Amy Khor Lean Suan
Singapore
“Sir, NEA does conduct inspections of these premises from time to time. For this particular premises, they actually did six inspections since 2021.”
“The Land Transport Authority (LTA) conducts enforcement actions against drivers who are found to have provided illegal car-pooling services. An individual who provides an illegal car-pooling service may face a fine of up to $3,000, up to six months' imprisonment, or both.”
“We will also provide the first 500 private heavy vehicle chargers co-funding of up to 50% of the charger installation cost, capped at $30,000 per charger. These measures will narrow the lifecycle cost gap between an electric and internal combustion engine heavy vehicle and spur adoption of electric heavy vehicles.”
“With regard to the extension of the lower speed limit to school zones for full day, we will work with the relevant agencies on the enhanced enforcements.”
“They will provide a certain amount of protection to the pedestrians because, as I have said, the bollards will absorb the impact of the collision from the vehicles. So, there is a protection. But ultimately, of course, road safety really depends on a multitude of factors, including road user behaviour.”
“The bollards installed at pedestrian crossings by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) are not of the K4, K8 or K12 standards stated by the Member. Bollards of these standards are typically security bollards. They are installed to protect critical infrastructure or at high security areas, such as Changi Airport, to be unyielding.”
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“Seniors with mobility difficulties can contact the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to request an assessment by AIC's Community Care Assessment Team (ComCAT) at their homes. This can be done through AIC touchpoints, such as AICare Links at our acute hospitals, Singapore Silver Line and Singapore Silver Pages. Once contacted, AIC will arrange for ComCAT to visit the senior at his or her home to assess their eligibility for subsidies under the various schemes, such as the Seniors' Mobility and Enabling Fund (SMF). As of end 2016, ComCAT has responded to a total of 1,357 cases in the community. We will continue to monitor the care needs in the community to ensure that our schemes and services are accessible to patients who require them.”
“Indeed, at these wet markets and hawker centres, we do have place managers there to monitor. Anyone is free to contact us to give us feedback on the display of food prices and any other issues with regard to hawker centres. I wish to highlight that we do understand that, for market stalls, there are challenges for them in fulfilling this requirement. As I had said, for some stalls, in particular, where they are selling market produce and if the prices fluctuate on a daily basis, it is quite difficult. We have engaged them and advised them that they could display a price range instead, which would also comply with the requirements. Clearly, we will do more, in terms of reaching out and educating them through our place managers, too.”
“For centralised dishwashing, it is to help the hawkers to address manpower constraints and challenges, as well as to manage manpower costs and improve productivity. With centralised dishwashing, what it means is that the hawkers will save on the cost of employing someone to wash the dishes. In one of my visits to a hawker centre at Whampoa, which does not have a centralised dishwashing programme at the moment, one of the hawkers has purchased his own dishwashing equipment and that helped him to address his difficulty of getting someone to wash the dishes and saved him nearly the equivalent of one full-time manpower cost. That would definitely offset the fees paid for centralised dishwashing.”
“Let me share that for the new centres that have been operated under the alternative management model, for instance, Ci Yuan Hawker Centre at Hougang and OTH hawker centre which has just opened recently, the socially-conscious operators have, in their tender proposals, proposed an entrepreneurship programme to allow new hawkers to enter the trade, to support and facilitate their entry. As I have noted earlier, in Ci Yuan Hawker Centre, they have an entrepreneurship programme where some 16 new hawkers have benefited. They trained these hawkers and provided them the stalls and some initial setting-up costs to operate these stalls. In OTH, they also have a train-and-place entrepreneurship programme where new hawkers train with veteran hawkers for about three months and then they operate the stalls at OTH. These have helped to lower the entry barriers for aspiring hawkers, whether they are young hawkers or people looking to enter the trade. Between Ci Yuan and OTH, we have new hawkers who were formerly an engineer, accountant, real estate agent. Recently, at Chinatown Complex Food Centre, I met a former Deputy Superintendent of Police who has become a hawker. She has been selling herbal buk kut teh there for more than a month or so. Schemes like these would help. With regard to the conservancy fees that the Member referred to, in effect, at Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre, this is not just one component, this $1,600-odd. It comprises three components: firstly, it is service and conservancy fees for general cleaning, routine maintenance and utilities of the common area; there is a second component which is table cleaning fees; and the third component is centralised dishwashing fees. All these fees are market-determined and paid directly to the contractors.”
“The eligibility criteria for people to participate in this trial as well as all the other details, such as funding and so on, are being worked out and will be available closer to the date of commencement.”
“Thank you. MOH had previously received requests to allow Pre-implantation Genetic Screening (PGS) to identify chromosomal abnormalities in embryos created through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), with the aim of improving the chances of conceiving. We had not granted approval so far as the published evidence had been unclear. In recent years, however, newer technologies for PGS have emerged and some jurisdictions have now allowed PGS. MOH is, therefore, reviewing the clinical effectiveness of PGS and its ethical implications. To assess clinical effectiveness, NUH will be conducting a three-year pilot PGS programme which will commence by early next year. MOH will also look into the ethical concerns and regulation of PGS. For example, we will need to ensure that embryos are not eliminated solely based on parental preferences on characteristics, such as gender. Page: 8 MOH will consult stakeholders and the public to gather views.”
“Mdm Speaker, may I take Question Nos 2 and 3 together?”
“This is exactly what we are doing. We have recently published a tender and we have commissioned a study – Life Cycle Assessment – on the different types of single carrier bags used, as well as common forms of containers that are used for food and beverage. The idea is to look into how these different types of materials compare in terms of cost as well as environmental impact.”
“In addition, wastage of reusable bags and such. There are merits in the arguments on both sides. We really need to do a study on this. We need to engage the stakeholders which we are doing. We are also looking at the experiences of other countries, as well as a life cycle assessment study that we are conducting, which will look at the cost and environmental impact on the different types of bags used. This will help us to formulate policies, including on the use of plastic bags. I think we need to do this in order to come to a decision and we will share with Members the results and outcome of our studies and the decision on whether to implement a charge on plastic bags. If so, in what manner? For instance, is it just major supermarkets or major retailers as well? We need to do this before we come to a decision.”
“I want to thank the Member for his supplementary questions and comments. Let me first note that we recognise the importance and the benefits of curbing the excessive use of plastic bags. In fact, we are looking at further measures to see how we can achieve this, as I have noted in my reply. But let me also note that we need to recognise that our national circumstances are quite unique and different from those of many other countries. Together with the municipal waste, the plastic bags which are thrown away are actually incinerated and not directly landfilled. So, concerns, for instance, regarding the non-biodegradability of plastic bags, which is really the key reason used to justify a levy on plastic bags in many other countries, really is not applicable in our context. Moreover, we need to also recognise that the large majority of Singaporeans live in apartments, and they dispose of their refuse through the refuse chute, and they use plastic bags to dispose their rubbish in a hygienic manner. It has taken us quite a long time to get this habit going. The other thing is that if you look at the views on this issue, which is imposing a charge on plastic bags, it is actually quite mixed. Through our consultation as well as through the media and even social media, many are supportive of this, citing, for example, excessive use of plastic bags, as well as the fact that for countries that have used it, there is a significant reduction in the number of plastic bags used. But there are also others who have objected, citing reasons like hygiene, in terms of disposing food in used plastic bags, as well as some unintended consequences that may arise. For instance, actually substituting the use of plastic bag with paper bags, which is also a resource.”
“We have done a cost-benefit analysis internally for some of the commonly used disposable wares, as well as using reusable crockery. Basically, for commonly used disposable wares in the hawker centres, the cost of the other types of disposable wares, for instance, plastic containers or coated paper box or even the "tze char" paper box, they are about two to three times higher in cost than the clamshell polystyrene foam packaging. But using reusable crockery, including taking into account the cost of manual collection and washing of reusable crockery, is actually more cost-effective and relatively cheaper, compared to using styrofoam packaging. As I have said, we do not face this problem about Styrofoam packaging being landfilled as it is incinerated. We are working with the hawkers, through the hawker associations and stalls to discourage them from using disposable wares, including polystyrene foam packaging, as much as possible. But we need to take into account the cost of alternative options, as well as manpower constraints for these hawkers and the inconvenience that may be caused. As much as possible, we will encourage them to not use disposable wares, particularly for dining in.”
“In fact, there are some pilots, with regard to technology, say in Marine Parade, where they are piloting a home-monitoring system to monitor the health as well as the lives of the elderly to make sure they are taken care of. If something happens, they can actually alert the senior care centres.”
“I will take the first two. Firstly, on community networks, I would just like to explain that we will be piloting this in about three areas across the island, different regions and also looking at slightly different demographic profiles as well as socio-economic status so that we can learn from the pilots before scaling up. We will try and look at what the gaps are and so on. With regard to the Member's suggestion about getting grassroots involved, indeed, community networks will involve all stakeholders in the community. It is just that it will be facilitated by a small team of staff together with the various Government agencies, the VWOs, community-based organisations and, of course, including grassroots. Because we are piloting the project, we will certainly take into account the Member's strong interest in setting up a community network. Let us pilot it and learn from it before we can scale up. Regarding eldercare relationships, in fact, this is what we have been doing under the Action Plan for Successful Ageing. After learning from implementing the many ground-up ideas, we have put it into a guide and sent it to all the divisions. When we learn through the community networks, we can also put up some of these as guiding principles for use. Technology for eldercare, certainly. That is why I have said in my speech earlier that there is a National Innovation Challenge where we have made two grant calls and we will be calling for more. The first two are on new models of home-care and enhancing care for dementia. Along with these, we will be looking at technology, too.”
“Specifically for gestational diabetes, the Committee will complement the work of the diabetes task force and look into providing support for women with gestational diabetes to reduce the risk of complications during pregnancy and risk of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease for the child. Promoting bone health is also important for women who are at higher risk of osteoporosis than men. The Committee will also encourage women to promote good health in our families, such as by breastfeeding our infants, which may reduce the risk of obesity and, hence, diabetes for them later in life, provide them with the best possible nutrition and protect them against illnesses and allergies. Mdm Chair, the Action Plan for Successful Ageing is our blueprint to prepare for rapid population ageing. A Nation for "All Ages" has to be built by all Singaporeans together. With many hands and many hearts, I am positive that we can face population ageing confidently and successfully.”
“We have three home intervention teams to support caregivers in managing challenging behaviours of their loved ones with dementia at home, which have reached out to close to 200 clients and caregivers to date. The 10 outreach CREST teams have also reached out to more than 39,000 seniors at risk islandwide. We are also expanding capacity of dementia care services in the community. By 2020, we will have 3,000 dementia day care places, 1,970 dementia nursing home beds and 160 eldercare sitters. Mdm Chair, we need to rally the whole Singapore kampung to play a part in supporting seniors with dementia and their care-givers within our communities. Last month, I launched an effort to build a Dementia-Friendly Community in Hong Kah North, after the first such community was launched at Chong Pang. We are working with other divisions, such as MacPherson, Queenstown and Bedok, to embark upon this initiative, too. Under this initiative, we will build up networks of Dementia Friends who are trained to recognise and provide assistance where necessary to persons with dementia. We will also pilot a safe return system for lost seniors and step up efforts to raise public awareness, such as through AIC's dementia toolkit. We hope to encourage more communities to come together to build a dementia-friendly Singapore. Moving on to women's health issues, I am pleased to update that I will be chairing a revamped Women's Health Committee to focus on three key health issues among women. These are increasing cancer screening uptake, promoting bone health and, of course, women cannot be left out of the war on diabetes. So, the third focus will be on fighting diabetes, particularly diabetes linked to obesity and gestational diabetes, which Ms Tin Pei Ling and Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef asked about.”
“00 pm We recognise the stresses of caregiving, as highlighted by Miss Cheng Li Hui and Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin, and have enhanced support for caregivers to make it easier for them to navigate our care system. Caregivers can approach AIC's AICarelinks at AIC's office and our hospitals. These are one-stop points to get information and advice on the appropriate services for their loved ones. They can also contact AIC's Singapore Silver Line for support on all matters relating to mental health and eldercare services. Besides the four major languages, there are dialect-speaking agents available for seniors who are more comfortable speaking in their native dialects. We have also put in place programmes to help patients and their caregivers transit more smoothly from the hospital to home. Since 2008, AIC has care coordinators who helped patients look for services required after discharge and follow up with them to provide further support post-discharge through phone calls, home visits or both. To ensure their well-being, we have also made respite care more accessible for caregivers and enhanced subsidies to help defray the costs of caregiving. AIC also works closely with community touch points to look out for caregivers who may be stressed and render assistance where needed. As noted by Mr Low Thia Kiang, Miss Cheng Li Hui and Dr Tan Wu Meng, the focus for our community mental health efforts going forward will be on dementia. With a fast-ageing population and a dementia prevalence rate of about 10% amongst seniors aged 60 and above, we can expect the number of seniors with dementia in Singapore to grow with time. We are strengthening community-based support for persons with dementia and their caregivers.”
“Nonetheless, the experience of these countries is mixed so far, and there is no robust evidence to show that community treatment orders are effective in achieving key outcomes, such as reduced hospital re-admissions, improved medication adherence and patients' quality of life. Even as we study such an approach, it is important that we continue to enhance access to mental health services and continuity of care. We share Mr Low Thia Kiang's concern about funding for mental health, and take a calibrated approach in ensuring comparability in coverage. Patients requiring inpatient treatment can enjoy Government subsidies similar to other medical treatments. The MediShield Life claim limit and MediSave withdrawal limit for psychiatric treatments are lower, as Mr Low has said, because its bill size is generally lower as well. The median post-subsidy bill per day in 2014 was $60 for psychiatric treatment, compared to $350 for non-psychiatric treatment. Taken together, the MediShield Life and MediSave limits were sufficient to cover seven in 10 subsidised inpatient psychiatric bills. MediFund assistance is also available for those who are unable to afford treatment, even after subsidies and MediSave and MediShield. Patients requiring outpatient mental health treatment can receive Government subsidies at our SOCs and polyclinics, which were recently enhanced for lower- to middle-income patients, who also enjoy CHAS subsidies at CHAS GP clinics. Pioneers can receive special subsidies at SOCs, polyclinics and CHAS GPs. All patients can also use MediSave for psychiatric conditions under the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) and our seniors can further tap on Flexi-MediSave. 2.”
“AIC has also trained over 500 staff from the ground agencies, such as HDB, Town Councils, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Family Service Centres. In addition, advisors in all 89 divisions have been given a single AIC contact point for easier referral to assist residents with suspected mental health issues. AIC will be the first responder and lead in coordinating further assessment and care. To address Dr Lily Neo's suggestion, SSOs today can refer persons with suspected mental health issues to AIC for assessment, as well as help provide the necessary support if needed, as part of the overall care plan. Fourth, IMH is strengthening its after-care services to better support clients post-discharge, so that they could be better managed and supported to continue to live in the community. Together with AIC, IMH is piloting an integrated model of after-care case management for clients with moderate to complex social and healthcare needs. Case managers assigned to these clients will assist in their transitional care upon discharge and link them to community support partners. These after-care teams have reached out to over 150 clients since 2015. IMH is also enhancing its capability to monitor higher risk patients post-discharge and ensure that they comply with follow-up treatment. If a patient refuses or defaults on treatment, IMH will work closely with family members, caregivers and other community partners to engage the patients. Currently, the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act does not provide for enforced treatment of psychiatric patients in an outpatient setting. We can study Dr Lily Neo's suggestion on whether to compel outpatient mental health treatment, taking reference from overseas models, such as Scotland, England and Australia.”
“Last year, I updated the House that we will systematically strengthen our community mental health efforts in a few ways and I am pleased to report that we are making steady progress. First, to enhance the mental well-being of Singaporeans, HPB has rolled out initiatives to equip the public with knowledge and skills to keep mentally well and seek help early, if needed. For example, their "Working Minds" talks and workshops in workplaces impart skills on managing stress and developing resilience so that employees can perform at their best and 4,500 employees from 90 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have participated in these workshops since they started in 2013. Second, to help detect and support the treatment of mental health patients in the community, AIC has trained and partnered over 100 GPs and set up six specialist-led community-based teams to guide our primary care providers in managing patients with more complex issues. Six allied health-led community teams have also been set up to support GPs by providing counselling and psycho-education to clients and caregivers. This is an increase from the 70 GP partners and nine specialist and allied health-led teams last year. As at end-2015, these teams have seen over 7,000 clients, an increase from 4,700 in the previous year. Third, we have reached out to 36 constituencies; 16 in the past one year alone. Over 800 grassroots leaders, volunteers and community partners have been trained in basic mental health knowledge and symptoms of mental illness, which allows them to identify, respond and support residents with mental health challenges. Again, this is an increase from the 400 trained in 2014.”
“Our healthcare institutions will be systematically introducing mechanisation to take away the physical strain of healthcare jobs. We will also redesign jobs, introduce FWAs and provide retraining to create more opportunities for older Singaporeans to work in the healthcare sector. For instance, NUH has started a flexi-work pilot for Singaporeans to help ward nurses with basic care duties, so that the nurses can focus on clinical nursing work. NUH targets to have up to 50 of such Basic Care Assistants and has already hired 16 under the pilot phase. Ms Thanaletchimi and Dr Chia Shi-Lu will also be pleased to note that all healthcare clusters today have FWAs in place to help workers balance work and personal demands. These include part-time employment, compressed work week, flexible work schedules and hours. Last year, four hospitals piloted new FWAs for nurses in selected wards, where the timing of the afternoon shift was brought forward to allow the nurses to spend more time with their families and friends after work. MOH is currently working to facilitate electronic rostering systems, so that more FWAs for nurses can be scaled up to all public healthcare institutions. Our healthcare institutions will also strengthen workplace health programmes and introduce new retirement planning programmes for their mature workers. These include pre- and post-retirement workshops, to guide older healthcare workers through career transition issues. In short, despite the current economic uncertainty, the health and aged care sector is expanding and will be able to offer many different good jobs to Singaporeans of all ages. Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef and Ms Tin Pei Ling asked for an update on community mental health.”
“MOH will provide funding support to the institutions for the remuneration and benefits given to these mid-career talents. Even as we explore more initiatives to grow local workforce participation in the sector, there is still a need to bring in foreign healthcare workers to augment our local supply. We will continue to help these workers adapt to our practices and working environment, so that they can be effective members of our teams. Assoc Prof Daniel Goh spoke about home nursing providers who bring in foreign nurses under foreign domestic worker permits. Let me clarify that providers can only deploy nurses registered under the Singapore Nursing Board (SNB) to deliver home nursing services. The providers Assoc Prof Daniel Goh mentioned are employment agencies who bring in care aides to assist senior clients and they hold foreign domestic worker permits. In parallel with efforts to grow the workforce are efforts to deepen skills and build new capabilities. To date, more than 7,000 ILTC staff have undergone various training, from care skills training to leadership programmes under the AIC Learning Institute. Under the national SkillsFuture initiative, we will introduce the Healthcare Skills Future Study Awards to support skills upgrading of the healthcare workforce. The $5,000 study awards will support learning and development in the areas of aged care, healthcare IT, analytics and healthcare system design, organisation and delivery, and will benefit 50 healthcare staff this year. The awards will be opened for application from June this year. MOH will also champion initiatives within the public healthcare sector to make our healthcare institutions age-friendly and enhance the longevity of our older experienced staff.”
“We launched the online ILTC Careers Portal in 2013 and a branding campaign earlier this year to raise awareness of opportunities in this sector. We have facilitated the recruitment of 107 locals through our job fairs over the past one year. MOH has also provided funding support to enhance the pay competitiveness of healthcare workers in VWO providers, in tandem with the pay increases in the public healthcare sector. We will do even more this year, to enhance recruitment for the aged care sector. Assoc Prof Daniel Goh suggested recruiting retired nurses to deliver home and community care. Today, some of our home-care providers are already doing so. To better attract non-practising local nurses back to work in the growing aged care sector, we have enhanced the Return-To-Nursing scheme in April this year. We have strengthened training in areas, such as geriatric and palliative care, in a three-month refresher course and enhanced the training allowances. There will also be a new one-time Community Care Placement Bonus at $3,000 for Enrolled Nurses and $5,000 for Registered Nurses who join the aged care sector. There is also an increasing need for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) who can take on management and supervisory positions in new aged care facilities. We have, therefore, launched a new Senior Management Associate Scheme to attract mid-career talents with supervisory or managerial experience, who are interested to explore a career switch to the aged care sector. We aim to recruit 10 mid-career talents per year. They will undergo three months of training with AIC to understand the sector before taking up senior positions like Centre Directors in the institutions.”
“For instance, we can join up the healthcare services provided by Regional Health Systems with the social care provided by community-based organisations to support our vulnerable seniors better in the community. Third, we want to engage stakeholders and recruit more resident volunteers in a particular community, to help their fellow elderly neighbours. As part of this pilot, MOH wants to work with different partners in the community to recruit and train more neighbour carers that can include the more able and active elderly, as suggested by some Members, who can be paired with the seniors living alone in the community. With Community Networks for Seniors, we hope to build kampungs for all ages, where our seniors can age happily, healthily and actively in place, for as long as possible. If we build up strong community networks over time, caregivers will also have greater peace of mind that their elderly loved ones will have many caring neighbours and agencies on the ground looking out for them. 1.45 pm Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef, Dr Chia Shi-Lu and Ms Tin Pei Ling asked about our plans to grow the healthcare workforce. In the midst of a more uncertain economic climate, the growth in the healthcare sector will provide good job opportunities and meaningful new careers for Singaporeans. MOH is stepping up efforts to attract fresh school leavers and mid-career professionals to join the healthcare industry. For instance, we are enhancing information and outreach through career talks and exhibitions, engaging the education and career guidance (ECG) counsellors to secondary school students. We will also continue to support providers to recruit nurses, allied health professionals and care staff for the aged care sector.”
“We will continue to support all players, both big and small, in developing their capabilities in this sector. MOH and AIC have partnered SPRING Singapore to reach out to the private sector aged care providers and enable them to tap on the Capability Development Grant to embark on new manpower development or productivity initiatives. Beyond individual services, we need to better integrate the programmes, services and resources within each community to build a strong "community of care". And it is for this reason that we are piloting community networks for seniors, as mentioned by Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef and Ms Tin Pei Ling. Let me elaborate more on this new initiative and the Ministry's role in this. The aim of the community network for seniors is to enable more systematic collaboration between Government agencies and community-based stakeholders, enabling them to leverage each other's strengths and resources to jointly support our seniors. A small group of staff from different agencies will work together to drive the development of this network and there are three objectives of this community network. First, we want to expand outreach. The Government agencies will coordinate our efforts with local VWOs and grassroots so that we combine forces and collectively reach out to a bigger pool of seniors, rather than visit the same seniors a few times over. For instance, PGAs can inform the Pioneers of relevant active ageing and social activities in the community, as part of their current house visits to explain Government schemes. Second, we want to link the programmes and services across Government agencies, VWOs and grassroots organisations together so that we can serve our seniors better.”
“To give integration of care a bigger push, MOH will pilot a new Integrated Operator (IOP) scheme this year. MOH will launch Request for Proposals (RFPs) to appoint operators for bundles of "three-in-one" care facilities and services, comprising nursing homes, eldercare centres and home-care, within the same area. Under this new IOP scheme, the sector may see up to 500 nursing home beds, 240 day care places and 150 home-care places, within one tender. There are a few objectives to this IOP scheme. First, we want to encourage a single operator to integrate residential and non-residential aged care services into patient-centric care options. Second, we hope that these large tenders will enable us to grow bigger players with the economies of scale to provide better and more affordable care for our seniors. Third, by packaging different care services in a region into a single tender, we hope to develop strategic partners who can then partner our Regional Health Systems to provide integrated and seamless care from the acute sector to community hospital to long term care, for Singaporeans. IOPs will need to demonstrate that they are able to achieve higher standards of care. They are also expected to do more in terms of workforce development, that is, to train and build up the manpower capabilities in this sector. We will start with an RFP for one bundle – for the South region – later this year, but subject to market conditions. I assure Members that even while we roll out IOP bundles, we will continue to call smaller tenders with individual facilities and services to cater to providers who may prefer to specialise in a particular care setting. Our eventual aim is to develop a sizeable, diverse and resilient sector.”
“Fifth, to close the last mile, we need to improve the system of transportation to care services. In the past year, AIC piloted a programme with ComfortDelgro to engage taxi drivers to send seniors from home to their care centres. The effort is off to a promising start with 25 taxi drivers on the scheme. More than 130 seniors have benefited from the service, and we hope to expand the service to serve 200 more seniors this year. Sixth, Regional Health Systems are piloting new programmes to strengthen their support for frail patients in the post-discharge period. For instance, SingHealth is piloting a new system of deploying its nurses to provide home nursing care to its patients living nearby, starting with Bukit Merah. Finally, we are investing in research and innovation to pioneer new models of home and community care. We have set up a National Innovation Challenge (NIC) on Active and Confident Ageing to support research and innovation in ageing-related issues, including the use of technology. Last year, MOH made two grant calls under NIC to seek innovative ideas to improve manpower productivity of home-care services and enhance dementia care in the community. We received close to 100 proposals and we will select the best ideas to be implemented on the ground. Ultimately, home and community care must work together with good residential care options to form a robust system of care for our seniors. Thus far, we have largely tendered out our aged care facilities individually or in pairs. Going forward, we need to better integrate different forms of aged care services so that seniors can receive continuous, seamless and person-centric care even as their care needs evolve.”
“During the day, Mdm Lim attends the Peacehaven Bedok Multi-Service Centre, where she receives rehab and nursing care and does recreational activities. The centre will also help her pre-pack her medications. On days when she is feeling unwell, the centre's staff will check on her at home. They will also arrange for basic housekeeping services and meals delivery for her during the weekends, which are additional add-on services not included within the current SPICE. All these services will be conveniently bundled within a single, comprehensive care package for Mdm Lim. Some three eldercare providers will be offering these packages with a capacity of over 300 places in the pilot phase. If successful and well received by caregivers, we will scale up the packages. We will also test a new tool to capture seniors' needs – functional, cognitive and social – holistically, for better matching with services. Fourth, we will build more and better centres to support the new care services. Under the Action Plan for Successful Ageing, MOH is working with HDB to pre-build larger spaces within new Build-To-Order HDB developments to serve as "Active Ageing Hubs" or AAHs. These are one-stop centres for seniors that can serve a range of needs, from active ageing programmes for ambulant and healthy seniors, to day care and rehab services for frail seniors, to "assisted living" services, such as grocery delivery. The size of these AAHs will depend on the space available in the developments but can be up to twice as large as the eldercare centres today. We launched the first Request-For-Proposal (RFP) for operating two AAHs at Kallang-Whampoa last month. At least 10 future HDB housing developments will have these AAHs by 2020.”
“Existing employers who want to send their domestic helpers for this in-depth training can also contact AIC. 1.30 pm Second, we will complement domestic maids with informal caregivers in the community. Dr Lily Neo and Ms Joan Pereira spoke about befriending and support for seniors at risk of isolation. MOH piloted a community befriending programme a year ago where seniors are paired with befrienders living in the neighbourhood who can visit them often, keep an eye on their condition and help them with their needs. Since the start of the programme, some 15 communities have come on board with over 230 befriendees and almost 90 befrienders. These befrienders are given a small token to cover the costs of their befriending work. Our target under the Action Plan for Successful Ageing is to grow the befriending movement to 50 communities by 2020, which means more than 1,000 befrienders and some 3,000 befriendees. Third, we will further strengthen our community-based home and day care services. To serve the needs of seniors more holistically, MOH has worked with some providers to pilot new Integrated Home and Day Care packages that bundle both home and centre-based care services together. Today, we have such a combination and that is the Singapore Programme for Integrated Care for the Elderly (SPICE) programme for frail seniors. We are now expanding the original SPICE package to pilot three or more new care packages which offer different combinations of care services to meet the needs of seniors with a wider range of frailty. Let me illustrate this with an example. Mdm Lim Miau Chew has multiple health conditions, including Parkinson's disease, which makes it challenging for her to walk, perform activities of daily living as well as keep track of her multiple medications.”
“MOH and AIC regularly engage the sector on various fronts, such as in the development of these Guidelines and the Enhanced Nursing Home Standards, in our manpower and quality improvement councils for the sector, as well as through dialogues, such as with the Association of Private Nursing Home Operators. We will study ways to further strengthen our tripartite partnerships, including the suggestion by Ms K Thanaletchimi to set up an ILTC association. Dr Tan Wu Meng and Ms Joan Pereira also spoke about delivering home and community care in an integrated manner. Indeed, this is one of our key strategies going forward. MOH will pilot a number of new initiatives under a new Home and Community Care Masterplan this year to better support seniors to age at home. First, we want to train and assess a new "corps" of domestic elder carers so that they can anchor good care for seniors at home. We have introduced a Foreign Domestic Worker Grant and lowered the concessionary levy so that it is more affordable for caregivers of frail seniors to hire foreign domestic helpers. But some caregivers still find it difficult to obtain domestic helpers who are proficient in eldercare. MOH will launch a new "Eldercarer" pilot to provide comprehensive training to domestic helpers before they are deployed to the families' homes. The new training programme, developed in consultation with experienced nurses from nursing homes and community hospitals, includes four days of classroom learning and on-the-job training. Trainers will go to the homes to observe the domestic helpers at work and check that they can perform the required eldercare tasks competently. These pre-trained elder carers can then be deployed to families in need.”
“For instance, seniors can also attend intergenerational learning programmes conducted by students in school after school hours on topics, such as technology and music. We hope that the Academy can not only fulfil seniors' aspirations to keep learning, but also help shape a new mindset regarding ageing. I think having seniors learn with younger students in the same classroom will foster intergenerational interactions and also, at the same time, inspire our younger generation that learning does not stop at any age. Mdm Chair, together, we can give health and wellness to more seniors and extend the health span of Singaporeans even as their lifespan increases. But when our seniors grow frail eventually, we need a comprehensive range of care options to enable seniors to age in place. Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef, Ms Tin Pei Ling and Ms Joan Pereira asked about ramp-up plans for eldercare services. In the past five years, as my Minister has noted earlier, we have expanded home and community care capacities to 6,900 home-care places and 3,500 day care places today. We will continue to work hard to develop more infrastructure and manpower needed to grow our services and we are on track to meet the projected demand of 10,000 home care and 6,200 day care places by 2020. I agree with Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef that beyond capacity, we need to continually enhance the quality of care. We introduced the Guidelines for Home and Centre-based Care last year and are committed to supporting providers in working towards these Guidelines. In addition to training courses and capability building programmes, AIC is also developing a voluntary baseline assessment framework based on the Guidelines to help our providers understand how they can improve.”
“To enable seniors to be cognitively and socially active as well, MOH has worked with MOE to establish a new National Silver Academy to enable seniors to pursue learning in diverse areas according to their interest. The Academy is not a physical campus, but made up of a network of education institutions and VWOs offering courses in various fields to seniors. I am pleased to announce that the National Silver Academy will offer over 10,000 learning places across 500 courses this year and that seniors aged 50 and above can start to register for courses from next month onwards. The Academy will offer new learning opportunities for seniors in three areas. First, Singaporeans will be able to take selected courses offered by the Institute of Technical Education (ITEs), polytechnics and universities without taking exams. The post-secondary education institutions are making selected modules from their full qualification courses available for seniors to attend without being assessed, for a token fee. Seniors will be able to sit in the same classroom and learn together with the regular students attending the course. Second, seniors can now receive subsidies for short courses offered by these post-secondary education institutions as well as VWOs that cover a whole range of topics. Today, such courses offered by the post-secondary education institutions are largely unsubsidised by the Government. Under the Academy, Singaporeans aged 50 and above will receive a subsidy of up to 50% off the course fee. Third, seniors can look forward to a wider range of courses. The Academy will not only include courses from educational institutions, including the two art colleges LaSalle and NAFA, but also those from community-based organisations and other ad hoc learning opportunities as well.”
“Mdm Chair, population ageing presents a unique opportunity for us to redefine ageing and make Singapore an icon of successful ageing. Ms Joan Pereira asked about our Ministry's detailed plans under the Action Plan for Successful Ageing. We have planned a suite of initiatives along two directions. First, going beyond healthcare to health by investing more in health promotion and active ageing to help seniors live longer and live well. Second, going beyond hospital to home and community by building up a good system of home and community-based care that can provide person-centric care for our seniors. Let me elaborate on each of these. Health is wealth. I always tell my seniors that they need to achieve three "wellness" for successful ageing: physical wellness, mental wellness and social wellness. Under the Action Plan, we will step up efforts to promote seniors' health education at different levels: at the national level, in the community and at workplaces. At the national level, MOH and HPB will embark on a series of public education campaigns on seniors' health issues this year. HPB will roll out campaigns on topics, such as Seniors' Nutrition, Falls Prevention and Dementia, to raise awareness among seniors on how they can keep healthy. We will launch a new National Seniors' Health Programme which is a set of "healthy ageing 101" programmes on health issues important to seniors, such as nutrition, exercise, mental wellness and chronic disease management. Seniors will be encouraged to go through this series of six basic health workshops as a start and then they can attend other additional workshops depending on their interest. This set of programmes will be delivered in the community and that was elaborated earlier by Senior Minister of State Heng Chee How.”
“Regarding parks, we will work with the relevant agencies. For those parks where smoking is already prohibited, there are "No Smoking" signages put up and we will be working with the land agencies, Town Councils and so on to get them to put up the proper signages so that people know that it is a "No Smoking" park. We will continue to work with relevant stakeholders, land agencies, Town Councils and so on, as well as based on public feedback, to look at progressively extending our smoking prohibition to beyond what we already have, but please remember there are already 32,000 premises plus the additional ones where we will be extending our smoking ban. Regarding markets, it is true that many existing wet markets, unless they are regional and they serve not just the neighbourhood but the region, do not do well. Cooked food stalls will be the priority. Where there are existing wet markets and we are redeveloping or developing a new one, then there may be a basis for incorporating a wet market to relocate the stalls.”
“The vision of ABC Waters projects is to make the concept and design pervasive in Singapore. PUB is also looking at a framework to work with developers, land agencies and so on − a framework of guidelines on the ABC programme design and concepts to encourage private developers, as well as land agencies, to incorporate these designs and concepts into their development. For instance, integrate it with the adjacent water bodies or have these ABC design features within the development in terms of rain gardens and so on. If the hon Member has any idea as to where he thinks it is feasible to have an ABC Waters project, he can always propose and we can always look at it. Obviously, resources are limited, but we will look at it with an open view. Regarding smoking prohibition, there are already about 30 parks under NParks where smoking is prohibited. The additional 400-odd parks which will be covered by the extension of the smoking prohibition include neighbourhood parks within Town Council-managed areas, parks under JTC Corp and NParks-managed parks in private residential estates.”
“We do want to help all these people, but we must help them in a targeted manner. It is also about skills, capabilities and business acumen. That is important and I think that is the better way to go. I think these are the three. I just want to correct an earlier point. About Er Dr Lee's query on new ABC Waters projects. No, Nee Soon does not have one. I said just now there are 20 new projects; nine are ongoing and there are 10 more. We have put it in the media factsheet. So, Members will be able to see it but it has not been publicly announced so I stand to be corrected. Most of them are in the heartlands and there is actually one project which involves rain gardens in schools. PUB is working with the schools to encourage the schools to have rain gardens to use it for educational purposes, as well as to encourage the students to appreciate water and learn how to measure water quality, about habitat creation and so on. So, the 20 new projects will be: nine on-going, which will be completed over the years; and another 10 new upcoming projects, and one project is the rain garden in schools.”
“With regard to the Sengkang hawker centre, if I remember correctly – and I stand corrected – there may be a wet market, but I will have to check up and confirm. Regarding the rentals, I said that 45% got the stalls below the reserve-market rent. There are actually stalls with rental of $1 but I do not have the figure of how many are single-digit. So, I can follow up with the Member. But because we have removed the reserve rent, 45% is actually below what it would have been if there was a reserve rent. Regarding the scheme to help people in financial hardship by safeguarding some stalls, as I have said earlier, we had done this previously. Based on the experience, what happened was that many of them preferred to wait out for a hawker stall in a popular centre. I understand that some could wait for a year, two years or so, and the take-up rate was slow because they only wanted popular locations. So, the scheme was ceased. Now, anyone who qualifies can bid for a stall, including people who may be interested but are in financial hardship because we have removed the reserve rent. Hence, he could bid according to what he thinks will be viable for him. The other thing which is important is that we now give very targeted assistance to people in financial hardship and there are counsellors who will counsel them and identify what their talents, interests and skills are and help them with employment assistance. If, indeed, they are keen to take Page: 75 up hawking, this is also something that the Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee could look into in terms of having some kind of structured training for people who are interested. You need to give them the right skills so that they can then go and bid for a stall because hawking is not that simple. It is not just about financial hardship.”
“I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. First, regarding excess food or unsold food, our strategy towards food waste, first, is not to produce it in the first place. That is the reason why in November last year, we launched the Food Wastage Reduction Outreach Programme. Under this Food Wastage Reduction Outreach Programme, we were working with many stakeholders to develop good practice guides for food manufacturers, food retail establishments and suppliers to reduce food wastage at source through the supply chain. We are also working on a set of food safety guidelines for the safe handling and distribution of unsold and excess food. We are very grateful to NGOs, for instance, Food Bank Singapore and Food from the Heart, who collect and distribute these unsold food to the needy. We are coming up with this set of guidelines to support this effort. We also have materials for individuals, to tell them, educate the public that they should only buy or purchase what they can consume. And there are tips and cooking recipes on how to use leftover food. Regarding CWO, there were 1,300 CWOs in 2015; that was for repeat offenders. Not all the 1,300 recorded in 2015 will tally with the 26,000 because Court orders will take a while so it may be cumulative. Based on what we have, our analysis is that enforcement, as well as CWOs, are effective because the number of repeat offenders from CWO is very, very small.”
“From the speeches on the cuts made by the Members, you can see that hawker centres and ABC Waters projects are much coveted. Unfortunately, desires are many but resources are limited. Having said that, first, let me say that, actually, the 20 projects to be completed in the next five years are already confirmed. Nine are already on-going and there are 10 new upcoming projects. They have been announced over time. Nee Soon has got two ABC Waters projects: the Seletar Family Bay and Yishun Pond. Er Dr Lee probably has more than some others. [Laughter.]”
“Where there are opportunities, PUB will work with the relevant stakeholders to add value to the community, without compromising the canal's drainage functions. Page: 72 Er Dr Lee and Mr Louis Ng have asked about our plans moving forward. I am pleased to share that we can look towards the completion of about 20 more projects over the next five years. These are exciting times as we continue to improve our living environment and transform our urban landscape. While we see new challenges in the water and environmental space, these also bring about new opportunities and possibilities. We have a lot of work ahead of us to build a greener and cleaner Singapore. We will work hand-in-hand with the community and all stakeholders in this journey together.”
“The committee will explore ideas on how we can attract and, more importantly, support new entrants to the hawker trade. One idea is through the provision of structured training programmes. Individuals who decide to enter the hawker trade can be taught how to cook and to maintain proper food hygiene and skills in business management. This may be complemented by measures to help hawkers improve productivity and mitigate cost increases, for example, through centralised services for dishwashing, or bulk buying and preparation of raw ingredients. Some of our hawkers already have innovative ways to improve productivity. Mr Tan uses a creative but simple machine to automate the frying of traditional Chinese biscuits or 耳朵饼 at his stall in Smith Street Food Centre. There have also been some ideas on how to enhance the vibrancy of our hawker centres. One interesting suggestion is to encourage communities to adopt hawker centres and use these spaces for social activities. We will also learn from overseas models and experiences. Hawker centres have the potential to become great community spaces. As a continuation of the SGfuture conversation, we will be engaging members of the public for their views. Let me now turn to our drains and canals, where we have seen an amazing transformation over the years. This year marks the 10th year since our ABC Waters Programme was launched. To date, 32 projects have been completed. Ms Tin asked if we can build above our canals. In fact, we have already done so. An example is the ABC Waters project at Siglap Canal near Kampong Kembangan Community Club, where a 150-metre section of the canal was decked over to increase accessibility to the Community Club (CC) and to provide communal space for social enjoyment.”
“First, explore various ways to support new entrants, allow them to operate effectively, thus, sustaining our unique hawker trade in Singapore. Second, propose ideas to improve the productivity in hawker centres to mitigate increases in operating costs and manpower constraints. Third, suggest initiatives to enhance hawker centres as a social space for community bonding, which could also improve the vibrancy of hawker centres. Page: 71 Fourth, see how there could be ideas to promote graciousness at hawker centres so that hawkers, cleaners and customers can all benefit. (In English): The Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee has already met a few times since this January. Er Dr Lee, Mr Liang and Mr Gan asked whether my Ministry is looking to ensure that there are sufficient hawkers equipped with the necessary skills to run the new hawker centres. Indeed, with the median age of cooked food hawkers at 59 years old, we need to do more to attract new entrants and ensure the sustainability of the hawker trade. This is one of the areas that the committee is looking into. I recently spoke to Mr Fabian Toh, a third-generation hawker who left his previous job after working for 13 years to take over his family business to sell traditional Chinese dessert at the Chinatown Market. Like many other new entrants, he faced challenges, such as the need to hone his cooking skills and the need to operate during weekends. But many new hawkers also shared that there were some perks, such as having some degree of flexibility in working hours as well as the satisfaction of being commended for their food. We will continue to engage these hawkers to find out their motivation for joining the hawker trade, as well as the challenges they face.”
“For example, the managing agent at Hougang Ci Yuan Hawker Centre has introduced measures to improve productivity, such as self-payment kiosks. They have also introduced an entrepreneurship programme where aspiring hawkers would be given on-the-job training to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to run a hawker stall. Mr Gan also mentioned a previous policy of allocating vacant hawker stalls to those experiencing financial hardship. We had, in the past, offered vacant hawker stalls to people experiencing financial hardship, but the take-up rate was low as most preferred to wait for a vacant stall in popular hawker centres. Due to its limited effectiveness, the policy was ceased in 1990. 4.00 pm Today, anyone interested and who meets the criteria can bid for vacant stalls. A successful hawker requires both passion and ability and, hence, it is better to let those interested bid for a stall instead of safeguarding them for the low-income. Those who are in financial hardship can be assisted through the various help schemes available, including employment assistance. Mdm Chair, with your permission, I would like to say a few words in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] At the Committee of Supply debate last year, my Ministry had announced that the Government would be building 20 new hawker centres by 2027. During a SGfuture dialogue in January this year, Singaporeans shared their views about the continuity of the hawker trade and the vibrancy of the hawker centres. My Ministry has, therefore, formed a Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee. The Committee comprises individuals from the community, businesses and Government who take an interest in preserving our hawker trade. The committee will look at four issues this year.”
“One of them will be located at the site of the old Fernvale Point; the location of the other hawker centre at Sengkang will be announced, once ready. Miss Cheng highlighted the challenge of ensuring that rental remains reasonable and food prices in our hawker centres remain affordable. My Ministry had conducted a study on the drivers of hawker food prices, which former Second Minister Grace Fu shared at last year's Committee of Supply. Let me reiterate some of the key findings here. The study looked at 1,000 hawkers and found that rentals made up only 12% of the hawkers' total cost. The larger components were raw materials and manpower at 59% and 17% of total cost respectively. The study also found that food prices are comparable between subsidised stalls and Page: 70 non-subsidised stalls. This implies that rental is not the main driver of food prices. Nevertheless, we have made several changes to help relieve upward pressures on rentals, such as disallowing subletting. Since removing the reserve rent in 2012, about 45% of tendered cooked food stalls were awarded at below what the reserve rent would have been. Today, more than 85% of our hawkers pay less than $1,500 per month in rent. This is generally lower than those in coffeeshops or food courts in comparable locations. Beyond rentals, we also want to bring in fresh ideas to ensure the sustainability of hawker centres and affordable food. Hence, we have started pilots on new management models at the two new hawker centres at Bukit Panjang and Hougang by appointing social enterprises to manage the centres on a not-for-profit basis. We will evaluate the outcomes from these pilots to see how we can further enhance the model to achieve our objectives. Though it is still early days, there are some encouraging takeaways.”
“Last year, we tightened the enforcement regime for shopping centres and food establishments with stiffer penalties for repeat offenders. I would like to update that, this year, we will also be stepping up enforcement for breaches in Town Council areas. I will now move on to hawker centres. Looking back at the last 50 years, it is amazing how we have successfully turned some of our public health challenges of yesterday into new opportunities for tomorrow. Take the case of hawker centres. The first hawker centres were built in the 1970s to resettle street hawkers and improve hygiene levels by providing access to amenities, such as clean water and proper waste disposal. Since 2001, over 100 hawker centres have been upgraded under the Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme (HUP). These second-generation centres came with improved ventilation and exhaust system and more dining seats with wider walking space between them. And they were well-received by both hawkers and customers. Hawker centres are now associated with clean, affordable food and they have become a part of our culture and daily lives. Our recent survey found that three out of four respondents visit a hawker centre at least once a week. My Ministry will strive to ensure Singaporeans can continue to have access to a clean environment and affordable food at our hawker centres. We have announced that we will be building 20 new hawker centres by 2027. I am pleased to note that the hawker centres at Bukit Panjang and Hougang have been completed and the centre at Our Tampines Hub will be ready by the end of this year. Another four hawker centres at Pasir Ris, Woodlands, Yishun and Jurong West will be completed next year. Mr Gan asked about the locations of new hawker centres in Sengkang.”
“I am glad to inform Er Dr Lee and Mr Louis Ng that from 1 June 2016, smoking will be prohibited in reservoirs and more than 400 parks, including neighbourhood parks within residential estates and those under JTC. At the same time, the SAF, SPF, SCDF, Prisons, CNB and ICA have, for many years, voluntarily and successfully implemented smoking or smoke prohibition policies within their premises. We will formally include SAF camps and bases and MHA premises to the list of places where smoking is prohibited by law. Dr Chia spoke about the increased rodent population in many estates. In 2015, about 43,000 rat burrows were found. Some 85% of these were found in housing estates managed by Town Councils. We have also witnessed rat infestations in shopping centres and food establishments. It remains a challenge for Town Councils in their rodent control efforts, due to the many bin chutes and bin centres and numerous food stalls in the housing estates. NEA has, thus, in late Page: 69 2015, provided funding to support the Town Councils through a revamped Rat Attack programme. In areas with multiple stakeholders, actions by one party may displace the rats to another location. Hence, we are taking a more coordinated approach involving multiple stakeholders in a few areas. Early results have shown a reduction of rat burrows and we will continue to monitor the situation. Ultimately, the key to managing rat infestation is to remove food sources and areas of harbourage. Stakeholders have a responsibility to improve the housekeeping of their premises, such as bin centres and refuse chutes, and to deny rats easy access to food sources. This has to be a consistent and sustained effort by all parties.”
“My Ministry is also very grateful to the volunteers who are passionate about the environment and have stepped forward to help us raise awareness. Mr Gan and Dr Chia asked for an update on the Community Volunteers (CV) programme. NEA's CV programme was started in 2013 to encourage the public to take greater ownership of the environment. Until recently, only members of a few environment-related NGOs can be part of this programme. In response to feedback, we have passed a Bill to allow individuals who are not necessarily members of any NGO but meet the stringent selection criteria and fulfil the requisite training, to become a CV. These volunteers will also be able to take part in a broader scope of environmental education beyond anti-littering efforts. Let me clarify that even with the amended legislation, we will only allow the CVs, like before, to use their authority card to request for the particulars of a non-compliant offender, for NEA's investigations and enforcement. The CV's primary role is to encourage the public to take responsibility for the environment and they do not issue tickets to offenders. So far, our CVs have engaged more than 2,500 potential offenders and I am pleased to hear that more than 99% of them, in fact, heeded the advice of the CVs. One of the most common pieces of litter is cigarette butts. Besides contributing to the litter problem, inconsiderate smoking practices also endanger the health of non-smokers through second-hand smoke. To protect non-smokers, we have progressively prohibited smoking in public places since the 1970s. The smoking prohibition was last extended in 2013 and today, there are more than 32,000 premises and locations where smoking is prohibited. We will continue our work towards a smoke-free Singapore.”
“Over the years, we have stepped up our enforcement against littering. We issued more than 26,000 tickets in 2015 – one-third more than in 2014 – and about 1,300 repeat offenders were issued with Corrective Work Order (CWO). While enforcement officers will continue to take action against such irresponsible behaviour, they cannot be everywhere all the time. As Er Dr Lee, Mr Gan and Dr Chia have rightly pointed out, keeping Singapore clean requires greater community ownership, such that it becomes part of our local culture. The very first "Keep Singapore Clean" campaign was launched by Mr Lee Kuan Yew back in 1968. This has continued through the years and eventually evolved into the year-long Clean and Green Singapore (CGS) campaign. The CGS continues to galvanise the community to keep Singapore clean and green, promote the right social values and instil pride in our environment. I am heartened to see greater community action in keeping our environment clean. One example is the Public Hygiene Council's tie-up with MOE schools for students to spend five to 10 minutes cleaning their school areas daily, as mentioned by Er Dr Lee. This will remind the young to Page: 68 practise consideration and cultivate respect for our cleaners. Last year, the Public Hygiene Council, with the support of NEA, led the "Operation WE Clean Up!". Ten thousand participants from over 80 community groups came together and picked up more than 7,000 kilogrammes of litter during that single day. We want to continue this momentum of ground-up initiatives. I am pleased to note that the Public Hygiene Council, with the support of the Singapore Kindness Movement and NEA, will lead "Operation WE Clean Up!" 2016 on Sunday, 8 May.”
“At Hougang Ci Yuan Hawker Centre, Fei Siong Food Management has also voluntarily installed a food waste recycling machine there. These projects will assess the economic and operational aspects of on-site food waste recycling and, if feasible, we plan to roll this out to more of our hawker centres. Many premises that generate significant volumes of food waste are already doing food waste recycling. I am heartened that about 30 premises, including Resorts World Sentosa, JEM and Singapore Polytechnic, have installed food waste recycling machines at their premises. In another upcoming pilot project, we plan to start collecting food waste by the end of this year from multiple premises in the Clementi district, including army camps, schools, restaurant clusters, a hawker centre and a hospital. The food waste will be mixed with used water sludge to enhance energy recovery. If successful, this could be implemented at the future co-located Integrated Waste Management Facility and the Tuas Water Reclamation Plant. Mdm Chair, I will now move on to talk about how we can ensure a high-quality living environment for Singaporeans, now and in the future. As mentioned by Minister Masagos earlier, our Pioneers worked hard to realise the vision of a clean and green Singapore. Their efforts have not been in vain. In a recent public survey, 95% of Singapore residents agreed that a clean environment, free from litter, is an important part of Singapore's identity. This is something we should preserve. Unfortunately, the standard of cleanliness in Singapore continues to be a concern. We spend as much as $120 million every year to keep our public spaces clean. Some places, like Orchard Road, have to be cleaned as often as every two hours.”
“The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global, legally-binding instrument that seeks to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic releases of mercury and mercury compounds. In 2013, Singapore signed on to the Minamata Convention. 3.45 pm While the vast majority of batteries sold in Singapore do not contain mercury, a very small number do. We plan to phase out mercury-added batteries, including button-cell batteries, which contain mercury exceeding five parts per million (ppm) by weight. The manufacture, import and export of all non-compliant mercury-added batteries will be prohibited by 2018. Going forward, we plan to extend the restrictions on mercury content to other products, such as lightings, switches and relays. Another part of our waste management strategy is to work closely with the community and businesses to consume sustainably and reuse and recycle as much as possible. Miss Cheng Li Hui asked about the National Recycling Programme (NRP). With the NRP, more than 70% of HDB residents, when asked, said that they practised recycling. However, about 30% to 50% of materials deposited into the recycling bins are not suitable for recycling. We will continue Page: 67 our efforts to educate the public on what can or cannot be deposited. One area which requires attention is food waste, as pointed out by Dr Chia and Assoc Prof Goh. In 2015, Singapore generated almost 800,000 tonnes of food waste, or 10% of all waste. This is equivalent to two bowls of food per person, per day. This is why we launched a programme last November to encourage everyone to reduce food wastage. We also want to encourage onsite recycling of food waste. We launched onsite food waste recycling projects in January this year at two of our hawker centres.”
“Mdm Chair, climate change has brought about new threats and challenges. At the same time, it is putting more strain on our already limited resources. It is, therefore, vital going forward that Singapore and Singaporeans embrace greater environmental sustainability. I would like to first touch on my Ministry's work in waste management. With limited land, waste reduction is critical to prolonging the lifespan of Semakau Landfill and conserve our land for other uses. This is why we have set out a vision of becoming a Zero Waste Nation in the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint. Part of our strategy in waste management is to increase the potential for the reuse of incineration ash, which will extend the lifespan of Semakau Landfill. To do this, we must first ensure our waste stream contains as little hazardous substances as possible. Take the example of electronic waste, or e-waste for short. Singapore generates more than 60,000 tonnes of e-waste every year. This will only grow as electronic items become more common. As pointed out by Dr Chia Shi-Lu and Mr Louis Ng, e-waste may contain valuable materials, but also small amounts of hazardous substances which can cause pollution and affect human health. We have studied the upstream controls of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and I would like to update that, from 2017, we will restrict hazardous substances in six types of electrical and electronic equipment. They are mobile phones, mobile computers, refrigerators, air conditioners, panel TVs and washing machines. I would also like to touch on a specific hazardous substance, mercury.”