccinations and achieve adequate coverage for the population.
Parents are required to produce records of their child's immunisation certificates at Primary 1 registration, for BCG, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella and hepatitis B, all of which are free for citizens at the polyclinics.
MOH will continue to regularly review the financing framework of the NCIS to ensure its relevance and affordability to Singaporeans.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Coping with Increasing Demand for Ambulance Service","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"63 Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs (a) how are the Emergency Ambulance Services coping with the increasing number of emergency and non-emergency calls received and what are the medium and long-term plans to handle an increasing load; and (b) what are the Ministry's plans to publicise and educate the public
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on proper ambulance usage.
Mr Teo Chee Hean: SCDF's Emergency Ambulance Service (EAS) responded to 76,024 calls for the first six months of 2013. This is an increase of 8.4% from the 70,129 calls for the same period last year. If this continues for the rest of the year, it would be the highest annual rate of increase in five years.
Since 2009, SCDF has engaged the services of two Private Ambulance Operators (PAOs) to augment its fleet of emergency ambulances. There are currently 10 private emergency ambulances from the PAOs in operation. SCDF will be increasing the number of private emergency ambulances to 20 in October 2013. These private emergency ambulance operators are subject to stringent requirements and audits by SCDF to ensure compliance with clinical and service standards.
Apart from ambulances, SCDF has deployed fire bikers equipped with Automated External Defibrillators as first responders. SCDF is also cross-training its firefighters as Emergency Medical Technicians so that personnel in its fire vehicles can provide the first line of medical response until paramedics arrive.
The purpose of the Emergency Ambulance Services is to deal with life-threatening situations. In an emergency, every second counts. The public should thus call 995 only during medical emergencies. For non-emergencies, members of the public should call 1777.
SCDF will continue to raise awareness of the appropriate use of EAS. Information on what constitutes emergency and non-emergency situations is listed on SCDF's website and Facebook page. SCDF will run public education activities on proper ambulance use at constituency-level Emergency Preparedness Days and other SCDF-related activities. SCDF will also work with MOH to display public education posters at Restructured Hospitals.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Deprivation of Citizenship","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"64 Assoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs how many persons have been deprived of citizenship under the various provisions in Articles 129 and 130 of the
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Singapore Constitution since 9 August 1965.
Mr Teo Chee Hean: Since 1987, 16 persons have been deprived of citizenship under Articles 129 and 130 of the Singapore Constitution.
As ICA's records were computerised from 1987, data prior to 1987 is not readily available.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Public Transport Services to Cope with Increasing Ridership Volume","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"65 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Transport whether the Ministry intends to introduce measures to ensure that public transport services which serve the housing estates/heartlands do not become overcrowded because of usage by foreign workers whose dormitories are located within close proximity to the housing estate/heartlands.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Most foreign workers staying in dormitories are already provided with dedicated transport to and from their workplaces by their employers. A small percentage of them take public transport.
LTA actively monitors the public transport services near these dormitories to ensure that there is no excessive overcrowding during the peak hours. When such bus services are overcrowded, LTA will work with the bus operators to add bus trips and increase overall bus capacity. Some of these bus trips can be injected downstream of dormitories so that residents taking bus services after the dormitories will be able to board the buses. LTA will also work with existing dormitory operators and employers to encourage them to provide dedicated transport for the purpose of ferrying foreign workers to and from their workplaces.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Two-Car System for Sengkang Punggol LRT Network","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"66 Ms Lee Li Lian asked the Minister for Transport whether the two-car system for the Sengkang Punggol LRT network can be commissioned for
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service before 2016.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: We estimate that the project to enhance the capacity of the Sengkang-Punggol LRT (SPLRT) system can be completed by 2016. The project requires major modifications to existing train-cars, systems and infrastructure, including the depot and the LRT tracks, and we are proceeding as fast as we can.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Fire Safety Plans for High-rise and High-density Public Housing","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"67 Mr Alex Yam Ziming asked the Minister for National Development with the move towards intensifying the construction of high-rise and high-density public housing, whether the Ministry has considered fire safety plans for such developments to ensure residents are fully aware of evacuation routes and fire prevention plans.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: SCDF stipulates fire safety standards for all buildings in Singapore, including public housing, under the Code of Practice for Fire Precautions in Buildings or the Fire Code. For high-rise residential buildings, SCDF also requires them to be designed with either alternate means of escape or cross ventilation for smoke dissipation in the event of a fire. Residential buildings over 40 storeys high must have refuge floors and at least two fire lifts to facilitate swift fire-fighting and rescue operations by SCDF.
All HDB residential blocks comply with the Fire Code and are designed with natural ventilation. The open access corridors facilitate smoke dispersal and improve visibility in the event of a fire. The locations of the escape routes and staircases are shown on the notice boards at every lift lobby.
SCDF and the People's Association (PA) regularly raise awareness on fire safety for a more self-reliant and resilient community in handling emergencies. Each year, 48 Emergency Preparedness (EP) Day programmes are organised by the PA's Community Emergency and Engagement Committees (C2Es) in close consultation with SCDF. Based on a fire scenario at a HDB block, the evacuation drill exercise conducted as part of the EP Day familiarises residents with the evacuation routes. SCDF's Community Emergency Preparedness Programme (CEPP) trains members of the public on fire safety and evacuation procedures
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during emergencies. SCDF's Civil Defence Emergency Handbook, which uses pictorial illustrations and text to depict the actions that need to be taken during emergencies, is also available in four languages both in hardcopy as well as online for download.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Balanced Lifestyle for School Children","subTitle":"Review of school curricula","sectionType":"WANA","content":"69 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry will conduct a comprehensive review of the school curricula to ensure that students are not overladen with excessive school work and that they will be able to appreciate the joy of learning; and (b) whether the \"Teach Less Learn More\" policy has resulted in students having a more balanced lifestyle.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: The Ministry adopts a six-year curriculum cycle. Every subject is reviewed every six years to ensure that it remains relevant, is appropriately sized, and meets the needs of our students. During these reviews, the feedback of teachers and students is sought and taken into consideration.
Since 1998, there have been two rounds of curriculum content reduction. The first saw content reduced by up to 30% in different subjects to provide room for the teaching of thinking skills and the use of Information & Communication Technology in the curriculum. The second reduction of up to 20% in the different subjects was undertaken in 2005. This was to give teachers more flexibility to customise their teaching to suit their students' learning needs.
The Ministry will continue to review the curriculum periodically to ensure that our students are able to engage meaningfully with both content and the learning process, so that they can develop the competencies they need for work and life, and experience the joy of learning.
The aim of the \"Teach Less, Learn More\" movement was to steer our educators towards adopting a range of effective teaching approaches to better engage students and enable them to develop enduring understanding and skills for life. More classroom time was given for student interaction and exploration, opportunities for expression and learning of lifelong skills. Based on the
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Ministry's internal studies, student engagement levels have risen since the implementation of \"Teach Less, Learn More\".
The Ministry and schools will continue to provide for the holistic development of our students. At the same time, we will continue to consider their well-being, including the need for them to have adequate time for family and recreational pursuits.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Regulation of Charges by Doctors","subTitle":"Prevention of excessive charging","sectionType":"WANA","content":"70 Ms Mary Liew asked the Minister for Health what are the plans and supervisory mechanisms put in place to monitor the possibility of excessive charges by doctors so that healthcare, especially specialist healthcare, will stay affordable for lower-income Singaporeans.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: As Singaporeans live longer, and with better, more advanced but more expensive treatment being available and accepted as a mainstream treatment approach, healthcare costs will rise over time.
In the public healthcare sector, the management of the various institutions monitor their operating costs closely and constantly strive to innovate and find new and more cost effective ways to deliver their services. We also monitor the doctors' fees and the overall bill sizes closely to ensure that basic healthcare services provided by our public institutions remain affordable, especially for the lower- and middle-income patients.
We are also working towards empowering patients in making decisions on healthcare services. For this reason, MOH has been publishing total hospital bill sizes for both the public and private sector on its website since 2003. Greater transparency of healthcare charges will allow market forces to work more efficiently and help patients make informed decisions. MOH is studying the proposal to make professional fees more transparent by publishing information on fees that our public sector doctors have charged for their services.
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At this year's National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee announced the Government's plans to provide more subsidies for lower- and middle-income Singaporeans who require specialist outpatient care at our public hospitals, so that they will pay less. We are currently working on the details and will share more information in the first quarter of 2014.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Extension of Medisave and Community Health Assist Scheme Coverage to Treatment of Epilepsy","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"71 Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for Health whether long-term treatment of epilepsy can be covered under the subsidy scheme provided under the enhanced Medisave and Community Health Assist Scheme.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: Patients with any of the 10 conditions under the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) can tap on Medisave to pay for their treatments. In addition, those who qualify for CHAS can receive subsidised care at GP clinics.
Five more conditions will be added to CDMP from 1 January 2014 and these are anxiety, osteoarthritis, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), nephritis/nephrosis and Parkinson’s disease.
We will consider the possible inclusion of more chronic conditions, including conditions such as epilepsy, into CDMP as we continue to review the expansion of Medisave use. Meanwhile, patients who require treatment for epilepsy will continue to enjoy subsidies at the polyclinics.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Parents and Grandparents of Foreign Spouses Granted Long-Term Visit Pass","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"72 Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs in each of the last three financial years, how many parents and grandparents of the foreign spouses of Singapore citizens lived here on Long-Term Visit Passes and what is the projected increase in this number for the next
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three years.
Mr Teo Chee Hean: Singapore Citizens (SCs) are only allowed to sponsor their immediate family members, namely, spouses, children and parents, for Long-Term Visit Passes (LTVPs). They are not allowed to sponsor other relatives, including parents and grandparents of their foreign spouses, for LTVPs.
Parents and grandparents of foreign spouses of SCs may enter and stay in Singapore on valid short-term visit passes.
In exceptional circumstances where a Singaporean family has critical needs and has no other immediate options available locally to provide care to a family member, such as when there is a critically ill family member, ICA may, on a case-by-case basis, allow a foreign relative, such as the foreign spouse's mother, to extend her stay here. This is to help the family with interim care-giving for a limited duration while the family looks for alternative arrangements for long-term care.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Coverage of Childcare Subsidy Scheme for Children of Couples Undergoing Divorce","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"73 Mr David Ong asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what assistance can the Ministry render to families when the custody of children who are covered under the childcare subsidy scheme becomes uncertain due to their parents undergoing a divorce.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: All eligible children enrolled in childcare centres continue to receive the child and infant care subsidy, even if their parents are undergoing divorce proceedings.
In most cases, the main applicant for the subsidy is the mother, as the mother's working status is factored in the computation of the basic subsidy amount and eligibility for the additional subsidy. In cases where the parents are divorced, the parent who is granted custody of the child may apply as a single parent for the subsidy. The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) will assess the application based on that parent's working status and income, and adjust the subsidy where necessary. For example, if the father is given custody of the child and applies for the subsidy, the father will be the main applicant
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and will be eligible for all subsidies based solely on his working status and income.
We recognise that divorce proceedings may take time to resolve. Therefore, the parent granted interim custody of the child can inform ECDA that he or she is supporting the child alone and the subsidy amount will be re-assessed accordingly. We also provide further financial assistance in cases where additional help is needed to help the child attend pre-school.
Parents who require assistance can approach their childcare centre or ECDA for help with their application or queries.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Preventing Child Abuse at Childcare Centres","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"74 Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what existing training is available for childcare teachers for managing hyperactive or socially challenging children; (b) what existing mechanisms are available for counselling teachers who are faced with such children; and (c) what types of conflict/classroom management training are given to childcare teachers.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: All early childhood teachers are trained in the proper management of child behaviour. This is a basic requirement of both pre- and in-service training. Skills covered include using positive reinforcement to manage children's misbehaviour, role modelling and encouraging expected behaviour.
Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) encourages pre-school teachers to seek guidance from senior teachers or supervisors, and to work collaboratively with parents on children's developmental needs. Pre-schools are also encouraged to provide additional support, such as referrals to trained counsellors and mentoring arrangements, for their teachers.
ECDA will continue to review how standards and practices in our pre-school system can be further strengthened in areas, such as regulation, teacher training and support, physical design of centres and deployment of technology.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Taxi Booking Fees","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"76 Mrs Lina Chiam asked the Minister for Transport whether he will consider encouraging taxi companies to do away with taxi booking fees in order to discourage taxi drivers from gaming the booking system and to encourage them to ply the roads more.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Taxi booking is an efficient way to allow customers who critically require a taxi, to be assured of getting one when and where they need it.
The taxi booking fee covers the opportunity cost of accepting a booking assignment. When a taxi driver commits to a booking assignment, he or she is not allowed to accept any other jobs until the booking assignment has been fulfilled or terminated.
To prevent the manipulation of the \"On Call\" display signs on taxi rooftops by taxi drivers, the Taxi Service Operator Licence conditions require taxi companies to ensure that these \"On Call\" signs are centrally-controlled. Currently, more than 80% of the total taxi fleet have been equipped with these signs and this will increase to 100% by 2015.
Under the Vocational Licence Points System, taxi drivers who refuse to pick up passengers without valid reasons will be fined $300 and given six demerit points, which automatically warrants a two-week suspension. Commuters who encounter such behaviour should report it to the taxi companies or LTA.
To ensure that there are sufficient taxis plying the roads, LTA introduced the Taxi Availability standards in 2012. By 2015, LTA will require taxi companies to ensure that 85% of their taxis are on the road during peak periods, as well as achieve a minimum daily mileage of 250 km.
I would like to assure the House that my Ministry and LTA will continue to work closely with the taxi companies to ensure high standards of service to commuters.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Private Estates Selected for Estate Upgrading Programme","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"77 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for National Development (a) on average, how many estates are selected for upgrading each year since the introduction of the Estate Upgrading Programme (EUP); and (b) whether the Ministry will increase the momentum of the EUP for private estates.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The Estate Upgrading Programme (EUP) for private estates was launched in 2000. To-date, we have selected 54 private estates over eight batches for upgrading. This has benefited more than 41,000 households. Each batch is launched about two years apart and comprises, on average, six to seven private estates.
My Ministry will soon invite nominations for EUP Batch 9. As a community-driven programme, it takes time to engage the residents for feedback and ideas. There is also a need to coordinate amongst different public agencies to consider and approve the various EUP work items, and to factor in the availability of resources in the industry to implement the EUP projects. We will try to extend the benefits to more old estates speedily, but the pace has to take into account these challenges.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Welfare of Car Park Attendants","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"78 Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the average gross monthly salary of the car park attendants paid by the service providers engaged by the Ministry to provide car park enforcement services; (b) in the past three years, how many cases of abuse of car park attendants have been reported; (c) how many of these cases have been taken up for action against the perpetrators; and (d) what were the reasons for not taking up action against some of these perpetrators.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: HDB and URA's service providers told us that the average gross monthly salary of their car park attendants ranges from $1,300 to $1,800. The salary is pegged to work experience, qualification and work performance.
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Over the past three years, 53 cases of abuse of car park attendants were reported to the service providers. Abuse took the form of motorists confronting the car park attendants in a threatening manner and verbally or physically abusing them.
Of the 53 cases, 45 have been reported to the Police, while five were resolved at the scene in the presence of the Police. For the remaining three cases, Police reports were not made as the car park attendants did not wish to pursue the matter.
Of the 45 cases reported to the Police, 23 have completed investigations, while 22 are still under investigation. Of the 23 that have completed investigations, three were charged in court, of which one was sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment and the other two were fined. The other cases were either given stern warnings, or closed with no further action as the Police could not find sufficient evidence to take action.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Rest Areas in Commercial Buildings for Cleaners and Security Guards","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"79 Ms Mary Liew asked the Minister for National Development if the Ministry will consider implementing a requirement for commercial properties to have dedicated enclosed rest areas for cleaners and security guards to facilitate privacy for these workers during their short breaks at work for rest and meals.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The Tripartite Advisory on Best Sourcing Practices in January 2012 encourages service buyers of cleaning and security services to outsource responsibly and adopt best practices when doing so.
The Advisory mentioned that in addition to meeting the basic workplace safety and health standards, service buyers could provide workers with adequate workplace amenities at the deployment sites, such as washroom facilities, decent rest area for meals and first aid, so that workers will be able to perform their work well and provide better services in a conducive environment.
The relevant agencies, such as MND, MOM, MEWR and MHA, are open to studying whether to require rest areas be provided in commercial properties
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and how to do so for cleaners and security guards.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Barrier-Free Access along HDB Common Corridors","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"80 Ms Mary Liew asked the Minister for National Development in view of our ageing population who are living in public housing, what are the HDB's plans to ensure clear passages along common corridors of HDB flats so that there is no clutter inhibiting the use of wheelchairs and walking aids.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Common corridor clutter can obstruct the use of wheelchairs and walking aids, and may even pose a fire hazard and hamper fire-fighting and evacuation during emergencies.
Town Councils have by-laws against obstructions along common corridors. Their by-laws typically follow SCDF's guidelines, similar to BCA's existing accessibility requirement. These guidelines stipulate that there must be a clear passage of at least 1.2 metres along the corridors so as not to impede fire-fighting and rescue operations. To prepare for an ageing population and to provide wider access routes for people using mobility aids, BCA announced revisions to the Code on Accessibility last month. The revisions include a wider minimum clearance width of 1.5 metres along corridors for buildings with plans submitted for regulatory approval on or after 1 April 2014.
Residents can also do their part in removing corridor clutter, to ensure that passages are clear for a safe and pleasant living environment for all.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Pedestrian Foot Bridge Connecting Gardens by the Bay and Suntec City Areas","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"81 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for National Development what is the progress on the construction of the pedestrian foot bridge from the Tanjong Rhu/Gardens by the Bay area to the Suntec City area.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The pedestrian footbridge is intended to link the proposed Bay East and Bay Central gardens of the Gardens by the Bay. The
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project is in its concept design phase. Actual implementation will depend on the pace of development of these two gardens, as well as the developments nearby, including the Eastern Region MRT Line development and the staging of the Formula 1 events at Bay Central.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Regulation of Foreign Worker Quarters","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WANA","content":"82 Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai asked the Acting Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry regulates the setting up, operations and location of foreign worker living quarters; (b) if not, what is the reason for not regulating; (c) if so, what regulations are applicable to foreign worker quarters; (d) on what basis are such quarters allowed to be located in or close to residential areas or areas zoned for only residential purposes; (e) what steps are taken to ensure continuing compliance with these regulations; and (f) what enforcement action will be taken when the quarters are found to be in breach of the regulations.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: Both MOM and MND lead an interagency effort on foreign worker housing issues. It is a multifaceted issue which requires close collaboration between Government agencies.
Sites for foreign worker housing are selected and approved for use as foreign worker accommodation based on various considerations, including the potential impact on adjoining residential areas, as well as technical and infrastructure constraints such as the suitability of roads and sewers in the area.
Even after a site has been assessed to be suitable for use as foreign worker accommodation, various regulatory requirements imposed by multiple Government agencies must be satisfied, to safeguard the well-being of workers. These include requirements on living space standards, structural and fire safety standards. Where workers are housed in institutional settings, such as in commercial dormitories and workers' quarters in industrial premises, additional requirements pertaining to recreational and social amenities within the dormitory compound are considered.
Construction workers may also be housed in temporary workers' quarters at their work sites. Such workers' quarters are transient and will cease when the construction works end. In addition, the housing of workers on-site helps to
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reduce traffic congestion from workers being ferried to and from their work sites.
Workers' quarters on construction sites, like other types of foreign worker housing, must meet the relevant technical requirements, even if they are only temporary. In particular, contractors who wish to house their workers on-site in a purpose-built temporary building or in the completed portion of the building under construction must comply with BCA's Building Control regulations, which stipulate requirements on structural safety, ventilation and other aspects to safeguard the well-being of workers. The structural integrity of the workers' quarters must be certified by a Professional Engineer.
The requirements for foreign worker housing are actively enforced. Over the last three years, over 12,000 foreign workers have been found housed in unacceptable premises. As a result, enforcement action was taken against over 1,700 employers for failing to ensure that their foreign workers had acceptable accommodation; and over 1,900 owners and operators of illegal dormitories for breach of land use rules. More than 2,100 fines were issued and more than 1,400 owners and occupiers have been prosecuted for fire safety and environmental health violations. These were the result of inspections by agencies, such as MOM, URA, SCDF and NEA.
The relevant Government agencies will continue to coordinate efforts to strengthen regulation of foreign worker housing, and to proactively detect and act against parties who breach the foreign worker housing requirements.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Measures against Credit Card Debts","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"1 Ms Mary Liew asked the Prime Minister (a) what is the current number of Singaporeans below the age of 35 years seeking help for credit card debts; and (b) whether there are preventive measures being enforced to protect Singaporeans from falling into the spiral of credit card debts.
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam (for the Prime Minister): The average age of individuals seeking help from Credit Counselling Singapore (CCS)4, mostly for credit card debt, is 40 years. In the first half of 2013, about 31% (250) of those who sought help from CCS were 35 years old and younger. Based on
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data from Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS), the majority of credit cardholders who are past due or who have defaulted on their credit card loans are in their 30s and 40s.
Overall, credit card debt distress levels do not differ significantly across age groups. In fact, across all age groups, credit card default rates are consistently low, at below 0.2%.
But low default rates should not lull us into complacency. We should reduce the risk of people borrowing beyond their means. To ensure that those who use credit cards have sufficient financial means to service their debts, MAS has imposed minimum income eligibility criteria for the issue of credit cards. Individuals who are 55 years old and below must have an annual income of at least $30,000 before they can qualify for credit cards; those above 55 years of age must have an annual income of at least $15,000. In addition, MAS has a limit of up to four months' income on the total amount of unsecured credit that can be extended to any credit cardholder. Credit card issuers are also required to conduct comprehensive credit bureau checks on an individual's credit history before issuing new credit cards.
To further promote the prudent use of unsecured credit, MAS announced on 11 September new measures targeted at those who are at greatest risk of debt problems. A key change is the introduction of an industry-wide aggregate cap on individuals' unsecured borrowings. With this cap, financial institutions will not be allowed to grant further credit to individuals whose aggregate unsecured borrowings across all financial institutions exceed 12 months of their income for 90 days or more. This cap is designed to discourage individuals from prolonged reliance on credit cards and unsecured credit. MAS has set the limit at 12 months' income, for a start, and will adjust the limit, if necessary, to further encourage financial prudence. Aside from this, financial institutions will not be allowed to grant further credit to individuals whose debts with a financial institution are more than 60 days past due. These recent policy changes complement MAS' existing credit card rules in preventing debt from spiralling out of hand for individuals across all age groups.
Ultimately, while MAS has rules in place to help Singaporeans avoid accumulating excessive debt, Singaporeans have to take personal responsibility for their finances. They have to exercise prudence when deciding whether to sign up for a credit card, understand their ability to repay the debt incurred when they use the card and ensure that they do not incur excessive debt. The MoneySENSE national financial education programme has
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collaborated with the media, the industry and consumer organisations to educate consumers on factors to consider before taking on debt and the consequences of late payments. MAS hopes that these efforts will help Singaporeans manage their finances proactively, use credit responsibly and prevent over-dependence on credit.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":["4 : Credit Counselling Singapore is a charity set up to help individuals recover from serious debt problems."],"footNoteQuestions":["1"],"questionNo":"1"},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Tax Concessions Given to Foreign Nationals or Entities through Free Trade Agreements","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"2 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) how many foreign nationals or entities have been exempted from paying the 10% additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) from 8 December 2011 to 11 January 2013, the 15% ABSD since 12 January 2013 or any other stamp duties when buying residential properties in Singapore because of free trade agreements (FTAs); (b) what is the total amount of stamp duties exempted for these individuals or entities; and (c) whether any FTAs currently under negotiation, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, have similar concessions for foreign nationals or entities.
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Under the \"national treatment\" obligation of the US-Singapore FTA (USSFTA) and the Singapore-European Free Trade Association FTA (ESFTA), Singapore is obliged to accord Nationals of the United States of America, and the Nationals and Permanent Residents of Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, similar tax treatment as Singaporeans in the purchase of residential properties in Singapore5.
These are the only two FTAs where \"national treatment\" has been accorded to foreign individuals in respect of taxes, which include stamp duties. Otherwise, foreign entities do not enjoy Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) remission.
For the period 8 December 2011 to 11 January 2013, there were 138 residential property transactions by foreign individuals granted ABSD remission due to the two FTAs. For the period 12 January 20136 to 31 July 2013, there were 114 transactions granted ABSD remission. These transactions were
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about 1.5% of all property transactions that attracted ABSD during the period.
The amount of ABSD which has been remitted for these 252 transactions was $81.2 million.
Negotiations on other FTAs like the Trans-Pacific Partnership are still ongoing. MTI will continue to seek a balanced package in our FTA negotiations to ensure that the FTAs provide meaningful benefits for Singapore, while taking into account the costs.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":["5 : The USSFTA and ESFTA came into effect on 1 January 2004 and 1 January 2003 respectively. The Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) was first introduced as a property cooling measure on 8 December 2011.","6 : 12 January 2013 is the effective date of the latest ABSD rate changes."],"footNoteQuestions":["2"],"questionNo":"2"},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Incentive Schemes to Promote SME Exports","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"3 Mr Chen Show Mao asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether any of the current incentive schemes applicable to SMEs reward them for increasing their firm-level export intensity, that is, their share of exports out of total revenue, among other metrics; (b) if so, which schemes are these and whether these schemes stipulate an export-intensity target or threshold; and (c) if not, whether the Ministry will consider studying the scope for including this ratio as a key performance indicator in the award of incentives so as to promote SME exports as a third pillar of Singapore exports and help develop the most export-ready SMEs into Singapore MNCs.
Mr Lim Hng Kiang: MTI believes that it is important that we assist our SMEs to internationalise and capture opportunities beyond Singapore. IE Singapore works closely with companies to understand their business needs, growth potential and projects at hand in order to provide customised assistance. We provide both broad-based and focused programmes which aim to facilitate business activities of internationally-oriented companies.
However, our schemes are not aimed at increasing firm-level export intensity. Singapore is signatory to the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and
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Countervailing Measures (SCM), and therefore subject to the principles that govern subsidies and incentives given to companies. Incentives that are \"conditional on export performance\" are prohibited.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"New Growth Areas to Support the Singapore Economy","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"4 Ms Tan Su Shan asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what studies are being done to identify new growth areas for the Singapore economy; and (b) what investments have been made to cultivate the new skills necessary to enable the local workforce to fully participate in the knowledge-based industries that will support Singapore's future growth.
Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Restructuring and moving our economy up the value chain is an integral part of our economic development strategy. The Government undertakes regular reviews and studies at both the whole-of-economy and industry levels to identify future growth opportunities. One past example is the Report of the Economic Strategies Committee in 2011.
Economic agencies, such as EDB, also constantly monitor global macro and industry trends to identify new growth opportunities. In recent years, EDB has seeded new growth areas such as data analytics and biologics. As announced in Budget 2013, EDB is currently developing a Future of Manufacturing plan taking into account global manufacturing trends and emerging technologies to identify new growth areas with the potential to create a range of new jobs for Singaporeans.
To ensure that Singaporeans have the capabilities and skills to take up jobs created in new growth areas, the Government invests heavily in our Continuing Education and Training (CET) system. The Government has put in place dedicated training programmes aimed at meeting the different upgrading needs of specific segments of the workforce, such as the Skills Training for Excellence Programme (STEP) for professionals, managers and executives, and Workfare Training Support (WTS) for lower wage workers.
In developing new industries or growth areas, our economic agencies also partner companies and education institutions to develop specific training curriculum and development opportunities to up-skill Singaporeans for the new sectors. An example is the Strategic Training and Attachment (STRAT)
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Programme under EDB which focuses on building new functional expertise and skill sets for new growth areas through on-the-job training. Trainees are sent to leading companies overseas to learn new skills. Since 2008, 485 locals have been trained through STRAT in areas such as cell therapy, medical technology, biologics manufacturing, digital media and nanotechnology. EDB also works closely with education institutions to develop their curriculum to equip young Singaporeans with the relevant skills for these new sectors.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Increasing Visitorship to Gillman Barracks","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"5 Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what has been the visitorship to Gillman Barracks since it opened; (b) what is the total art sales made through the art galleries over the past one year; (c) what plans does the Ministry have to further enliven and raise the profile of Gillman Barracks as a contemporary art destination and increase traffic to this area; and (d) whether the Ministry will consider allocating independent artist studios to Singapore-based artists as a complement to the presence of commercial art galleries there.
Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Gillman Barracks is a new arts cluster jointly developed by EDB, JTC Corp and the National Arts Council (NAC). Gillman Barracks was launched about a year ago, and improvements are continually being made and development monitored by the Government agencies. Visitorship and sales at Gillman Barracks vary across galleries and events, and the Government agencies do not track aggregated visitorship and sales at Gillman Barracks.
Since its launch, the art galleries at Gillman Barracks have held more than 90 new exhibitions showcasing artists and works that have attracted international buyer interest. Exhibitions featuring top artists such as Yoshitaka Amano (Mizuma Gallery) and Yang Fudong (ShanghART Gallery) have attracted good crowds of up to 200 people each. Besides exhibitions, visitors have also been attracted to other activities at the Gillman Barracks such as school visits hosted by galleries; tours organised by Art Outreach, a non-profit arts organisation; and community activities like sketch walks organised by Urban Sketches Singapore, a group of sketch hobbyists.
Gillman Barracks' first year has helped the galleries understand and develop their markets in Asia. Some galleries have also given indications of
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their sales in media reports from time to time. For example, the Business Times reported that Partners & Mucciaccia sold a third of the 54 works by established Italian artist Luciano Ventrone at the start of his show. The Straits Times also recently reported that the Michael Janssen Gallery broke even over the past year, and remains confident in the outlook for its Singapore gallery.
It will take time for Gillman Barracks to mature and realise its vision as Asia's up-and-coming destination for contemporary art. Nevertheless, the Government notes public feedback and recognises that more can be done to improve the visitor experience. A multiagency effort will embark on the following first, make Gillman Barracks more accessible and convenient for visitors, through covered walkways to transport nodes and between galleries, as well as more food, beverage and retail spaces in the vicinity; second, work with partners to anchor events and activities that add vibrancy and complement the galleries; and lastly, increase public outreach through publicising events on social and traditional media. To complement the Government's efforts, the galleries have also formed a Gillman Barrack Galleries Association to collectively drive initiatives. For example, to increase the outreach to tourists, the association has recently hosted hotel concierges to share more with them on Gillman Barracks as the destination for contemporary art in Singapore.
Gillman Barracks is also moving into its next phase of development with the opening of the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) by NTU later this year. The CCA aims to bolster the visual arts landscape through creation, presentation and interpretation of contemporary art, while fostering research, discourse and cultural exchange.
Singapore-based artists have always been an integral part of the Gillman Barracks. Singaporeans, such as Ian Woo, Herman Chong and Robert Zhao, have been featured by the art galleries. In the near future, the CCA will also host non-selling exhibitions, research activities and artist studios as part of an Artist Residency Programme. Artists can apply for the programme when it is launched.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Home Improvement Programme (HIP) and Enhancement for Active Seniors (EASE) Scheme","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"6 Mr Chen Show Mao asked the Minister for National Development whether the current scope of the Home Improvement Programme or the
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Enhancement for Active Seniors scheme includes remodelling works of bathrooms to make them accessible to wheelchairs and commodes for households with handicapped or non-ambulatory elderly occupants and, if not, whether the Ministry will consider including the works as an improvement that such households may opt for.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The Home Improvement Programme (HIP) and the Enhancement for Active Seniors (EASE) programme serve different objectives. HIP helps flat owners to deal with common maintenance problems related to ageing flats, such as spalling concrete and ceiling leaks. EASE helps them with useful and commonly required home enhancement fittings for the elderly.
Specifically, EASE offers elderly residents options covering three types of improvements in their flats (a) slip-resistant treatment to existing floor tiles of bathroom/toilet; (b) grab bars; and (c) ramps to main entrance/within flat. The inclusion of ramps under EASE is to facilitate mobility of wheelchair and commode users within the flat. Such ramps may be installed between the kitchen and the bathroom, and are cost-effective. EASE users have expressed satisfaction with such solutions.
Extensive remodelling works for the bathroom go beyond the objectives of HIP and EASE. Those residents who wish to carry out their own improvement works to their flats may do so, with HDB's approval.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Effects of the Recent Property Cooling Measures","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"7 Ms Tan Su Shan asked the Minister for National Development given the recent measures to cool the property market that were taken before the collapse of emerging markets which has led to investment outflows, whether there is any risk of a policy overshoot in the cooling measures that will lead to a protracted downturn affecting home owners in Singapore.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The cooling measures aim to ensure that Singapore's property market grows in a stable and sustainable way. Collectively, they act to dampen speculative buying and encourage home-buyers to exercise prudence before committing to a property purchase.
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Although housing demand and price growth have eased, market activity remains robust and prices continue to rise, as interest rates remain unrealistically low. The cooling measures therefore are necessary and relevant to avoid a major price correction when economic conditions change.
External economic developments impact Singapore's property market. In particular, normalising interest rates could pose significant financial risks to individual borrowers and prudential risks to the overall economy. That is why the cooling measures were implemented. It is, however, a dynamic situation and we will continue to monitor the housing market closely and review the cooling measures as economic conditions evolve.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Median Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) for Resale HDB Flats","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"8 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for National Development if he can provide the figures for the median Cash-Over-Valuation for resale HDB flats by town and flat type in each quarter since 2Q2007, with a breakdown of buyers by (i) Singapore citizen (SC) households, that is, households with at least one SC owner; and (ii) Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) households, that is, households with SPR but no SC owners.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Detailed Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) data, provided there are sufficient transactions during the quarter, with breakdown by town and flat type are published in the HDB InfoWEB and updated quarterly. HDB, however, does not monitor the detailed breakdown as requested by the Member.
We do have some breakdown of COV data by buyer group, as tabulated below:
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Breakdown of Balance HDB Flats by Housing Estate","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"9 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for National Development what is the current number of HDB balance flats that are (i) ready for occupation and (ii) in various stages of construction, with a breakdown by housing estates.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: HDB has about 7,400 unsold balance flats, including 1,200 completed units. Of the 6,200 units at various stages of construction, 3,300 units are in mature estates and 2,900 units in non-mature estates. We will put those units that are completed and nearing completion to market soon.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Statistics on Rental Flats","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"10 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for National Development (a) as of 31 August 2013, what is the total number of HDB rental flats in Singapore and of these, how many are (i) occupied, (ii) ready for occupation but not occupied, and (iii) in various stages of construction; (b) how many HDB rental flat applicants are still on queue; and (c) in the last five years, how many rental flat occupants have managed to buy their own flats.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan: As at end August 2013, there are 49,500 public rental flats available for rental. Forty-eight thousand two hundred flats are being occupied, while the remaining 1,300 flats will be allocated progressively to registered applicants on the waiting list. We are building new rental flats to add to the rental stock. By 2017, we expect to have 60,000 rental flats for occupation.
There are currently 1,900 registered applicants waiting to be allocated a public rental flat.
From 2008 to 2012, 1,440 ex-tenants progressed to own their homeownership flats.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Undischarged Bankrupts","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"11 Mr Chen Show Mao asked the Minister for Law (a) for each year from 2007 to 2012, what is the number of undischarged bankrupts aged (i) 45-55 years (ii) 56-65 years and (iii) over 65 years; and (b) what percentage of each of these groups of undischarged bankrupts is due to (i) income not matching expenditure, (ii) unemployment or (iii) business failures.
Mr K Shanmugam: The number of undischarged bankrupts for each year from 2007 to 2012 aged (i) 45-55 years; (ii) 56-65 years; and (iii) over 65 years, are provided in the tables below respectively.
A breakdown in percentages for the three causes of insolvency that the Member enquired on, is set out in the tables below for the years 2007 to 2012. This is based on information declared to the Official Assignee by the bankrupts. A bankrupt may declare more than one cause of insolvency. In addition, the category titled \"income not matching expenditure\" in the three tables consists of bankrupts who have declared \"overspending\" and/or \"low income\" as causes of insolvency. Other causes of insolvency include ill health, liability as a guarantor for a debt, inability to pay a judgment sum ordered by a court in
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criminal or civil proceedings, and gambling.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Surge in Dengue Cases and Utilisation of $10 Subsidy for Dengue NS1 Testing","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"12 Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Health (a) to date, how many people have utilised the $10 subsidy for dengue NS1 testing at emergency departments of restructured hospitals; and (b) how has the workload at polyclinics and restructured hospitals' emergency departments been affected by the upsurge in dengue cases this year compared to the last two years.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: As of 7 September 2013, MOH has been notified of 15,774 cases of dengue fever.
All medical practitioners have been advised to remain vigilant for dengue cases and to order tests for dengue if deemed appropriate.
To facilitate the early diagnosis of dengue during this epidemic, the Ministry increased the subsidies for dengue NS1 testing at the emergency departments of public hospitals so that patients who are clinically assessed to require the test will not pay more than $10 per test. This has been in place since 17 June 2013. As of 16 August 2013, more than 6,600 subsidised tests were done.
This year's dengue epidemic led to a corresponding increase in the number of patients treated for dengue or suspected dengue at polyclinics and public hospital EDs, compared to the last two years. Polyclinic attendance for dengue or suspected dengue increased 6.5 times, from an average of 931 cases for the first six months of 2011 and 2012, to 6,065 cases for the first six months of 2013 (see table below). However, these comprised less than 0.3% of the total number of polyclinic attendances.
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There were 6,880 ED attendances for dengue or suspected dengue at acute public sector hospitals in the first six months of this year, comprising 1.3% of total ED attendances. In comparison, there were only 2,523 ED attendances for dengue or suspected dengue for the whole of 2012 (see table below).
To cope with the extra workload at EDs, and to reduce the waiting time to consultation, our hospitals have increased manpower and streamlined processes to enhance efficiency. Such measures include adjusting the work shifts of doctors and nurses based on anticipated patient load, deploying nurses from other work areas that are less busy to assist at the ED, and providing support services.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Use of Medical Subsidy for Haze-related Ailments","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"13 Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Health to date, how many people have utilised the $10 subsidised scheme to seek treatment for haze-related consultations at participating GP clinics and whether there has been an increase in the number of clinics that have signed onto the scheme.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: In an effort to help Singaporeans better cope with medical ailments that may arise as a result of the haze, MOH introduced a haze subsidy scheme on 21 June 2013. Under this scheme, Singaporeans who are elderly, children or in the lower income group are eligible for a subsidised fee of $10 if they are seen at participating General Practitioner (GP) clinics, or at the polyclinics, for respiratory or eye conditions due to the haze. The rest of the bill will be subsidised by the Government.
The utilisation of the haze subsidy scheme was tracked by number of claims made by each participating clinic. Thus far, under the scheme, participating GP clinics have seen around 8,200 attendances for haze-related conditions, with another 2,600 attendances at the polyclinics.
The number of participating GP clinics has steadily increased, from 200 clinics at the inception of the scheme, to more than 650 clinics today.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Existing Capacity of Senior Care Centres","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"14 Ms Lee Li Lian asked the Minister for Health with regard to existing Senior Care Centres (a) what is their current capacity; (b) whether the current capacity is able to meet the demand from the public; and (c) whether there are waiting lists for these Senior Care Centres and, if so, how many people are on the lists and what is the average waiting period.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: Today, we have a network of about 60 eldercare day centres providing day services, such as day care and day rehabilitation services. This network of centres has a total capacity to serve 2,800 seniors.
To better serve our seniors who may have different needs, the Government has launched Senior Care Centres (SCCs) last year. SCCs are part of the
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Government's efforts to provide aged care and support facilities within the community so that more seniors can age within the community and close to their loved ones. SCCs are new integrated day eldercare facilities that provide a range of aged care services, such as day care, dementia day care, day rehabilitation and basic nursing services, to holistically meet the needs of seniors needing care. This integration of services under one roof at the SCCs reduces the need for seniors to travel to different day centres to access different services.
In the past year, we have developed three new SCCs7 − one each in the Central, Eastern and Northern regions, which can serve about 230 seniors in total. Currently, there are still vacancies available at these SCCs, as well as in the network of day care centres and day rehabilitative centres. However, as clients generally prefer centres near their residential locations, there are about 350 seniors who are currently on the wait list for various centre-based care services, and the average waiting time to placement is between 20 to 50 days depending on the location.
To enhance the geographical distribution of services and in anticipation of an increase in demand for day care services that will come with an ageing population, we will be developing more SCCs across the island in the heartlands to make care more accessible to seniors. We plan to provide additional capacity to serve an additional 240 seniors, by the end of FY13. By FY20, we plan to develop approximately 60 new SCCs to serve an additional 5,500 seniors.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":["7 : The three new SCCs are St Hilda's Community Services Centre in Tanjong Rhu (Central), St Luke's Eldercare Centre in Changkat (East) and Sree Narayana's Multi-service Centre in Woodlands (North)."],"footNoteQuestions":["14"],"questionNo":"14"},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Transport Vouchers for Low-income Families","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"15 Ms Lee Li Lian asked the Minister for Transport (a) to date, how many families have applied for transport vouchers; (b) how many vouchers have been given out; (c) whether any families have failed to receive the vouchers due to insufficient supply and, if so, what is the number of such families; and (d) whether the Government will consider offering a longer term transport subsidy such as automatic top-ups on EZ link cards for the low-income instead of one-off vouchers.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Public transport vouchers are one-off assistance measures to help mitigate the impact of public transport (PT) fare increases for low-income families.
The table below shows the number of PT vouchers made available and encashed since 2007. No vouchers were disbursed in 2009, 2010 and 2012 as there were no fare increases in those years. No family has been left out due to insufficient supply.
The Fare Review Mechanism Committee is currently reviewing the public transport concessions framework to ensure that fares are kept affordable, including for low-income earners.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Non-renewal of Taxi Operator Licence","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"16 Mr Ang Hin Kee asked the Minister for Transport (a) what are the lessons which LTA has learnt following the recent case of a taxi company which did not have its operator licence renewed; (b) what are the concerns raised by the industry players and taxi drivers; and (c) what measures will LTA put in place to handle future similar cases, especially if a larger operator is affected.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Taxi companies are required to meet Quality of Service (QoS) standards in the areas of taxi booking, safety and the conduct of their drivers. They are also expected to meet other regulatory requirements for renewal of their Taxi Service Operator Licence (TSOL), such as achieving the minimum fleet size and putting in place the capability to locate their taxis to facilitate taxi booking.
Smart had multiple failures in its QoS performance and did not demonstrate commitment to meet the licence renewal conditions, despite LTA's extensive efforts to work with them to improve. LTA did not take this decision not to renew Smart's licence lightly, and was fully cognisant of the potential impact, but it is important for the regulator to credibly ensure that operators perform according to the required standards, so that the commuter’s interests are protected.
To minimise the impact of Smart's exit, LTA had worked with the National Taxi Association to help Smart fulfil its obligations to its taxi drivers, and facilitate placements for them in the other taxi companies. LTA had also facilitated the transfer of Smart's taxi licences to Trans-Cab to ensure that the overall taxi fleet did not decline.
The principle of ensuring a reasonably orderly exit of a taxi operator, and ensuring that the impact on affected taxi drivers as well as on the commuting public would be minimised, would continue to be key considerations if there are future similar cases. Beyond these general considerations, the specific measures will have to be tailored based on the size of the operator and the relevant prevailing circumstances.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Taxi Queue Management System at Changi Airport","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"17 Mr Ang Hin Kee asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether the Ministry will consider reviewing and redesigning the existing taxi queue management system at the Changi Airport for the new \"Project Jewel\"; and (b) whether the existing taxi queue system can better tap on technology to help tourists and commuters have easier and faster access to taxis at the airport.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) requires the Changi Airport operator, Changi Airport Group (CAG), to maintain a good standard of taxi services at Changi Airport. For example, CAAS requires that 90% of passengers clear the taxi queue within 10 minutes of waiting.
CAG is currently reviewing the taxi queue management system to ensure that it can adequately serve the higher number of commuters when the Terminal 1 expansion and Project Jewel development are completed. For example, it will study measures to increase the capacity of the taxi holding areas and to enhance safety within the airport roadway system. CAG is also planning to increase the number of taxi pick-up bays to adequately serve the commuters at Terminal 1 and the Project Jewel complex.
To help airport users have easier and faster access to taxis at Changi Airport, CAG has been leveraging on technology to better match taxi demand and supply. For instance, to complement the taxi information display system that has been installed at Airport Boulevard, CAG has introduced a new free mobile application, Cabs@Changi, which disseminates information such as the number of arriving flights and the number of taxis in the taxi holding areas to taxi drivers on a real-time basis. At present, there have been more than 10,000 downloads of Cabs@Changi.
CAG is also working with key partners such as the National Taxi Association and the taxi companies to introduce initiatives to attract more taxis to the airport. These include providing free coffee and festive giveaways, as well as organising lucky draws to encourage taxi drivers to come to Changi Airport.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Measures to Alleviate Overcrowding at Yishun and Khatib MRT Stations","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"18 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Transport in view of overcrowding faced by commuters in the Yishun area during peak hours (a) whether bendy buses will be deployed; and (b) what measures are in place to alleviate the overcrowded Yishun and Khatib MRT stations.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: In Yishun, there have been several improvements made under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme. These include injecting more buses to Services 857 and 965, as well as starting two new bus routes – Service 860 and the parallel bus Service 850E, both of which have been well received. Where possible and necessary, LTA will discuss with the two operators to deploy high capacity buses such as bendy buses or double decker buses.
LTA has also been working with SMRT to relieve train crowding. For instance, when possible, SMRT turns around two north-bound trains at Yishun in the morning peak period to provide additional south-bound train trips.
In addition, the overall capacity of the North-South Line will be improved in the next few years. More trains will be added, with the first tranche of 13 more trains entering service by 2014. The signalling system for the North-South Line will be upgraded by 2016, which will reduce waiting times between trains during peak periods to 100 seconds from 120 seconds today. The completion of the Thomson Line, starting from 2019, will also significantly increase rail capacity along the north-south corridor.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Grace Period for Payment of ERP Gantry Fee Before Imposition of Composition Fines","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"19 Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap asked the Minister for Transport whether LTA will consider allowing a grace period of three working days for motorists to pay the ERP fee upon a violation of the regulations, such as passing through an operational ERP gantry without a properly inserted cash card in the IU or having a cash card with insufficient monetary value, before the imposition of a composition fine.
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Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Currently, when a motorist passes through an operational ERP gantry without a cash card properly inserted in the In-Vehicle Unit (IU) or with a cash card with insufficient value, LTA already allows the registered owner of the vehicle to pay the ERP charge within 14 days, along with an administrative charge of $10 (or $8 if payment is made electronically), before a Notice of Traffic Offence carrying a composition offer of $70 is issued.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Plans to Enhance Public Bus Services in Bedok North Street 3","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"20 Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap asked the Minister for Transport in view of the scheduled completion of two HDB rental blocks beside Blocks 535 and 536 in Bedok North Street 3 in 2016, whether there are any plans to enhance the public bus services serving the area.
Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Bedok North Street 3 is currently served by SBST feeder service 225, which links residents to Bedok Town Centre and public transport nodes like Bedok Bus Interchange and Bedok MRT station. Residents can also walk a short distance to Bedok North Road to take SBST trunk services 45, 60 and 87, which provide connections to Bedok and Tanah Merah MRT stations and other destinations such as Kaki Bukit, Eunos, Serangoon and Hougang. These three services were also recently enhanced under the Bus Service Enhancement Programme (BSEP), with five buses added. A new City Direct service has also been planned to ply Bedok North Street 3 next year. A tender for the service has been called and is currently being evaluated by LTA, which will announce more details at the appropriate time.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Tenure of Faculty Members in Autonomous Universities","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"21 Assoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the role of the Ministry in the granting of tenure to faculty members in our Autonomous Universities; and (b) whether the Autonomous Universities routinely inform the Ministry of the outcome of tenure applications as a matter of practice or requirement.
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Mr Heng Swee Keat: The Autonomous Universities (AUs) make their own decisions on tenure appointments. They have their own processes and evaluation panels in place to assess the suitability of faculty members to be granted tenure.
The AUs keep MOE informed of tenure appointments so that MOE can better understand the broad trends and the development of the AUs.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Part-time Postgraduate Degree Programmes at Autonomous Universities","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"22 Assoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Minister for Education whether there are measures and guidelines to ensure that part-time postgraduate degree programmes at our Autonomous Universities do not pass off as full-time postgraduate degree programmes.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: Our Autonomous Universities offer a range of postgraduate degree programmes that are relevant to industry and cater to the learning needs of students.
Some programmes offer part-time modes of study, especially for mid-career professionals, who need more scheduling flexibility when pursuing their postgraduate studies. Our Universities establish academic boards and committees comprising experienced academics and industry leaders to assess postgraduate degree programmes.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Re-employment of Retired or Retiring Educators at NUS Medical School","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"23 Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Education (a) whether there are platforms to have the continuing services of retired or retiring educators from the NUS Medical School so as to tap on their experience to serve in various capacities to assist our increasing numbers of medical/nursing and allied healthcare students; and (b) what is the current rate of retirement amongst these personnel and how many of them have continued to serve in
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various capacities after retirement.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: At both the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSOM) and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS GMS), educators who reach the age of 65 may be re-appointed on either a full-time or part-time basis, or as adjunct staff.
Between 2010 and 2012, only two out of 24 teaching staff retired upon reaching the retirement age of 65. The others continued to be re-employed at YLLSOM and Duke-NUS GMS.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Non-compliance with EduTrust Quality Mark Guidelines by Private Education Institutions (PEIs)","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"24 Mr Ang Hin Kee asked the Minister for Education (a) over the last three years, how many private education institutions (PEIs) have failed to comply with the EduTrust quality mark guidelines; (b) over the same period, how many PEIs received more than one warning for non-compliance with the guidelines; and (c) whether the Council for Private Education (CPE) conducts regular checks to ensure that PEIs adhere to guidelines.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: The EduTrust Certification Scheme (EduTrust) is a voluntary quality assurance scheme for private education institutions (PEIs).
CPE carries out an on-site assessment before awarding EduTrust certification, and carries out regular on-site assessments after certification to ensure the PEI's continued adherence to EduTrust guidelines. CPE may also direct a PEI to undergo an ad-hoc assessment at any point during its certification period if there are valid concerns.
Since 2010, six EduTrust-certified PEIs have not been granted renewal of their EduTrust certification as they failed to meet the requirements. Another four PEIs have been issued warnings, and of these, two later had their EduTrust certification suspended.
\tPage: 139
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Criteria for Direct School Admission (DSA) Scheme","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"25 Mr Yee Jenn Jong asked the Minister for Education (a) what methods and review processes will schools use to identify and quantify \"leadership\", \"drive\" and \"resilience\" in students under the new Direct School Admission scheme; (b) what changes to the existing curriculum will be required to support these processes; and (c) whether the current class size of around 40 students per class will allow teachers to adequately assess students for these qualities.
26 Mr Yee Jenn Jong asked the Minister for Education in order to support the inclusion of qualities of \"leadership\", \"drive\" and \"resilience\" in students under the new Direct School Admission scheme (a) what training will be provided to educators to enable them to identify and quantify such qualities; and (b) what administrative assistance will be provided to educators to support the implementation.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: The Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme seeks to promote holistic education by recognising a more diverse range of student strengths, abilities and achievements, beyond performance at the national examinations, as criteria for school admission.
In recent years, MOE has progressively implemented the recommendations of the 2009 Primary Education Review to provide a more holistic education in primary schools. These include establishing the new Programme for Active Learning, strengthening the quality of Physical Education, Art and Music education, and implementing Holistic Assessment in all schools.
To support teachers in these curricular and assessment innovations, MOE has adopted a systematic approach of prototyping in a few schools, followed by a phased rollout to all schools. This ensures that deep expertise and curriculum material are progressively developed in these new areas with close collaboration between school teachers and senior specialists in MOE.
In 2009, 16 Primary schools were selected to plan and prototype Holistic Assessment approaches at Primary 1 and 2. One strategy was having co-form teachers – rather than only one form teacher per class, thus allowing the two co-form teachers to each know 15 to 20 students in their form class very well. These 16 schools had shared their experiences and resources with other schools and showcased their practices. Holistic Assessment has since been
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systematically phased in.
As of 2013, all Primary schools have begun implementing Holistic Assessment.
To provide further support, MOE launched the Holistic Assessment Website for teachers to exchange information, exemplars, resources, strategies and tools for the planning and implementation of Holistic Assessment.
MOE has also recently introduced the curriculum for Character and Citizenship Education (CCE), and introduced Values in Action (VIA) as a way to better develop the personal traits of our students. VIA are learning experiences that support students' development as socially responsible citizens who contribute meaningfully to the community, through learning and applying values, knowledge and skills. Students will be able to showcase their leadership ability, resilience in pursuing a cause and commitment to the community through the projects which they undertake. To support CCE in our schools, MOE has provided training to more than 700 CCE mentor teachers.
To recognise holistic development in students, MOE will broaden the DSA scheme to take into account personal qualities and attributes. Details will be announced in due course.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Direct School Admission Scheme for Students in the Gifted Education Programme","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"27 Mr Yee Jenn Jong asked the Minister for Education whether the Ministry plans to review the Direct School Admission scheme for admissions to Secondary schools for students from the Gifted Education Programme.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: The Direct School Admission (DSA) scheme seeks to promote holistic education by recognising a more diverse range of student strengths, abilities and achievements, other than performance at the national examinations, as criteria for school admission.
A student's acceptance into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) is not in and of itself a sufficient criterion for admission via DSA. They are still subject
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to merit-based admissions criteria set by the respective schools.
Some schools consider student achievements in GEP, for example, their achievements in academic competitions and participation in special projects.
This is no different from recognising students for their sports talent, demonstrated in their passion in training, their achievement in sports competitions, and/or their ability to be selected for and remain part of their respective national junior sports team.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Students who are Successful in the Annual Direct School Admission Scheme","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"28 Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Education since 2004 (a) what is the total number of students who apply for Direct School Admission (DSA) into Secondary schools each year; (b) what percentage of these applicants are successfully admitted through DSA each year; (c) what percentage of successful students are from the Gifted Education Programme; (d) what percentage of successful students are admitted based on their artistic achievements; and (e) what percentage of successful students are admitted based on their sporting abilities.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: On average, about 15,000 Direct School Admission (DSA) applications are received by our Secondary schools per year. This number includes students who may have applied to more than one Secondary school, so it does not represent the number of unique students who applied under DSA.
The number of students eventually admitted via DSA to Secondary schools is around 2,800 per year.
Around 15% of the students admitted to Secondary schools via DSA were from the Gifted Education Programme (GEP). They were selected on the basis of their strengths and achievements in academic or non-academic domains, like sports and arts, rather than simply because they were in the GEP.
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Overall, the proportions of students admitted via DSA based on their strengths, abilities and achievements in arts and sports were around 15% and 35% respectively.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Introduction of Knowledge and Inquiry (KI) as a Subject in Junior Colleges (JCs)","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"29 Mr Baey Yam Keng asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the objective of introducing Knowledge and Inquiry (KI) as a subject in junior colleges (JCs) eight years ago and whether this objective has been met or changed over the years; (b) what are the challenges that JCs face in offering KI including staffing and training issues; (c) what is the number of JCs offering, and the number of students taking, KI in each of the last eight years; and (e) whether the Ministry has plans to review this course.
Mr Heng Swee Keat: The objective of Knowledge and Inquiry (KI) is to provide students with a better understanding of the nature of knowledge, how knowledge is constructed and to apply this understanding to the different areas of knowledge they may be engaged in.
Feedback from teachers and students has indicated that students found the skills acquired in KI a valuable asset to their University studies. In particular, KI students are known to have demonstrated strong conceptual thinking and to have enriched classroom discussion through the depth of their contributions.
Since the introduction of KI, enrolment has declined from about 360 students in 12 JCs to 141 students in seven JCs. The key challenge is the lack of trained teachers. Unlike other subjects drawn usually from a single discipline, KI cuts across a number of disciplines. This poses a demand on teachers who would typically have read particular disciplines during tertiary education. In addition, KI teachers are drawn from the same pool of teachers teaching well-established subjects with larger candidatures like the General Paper and Humanities subjects. MOE recognises the challenge and has taken steps to address the shortage of teachers by providing training and professional development.
KI is, currently, under a full-term review as part of the review of the \"A\" level curriculum.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Breakdown of Professionals, Managers and Executives by Nationality and Industry/Sector","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"30 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Acting Minister for Manpower what is the breakdown of Singaporean, Permanent Resident and foreign Professionals, Managers and Executives in Singapore from 2011 to 2012 according to the various industries/sectors which include Manufacturing, Construction, Services, Banking & Finance and IT & Communications.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: The breakdown of Singaporean, Permanent Resident and foreign Professionals, Managers and Executives in Singapore from 2011 to 2012 by broad industries is provided in the table below.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Breakdown of Salary and CPF Contribution by Percentile and Nationality","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"31 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Acting Minister for Manpower in 2011 and 2012, what is the breakdown for Singaporeans, permanent residents and foreigners in Singapore in terms of the 50th, 60th, 70th, 75th and 80th percentile of the (a) basic salary (including and excluding employer CPF contributions); and (b) gross salary (including and excluding employer CPF contributions).
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: Breakdown of gross monthly income from full-time work by the 50th to 80th percentile in 2011 and 2012 for residents and Singapore Citizens are provided in the table below. Comparable data are only available for gross monthly income and residents and Singaporeans.
The median gross monthly income of residents is typically higher than that for Singapore Citizens alone as Permanent Residents, typically, have to display good employability before they are granted residency.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Special Employment Credit Scheme","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"32 Mr Chen Show Mao asked the Acting Minister for Manpower among the employers and senior workers who have benefited from the Special Employment Credit scheme (a) which industries do the employers belong to; (b) what kind of jobs are the senior workers employed for; and (c) on average, how long do the senior workers stay on the job, according to industry and job type.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: Employers who are benefiting from the Special Employment Credit (SEC) scheme belong to various industries, from agriculture and fishing to healthcare and social services. Companies in the wholesale and retail sector form the largest group and account for about one quarter of the employers, while about 15% are in the manufacturing sector.
About one quarter of eligible employees are cleaners or labourers, and about one fifth are service and sales workers. Other main occupation types include clerical support workers, and plant and machine operators. More than 90% of workers who benefited from the SEC in the first half of 2012 have remained in employment one year later, while more than 85% of them continue to hold jobs within the same industry.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"CPF Housing Withdrawal Limit","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"33 Mr Ong Teng Koon asked the Acting Minister for Manpower (a) whether the CPF Housing Withdrawal Limit of 120% of the valuation limit is sufficient to fully finance a typical loan of 20-25 years at a typical interest rate of 2%-5%; and (b) how can the Ministry help low-income families with limited cash and CPF savings in their Ordinary Account and Special Account of less than 50% of the Minimum Sum use their CPF funds to fully finance a housing loan when the Withdrawal Limit is reached.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: First, let me clarify the limits that are set on use of CPF savings for housing. The Valuation Limit (VL) is set at the lower of the purchase price or property value at the time of purchase. A member would need to have set aside half the Minimum Sum8 to use CPF savings beyond the VL. The Withdrawal Limit (WL) is the absolute cap on the amount of CPF savings that can be used for housing, and is set at 120% of the VL.
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Whether a member is able to fully finance his housing loan with his CPF savings depends on several factors, including the property price and corresponding loan amount required as well as the loan tenure and interest charge. Most CPF members have been prudent and have taken the CPF usage limits for housing into account before deciding which property to purchase. In this way, they have avoided overstretching themselves and hence leave sufficient CPF savings for their retirement needs.
Today, the number of CPF members who have reached their VL and are unable to set aside half the Minimum Sum is small – at less than half a per cent of those who are using CPF to service their housing loans. For affected members, where the case merits, we have exercised flexibility and allowed them to use CPF savings beyond the VL. The number of members who have reached the WL is even smaller. The VL and WL also do not apply to members who purchase a new flat directly from HDB and finance the property via a HDB loan.
The VL and WL continue to serve an important purpose in ensuring that CPF members purchase a property which they can afford, without having to deplete their retirement CPF savings. CPF members should buy a home within their means, and factor in the CPF usage limits in their financing plans.
","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":["8 : For members below age 55, this refers to half of the prevailing Minimum Sum. For members aged 55 and above, this typically refers to half of their cohort Minimum Sum."],"footNoteQuestions":["33"],"questionNo":"33"},{"startPgNo":0,"endPgNo":0,"title":"Maternity-related Disputes and Complaints","subTitle":null,"sectionType":"WA","content":"34 Ms Mary Liew asked the Acting Minister for Manpower (a) what is the number of maternity-related disputes and complaints that the Ministry has received in the last five years; (b) beyond payment of maternity benefits imposed by the Ministry during mediation, how many women have been reinstated to their jobs after intervention by the Ministry; and (c) whether the Ministry is planning further initiatives to protect the employment of pregnant women from exploitation by ignorant or errant employers.
Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: From 2008 to June 2013, MOM received a total of 617 maternity-related claims and appeals. A large majority of the maternity-related disputes were resolved through mediation and only a small handful of cases
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were referred to the Minister for a decision. The remaining cases were withdrawn by appellants after they have had the opportunity to assess the merits of their case.
About half of the cases that go to the Minister for a decision were ruled in favour of the employee. To date, the Minister has not ordered reinstatement in any case. For such cases, compensation is a more practicable option for the employees as they would prefer not to continue employment with the same employer following their dismissal.
The very large majority of disputes referred to the Ministry are not straightforward cases of unfair treatment. In these cases, dismissal was also related to alleged employees' poor performance or misconduct. Notwithstanding this, our laws ensure that female employees are protected against unfair dismissal during their pregnancy or when they are on maternity leave. From 1 May 2013, the maternity protection period has been enhanced to cover the full period of pregnancy. Employers who retrench or dismiss their pregnant employees without sufficient cause at any stage of the pregnancy will be liable to pay for their full maternity benefits.
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","clarificationText":null,"clarificationTitle":null,"clarificationSubTitle":null,"reportType":null,"questionCount":null,"footNotes":null,"footNoteQuestions":null,"questionNo":null}],"writtenAnswersVOList":[],"writtenAnsNAVOList":[],"annexureList":[],"vernacularList":[{"vernacularID":1171,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Zaqy Mohamad","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20130916/vernacular-New Template - Zaqy Mohamad.pdf","fileName":"New Template - Zaqy Mohamad.pdf"},{"vernacularID":1172,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20130916/vernacular-New Template - Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (1).pdf","fileName":"New Template - Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (1).pdf"},{"vernacularID":1173,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20130916/vernacular-New Template - Faisal Manap.pdf","fileName":"New Template - Faisal Manap.pdf"},{"vernacularID":1174,"sittingDate":null,"vernacularTitle":"Vernacular Speech by Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim","filePath":"d:/apps/reports/solr_files/20130916/vernacular-New Template - Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (2).pdf","fileName":"New Template - Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim (2).pdf"}],"onlinePDFFileName":""}