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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“Second, we should rethink how we want to capitalise on this additional longevity. The mindset that many people have today is to study hard for the first one-third of our life, work hard for the next one-third, and spend the last one-third in retirement. If we live till 90 or 100, that is some 30 years in retirement! How then should we re-plan our lives taking into account the longer lives that we can expect to live? For some, it could mean desiring to work for as long as one is able to. And that is where our Re-employment Legislation and our new CET Masterplan will help. Yet, for others, living a longer life affords them more time to fulfil their many aspirations. With more time, can we keep our minds active by learning a new skill that we had always wanted to pick up, but had been too busy to? More importantly, can we take some time to contribute back to society through volunteer work and enrich ours as well as the lives of others? These are questions we can reflect on, to make the best use of our increased longevity. You might not believe this – as I think I have done a great maintenance job – perhaps because I have picked up some of the eight secrets to a long and healthy life that Dr Janil has shared, but in less than a decade, I will edge towards this magical age of 65. Some of these issues are beginning to weigh on my mind. In fact, I think, indeed, the spirit is willing but I am afraid the flesh might be getting weaker. Third, as we change the conversation on ageing to a more optimistic one, we should use this opportunity to shape the values that we, as a society, want, and define the social texture of the nation that we will grow old in. Every society is anchored in its older generation.”
“" This brings me to a broader point: that even as we provide greater assurance to Singaporeans on healthcare affordability, retirement adequacy and employment issues, ageing brings a set of psychological and emotional challenges. We need to remember that ageing should not be something we dread. We need to change the way we think about growing old and move the conversation from a negative one of worrying about the problems of ageing to a positive one of tapping on the opportunities from our increased longevity. As we all know, Singapore's life expectancy has increased dramatically within one generation – children born today can expect to live a full decade longer than their parents born 30 years ago. Now, we have the fourth longest life expectancy in the world! While some see the demographic burden of an increasingly aged population, I see opportunity in this longevity. First, "chronological" age does not equate to "health" age. While we generally think of someone above the age of 65 years as a "senior", 65 is not a magical number where our seniors instantly become ridden with disability and turn into a burden to the rest of society. Page: 74 True, our body functions become less than optimal as we age, but through better nutrition, education, healthcare and technology, we are already bending this curve, and, in fact, many of our seniors continue to be active, enthusiastic contributors to our society. We can learn from some of the world's oldest nations which are adjusting their approaches so that their seniors can continue leading active lifestyles. For example, Japan is encouraging the use of technology, such as robots, to help seniors handle daily tasks and remain independent. Many seniors in Japan also continue to be active – working or volunteering in the community.”
“As noted by the Prime Minister, the Civil Service is already taking the lead and has re-employed almost 800 workers above 65 years. I have also read about PRIMA Limited, which manages the Prima Deli bakery franchise – last year, it became the first unionised firm in the F&B industry to formally commit to rehiring workers beyond 65 years old and with no pay cut. Page: 73 Let me also clarify some misconceptions about the re-employment age. First, raising the re-employment age does not mean that we do not want Singaporeans to retire. It means that we want to help those who wish to continue working to be able to do so. Second, the statutory retirement age of 62 is not to require Singaporeans to retire at 62. The law, in fact, protects workers below 62 from being dismissed on the grounds of age. There is no legal requirement for employers to retire workers at a certain age. I think Singaporeans who want to work longer will welcome this. Mr Heng Chee How will also be very happy. After we introduced re-employment legislation in 2012, 99% of private sector local employees who turned 62 in the year ending June 2013 were offered re-employment, and 98% – or almost all – accepted the offer. Recently, of the 50 workers aged above 55 years interviewed by The Straits Times on 2 May 2014, 70% said that they wanted to work beyond 65 years, even if it means getting less pay. When it comes to addressing the challenges of ageing, perceptions matter as much as policy. It takes a mindset change by all members of our society, including employers, co-workers and the public to support older workers at work. As the saying goes, "Ageing is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.”
“Our approach is to maintain a level playing field, and help equip Singaporeans with the skills they need to fill the quality jobs created by the economy. We are, in fact, putting the interests of Singaporeans first when we say that we want to grow the economy and job opportunities. But we need to be practical about how we go about doing it. Compelling employers to hire local PMEs who may not have the right skills will introduce significant labour market rigidity. Employers may feel constrained and be unable to hire the best person for the job. That may, ultimately, hurt Singaporeans when companies find their manpower needs unmet and they relocate some or all of their operations elsewhere. For older workers, including many of our PMEs, we want to help them remain employed for as long as they are willing and able to work. The Tripartite Committee on the Employability of Older Workers, or Tricom for short, and which I chair, drives efforts to support the continued employment of older workers. The Tricom is looking at the extension of the re-employment age from 65 to 67. At the same time, we are taking the opportunity to review and iron out any outstanding implementation issues, such as guidelines on wage adjustment and presumption of medical fitness, and update the law and the Tripartite Guidelines on the Re-employment of Older Employees. We are finalising the proposals with our tripartite partners and should be ready to share these plans later this year. But even before the law is changed, I want to encourage employers to re-employ those who have reached 65 years old as long as they are able and willing to work. This could help mitigate some of the effects of the current tight labour market.”
“As Mr Patrick Tay said yesterday, having a second skill will make us more resilient to economic changes because what we know today may be obsolete tomorrow. Hence, we will do more to provide our PMEs with the opportunities to reskill and upskill. It is never too late to go back to school. If Kumar can go back to school, so can you! Hence, we are making major revisions to our CET Masterplan, to give greater emphasis to self-initiated upgrading, and to better empower individuals to pursue their career goals and aspirations through CET. This will boost adult education and allow Singaporeans to have, as the President mentioned in his Address, "a second chance … and always have the chance to try again … to learn, and to earn our own success". In addition, the Fair Consideration Framework signals our expectation for employers to give Singaporeans a fair chance at available job opportunities, before hiring Employment Pass holders. It does not mean that firms have to hire Singaporeans first or Singaporeans only, but it allows our displaced older PMEs to have a fair chance of securing that job. Page: 72 Ms Foo Mee Har advocated a "Hire Singaporeans First" policy. That may have unintended consequences in our context. In the globalised economy, competition for jobs tends to be between countries and not only within countries. As a small city-state, we must be able to first compete with other cities for job opportunities by making sure that Singapore remains an attractive place for businesses. Many companies come to Singapore to serve the region. In doing so, they create quality jobs for Singaporeans. At the same time, companies need access to skills and expertise from overseas to complement the local workforce.”
“For example, in recent years, we introduced CPF LIFE to provide monthly payouts from our own CPF savings for as long as we live – doing away with the worry that our savings may run out in later years. Monetisation schemes help elderly Singaporeans unlock the value of their flats, many of which have Page: 71 appreciated substantially over the years. Many middle-aged PMEs who are soon approaching 55 years old are also concerned about the CPF Minimum Sum. This has been the subject of much discussion and debate online, as well as in our kopi tiams. Minister Tan Chuan-Jin has provided a detailed explanation of the rationale for the CPF and the Minimum Sum in his blog post last Sunday. So, I will not repeat his points but I would like to encourage us all to read it so that we can explain the policy better to our constituents. I acknowledge that it is not a perfect system, and I assure Mr Heng Chee How, Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Ms Tan Su Shan and others that we will continue to review how else we can improve it, taking into account feedback and suggestions, such as whether we should raise older worker contribution rates further, whether payouts should be inflation-indexed, and whether there are better ways for the elderly to unlock the value of their flats. For PMEs who find themselves in between jobs, employment facilitation is critical to help our displaced PMEs get back into employment quickly. This goes hand-in-hand with training and lifelong learning so that skills can be refreshed and new job opportunities seized. Thus far, we have made some progress to empower PMEs, by setting up CaliberLink in 2011, as well as through WDA-funded training programmes. As we work longer, staying employed in a single job or profession throughout our working lives will become a thing of the past.”
“For instance, we recognise the need to go beyond English and use vernacular languages in our outreach. The taskforce has published advertorials about the Pioneer Generation Package in the Chinese, Malay and Tamil newspapers, as well as played radio advertisements on Capital 95.8 FM in six Chinese dialects. On top of publicity through the mass media, we are also taking our messages to our various contact points with pioneers. On the healthcare front, we are training healthcare staff across our public healthcare institutions, such as polyclinics and Specialist Outpatient Clinics, to equip them with information about the Pioneer Generation Package and help address common questions and concerns from Singaporeans. To date, we have reached out to more than a thousand healthcare staff. We are also enlisting the help of staff at Senior Activity Centres and Senior Care Centres, who are in frequent contact with their pioneer generation clients. They, too, can help explain the package to pioneers in the languages they are comfortable in. Our healthcare providers in the private sector are important as well. Minister Gan has just recently announced that all pioneer generation members will be eligible for special CHAS subsidies starting in September. We are thus embarking on an outreach to the CHAS GP and dental clinics to prepare them for these changes. At the same time, I hope that more GP clinics and dental clinics can join CHAS so that our pioneers can benefit. In the area of retirement adequacy, we also seek to provide Singaporeans with greater peace of mind by constantly making improvements to the CPF.”
“We are making policy shifts to make healthcare even more affordable through more Government subsidies, more Medisave use, and a move from MediShield to MediShield Life to better protect against large hospitalisation bills. We enhanced subsidies for long-term care in 2012 and will continue to strengthen long-term care financing. In addition, the Pioneer Generation Package will go some way to give greater peace of mind to those in the Pioneer Generation and their families. The outpatient care components of the Package, that is, an additional 50% off subsidised services at the Specialist Outpatient Clinics and polyclinics, as well as special subsidies under the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS), will commence on 1 September this year. Page: 70 Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Dhinakaran have rightly highlighted the importance of communicating Government policies to the people. They will be heartened to know that the Pioneer Generation Taskforce, co-chaired by Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo and myself, has been working hard to improve outreach and communications to Singaporeans about the package. The taskforce includes members from the people and social sectors, as well as from media-related fields. I am glad that several groups of volunteers and organisations have stepped forward to offer their help to reach out to our pioneers, to let them know about the package and the benefits. Together with our own efforts, such community outreach will enable our messages to be sustained. We will keep an open mind, and we are trying out various outreach methods. We will learn as we go along, on how best to help our pioneers better understand and benefit from the package.”
“I would, first, like to focus on such anxieties with reference to one particular group of Singaporeans. This is the middle-aged and older PMEs who are in the lower-middle and middle-income groups. They are in their 40s and above – many have children still dependent on them and aged parents to take care of. Concerns remain for this group of PMEs. They are worried about the looming healthcare costs for themselves as they age, as well as for their aged parents. They have started thinking about their retirement. Will they be able to stay active and continue to work for as long as they are able to? And will they be able to save enough and retire with financial peace of mind? They are also worried about their job security, that they will be retrenched, replaced by someone younger and, subsequently, find it difficult to secure another job. Like many of my fellow Members who have spoken on the matter – Mr Patrick Tay and Ms Foo Mee Har, to name a few – I understand their concerns. Recently, one of my grassroots leaders came up to me and asked me for help. He is 54 and had worked as a supervisor in a manufacturing company all his life. The company closed down his division. He lost his job and now finds it difficult to find another job. We see them at our Meet-the-People sessions and we do our best to help them. As a Government, we are committed to assuaging their fears. In the area of healthcare, we are striving to ensure that quality healthcare remains affordable and accessible. We have put in place multiple tiers of protection to keep healthcare affordable – heavy Government subsidies, together with our 3M framework – Medisave, MediShield and Medifund.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise in support of the Motion to thank the President for his Address. The President spoke about the challenges we face in building our future together. His words strongly resonated with me. A key trend that Singapore needs to manage well is our ageing population. This was not a factor in the last few decades of our development. But it is now a key issue that has major ramifications in our social and economic spheres. This is all the more pertinent when we consider that Singapore's population will age even more rapidly than Japan's. The proportion of seniors in Japan increased from 10% to 23% within 25 years from 1985 to 2010. In comparison, Singapore's proportion of seniors, which was 9% in 2010, is projected to hit 24% within a span of just 20 years, by 2030. There are valuable lessons we can draw from Japan's experience. Thus far, despite an ageing population, Japan has remarkably managed to sustain a high standard of living, from the 1980s till present. This may be attributed to policies that successfully increase labour force participation rates as well as innovations that increase productivity and reduce manpower requirements. Nonetheless, these measures will delay, not avert, the long-term demographic threat to Japan's growth and the complexion of their society. Today, I would like to reflect on this issue. How do we, as a nation, confront the challenges from the inexorable ageing of our population? What will our future be as our population ages and how can we build Singapore into a place for us not only to grow up in, but also to grow old in? Page: 69 As the Chairman of REACH, I have listened to the numerous concerns of our fellow Singaporeans and ageing is one that deeply affects many Singaporeans.”
“Madam, in my speech earlier, I said it will be made available to all restructured and community hospitals by the end of this year. Restructured hospitals and community hospitals will work with VWOs like Thye Hua Kwan, TOUCH and so on, to train caregivers to provide these interim caregiver services. Page: 137 Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Madam, I thank the Member for the question. We are also aware of the concern that when the grant is given, the price increases. We are very aware of that. We will work very closely with the grassroots leaders. As we move on to these hawker centres and encourage them to become healthier, we will work with the grassroots leaders to seek out information of whether there are increases in prices due to that. What we want to do is we want to make healthier options available to Singaporeans. As such, in my speech, I mentioned that we are moving upstream to extend to the wholesalers to see how we can make it readily available. The price is another area that we are very conscious about it and we would not want Singaporeans to be charged higher than what it is today.”
“With generous support from the Breast Cancer Foundation and Estee Lauder, more than 8,500 women in total have received screening to date. Of these women, about 1,200 women required further assessments after their mammograms and 48 of them were diagnosed with cancer. Early detection and treatment of cancer through screening can lead to better long-term outcomes. WHAC will continue to promote cancer screening for women by making it more affordable and accessible, especially for lower-income women. Last year, I was pleased to launch a Health Calendar, developed by HPB called "Good Health, Better Life". It teaches women from lower-income families how to choose healthier foods at lower prices for themselves and their families. As Members can see, it is full of pictures, fun and easy to read and understand. The pilot batch of calendars in Malay was distributed to about 3,000 Malay households with the help of religious organisations, such as PPIS and MUIS. Depending on its success, we will also explore producing the calendars in other languages like Mandarin and customising them for different communities. WHAC will also work through the Healthy Living Master Plan (HLMP) Taskforce, led by the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, to cultivate healthy lifestyle habits from young. The Parliamentary Secretary will elaborate on this later. Mdm Chair, to conclude, health and wellness are priceless. We hope to encourage individuals to take ownership of their health and MOH will continue Page: 111 to strengthen our efforts to foster a whole-of-society approach to build a healthier and happier society.”
“One such resident was a 51-year-old lady who displayed violent and abusive behaviours towards her father. Staff from Fei Yue FSC at Bukit Batok, who had been trained in mental health, identified and referred the resident to our community support team for assessment. Our community support team conducted several home visits and managed to persuade the resident to receive treatment at IMH. The resident has since been discharged and our community support team will continue to monitor the resident's condition and remind her to take her medication and go for her outpatient appointments. Moving forward, we will be assessing the effectiveness of our community mental health programmes and expanding those that have been successful. We are also working towards better integration between programmes. Page: 110 Ms Ellen Lee asked about the progress of the Women's Health Advisory Committee (WHAC), which I chair. Since its establishment in May 2012, WHAC has reached out to more than 200,000 women. One of our priorities has been to provide affordable cancer screening for women, especially those from the lower-income group. Mammogram screening for breast cancer is especially important as it is the number one cause of death from cancer in women in Singapore. I am pleased that the Breast Cancer Foundation (BCF), in partnership with HPB, launched the BCF Encouragement for Active Mammograms (BEAM15) programme in March last year. This programme provides heavily-subsidised mammograms to lower-income women through the polyclinics and a mobile bus with mammogram facilities called the Mammobus. The programme was very well-received, with over 6,000 women taking up the offer within a three-month period since its launch.”
“We have also provided mental health training and education to the social service agencies and VWOs which Page: 109 can better reach out to residents. And, to date, we have trained over 100 community partners, including Family Service Centres (FSCs), Senior Activity Centres (SACs), grassroots leaders and volunteers. Our community partners can turn to our 24-hour Mental Health Helpline for immediate support and advice in managing mental health issues. Our outreach teams have also reached out to over 18,000 residents and we aim to reach out to about 9,000 more seniors by end 2014 this year. Last year, MOH had also reached out to grassroots advisors, to co-create local partnerships or local support networks to better support residents with mental conditions. For example, in Kembangan-Chai Chee and MacPherson divisions, we meet up with the grassroots organisations, Town Councils, voluntary welfare organisations and the Police to devise solutions to better support residents with mental conditions and who have been identified as needing help by our local grassroots or social organisations. These groups help such residents by promptly linking them up with appropriate social or health services. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the advisors and the grassroots for their support in bringing these communities together. Ms Tin Pei Ling asked about the challenges we face. Despite our best efforts, there could still be residents who refuse to be engaged. We are unable to legally compel them to comply with treatment if they are not causing harm to themselves or others. However, we are prepared to work with community volunteers or leaders to engage and persuade this group of residents to come for treatment.”
“Building on that foundation, we introduced a Community Mental Health plan in 2011 to ensure that patients continue to be well supported in the community. We have since set up various community teams, made up of mental health professionals and physicians, to better manage patients in the community. Our community teams provide clinical care and psychotherapy for patients, help to link them to other community services, and also provide education and support for patients, caregivers and the general public. Let me illustrate how individual patients and their families are supported by these community teams. In the northern region, a patient with mental illness usually receives treatment at the Specialist Outpatient Clinic (SOC) at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH). KTPH actively trains primary care physicians and community agencies in providing mental health care, and in this way, develops an integrated community mental health network. Even when the patient can be managed in the community, KTPH's community team and its GP partners will continue to support the clinical needs of the patient. The patient may also be referred to other community partners like Clarity Singapore for counselling services or Singapore Anglican Community Services for urgent community response. Such community support teams have reached out to more than 2,000 patients, and in the process, reduced the number of emergency admissions among their patients by half in FY2012. 4.00 pm Our teams have done good work, but many in the community are still unaware of mental health illnesses or where to seek help. Thus, MOH has partnered community groups, such as Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities and Silver Ribbon Singapore, to reach out to the public to increase awareness of mental health issues and the help available.”
“She has multiple medical conditions and is on many medications. During the day when her family members are either at work or school, she is alone at home. Under the Neighbours programme, the Eastern Health Alliance team works with the local Senior Activity Centre, Goodlife!, to arrange for volunteers to visit her twice a week. The volunteers befriend her and keep her company, remind her to take her medication and even help her to buy meals and groceries when needed. They also check on her regularly and alert the Eastern Health Alliance team if there are any issues. And I hope to see more communities stepping forward to do this, because every one of us can do our bit to care for seniors within our own vertical kampongs! Mdm Chair, let me assure this House that even as we have taken bold steps this year to enhance the affordability of both acute and outpatient care for seniors, especially for our Pioneer Generation, we are just as focused in building up our home and community care services, as we are keenly aware that this is necessary to help our seniors age gracefully in place. Page: 108 Let me now move on to issues of mental health and women's health raised by Members. As Ms Tin had said, she has raised this issue every year and I have been answering this every year. But I am glad that she has noted that things have improved. Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef and Ms Tin asked about the progress of mental health programmes in the community. Mr Patrick Tay asked how to ensure that patients with psychiatric conditions in the community are well managed. The National Mental Health Blueprint was launched in 2007 and the programmes are still on-going.”
“Caregivers only have to call this one number to access a whole variety of services, such as referral to care services, application for grants and care coordination for loved ones with multiple needs. We hope that this will help Singaporeans get the support and the services that they need to care for their loved ones in the community more easily. To achieve the vision of ageing-in-place or care at home, we need a whole-of-society effort. For one, a supportive workplace is important. A supportive Page: 107 work environment makes it much easier for caregivers to juggle between work and caregiving. Several Members have raised the issue of eldercare leave. The Government will be reviewing this issue as part of our broader efforts to address the challenges of an ageing society. We can also contribute to caring for our seniors as a society. Seniors will not only age gracefully but thrive, if we can build "Communities of Care" across Singapore, where everyone in the neighbourhood chips in to support frail seniors. We held a focus group discussion with over 100 caregivers last year to understand how we can better support them. One thing we learnt was that having caring neighbours who help to support seniors living in the community would make a huge difference. I am very happy to say that several communities – Siglap, Marine Parade, Bedok, just to name a few – have rallied caring neighbours living in the vicinity to check on seniors who need care. For example, under the Eastern Health Alliance's Neighbours for Active Living Programme, neighbours visit seniors with high care needs in their homes, help monitor their condition and also help out in other ways. Take the example of Ms Rohani, a 68-year-old lady who lives in Marine Parade.”
“Today, some 12% of the caregivers trained under the Caregiver Training Grant scheme are middle-aged locals who are looking after their elderly loved ones at home. We will certainly think about how we can also reach out to former caregivers and inform them of the eldercare job opportunities available. This year, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman announced the enhancement of existing tax reliefs, such as parent and handicapped parent relief and handicapped spouse, sibling and child relief, which will provide greater support for working caregivers. MOH will also go a step further and make respite services more accessible. We have rolled out the Nursing Home Respite Care (NHRC) Pilot, where subsidised Nursing Home care is provided to eligible seniors for between seven and 30 days a year. Fifteen participating nursing homes have since come on board the programme and this has benefited some 130 clients. By the second half of this year, MOH will also partner a number of eldercare centres to pilot weekend respite services. Caregivers can drop off their seniors at these eldercare centres during the weekends, for a few hours, if they need a respite or to run errands. Caregivers for persons with dementia may also approach ADA, NTUC Eldercare and Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities for home-based elder-sitting services, where therapeutic activities are conducted for the senior while the caregiver takes a rest. Eligible caregivers who make use of these respite services can also receive Government subsidies. Finally, in the third quarter of this year, we will put in place a one-stop call centre for caregivers.”
“The Fund was expanded to include more devices, consumables, and subsidised transport services for clients receiving dialysis, dementia day care and rehabilitation services. I am pleased to inform Members that since July last year, more than $3.7 million has been disbursed and more than 5,400 seniors have benefited from the SMF enhancements. We agree with Mr de Souza, Mr Chen, Dr Lam and Ms Lee that care-giving is no easy feat and we need to support care-givers. The expansion in home and community-based services, taken together, will support caregivers and help them balance their caregiving and work obligations. In tandem with the expansion of services, MOH will also be working on outreach to caregivers to help them navigate the eldercare landscape and access the services that they need. Last April, we brought all aged care functions under AIC. Caregivers of the elderly now only need to contact AIC for information and referral to eldercare services. We have also provided an online platform, Carers SG, for caregivers to show mutual support, share information, resources and experiences. Dr Lam asked if we could consider allowances for caregivers of the elderly and disabled. We want to avoid monetising family ties and filial piety which are intangible. Instead, we provide financial help in other forms. For instance, the AIC administers the Caregiver Training Grant which provides subsidised training for caregivers to equip themselves with the necessary skills to care for Page: 106 the physical and emotional needs of their care recipients. In the past year, some 5,400 caregivers have been trained. Ms Ellen Lee's suggestion to encourage former caregivers of the elderly to enter the aged care sector is an excellent one.”
“MOH has worked with day care operators to draw up a set of Centre-based Care Guidelines to articulate the quality of care expected of the centre-based services. The guidelines emphasise safe care and promoting seniors' independence by involving them and their caregivers in making informed decisions about their own care. This year, MOH will also be conducting a series of focus group consultations with seniors and caregivers to discuss this set of guidelines before they are finalised. Several Members spoke about the need to invest in intermediate and long-term care and make it more affordable. Let me assure Members that we have been investing and will continue to invest in the development of affordable community care services. Page: 105 We have been increasing our support to the sector, both in enhancing affordability for patients and capital investment to scale up facilities. In July 2012, we significantly enhanced the subsidy framework for Intermediate and Long-Term Care (ILTC) to cover all lower- and middle-income households. Currently, two-thirds of households are eligible for subsidies if they need these services. With this, MOH's funding to the ILTC sector has grown significantly in the last two years. Funding to the ILTC sector is expected to reach around $260 million for FY2013, an almost 80% increase from $145 million in FY2011. The $1 billion Community Silver Trust (CST) has also provided VWOs around $88 million of funding to date, with more applications pending processing. From July last year, we also allowed more flexibility for VWOs to use CST matching grants to meet recurrent operating expenses. Last year, we have also enhanced the Seniors Mobility and Enabling Fund to $50 million.”
“Finally, we will enhance the quality of home-care services. The quality of home-care services is important, because we want to give caregivers peace of mind that their mum, dad or loved one will be well looked after at home when they are at work. Page: 104 MOH has worked with home-care providers to develop a set of Home-care Guidelines, to articulate the level of care expected of all home-care services. This includes good practices to enable coordination of care; enhance quality of care; promote independence; and encourage organisational excellence. MOH will be conducting a series of consultations with the home-care sector, seniors, as well as caregivers, before finalising the set of guidelines. MOH will also be expanding eldercare centres to complement home-care services. Mobile seniors who can attend day care or day rehabilitation services at one of our eldercare centres can get out of the house, meet new friends and spend quality time interacting with others rather than staying alone at home. We aim to more than double the centre-based care capacity by 2020, by adding more than 3,000 day care places to our current capacity. We are also developing new "one-stop" Senior Care Centres in the community, where our seniors can receive day care, dementia day care, rehabilitation and nursing services all under one roof. This saves them the trouble of visiting different centres for different services. In the past two years, eight new centres in different regions across Singapore have opened, providing a total of more than 400 additional day places. This year, another eight new centres will be opened, adding some 400 day places. Just like nursing home and home-care services, we need to pay attention to the quality of care delivery in these centres.”
“TOUCH medical staff visit Mr Low twice a month to manage his medical conditions and help him pack his medications, while personal care staff visit him once a week to help him with his household cleanliness. TOUCH also helps to arrange transport for his medical appointments. For providers who are not yet able to offer all the health and personal care services today, they will be expected to do a similar comprehensive assessment of seniors' needs and coordinate with other providers to meet these needs holistically. Fourth, MOH will enhance the way home nursing, home medical and home-based personal care services are funded to support this integrated approach to care, as the Minister has noted earlier. Today, MOH funds home-care providers based on the number of home medical and nursing visits made, or the number of personal care hours a client is eligible to receive each week. Such a funding approach is suitable for seniors who only need infrequent or ad hoc home-care visits when they fall sick or need help at home. To encourage providers to take a person-centric view and to "own" and integrate care for their patients who need home-care as a long-term care option, MOH is studying a new way of funding. We are prepared to fund providers not on a per-visit basis, but on a per-client basis, where we will provide a fixed amount of funding per month for each senior under their care, based on individual care needs. 3.45 pm This new approach to funding will give home-care providers a steady stream of financial support, so that they will have the resources and flexibility to plan and deliver an integrated package of home services needed by the seniors. We expect to implement this new model of funding in the third quarter of this year.”
“Similar to home-based rehabilitation, eligible seniors can receive subsidies for home environment assessment. The home-care provider will also help them to tap on existing sources of funding like the HDB's Enhancement for Active Seniors (EASE) funding for the necessary home modifications. Third, we are making home care more integrated and client-centric. Today, some seniors may find that home-care services are delivered in a fragmented manner with a lack of coordination between separate health and personal care providers. This is not ideal as an individual's health and personal care needs are closely intertwined. The Agency for Integrated Care will be working with several homecare providers to better coordinate, if not fully integrate, home healthcare and home-based personal care for our seniors at home. For instance, Touch Home Care, NTUC Eldercare and Thye Hua Kwan, have received funding to build up their capabilities and capacity so that they can provide a comprehensive package of services according to the needs of the client. They will be able to make a holistic assessment of a senior's needs, draw up a comprehensive care plan with integrated health and personal care services, and explain this care plan to the senior and his family members. They will also help to make applications to relevant assistance schemes, monitor the senior's medical conditions to ensure timely treatment and provide caregiver training and support. Take Mr Low Boon Leong, for example. Mr Low is 66 years old and suffers from high blood pressure and kidney disease. He is single and lives alone in a rental flat. Mr Low currently enjoys a comprehensive, integrated package of Page: 103 services from TOUCH Home Care.”
“We want to catch the window where home-based rehabilitation can help improve their function. A therapist or therapy aide will visit the senior's home to assess and carry out active rehabilitation for up to four months. The objective is to bring rehabilitation in a more timely manner to these seniors at home, enabling them to regain as much of their functional ability as possible within their daily living environment, and remain independent longer. Eligible seniors can receive subsidies for home-based rehabilitation services from April this year, up to a maximum subsidy of $97 per visit. Take the example of Mr Zulkifli, who suffers from diabetes and had to undergo an amputation of one of his legs above the knee. He was unable to leave his house for therapy sessions because he could not climb down the steps outside his main door and he had no caregiver who was available to accompany him. He underwent intensive rehabilitation at home under Tan Tock Seng Page: 102 Hospital's Community Rehabilitation Programme, and shared that home therapy gave him the motivation to get out of bed and the confidence to keep going despite his setback. You can see that he is a happy man there in the photograph. I am indeed very pleased to hear that he is now able to negotiate the steps in front of his house with a prosthesis and crutches and has, in fact, returned to work as an administrative officer. Home environment assessment will also be added to the suite of subsidised home-care services available. Therapists will visit the homes of seniors who are receiving home-based care services to identify home hazards and recommend home modifications to facilitate independent living, like having grab-bars or ramps for wheel-chairs. This helps them to transit safely from hospital to home.”
“Second, we are enriching the scope of home-care services available and making our suite of home-care services more comprehensive so that we can better meet the diverse needs of patients and their caregivers. We know that home visits by doctors or nurses are inadequate to enable seniors to be cared for at home. Seniors who do not have full-time caregivers Page: 101 at home need a lot more personal assistance in the day. Working caregivers are particularly stressed after their parents are hospitalised, as they have to find new care arrangements and are unfamiliar with how to care for their parents in the immediate period after discharge. In March last year, we introduced a new Interim Caregiver Service. This provides seniors with a much longer period of care – 12 hours of personal care every day, for up to 12 days over a period of two weeks – right after they are discharged from hospital. It has helped seniors and their caregivers to enjoy a smoother transition home and given caregivers more time to make longer-term care arrangements. With additional help for 12 hours a day, caregivers can also get some rest. This service will be available in all major restructured hospitals and community hospitals this year. This year, MOH will also make available even more subsidised home-care services. From 1 April 2014, MOH will subsidise the provision of home-based rehabilitation as part of the suite of subsidised home-based services available. Today, seniors can go to day rehabilitation centres for their rehabilitation needs. However, some seniors may not be able to do so because they are still quite frail and may be unable to sit through the journey to the centre, or there are physical barriers that make it difficult for them to leave the home to go to a day-care centre.”
“These multi-disciplinary teams provide medical and allied health support for patients in their homes after they are discharged so that they can recuperate and stay well in the community, and not have to be re-admitted again. Since 2010, we have built up a capacity to serve about 2,000 patients a year under transitional care programmes and we aim to increase this capacity to about 3,300 patients by the end of this year. Many seniors living in the community may also have chronic diseases and functional impairment, and require long-term home-based healthcare and personal care to help them age gracefully at home. Since 2012, new and existing home-care providers have received funding to help them scale up their home-care services. In total, our providers can now serve 5,400 seniors needing home-based healthcare, and 1,100 seniors needing home-based personal care a year. We are on track to achieve a capacity of 10,000 patients for home-based healthcare services and 7,500 patients for home-based personal care by 2020. As part of enhancing home-care, we are also working with providers to expand home palliative care services. Mr Laurence Lien and Mr David Ong earlier asked about end-of-life care. MOH has been supporting the expansion of in-patient palliative care capacity. However, we also know that many caregivers have expressed their wish to care for their loved ones at home, even towards the end-of-life. We want to support caregivers during this period, which can be especially stressful and difficult, by further developing home-based palliative care services. MOH will be announcing more of our plans to enhance palliative care services later this year.”
“Nevertheless, MOH has and will continue to improve upon the design of the nursing homes we build, recognising that the physical environment can affect caregiving. Last year, I updated Members of this House on how we have injected more public spaces, greenery and even green spaces at ward levels in our new nursing homes for patients to enjoy. We will continue to study new designs that can provide greater privacy while maintaining the operational efficiency and affordability of nursing homes. Mr Sitoh Yih Pin, Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef, Dr Lily Neo and Mr Low Thia Khiang spoke passionately about the development of home-care. Indeed, I very much share their aspiration, to see the majority of our seniors well cared for at home rather than in any institutional setting. To achieve the vision of "care at home", Mr David Ong is right that we will need to set up a much more holistic and integrated system to promote and support the care of our seniors at home. Let me assure him that MOH places great priority on developing a more comprehensive and accessible set of care services that extend into the community and homes. This year, MOH will focus more on home-based care development. We will be enhancing the three "C"s this year, as Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef said earlier. These are expanding Capacity, making home care Comprehensive, and enhancing Caregiver support. Page: 100 First, MOH has and will continue to invest in expanding home-based care services so that more seniors and their caregivers can benefit. We have worked with various hospitals to set up transitional care programmes to help patients who are discharged from hospitals to transit smoothly back home.”
“We have since refined and finalised the set of standards after a series of consultations with nursing home providers, caregivers of seniors and members of the public. The standards will be effective from 2015, with a one-year grace period given to providers before enforcement commences in 2016. Mr David Ong asked about the implementation of these standards. I would like to assure nursing home providers that MOH will not just set the examination without also providing the necessary "tuition" to providers to meet the new standards. The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) will introduce a full suite of assistance programmes to prepare nursing homes for 2015. Firstly, AIC will conduct voluntary baseline assessments of nursing homes in 2014 to see where they stand as against the standards. AIC will then develop customised programmes based on the gaps identified. As of end February, 34 nursing homes had already signed up for these assessments. Of these, 12 have Page: 99 already gone through the assessments. Secondly, AIC has developed new courses for nursing home staff. Participants may receive up to 90% subsidy on their course fees. Thirdly, AIC will launch a guide in the second quarter of this year to help nursing home providers better understand how the enhanced standards can be implemented. I would also like to thank Mr Sitoh for his feedback on nursing home ward design. The nursing home standards are meant to be outcome-oriented rather than prescriptive or process-driven. Given the different circumstances of various nursing homes and the different clientele that they serve, the nursing homes should be given flexibility to achieve the desired outcomes in terms of dignity of care. They should not be dictated on specific matters, such as design configuration of the homes.”
“Madam, our population is ageing rapidly. I fully agree with Mr Sitoh and Dr Lily Neo that we cannot respond to the challenges of an ageing population by just developing acute hospitals alone. Step-down, community and home care services and facilities are just as vital, if not more so, due to an ageing population. MOH is doubling up our efforts to develop a comprehensive suite of aged care services that are accessible, affordable and Page: 98 of good quality, to help our seniors age in place gracefully. Mr David Ong asked about our progress on nursing homes. Two years ago, we announced our plans to build 10 new nursing homes and add some 3,000 new nursing home beds by 2016. I would like to thank various Members of the House for working closely with MOH to facilitate the smooth implementation of these projects. We are on track to achieving this target. Last year, we added some 1,000 nursing home beds to our national capacity. As we speak, five more Government-built nursing homes are under development and we will begin construction of another seven by early next year. 3.30 pm Our approach is for the Government to build and own the infrastructure, and then tender out to the best operator who can offer quality care at affordable prices. This allows us to tap on the expertise of both the private and people sectors in operating these homes, without burdening them with the cost of having to build the infrastructure. To complement this strategy, we need to make clear our expectations of the quality of care in nursing homes. Last year, we announced that we are developing a set of Enhanced Nursing Home Standards. These include a clearer articulation of standards for clinical care, psycho-social well-being and organisational excellence.”
“Mdm Chair, with your permission, may I display some slides on the LED screens?”
“MOH has put in place comprehensive plans under Healthcare 2020 to increase healthcare capacity across various care settings, so that we can adequately meet the needs of the population. Members like Dr Lam Pin Min and Ms Tin Pei Ling are right to highlight that the ability to attract talent and manpower into the healthcare sector will be key to our success in upscaling our healthcare capacity. As part of our Healthcare 2020 plans, we had projected that we would need about 20,000 more healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals between 2011 and 2020. We have since made good progress. Between 2011 and 2013, the healthcare professional workforce grew by 6,000, an increase of 13%. Our doctor and nurse-to-population ratios have also improved as a result. While they are lower than those in most OECD countries, they are comparable to developed regional economies, such as Hong Kong and South Korea. As we continue to expand healthcare manpower, we expect our ratios to increase further. We do not have ideal target ratios, as manpower ratios are also dependent on the structure of the local healthcare system and would shift over time with changes in technology, model of care, as well as demographic and disease profiles.”
“Mdm Chairman, with your permission, may I display some slides on the LED screens?”
“I think this will be better taken, and responded to, in MOH's COS. But in any case, indeed, for social workers, there is a requirement that there must be a minimum diploma, but we take the Member's point on converting some of these programmes into certification course. At MOH, we are also looking at whether we can have different levels, not just social workers, but different levels, just like therapy assistants and physiotherapists. So, we are looking at that at MOH.”
“I said earlier in my speech that for WSQ, based on a recent WDA study, from 2008 to 2010, lower wage workers with WSQ Statements of Attainment (SOAs) did receive wage increments of between 2.6% and 4.6%, compared to those without SOAs. That is the differential that we have found. How it squares with the Progressive Wage Model is that the Progressive Page: 110 Wage Model, which is advocated by NTUC, helps the workers get fair pay based on their productivity, ability and skills, and to upgrade them so that they can do better, have higher value jobs and get higher pay. I think that with WSQ, they will be able to attain higher skills and better pay.”
“Through our CET and CPF system, and what we do to support the employment of PMEs and older workers, we aim to encourage and facilitate Singaporeans to take charge of their learning, employability and retirement needs. And we will actively intervene to provide additional assistance to segments of the population that require more help. At the start of my speech, I quoted one of our OSC participants, who said, "Lifelong learning is about how you create value for yourself." Indeed, as a government, we want to empower all Singaporeans to create value for themselves throughout their lives. This culture of constant and continuous improvement will help us be more responsive, relevant and resilient. It will enable us to weather future storms and seize the opportunities that come our way, to earn a better wage, in a better job, for a better life. Accelerate Flexible Work Arrangements”
“The CPF Board's nomination scheme provides CPF members with an option to nominate other recipients of their CPF monies upon their demise and how much each nominee should receive. Our view is that it is best left to members to decide if they wish to make a nomination depending on their circumstances. Once a nomination is made, the Board is legally bound to abide by the member's nomination, except upon marriage, when the nomination is actually nullified. In particular, in response to Ms Lee Li Lian's query, the treatment of CPF nominations is generally in line with the treatment of wills. Nominations Page: 84 are not nullified in the case of divorce as we consider that the member may still intend to provide for his ex-spouse and/or children. Ms Lee Li Lian said that this causes confusion and she asked that more awareness be generated on this issue. We will take her point about generating awareness. But I would like to also note that it is stated in the first two lines in the general information section of the CPF nomination form, that a marriage will automatically revoke the existing nomination, and a divorce does not revoke an existing nomination. So, it is actually right here in the first two lines of the notes attached to the CPF nomination form. But I take her point that we will continue to do more to raise awareness. We provide comprehensive information on CPF Board's website and members can also call CPF Board's hotline or visit the service centres to find out more. In fact, we also advise CPF members when they wish to make a nomination to do it at our customer service centre where the customer service executives will clarify any questions they may have and also inform them about the implications of CPF nomination. Allow me now to conclude.”
“Under the CPF Act, any withdrawals of CPF savings for housing must be secured against a charge on the property and refunded to the member's CPF account when he gives up ownership of the property. This safeguards his CPF savings for future housing and retirement needs. In fact, we do not require the refund of CPF if the CPF member continues to retain ownership of the first property, for instance, if he buys a private property as a second property. In the case of HDB flats, one family is allowed to own only one HDB flat at any one time, so that more families can access public housing. HDB requires a person to relinquish ownership of the first flat within six months upon taking possession of his new flat. This then triggers the refund of CPF taken to purchase the first flat. Today, CPF members who have difficulties repaying in a lump sum may opt to make progressive payments to bring down the total refund amount until the new flat is ready, which may be in two to three years' time. Alternatively, households can obtain a loan from HDB or the banks secured against the property, or make a transfer of CPF funds from the eligible accounts of other co-owners of the flat to effect the refund. We empathise with the difficulties some families might face and are currently jointly reviewing with MND if further flexibility can be provided, without unduly compromising members' retirement needs. On the issue of CPF nomination highlighted by Ms Lee Li Lian, when a CPF member passes away without making a nomination, his CPF monies will be distributed to his immediate family by the Public Trustee according to the intestacy laws. This safeguards the welfare of his immediate family members.”
“We empathise with situations of lower income older Singaporeans who face difficulty paying the mortgages for a basic HDB flat. But rather than delay the creation of the RA at age 55, we take a targeted approach. We evaluate the financial situation of such appellants and, where warranted, we will allow them to use savings in their RA that originated from the OA for their housing needs. Mr Seng suggested having a lower MS for lower income members so more members can have access to their CPF savings for housing or other withdrawals after the age of 55. More generally, several Members of the House have also previously petitioned for the CPF to be more flexible in allowing access to CPF savings. This echoes Dr Intan's call for flexibility in the repayment of CPF savings withdrawn for housing. While I understand that many look forward to withdrawing their CPF monies when they turn 55, this is not the primary purpose of the CPF. The CPF is fundamentally for long-term retirement needs. With rising life expectancy and more members staying single, as Ms Jessica Tan had pointed out, we should. in fact, be looking at putting aside more savings. The CPF is our nest egg for retirement, and not a golden goose to be slain upon reaching 55. By and large, we must uphold the principle that the design of the CPF system should be tilted towards meeting longer term needs. Hence, restrictions are placed on Page: 83 the use of CPF savings for other purposes. This includes the use of CPF savings for housing. However, we do allow for flexibility today where the case merits. In particular, Dr Intan asked if we can be more flexible in requiring the repayment of CPF savings, in the case where a member buys his own HDB flat and has to withdraw as a co-owner of his parents' flat.”
“If you have the full MS in cash at 55 today, you should be able to cover the expenditure needs of a two-member retiree household in the second quintile, in other words, between the 20th percentile and 40th percentile of households. We tried to keep the MS increases as gradual as possible to minimise the impact on each successive cohort. We have no plans to revise the MS further in real terms in the near future, after the MS target has been reached in 2015. However, in nominal terms, the MS will still have to be adjusted to account for inflation and ensure that the real value of the MS, in 2003 dollars, is preserved. I would like to assure Mr Seng that we will continue to review whether the MS is sufficient to support basic needs and will take his suggestions into consideration. Mr Seng had earlier said that "one size does not fit all, so one Page: 82 sum does not fit all". However, the fact is that this is a Minimum Sum, so it is one sum that is required by all. Ms Jessica Tan asked if the age at which the Retirement Account (RA) is created to set aside the MS could be reviewed as Singaporeans work longer and retire later. There are several reasons why an RA is created and the MS amount set aside at age 55. 2.45 pm First, it helps Members grow their savings more quickly in the final years prior to the draw down age, as the RA pays a higher rate of return than the Ordinary Account (OA). Second, the setting aside of the MS is linked to several other schemes which also take place at age 55. For example, members are allowed to withdraw $5,000 or any savings in excess of the MS and Medisave Minimum Sum at age 55. The rest is transferred into the RA where the rules governing withdrawals are necessarily stricter to safeguard them for retirement needs.”
“The CPF contribution rate changes announced at Budget 2014 were made in close consultation with our tripartite partners. In deciding on the quantum and the pace of the increases, we were mindful of the need to strike a balance between providing for better retirement adequacy, and making sure that we do not raise wage costs to an extent where it affects the employability of our workers and our businesses lose their competitive edge. I thank Mr David Ong for his concern about the adequacy of retirement and healthcare savings of older workers, and for his suggestion that employers could contribute even more to the retirement savings of their employees. Raising employer CPF contribution rates further is one way to help provide better adequacy, but it will have an impact on business costs and thus employment opportunities. I think both sides of the issue were aired during the Budget Debate. Any further increases in our employer CPF contribution rates will have to be carefully considered by the tripartite partners and, if deemed necessary, done in a calibrated and gradual manner. More importantly, we have to keep at our efforts to improve the employability of our older workers. The Government supports the employment of older workers heavily, especially older low-wage workers, through schemes like the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) and the Special Employment Credit (SEC). Mr Seng Han Thong spoke about the increase in the Minimum Sum (MS) and asked if the Government could conduct a review on the long-term MS policy. The MS aims to provide enough for the basic retirement needs of Singaporeans. What is basic?”
“Among those re-employed in the same job in the private sector, 96% did not experience a basic wage cut. Overall, employers are keen to tap on older workers' skills, knowledge and experience. The positive results of re-employment have affirmed that this approach works for us. We considered various options, including extending the statutory minimum retirement age. But we have decided to adopt the re-employment approach as it allows workers to work longer, while ensuring that employers have sufficient flexibility to manage their manpower needs. We are looking into further raising the re-employment age from 65 years old, possibly to 67. As the Retirement and Re-employment Act (RRA) has been in effect for only two years, the Tricom, in consultation with employers and unions, feels that we should allow time to monitor its impact. At the same time, the Tricom will review and iron out any outstanding implementation issues and update the law and the Tripartite Guidelines on the Re-employment of Older Employees. We will announce the proposals, including the appropriate time frame for raising the re-employment age, when these are ready. We should also not rely only on legislation to support the employment of older workers. Mr David Ong rightly pointed out that addressing age discrimination is an on-going journey which requires a mindset change by all members of society – employers and employees, supervisors and so on. To that end, the Tricom will be launching an initiative to shape positive perceptions of older workers, to highlight the value they bring and to encourage companies to tap on their experience and skills. Page: 81 Finally, I would like to cover the important topic of retirement adequacy for Singaporeans.”
“First, improving workplace practices and support; second, raising productivity and skills of older workers; third, shaping positive perceptions of older workers; fourth, enhancing employment facilitation; and fifth, improving retirement planning. Through our outreach to companies, we recognise that different sectors, such as hotels, retail and F&B, have unique needs and constraints. As Mr Heng Chee How has pointed out, some businesses may not know how to go about re-designing their workplace processes to cater to their older workers. Hence, the Tricom will work with industry associations to build companies' capabilities in managing an ageing workforce and roll out relevant age management practices. We will also work with industry partners to develop a training curriculum and standards for age management consultants, who can then help businesses implement age-friendly programmes. Page: 80 Mr Heng Chee How also asked for an update on our plans for re-employment. Since we implemented the re-employment legislation in 2012, progress has been smooth. Based on the preliminary findings from our latest survey, 99% of private sector local employees who turned 62 in the year ending June last year were offered re-employment, including 67% of retiring employees who were offered re-employment on existing contracts, with no change to their employment terms. Mr David Ong raised a related issue of wage adjustments upon re-employment. I would like to re-iterate that any adjustments to the employment terms for re-employed employees should be based on reasonable factors, such as employee's productivity, duties and responsibilities, and the extent of seniority elements in the wage structure. So far, statistics have been encouraging.”
“At last year's COS, I announced the WorkPro programme to provide comprehensive support to encourage older workers and economically inactive Page: 79 locals to return to work, and to promote work-life harmony. I thank Mr Heng Chee How for his concern about its progress. The take-up rate has been encouraging, with more than 700 companies coming on board as at December 2013, nine months after the programme was launched. Another aspect of WorkPro is aimed at promoting flexible work arrangements. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Hawazi will elaborate more on the Work-Life Grant in his speech. We are doing more for our older workers. With increasing life expectancy, many Singaporeans are capable of and desire to continue to work till an older age. I fully agree with Mr Seng Han Thong that we should help them to do so. This allows them to remain meaningfully engaged, to continue to earn an income and to be better prepared for their retirement. Just as importantly, working also sustains a sense of dignity and self-worth. So, it is not just about working longer for retirement adequacy. The employment rate of older residents aged 55 to 64 reached 65% in 2013, a target we attained two years ahead of time. Few countries have achieved these levels, so we will monitor the trends going forward and see if it is realistic to push for an even higher target. But we will not let up on the current momentum and we will continue to help those who want to work to do so. Mr Seng Han Thong will be pleased to note that we have reconvened our Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers. Our efforts to help older workers can be grouped into five broad thrusts.”
“In our review of the CET Masterplan, we will also be looking at funding support for training these PMEs. Mr Patrick Tay also raised his concern about graduates from private education institutions. As he pointed out, strong career aspirations have led to a greater demand for academic upgrading, especially for degrees. Adding on, Ms Mary Liew and Mr Tay both spoke about affordability. While we will continue to create quality jobs for Singaporeans, we also need to ensure that our educational institutions produce graduates who are highly employable, with strong substantive knowledge and relevant skills. For the private education sector, the Government will continue to maintain standards through a holistic approach that integrates regulation and quality assurance, and consumer education. Students also need to take greater ownership of their own careers, and be discerning in their choice of institutions and courses. Prospective students should do their homework to find out about the employment outcomes of graduates of the education provider. Cost should also factor into their calculation. Education should never be a paper chase. Increasingly, employers are seeking to recruit employees with relevant competencies and skills, regardless of the qualifications they hold. Allow me now to move on to Older Workers. Several Members, including Mr Heng Chee How, Mr Seng Han Thong, Mr David Ong, Mr Zainudin Nordin and Mr Gerald Giam have raised their concerns. Our basic principle is this: we want to help Singaporeans who desire to work to be able to do so. We will continue to improve job opportunities for them and help them develop the necessary skills to access those opportunities.”
“The career coach from CaliberLink, Mr Mohamed Alfee, advised Mr Au that his previous work experience in HR was relevant and that he should continue applying for jobs in HR. Through Mr Alfee's guidance, Mr Au overcame his self-perceived "mature age" barrier to employment by continuing to apply for jobs in Human Resource, working closely with the coach to redraft his resume to highlight his transferrable skills, as well as HR and Training experience. Through CaliberLink's support, I am glad to note that he finally secured a job as a senior Human Resource Manager in SMRT Corporation and enjoys a higher salary compared to his previous job. I am told that he now even shares his job search journey with other job seekers at workshops organised by CaliberLink. We will help displaced PMEs like Mr Au get back on their feet as quickly as possible, so that they can continue to support themselves and their families. Mr Patrick Tay and Ms Mary Liew spoke about the need for multiple skillsets for our PMEs, with Mr Tay further suggesting a PME Capability Development Fund. Over the years, our approach to helping PMEs develop their skills has evolved with the changing needs of the economy. In light of the rapidly changing environment, deep expertise in one area may no longer be sufficient, as Mr Tay had noted. PMEs may require different skills and competencies from what they have today, and we will help them Page: 78 acquire these necessary skills through CET. As Mr Patrick Tay suggested, one way to do so is to help PMEs develop deep vertical expertise in two or even more areas, and strong transferable skills which are relevant across industries – moving from developing T-shaped to pi-shaped workers. We are, in principle, supportive of this idea.”
“30 pm Ms Foo Mee Har pointed out that some PMEs need help to gain overseas exposure. She spoke about the Asian Business Fellowship (ABF) programme which she had supported during her stint at Standard Chartered. I am pleased to inform Ms Foo that the ABF has evolved into a "Market Attachments" component under IE Singapore's Global Company Partnership (GCP) Programme. In fact, the Deputy Prime Minister announced in this year's Budget Speech that "Market Attachments" will be enhanced, expanding the scope of support for staff attachments in overseas markets. For displaced PMEs, we will continue to help them get back into employment quickly. CaliberLink empowers our PMEs with greater ownership Page: 77 of their CET journeys by providing more platforms for self-mastery, exploration and enrichment. Since its launch in December 2011, CaliberLink has assisted more than 5,000 PMEs through its training and career consultation services, networking events and workshops. Of these, about 2,000 sought dedicated employment assistance in the form of career coaching services, and 750 have since found employment. Although CaliberLink is relatively new, these figures are encouraging. Our career consultants are critical to ensuring that workers receive personalised advice that best suits their needs and aspirations. Take Mr Glenn Au, for example. Mr Au was 51 years old when he approached CaliberLink in May 2013 when his position as a Senior Specialist in Human Resource at an MNC was made redundant in a restructuring exercise. Apprehensive about the job market's negative perception towards older workers, Mr Au wanted to explore job opportunities in other sectors and other job functions. He also felt that his degree in Engineering may hinder his finding a job in HR.”
“I thank Mr Patrick Tay, Ms Foo Mee Har, Ms Mary Liew and Mr Teo Siong Seng for their concerns about our PMEs. Let me set this issue in context. On the whole, our PMEs are doing well. For example, unemployment rates for Singapore citizen PMEs remain low at 2.5% Page: 76 in 2013, compared to 3.6% for all citizens. However, some PMEs are facing employment challenges, as alluded to by some of our hon Members. On average, unemployed PMEs took longer to find jobs. The median duration of unemployment among those previously in PME jobs was 13 weeks in June 2013, compared to eight weeks for those from non-PME jobs.Fskil While our unemployment rate is currently low, we cannot be complacent and expect it to remain that way. The number of PMEs in the labour market is also increasing. As the educational and skills profile of our workforce improves, the share of PMEs in the Singapore citizen workforce has risen from 25% in 2003, to 28% in 2013. And this number is expected to grow further. Our efforts to provide broad support for PMEs to improve themselves must, therefore, be redoubled to help more to take on the jobs that have been created. WDA provides funding for training beyond WSQ and continually reviews this to expand the range of PME programmes funded. Our PMEs also benefit from the Place and Train Programmes funded by WDA. One such pilot programme that we fund, working with the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME), is the Max Talent programme which is open to all SMEs, regardless of industry or sector. Mr Teo Siong Seng will be glad to note that a total of 740 PMEs have been placed across 706 SMEs under the Max Talent programme, from its inception in April 2012 to 31 December 2013. 2.”
“Of the SMEs that approached the Programme Advisors, 40% eventually expressed an interest to tap on the schemes. In fact, the majority of SMEs engaged in this manner are small enterprises with less than 20 employees. I urge more SMEs to tap on these services. A mindset of continuous improvement does not apply only to workers; employers are also important conduits for these improvements to take place. At the start of my speech, I spoke briefly about the challenges of the future. CET is a key strategy in our response to these challenges. And we must actively look and plan ahead so that our CET system keeps our workforce agile in an evolving world fuelled by uncertainty. Hence, as we announced last year, we are embarking on a major review of our CET Masterplan. Given the future challenges faced by our workforce, the review of the CET Masterplan will help to achieve the following. First, to build a culture where individuals are better empowered to pursue their career goals and aspirations through CET. We will give greater emphasis to self-initiated upgrading to build a "career-resilient" workforce that embraces lifelong learning. Second, companies need to take greater ownership of their HR planning. They can do this by more effectively integrating CET into their business strategy and performance management, developing attractive careers and wage pathways. Third, at a systems level, we want to improve the responsiveness of our CET system to meet the evolving skills needs of growth sectors. More details on the revised CET Masterplan will be announced in due course. Allow me now to turn our attention to two specific groups of workers, namely, the PMEs and our older workers.”
“In 2010, he won the WDA-Professional Conversion Programme award to do a three-year Diploma course in Physiotherapy. Although Mr Low is currently earning a salary which is 10% lower than his previous job in the IT industry, he has no regrets entering the healthcare sector. We are also providing more support for our SMEs' training efforts. This contributes to the Government's efforts to transform the SME sector, as Deputy Prime Minister Tharman spoke about earlier in the Budget debate. At last year's COS, I introduced the Enterprise Training Support, or ETS, scheme to provide a holistic HR and training package for companies to develop their employees and raise productivity. WDA rolled it out after we listened carefully to our SMEs, many of whom have asked for more help to develop their HR expertise. By the end of last year, the ETS had benefitted 68 companies and approximately 12,000 local workers. Seventy percent of these companies were SMEs, and I am glad to share that feedback from the SMEs has been very positive. Nonetheless, many SMEs also indicated that the tight labour market made it difficult to send workers for training. WDA will thus enhance the ETS to support e-learning and mobile learning from 1 April this year. This will provide more flexible training options for workers and, as Ms Denise Phua mentioned, reflect learning in the digital age. Several SMEs have also told us that they found it difficult to access WDA's schemes and training programmes. Hence, since last year, through closer collaboration with the one-stop SME Centres set up by SPRING Singapore, Page: 75 SMEs that prefer one-to-one advice on training advisory or manpower development can approach WDA Programme Advisors at any of these five SME Centres. Response from SMEs has been positive.”
“And with our two new CET campuses, more workers will be able to access CET programmes. In addition, our Polytechnics and ITEs have quadrupled their academic CET programmes from about 40 in 2008 to over 160 programmes in 2013. Since 2011, these programmes have also been modularised to better meet the needs of working adults for flexible upgrading. We also look at outcomes from the perspective of our workers and employers. WDA's latest survey findings are encouraging. Ninety-seven percent of our trainees indicated that they were better able to apply their skills, an increase from 93% in 2009 when the survey first started. Seventy-seven percent of employers felt that WSQ training led to productivity improvements, compared to 62% in 2009. Mr Christopher de Souza had earlier asked about productivity and training for lower-wage workers, and I am pleased to share that our lower-wage workers, in particular, have benefitted from WSQ training. Based on another WDA study, from 2008 to 2010, lower-wage workers with WSQ Statements of Attainment (SOA) received wage increments of between 2.6% and 4.6%, compared to those Page: 74 without SOAs. The progress we have made since 2008 has allowed us to fulfil the aspirations of more Singaporeans, such as Mr Low Weng Hoe. Mr Low graduated with a Degree in Network Computing and joined the IT industry as an IT executive, but subsequently decided to pursue a career in healthcare. During a course for therapy assistants, Mr Low worked closely with therapists in the hospitals who dealt with neurological and geriatric patients. It was then that he discovered a passion for geriatric therapy. He enjoyed interacting with the elderly while assisting them in their exercises and felt a sense of fulfilment when he witnessed their recovery.”