Chan Chun Sing
Singapore
“Since 2002, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has worked with the autonomous universities (AUs) to establish arrangements that minimise disruption to National Servicemen (NSmen) who are pursuing full-time studies up to the undergraduate level, while meeting the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) operational and training needs.”
“Secondments help to build up the range of competencies and work experiences of public officers to strengthen their longer-term employment relevance and resilience. The Public Service Division's guideline to agencies is to support public officers even while they are on secondment.”
“The priority of our National Servicemen must be their military duties and operational training, to meet the Singapore Armed Forces's (SAF's) operational requirements.”
“In January 2026, I had informed this House that the Government had convened an independent committee to conduct a review of the political salary framework that was laid out in 2012. The Committee has completed the review and submitted its recommendations to the Government in April.”
“All countries seek to develop mutually beneficial partnerships, and the United States-Indonesia Major Defence Cooperation Partnership is one such example.”
“Since the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps (SAFVC) was established in 2014, over 1,500 men and women have completed training and served as SAFVC Volunteers (SVs). Presently, there are about 1,100 in-service SVs, comprising 52% male and 48% female. About seven in 10 of our in-service SVs are new Citizens or Permanent Residents.”
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“At the same time, it is also something that we have to think deeply about because sometimes we run the danger of monetising many of the things that should not be monetised. Mr Yee Jenn Jong and Mr Alex Yam asked about student care services. The Minister for Education has already announced some plans to expand the student care services in the schools in the coming years. MSF will work closely with MOE to bring this about. Many Members of the House have rightly pointed out that the main crux of the issue will be manpower, not just numbers, but quality. The question is: how should we regulate the sector and, going forth, should we add new rules to regulate the sector but yet not make it too onerous to discourage other people from coming in to join the sector? This is something that MOE and MSF will work closely in the coming years to solve. We all understand that the demand for today's childcare will be the demand for tomorrow's student care because our lifestyle has changed. Many families now have both parents working and, hence, it is natural that the demand on today's childcare will be translated into demand for student care tomorrow. We will also work with WDA to offer training and potential courses to either new entrants or existing teachers in the student care services. Having said that, I think we must also mobilise the community to see how we can come together to provide new and alternative sources of manpower for this very important sector because they care for our children and they would set the foundation for our future.”
“All kindergartens and childcare centres will be licensed under the same Act. There will be new and revised provisions to raise the quality and we will work closely with all the operators to ensure a smooth transition. We will also improve the Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework (SPARK). The assessment process will be streamlined with the feedback by the operators. Then we will have a clearer rating system to distinguish centre quality by the end of 2014. Mr Patrick Tay spoke about stay-at-home mums. We cannot agree more with him the important role that the stay-at-home mum performs quietly behind the scenes. It is something that I do not think money can buy. I understand. My wife gave up her career and her job to take care of our three children many years ago. They face many challenging circumstances, and I am sure MOF and the other agencies would have heard Mr Patrick Tay's feedback and take them into account in their future plans. Mr Baey Yam Keng also mentioned about home-based care and if we should give some subsidies to grandparents and babysitters. As Mr Baey Yam Keng said, it is not easy to execute this. The standards are varied and there will be different practices across different homes, different relationships. It is not easy. There are executional challenges. So, let us mull over this. More importantly, I think, philosophically, we have to think through this very carefully. The issue is, we do not want to inadvertently create unintended consequences Page: 15 by trying to monetise a lot of these personal relationships and work done. So, I will mull over his suggestion, but I must say that it is not something that is straightforward to execute.”
“Er Dr Lee Bee Wah and Dr Janil Puthucheary asked about the childcare centres in the heartlands. We have just appointed three new anchor operators. They are now working closely with ECDA to expand the capacity, especially in the high demand areas. We will look for new and innovative places to site the childcare centres, including in Mr Seah Kian Peng's ward, where we were able to find a place at the old bus interchange and converted it into a new childcare centre with about 200 places. We will continue to work closely with the Page: 14 grassroots leaders to identify such suitable sites. We also have a scheme to encourage kindergartens which are under subscribed to convert their premises to childcare places. We hope that many more will take up this scheme and put the spare capacity to good use. In terms of affordability, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman has announced that we will revise the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS). We will raise the maximum subsidy from $108 per month to $160 per month in 2015. This will extend our coverage from households with income of $3,500, to households with income of $6,000. This means that in the past, only one in three will qualify for KiFAS. In the future, one in two will be able to qualify. For the lowest income group, the lowest 10%, they will be able to send their children to kindergarten with no more than $1, $2 or $3 per month. That is what we hope to achieve. And even if they cannot pay $1, $2 or $3, the community leaders will find ways to raise that amount and help them to go through kindergarten so that every child will get a good start. In terms of quality, we intend to further uplift and harmonise the quality across all the early childhood services. There will be a new legislative framework under a new Act in 2015.”
“For this year, we will revise the ComCare assistance qualifying criteria from a household income of $1,700 to $1,900 or from a per capita income of $550 to $650. This will allow us greater flexibility in helping many people at the margins. We will also have greater flexibility to offer for the period of assistance according to each need. In response to Dr Lily Neo's suggestions, for the elderly who receive CPF payouts and can qualify for the PA scheme, they need not worry. They will still be eligible for the PA payout and we will just top up the difference between their CPF payment and the PA scheme. For elderly with small CPF payout but do not qualify for the PA scheme, but still require assistance, we will find other ways through the ComCare short- to medium-term assistance schemes to help them. Very often, they would have some other family issues which we must try to help resolve as well. Next, I move on to the early childhood services. We know that the lifestyles and working patterns of our families have changed. It has changed very rapidly. Five years ago, only one in six families would require early childhood services. Today, it is one in three. In a few years' time, it will be one in two, and perhaps even more. We would need to respond to this. We want good quality childcare services and early childhood services so that we can give our parents the peace of mind to go about doing their work, which is why ECDA's and MSF's mantra has been accessibility, affordability and quality. For accessibility, we are happy to update Mr Ang Hin Kee that we are on track to grow another 20,000 childcare places by 2017. We built 60 last year, providing about 7,000 places. We will have at least another 45 this year, providing about 5,000 more places.”
“Deep in their respective areas because the issues are complex; broad because we want them to be able to work as an integrated team across different domains to provide the integrated service we so want for our beneficiaries. Let me talk about the priorities for 2014 on these three prongs. First, our priority is to maintain the currency and ensure the adequacy of our social support policies. Second, it is to continue our efforts to establish an integrated system for effective execution and last-mile delivery. Third, our priority is to establish conditions to meet our future needs. We want to invest in a wider group of social service professionals and we want to groom the next generation of leaders and professionals. Let me start with the first priority, which is to maintain the currency and adequacy of our social support policies. Our population and our demographics are evolving rapidly. The public's expectations are also evolving very rapidly. On the other hand, family support is also changing rapidly. What used to be an extended family is now increasingly giving way to a nuclear or post-nuclear family where people tend to stay on their own, with less extensive support from their relatives. 11.45 am Page: 13 The first thing we are going to do is that we are going to update and refresh our ComCare scheme. But I want to emphasise once again that the measure of success of our ComCare scheme is not the amount of money that we hand out to people. It is how able we are to use the ComCare scheme to allow people to stand on their feet again. It must come as an integrated package that looks into not just the financial assistance, but also the jobs, the housing, the education and so forth.”
“We want to mobilise the community and everybody else who cares for fellow Singaporeans but not to outsource our responsibility. MSF has always maintained a three-pronged vision. The first is that we want to have, as some of you have said, the whole-of-society approach where we mobilise all the agencies upstream to work together to prevent the issues from emerging downstream. The strongest aspect of our social safety net is the fact that we can give our people meaningful jobs, good housing, good healthcare, good education so that we minimise the problems downstream. Page: 12 Even to the level which HDB designs its own flats and precincts will have an implication on the social issues that we will face in the coming years. This is where we want to put much effort in the coming years, especially as our population ages rapidly. Beyond upstream work, the second prong of our vision is integrated service delivery. We know that in every society, regardless of how wealthy or how poor, how advanced or how developed, there will always be a segment amongst us who will need a bit more help. It is inevitable that such things happen in society for various reasons. But circumstances do not define us. Our responses to circumstances define us and this is where we want to integrate and harmonise all the efforts at the local level to care for these people amongst us who may need that bit of help. The third prong of our vision is that we want to establish the conditions for future success. Nothing is more important than investing in our people for tomorrow's success, to meet tomorrow's needs. We want people in the sector to have deep and broad competencies.”
“Madam, let me first thank all Members of the House for their support, suggestions and encouragement for the work of MSF. In particular, I would like to thank three groups of people today. First, the many agencies that work with us upstream to prevent the problems from arising in the first place. These include MND, MOE, MOH and many other agencies because it is all this preventive work that allows MSF to have less work downstream to manage. The second group of people that I would like to thank are the partners who walk the last mile with us. These include many of the partners who work with us on the ground – Family Service Centres, VWOs and grassroots leaders, including many Members of this House. Third, we would like to record our thanks to all the professionals in our sector. They are at the centre of everything that we do. They are also at the centre of everything that we do for tomorrow because they set the foundation today. Let me at this juncture also humbly say that the success of MSF is not due to MSF's efforts alone. Like many Members of this House have mentioned, our success depends on our partnerships in working upstream with many other agencies. Our success depends on your support and, perhaps, this is the reason why for this year's COS, the sequence is organised in this way. We have many different agencies working together but united in our goal to better serve Singaporeans. MSF also does not judge our success on the amount of handouts that we give people or the number of people we have helped. In fact, many social workers and professionals have told us we judge our success by how able we are to get people out of the difficult circumstances they are in. We want to promote independence, not dependence. We want to promote resilience, not reliance.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I beg to report that the Committee of Supply has made further progress on the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2014/2015, and ask leave to sit again tomorrow. Page: 176”
“Sir, may I seek your consent to move that progress be reported now and leave be asked to sit again tomorrow?”
“Mdm Chairman, let me respond to the first question. Let me clarify that the increase is due to the increased command emphasis to have more incidents reported. So, there is a 60% increase in the reporting in the first half of last year, compared to the year before. But the number of training incidents, non-fatal training incidents, has remained the same between 2012 and 2013, which is between 67 and 68 respectively. We were fortunate not to have any training fatality last year, but, as I mentioned in my speech, this requires tremendous effort. This requires us to be constantly on our guard and we hope to keep it that way. Having said that, we recognise that all military operations will have inherent risks. Our job, and the job of all commanders, is to make sure that we minimise the risk to the lowest possible, even though we cannot eliminate them altogether. On the second question about the SAF Volunteer Corps, we will be providing more details on this in the next two months when the CSNS report is submitted to MINDEF.”
“Mdm Chair, let me respond to Ms Sylvia Lim's question. Yes, we have taken account of the Auditor-General's comment. The larger point that the Member made is an important one, which is, that whatever that can be written in the letter of the law must also be interpreted according to the spirit that we want it to be. Given the many contracts, there will be cases like this but we want to keep it to the minimum, if not to eliminate this altogether. Where there are contestations about interpretation of what it is, we will work through with the contractors, first and foremost, to make sure that they understand what exactly we need them to achieve in terms of performance indicators. Only as a last resort will we go for the legal recourse because we want to develop a long-term relationship with the respective contractors. MINDEF regularly and routinely scrutinises all our contracts with the existing Page: 41 contractors and this will give us important lessons to plan for future contracts whenever we have new contracts with other contractors.”
“Currently, Student Care Centres (SCCs) are not required to be licensed. MSF adopts a "light touch" approach in the management of SCCs. Only SCCs which administer the Student Care Fee Assistance scheme are required to be registered. Guidelines are provided to registered centres on recommended minimal educational qualifications and training1 for their supervisors and staff. As such, MSF does not have sector-wide information on the proportion of SCC staff who meet the requested training courses on student care. Page: 132”
“Beneficiaries under the Public Assistance (PA) scheme receive a cash grant and other support, such as free medical services and other community services. In April 2013, the Ministry introduced two new tiers of assistance for PA beneficiaries. The secondary tier provides assistance for recurrent health and hygiene needs, and the discretionary tier covers one-off purchase or replacement of items, such as assistive devices or household appliances. Between April and December 2013, 70 and 140 applications were received for the secondary and discretionary tiers respectively. All the applications for the secondary tier were successful, while 92% of applications for the discretionary tier were approved. The average value of items supported were close to $200 for both tiers, with recurrent medical consumables, such as adult diapers and milk feeds, and household maintenance items like mattresses and fans, being the most Page: 179 common expenses.”
“The Public Assistance (PA) Scheme provides assistance to those who are permanently unable to work due to old age, illness or disability, and have little or no means of income and family support. In 2013, the Ministry received 629 applications for PA. Of these, 510 were placed on PA, while another 23 were assisted under other ComCare assistance or linked up with local assistance schemes. Of the 629 applicants for PA in 2013, 541 were aged 55 and over. Of the 510 persons placed on PA in 2013, 442 were aged 55 and over.”
“The relevant data is shown in the table below. The Ministry tracks the job placement rate of beneficiaries who receive case management support. From 2008 to 2012, about three in four unemployed beneficiaries were placed in jobs. About 65% of all beneficiaries who were case-managed saw an increase in their income.”
“The relevant data for ComCare short- to medium-term assistance are shown in the following tables. Page: 176 Page: 177”
“Student Care Centres (SCCs) provide before- and after-school care for children aged seven to 14. SCCs that administer the Student Care Fees Assistance are registered with MSF. Today, there are 409 SCCs registered with MSF, of which 329 operate outside of school premises. The number of such centres ranged from 307 to 373 over the last five years. MSF does not have the breakdown of the reasons Page: 175 behind the centres' decisions not to re-register to administer the Student Care Fees Assistance.”
“Beyond enacting laws, encouraging change in wider public attitudes and mindsets towards persons with disabilities is equally important. In March last year, the National Council of Social Service launched the "We are Able!" campaign to raise awareness of the UN Convention, as well as to encourage Singaporeans to pledge achievable actions towards building a more inclusive society. We must continue with such efforts.”
“The Ministry shares Mr Lien's concern for persons with disabilities. Through the Enabling Masterplan, we have made encouraging progress in improving the lives of persons with disabilities, including in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, adult care and accessibility. Singapore also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities last year. This underscores our collective commitment to strive towards providing persons with disabilities with full opportunities to become equal and integral members of society. Singapore has laws to protect its citizens, deter crime against adults and protect employees' rights, and these cover all persons including those with Page: 159 disabilities. We review our policies and laws from time to time to ensure that they remain relevant and adequate in meeting the needs of persons with disabilities. For example, the Children and Young Persons Act was amended in 2011 to provide for licensing of children homes to accord better protection of children in residential care. The regulation extends to homes for children with disabilities. Where necessary, we have also introduced specific laws to support persons with disabilities. For example, the Mental Capacity Act enacted in 2010 safeguards the interest of those who lose their mental capacity, including persons with intellectual disability. The Central Provident Fund Act was amended in 2011 to provide for the implementation of the Special Needs Savings Scheme, which ensure that the financial needs of disabled children are taken care of through their deceased parents' CPF monies. BCA's Code on Accessibility 2013 mandates buildings to incorporate requirements to cater to people with different impairments.”
“In late 2012, a Diversity Task Force was formed to examine the state of gender diversity on boards and senior management of listed companies in Singapore. The move was prompted by the concern that women continue to be under-represented despite making immense progress in education and employment. The Task Force is chaired by Mrs Mildred Tan, who is the Managing Director of Ernst & Young and comprises business leaders from the private and people sectors. It receives advice from an Advisory Panel, which is chaired by Mr J Y Pillay and comprises industry leaders who are champions of board diversity. The Task Force conducted a survey in July 2013 with SGX-listed companies and statutory boards on gender diversity on boards and in senior management, and is currently analysing its findings and reviewing its recommendations. Its report is expected in mid 2014. Besides the Task Force, the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations also has an initiative to raise awareness on the economic benefits of gender-balanced boards for businesses. Known as BoardAgender, the initiative encourages and enables more women to contribute their expertise in the boardroom and committees.”
“Efforts are taken to ensure the children continue to attend school and that the safety, welfare and interests of vulnerable family members are taken care of. One example is a family found at the beach late last year. The couple had with them two daughters aged 18 and 12, and a 2-year-old granddaughter. A Page: 129 Family Service Centre helped place the family into a shelter. The family is progressing well with help from a social worker. The 18-year-old daughter has found employment as a food and beverage crew; her younger sister, who had dropped out for two years, has successfully enrolled back into school; food rations and financial assistance of $600 are being disbursed to the family on a monthly basis. This is an example where a family has made positive steps towards resolving their issues and regaining independence. Unfortunately, we have also come across families who are not willing to work with Government officials or social workers. A number do not accept alternative accommodation offered to them. They are also unwilling to co-operate and work on their social and domestic issues, or make changes to their lifestyles. Some insist on getting special consideration for housing of their choice. Homelessness is a complex problem. We want to provide help to families facing housing issues. But there will be little progress if families are unwilling to work with Government officials and social workers to resolve their problems. As much as Government and VWOs can reach out to this group and offer assistance, we need cooperation and positive action on the part of these families to improve their situations.”
“MSF regularly patrols beaches and public areas to identify and provide assistance to persons who may be homeless. MSF also responds to calls to the ComCare hotline from members of the public who come into contact with Singaporeans who may be homeless. Between 2011 to 2013, MSF provided support and shelter to 565 individuals and 404 families. About 80% are of low income and have weak social support. Three out of four were previous flat owners who had sold their flats for a variety of reasons, such as settling financial or debt problems, divorces, cashing out to make a profit and so on. After the sale of their flats, they find themselves not being able to afford to buy or rent another flat. Another one-quarter had fallen out with their families and friends whom they were living with, due to reasons, such as strained relationships, anti-social behaviour or addiction-related problems. Government agencies do their best to help these individuals and families explore sustainable housing options, depending on their circumstances. They may purchase a flat within their means. In other instances, social workers help them to reunite and stay with their family members. For those with no options, HDB will assist them with rental flats under the Public Rental Scheme. For those who need temporary rental accommodation while they wait for or work out their longer-term housing option, HDB may refer them to interim rental housing. Besides helping them with their housing issues, we also provide financial assistance and social support to enable the families to regain their independence. The support includes help in financial planning and budgeting, job training, employment assistance and relationship management.”
“Staff-child ratios are one of several means to ensure the safety, well-being and development of children in childcare centres and kindergartens. The ratios range from one educarer to five infants, to one teacher to 25 kindergarten-age children. The ratios are lower for younger children as they require closer supervision. In reviewing the staff-child ratios, we have to strike a balance between ensuring good quality care and education for our children, with the manpower needed to expand childcare capacity and the impact on fees that will be borne by parents. In January 2012, we provided centres flexibility to lower their staff-child ratios further by employing trained para-personnel to assist the main teachers with routine care activities. This has allowed centres to raise capacity while lowering overall staff-child ratios. More recently, we also implemented measures to attract and retain manpower in the early childhood sector, such as strengthening the training pipeline for the Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education at the Polytechnics, as well as enhancing the ECDA Training Award and Scholarships. Apart from staff-child ratios, the capability of early childhood personnel is equally important. The qualification requirements for teachers were raised in 2009. ECDA is also providing them with more opportunities to upgrade their skills, and be recognised for their competencies. This will be achieved through the Continuing Professional Development Masterplan that will be implemented later this year. Page: 128”
“Neither does it provide useful information on the depth or intensity of the needs of low-income families. Also, a single poverty line is not without potential downsides, as seen from the experience of some countries. For some, it has become the single determining line for different help schemes, leading to a "cliff effect" where Page: 133 those below the line are guaranteed a whole range of help and those above receive none, regardless of actual needs. There are also concerns regarding social stigmatisation that can result from those who fall under the line being labelled as poor or needy. There will always be a segment of our society who are vulnerable and, despite their best efforts, need help to cope. The Government is committed to do more to help them. We will continue to review our assistance schemes regularly so that they remain relevant. We will also continue to develop different indicators to improve our understanding of the numbers and needs of low-income families in Singapore. The Government cannot do this alone. We will work with community organisations and kind-hearted Singaporeans who have been playing a crucial role in helping the needy in Singapore. Page: 134”
“The Government has been stepping up efforts to support Singaporeans who need help. We have chosen to have broader definitions of groups we seek to help, clear criteria to help us identify them, and appropriate assistance schemes for them. For essential needs, such as housing and healthcare, or developmental areas, such as early childhood development and education, our subsidies cover a wider group of Singaporeans, with higher levels of subsidies for the lower income. On top of these, programmes, such as Workfare and ComCare, provide additional assistance to a smaller group of low-income Singaporeans who need extra support. Information on the criteria of the various schemes is made known, and the numbers of people helped are regularly published or announced. Household and worker incomes are also publicly available. Collectively, such information provides some insights on the numbers and needs of the lower income in Singapore. Different countries use different methods to identify and assist their needy. While some Asian countries like Hong Kong have official poverty lines, others like South Korea do not. We have decided to have different criteria to identify groups of Singaporeans who require support, depending on the purpose. In other words, we have multiple lines of assistance instead of a single poverty line. We believe this approach is more flexible. It allows us to extend assistance to more people and tailor assistance to different groups and needs. A single official poverty line to identify the "poor" or to assess the efficacy of our schemes is one-dimensional. It has limitations in informing policies as it does not take into account the differing nature of needs, such as housing, health, employment, family issues.”
“The Ministry is setting up a network of Social Service Offices to make assistance more accessible and to improve integration of services on the ground. A national case management and information system will also be set up to facilitate better sharing of information among service providers. The data will enable service providers and Government agencies to better understand current trends and the families we are helping, as well as to forecast and address emerging needs faced by the needy.”
“Besides the assistance available for basic needs like healthcare and housing, more vulnerable citizens also receive additional financial support through targeted schemes like Workfare, MediFund, the Additional or Special CPF Housing Grant and ComCare assistance. For families with more complex challenges, financial assistance is complemented by other services, such as case management, social intervention and caregiving support. This is so that we can better address the underlying challenges in each family. From 2008 to 2012, about three in four of unemployed Singaporeans under ComCare's Short Term Assistance were placed onto jobs either during their term of assistance or upon graduation from the scheme. During the same period, about 20% of families on ComCare assistance who received case management support saw their incomes rising beyond the eligibility criteria for assistance. It is especially important to ensure that children from lower income families have access to opportunities. For this reason, increased efforts were made to reach out to and enrol children from lower income families into preschool. This has resulted in 99.2% of Primary One children having received preschool education in 2012, compared to 95% in 2006. Many of the families we help have more than one area of need, and some have to deal with multiple challenges. For them, we cannot look only at addressing specific dimensions of needs. We need a holistic approach. Social workers will work with other help agencies and with the families to address the underlying issues. Some families need longer periods of assistance, and help Page: 120 will be provided until they stabilise their situations. We will do more to uplift the needy families.”
“The number of Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) applications per year is as follows: Close to 60% of the donors17 are female. The age profile of the donors is as follows: The application fee to register an LPA is $5018 for the standard version where donors can grant general powers to their donees with basic restrictions. Those who wish to have a customised version drafted by a lawyer with specific Page: 200 powers pay a higher fee of $200. There are additional costs involved in having the LPA witnessed and certified by a certificate issuer. The fees charged by these professionals (accredited medical practitioner, practising lawyer or psychiatrist) vary. On a case-by-case basis, application fees can be waived for those who cannot afford the fees.”
“The number of applications filed to appoint a deputy and the number of orders made each year are as follows:- Page: 198 The Courts do not have information on the breakdown of the cases by size of assets. To date, only nine cases were fully contested. Sixteen other cases, which were initially contested, were resolved in various ways, including via Court mediation. Of the uncontested cases, none was denied. Of all applications, three were made by applicants in person. There were 53 applications for variation of orders relating to deputies. The breakdown of these applications is as follows:”
“Today, we are confronted with content and messages over different channels – the mass media, television, Internet and, increasingly, social media – that may undermine the institution of marriage. Some of these may trivialise permissiveness, promiscuity and infidelity. MDA has a regulatory framework to act against such content that undermine social norms and public interest. For example, in the case of Ashley Madison, MDA has directed the Internet Service Providers to block their website. Apart from MDA, ACRA has powers to reject an application to register a business entity in Singapore. In addition, MHA has powers to dissolve registered societies that are prejudicial to the welfare or good order in Singapore. But there is only so much we can do with regulation. Couples today experience other work and life stresses that impact their marriages. To strengthen marriages, MSF also works with partners on promotion and education efforts. For example, we work with employers, community organisations and the media to run marriage preparation and enrichment programmes. This includes smaller scale programmes at individual organisations as well as large scale initiatives such as the annual Marriage Page: 166 Convention. Under the recently announced Family Matters! initiative, we will continue to expand such family promotion and education efforts.”
“Neither does it provide useful information on the depth or intensity of needs of low-income families. Also, a single poverty line is not without potential downsides, as seen from the experience of some countries. For some, it has become the single determining line for different help schemes, leading to a "cliff effect" where those below the line are guaranteed a whole range of help and those above receive none, regardless of actual needs. There are also concerns regarding social stigmatisation that can result from those who fall under the line being labelled as poor or needy. There will always be a segment in our society who are vulnerable and, despite their best efforts, need help to cope. The Government is committed to do more to help them. We will continue to review our assistance schemes Page: 147 regularly so that they remain relevant. We will also continue to develop different indicators to improve our understanding of the numbers and needs of low-income families in Singapore. The Government cannot do this alone. We will work with community organisations and kind-hearted Singaporeans who have been playing a crucial role in helping the needy in Singapore.”
“The Government has been stepping up efforts to support Singaporeans who need help. We have chosen to have broader Page: 146 definitions of groups we seek to help, clear criteria to help us identify them and appropriate assistance schemes for them. For essential needs, such as housing and healthcare or developmental areas, such as early childhood development and education, our subsidies cover a wider group of Singaporeans, with higher levels of subsidies for the lower income. On top of these, programmes, such as Workfare and ComCare, provide additional assistance to a smaller group of low-income Singaporeans who need extra support. Information on the criteria of the various schemes is made known, and the numbers of people helped are regularly published or announced. Household and worker incomes are also publicly available. Collectively, such information provides some insights on the numbers and needs of the lower income in Singapore. Different countries use different methods to identify and assist their needy. While some Asian countries like Hong Kong have official poverty lines, others like South Korea do not. We have decided to have different criteria to identify groups of Singaporeans who require support, depending on the purpose. In other words, we have multiple lines of assistance instead of a single poverty line. We believe this approach is more flexible. It allows us to extend assistance to more people and tailor assistance to different groups and needs A single official poverty line to identify the "poor" or to assess the efficacy of our schemes is one-dimensional. It has limitations in informing policies as it does not take into account the differing nature of needs, such as housing, health, employment, family issues.”
“We will definitely do our best mobilising the resources of the community and fellow Singaporeans to come and take care of our fellow Singaporeans. [(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)] [(proc text) Resolved, "That Parliament do now adjourn." (proc text)] Adjourned accordingly at 7.16 pm. Page: 132”
“Going forward, this Government is committed to do as much as we can, in partnership with the community and like-minded individuals, to take care of our elderly, our vulnerable, and to give Singaporeans a sense of assurance that they can age Page: 131 and grow old in their community with dignity. We will try to do our best to muster the resources. As Member of the House, Mr Zaqy Mohamad, mentioned just now, it is not easy because, going forward, our challenges will grow. Our demographics and our ageing population might restrict our ability to fund many of these things and this is where we must really make sure that we target our assistance to those who really, really need it. Nothing can replace action, as the Member has rightly pointed out, because we can all talk about this issue, but, at the end of the day, we need to act on it. We need to act on it because we want to take care of fellow Singaporeans and do our best for them. The only way we can do that is we have the help from everyone in the community, in partnership with the Government and like-minded agencies. If I may just end off with a short saying in Malay. (In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] We understand that there are people who are concerned about this issue, but please do not worry because this Government understands these issues and we will work hard to raise the standards for all Singaporeans. Do not worry. If you have problems, let us know and we will do our best to assist. (In English): Do not worry. My assurance to all Singaporeans is not to worry. Like what Uncle Robert says, "Don't worry, because if there is a need, we will find a way." We have the resources. We are much better than what we were 30 years ago.”
“Many of the CDCs have many programmes to make sure that families are socially integrated into the community and the community plays an important role in picking up the problems and challenges that these vulnerable families may have. In the example that the Member had used, a young child going to school undernourished, or without breakfast, the first line of defence is to be able to pick up the case. Someone from the school, be it a teacher or somebody else from the school, must be able to pick it up and highlight the case so that we can follow up. Very often, when we follow up on the case, we realise that it is not just about breakfast but that there are other issues related to the family that may need intervention. The second thing about the timeliness of the intervention has to do with our staying power. Many of the cases that we come across are complex cases. It does not require us just to provide a solution at the point in time. It requires us to have the staying power to provide the help across a prolonged period of time. For many of the complex cases that we are handling now, we need volunteers and mentors, much more than even financial assistance, so that we can handhold the people to walk through the dark valleys of life. It is on that note that I will urge members of the public and community to come together to help their fellow Singaporeans in the community in need of help. Very often, more than money, we need volunteers. We need mentors to handhold them and guide them and give them the sense of confidence to do this. Finally, let me say that while we do not start from a very negative position, we know our challenges. And our challenges will continue to grow.”
“Social Service Offices will also allow us to do integrated case management whereby they sit down regularly with people and professionals from other agencies, including the housing division, MOE and other Ministries, to do integrated case management. We recognise that we cannot help people in only one dimension and neglect the other dimensions. In fact, that would detract and subtract from all our efforts. We must make sure that the sum of our parts is more than the individual and that is where we need to deliver that integrated package of help required to everybody. The Social Service Office will also strengthen the local planning function to make sure that we have the system to mobilise the local community resources to come together to do this better. Very often, it is the frontline grassroots community leaders who will help us to identify the people in need of help. There are also some other things that we need to do, that is, the training and exposure of our social work professionals. In order to do the coordination across different agencies, they must know the capabilities across different agencies and what each agency is capable of, to draw on their strengths to Page: 130 overcome each other's weaknesses and deliver the integrated package required for help. Last but not least, Dr Intan talked about the timeliness of intervention. Indeed, that is something that is close to our hearts. The first dimension of timeliness is to make sure that we detect the problem and prevent the problem upstream. Much of this has to do with the community efforts.”
“At the end of the day, how much more flexible we can be with MediSave also has to be balanced with the consideration to make sure that we can provide enough and adequate savings for old age and retirement. In the area of coordination, yes, we agree we can do much more and we will want to do much better. It is not just between MSF and MOE, but we will Page: 129 also want to expand this coordination from MSF and MOE to MND, MOH and many other agencies, including for those looking for jobs. MSF and MOE coming together to take care of young children who may come from disadvantaged backgrounds to make sure that they have proper breakfasts is one such example. Another example will be the after-care school services that we would like to provide for many latch-key kids. We would also like to better integrate between MSF's social assistance and MOH's healthcare assistance. It is a continuum of assistance when it comes to taking care of our elderly. The recently launched programme of Caring for our Neighbours (CAN) launched between AIC and MSF is one such example, where we want to provide a continuum of care from social to medical. We do not want to medicalise everything but, where we can, we will try to intervene early upstream from the social dimension first. Other work that we are doing to make sure that coordination between the various agencies is done better is, first, to make sure that we have an integrated database which I have launched recently. We also want to put in place the network of Social Service Offices across the entire island so that people have access to services in their respective towns without having to travel further than necessary.”
“But it is something that we must equip our officers with to make the judgement and to call the shots. In order to do this, we have to do the second thing which is to make sure that we strengthen the training of our frontline officers so that there is a certain consistency in their responses and yet at the same time they have the flexibility and the confidence to make the call when the call requires them to deviate from what the guidelines may be. On the second issue of affordability, we adopt a multi-pronged strategy to ensure or manage our healthcare costs. The first strategy, as the Member mentioned correctly, is to make sure that we spend much more upfront on preventive measures and staying healthy. If all of us can do this, it would reduce our overall healthcare costs. We have good news that for the CHAS scheme, we are going to expand it to cover diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer. We will also look into covering some vaccinations, pre-natal checkups and more complex dental procedures. Through many of these schemes, we will help people like Uncle Robert that the Member had mentioned. Another strategy that we have adopted to manage healthcare costs is risk pooling, which is why we are going to look into the details of implementing the scheme for MediShield Life. Yet another strategy is to make sure that we are disciplined in our treatment and right-site our services so that we can target our resources to those who need them most. In all these efforts that we do, we are going to pay particular attention to the Pioneer Generation and the lower- and middle-income groups.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me first thank Dr Intan for speaking up on behalf of many Singaporeans, especially the poor and the vulnerable. She has spoken on many issues that are close to our hearts and, indeed, we will try our best to do more and do better for all Singaporeans, especially for the vulnerable ones amongst us. As Dr Intan has said, the challenges are not unique to us – a widening income gap, healthcare costs going up faster than the income of some of the members of our society. But having said that, we do start from a better base than many other countries and we are committed to do more within our means to take care of all Singaporeans, especially the vulnerable. Dr Intan touched on four themes which I think are most appropriate – flexibility, affordability, coordination and timeliness. Let me first talk about flexibility. In order to achieve flexibility, we need to adopt a two-pronged strategy. First, we need to design our schemes to be flexible and we review them regularly to make sure that they are relevant. In this, I give an example of the Public Assistance scheme which we reviewed recently. Instead of a one-size-fits-all scheme, we now have different tiers to meet different needs. Likewise, for ComCare, we do have different periods of help extended to families in need, ranging from three months and even beyond six months. Indeed, I have told my officers that they should feel Page: 128 confident that they can make the judgement to extend assistance to families in need beyond six months. It is always a fine balance that requires the judgement of the officers to balance between premature termination of support and prolonged assistance that may inadvertently discourage independence.”
“For housing, they will have other indicators, for example, what is the debt-servicing ratio, and how much loans to give to the people. So, different Ministries have different indicators. But common to all Ministries is that they use different indicators to give them a sense of the kind of challenges that the different family groups have in order to derive the various schemes. Page: 35”
“Mdm Speaker, different Ministries will have different methods of reviewing it. But what I can share, common to all Ministries, is that you do not just look at one particular indicator but at a range of indicators to give us a sense of it. It may not be an exact science but we must try and get as many different indicators as possible to help us do this. Let me use the example of the childcare subsidies that is under my own Ministry. For example, in the review of the childcare subsidies, we used to have a uniform assistance scheme for many of the people who are eligible, which is a flat rate of $300. Over time, we have gotten feedback from people that actually we should focus more resources on those with less and, indeed, we agree with that. Over time, we have also found, as a percentage of household expenditures, what is a reasonable number that we should have per child per household, and we look at the experiences of other countries and our own experiences. Then there is also the absolute amount that people spend. So, we also look at prices in the market. With all these different indicators, they would give us a sense of what we need to do. In the recent review that we announced in the earlier part of this year – the first quarter of this year – we targeted the most subsidies to those families with the least so that the families in the lowest income group can even send their children to a childcare centre at $3 per month per child. We do all we can to help them and, very often, this $3 is even covered by the community groups. But that also means that, progressively, we will not have the same level of assistance to the rest of the people who are much more well-off. So, there are different ways.”
“On the other hand, that will also require us to make sure that whatever finite resources that we have, whether in this generation or the next generation, that they are most targeted at the people who need it most. We must have this understanding amongst everyone in the society, that this is what we want to do – to always focus more resources on those with less. Only so will we be able to mitigate any widening of the gap brought about by the forces of technology and globalisation. Page: 34”
“If the pie does not grow, if we do not have a stable country and the pie continues to shrink, it makes it so much harder for us to find the resources to help the people in our country. Having said that we have grown the pie, the next thing we must do is that we must have a social compact – a social compact that says that we are prepared to do more for those with less. If you look at the multi-coloured chart that I have just distributed, you will notice that there is a cascading effect, whereby the low-income actually gets the most help, and that is how it should be. We should not be in a situation whereby, because of politics, the middle-income group ends up getting the bulk of it and we neglect the lowest income group. We should have a system, where it is broadly where we are now, whereby the lowest income will always get the most, then we slowly cascade down, and those with the most will also be willing to share more of what they have. Only so will we be able to have a social compact for us to stay united as a country. But having said all these, let us recognise that this is not easy because, going forward, as our demographics grow older, as our demographics age, the amount of resources that we can command to do many of these things may be increasingly constrained. On the other hand, the needs that we have may be growing quite quickly, and this is where we must make sure that all the schemes that we do are sustainable for the future generation, that the future generation will not be burdened by something that we started in this generation but is unsustainable.”
“If they need help, they should be able to approach someone who understands the scheme, and it is up to us who are providing the help to find out which is the most appropriate scheme and package the scheme to help the person in need. So, we do this at the backend but, at the front end, the persons who need help will just need to let the social worker or the social work professionals know the kind of situation that they are in. Of course, there are other things that we are trying to do better, which is to have an integrated database to avoid having people repeat their case stories when they move from point A to point B. We have an integrated case management across time and across space so that the needy families get the help that they need. On the second question that the Member asked: what does this mean for us, going forward? Indeed, this is a very important question. We know that Page: 33 because of the way technology has come about, and because of global competition, there is a tendency in many countries for the gap to widen between the top and the bottom. This means that, over time, we can expect that we will need to do more, not just the Government but the community partners, and so forth. Over time, we must continually find those resources to help the people that we want to do so, which is why I started this answer by saying that our first priority is to make sure that, if you like, the tide goes up and the pie continues to grow so that we have more resources. We are not aiming for economic growth for the sake of economic growth per se. We are aiming to grow the pie so that we have the resources to help the people in need.”
“Mdm Speaker, if I may take the first question on accessibility. Indeed, we need to spend a lot of time and a lot of effort to mobilise the volunteers and grassroots community leaders to come and help spread the message. For example, recently, we have set up a chain of Social Service Offices across the entire island. We will have 10 by the end of this year and, hopefully, 20 by the end of next year. These are all avenues to help improve and increase the number of access points where the needy families can get help. We are also expanding the network of Family Service Centres from the previous of about 40 to now more than 40, so that families in need can also access help. But, most importantly, it goes back to what Ms Foo Mee Har mentioned just now, which is that we need our volunteers and grassroots partners to know the schemes first so that they can go out and help spread the message because they are our best opinion multipliers. The other thing that we have to do is to improve our communication. Many of these needy families get the information from other needy families on what are the sources of help available. So, we will try all channels, and we must try all channels, to get the message out. On the other hand, we must simplify the messaging so that it does not matter whether you understand English, Mandarin or any other languages, so long as you get to an access point, like a Family Service Centre or a Social Service Office, you will have the information available to you. What we want to work towards is that the person applying for assistance should not be required to understand the complexity of the scheme.”
“Mdm Speaker, I thank Mr Zaqy for his questions. Can I just clarify what his second question is?”
“Mdm Speaker, in response to Mr Yee's question, let me explain that ComCare provides short- and medium-term assistance to the families in need to supplement the other sources of help that they might have. It is not a uniform scheme whereby everybody gets a fixed amount. The amount that is given out to the respective families actually takes into account various factors like, as I have explained, the family sizes, their other sources of income, their particular needs, for example, in medical, and so forth. So, the criteria that we set here for the per capita income of about $550, for the PCI, of about $1,700 for the family, those are guidelines that we use because these are generally lines whereby, from our experience, people coming to seek help are in this range. And, of course, we will regularly review the criteria, as we have done so in the recent years.”
“Mdm Speaker, indeed, that is one of the key and, perhaps, most important things that we must do in any policy implementation. It is not just about having good policies, it is about closing that last mile, making sure that our communication reaches the people whom we are targeting the message. And in this area, I would like to appeal to all Members of this House to help us and walk this journey with us. Because, very often, the people who are most in need may not read the newspapers, access the Internet or even understand English, but they need people who can talk to them in their language, people who will knock on their doors, check on them to see whether they are okay, and explain some of these assistance schemes to them. In my own house visits, very often, you will find that families do not even apply for bursary for their school-going children. Sometimes, because they do not know about it; sometimes, they think that other people may look down on them if they apply for such assistance. But this is where we need to do a lot of work to encourage them to come onboard and take up the assistance where it is available. We cannot emphasise enough this point about communication and the last-mile communication. And I urge all Members of the House to join us in this, to mobilise the volunteers and reach out to these groups of people, so that they, too, will understand the help available and they do not need to go through the difficult moments in life alone.”
“Very often, the needs of Singaporeans who require assistance are multidimensional, beyond a simple income matrix. Social workers, in partnership with volunteers, community groups and like-minded individuals, will understand very well the need to provide flexible, integrated and timely support for such families to walk through the dark valleys of life. We seek to continually improve our care for all Singaporeans, especially the most needy amongst us, in partnership with our fellow Singaporeans.”
“We design the system to help the lowest 30% of income earners or more than 400,000 Page: 29 Singaporean workers in absolute numbers. This scheme allows our lower-income workers to narrow the wage gap and share in the nation's success. Mr Yee Jenn Jong asked how we avoid a "cliff effect" for ComCare. ComCare applicants are assessed holistically to determine their needs and circumstances, taking into account overall circumstances beyond income. Factors like household size, number of schooling children and medical conditions are considered. We mitigate any cliff effect by having a gradation of assistance given to families who fall within the eligibility criteria. On the other hand, in 2012, more than 1,500 households who did not meet the income criteria were also assisted under ComCare. Those who have other needs that cannot be met by ComCare assistance will be referred to other agencies to ensure that they receive assistance appropriate to their needs. On Mr Yee Jenn Jong's other query, as at the first six months of 2013, close to 11,800 households are receiving ComCare Short and Medium Term Assistance. To Ms Lee Li Lian's question, across all Ministries and schemes, we will continue to review the eligibility criteria regularly to ensure that they remain relevant and effective for our target groups. Mdm Speaker, we are heartened by many Singaporeans who wish to know more and, more importantly, to do more to help fellow Singaporeans in need. Indeed, we must never forget the needy amongst us, no matter how rich our country may be. We can all contribute our part towards this effort to share the fruits of our nation's success and uplift fellow Singaporeans in need.”