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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“The Development Support Programme (DSP) is a new programme introduced to support children in preschools who have mild learning difficulties, speech and language delays and behavioural concerns. Children are supported by a group of trained Learning Support Educators and, if necessary, therapy intervention. The programme is being rolled out in phases. In the first phase, which started in May this year, we are piloting the programme in 30 childcare centres and kindergartens. The centres cover a few clusters in Ang Mo Kio-Bishan, Toa Payoh, Kallang-Havelock and Bedok. So far, 170 children have joined the programme. Such a phased approach will enable us to gather learning points and refine the programme before rolling out to other centres. The centres are currently supported by 12 Learning Support Educators. We aim to train a total of 40 educators within two years. We will ramp up the programme's capacity over the next few years. In total, we expect to spend up to $30 million on DSP over the next five years as we progressively expand the programme nation-wide. Page: 1017”
“The Float@Marina Bay was built and completed in May 2007 as an interim replacement venue for the National Stadium to host the National Day Parade and other large scale events that required a 25,000 seater gallery. On non-event days, The Float, like other facilities managed by Singapore Sports Council (SSC), is available for rent to the public for sports and other events. The intention is to retain The Float for recreation, sports and community use after the completion of the Sports Hub in 2014. The Singapore Sports Council is currently working with relevant agencies to look into creating an active recreation, sports and community space for the public after 2014. Page: 1014”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, yes, indeed, we are considering this and, indeed, this forms one key plank in our entire framework to improve the attractiveness of the childcare professional, the image of the whole childcare professional sector. As the Member has rightly pointed out, these are people that are professionals in their area because having to manage the children and their different learning pedagogies requires actual professional knowledge. So, it is not true that they are just, as you said, "nannies" or professional "child minders". There is a professional school of thought on how we can better bring up our children. But, on the other hand, what you also touched about is this issue of the respect that we give to this group of professionals who are working with our children. Very often, all of us, as parents, can play a part to demonstrate our respect and appreciation to the many childcare teachers that are operating quietly behind the scene, taking care of our children. I have visited many of the childcare teachers and, very often, they tell me that beyond the pay, remuneration and the career prospects in this sector, sometimes, very often, they will just like some encouraging words from the parents who deposit their children there and whisk their children off at 7.00 pm in the evening. We can all do our part to try to raise the respect that we have for this sector and to realise how important a job they are doing in taking care of our children while we are at work. So, certainly, we will look into this. Page: 955”
“Sir, on the issue of the recurrent grant: these are grants to help the operators defray their normal operating costs, which include the teachers' remuneration, or it can go into how they use the money for other operating costs like their utilities and so forth. Usually, when we give a recurrent grant to the operators, we will also have to set in place the quality standards that we expect from them. Otherwise, this might just go into the pocket of the operators which will not be fair to the public nor to the teachers involved. On the flow of teachers, I do not have the exact numbers of how many people flow between the Anchor Operators and the Non-anchor Operators. But we know that a certain segment of the private operators is able to pay highly competitive salaries, and this is always a challenge for the mid to the lower tier of the market to retain good quality teachers, and this is something that we have to work on. For the mid-priced to the lower-priced operators, their challenge is always to retain the quality teachers, and, if pay is not the only reason that can attract them, then we have to look at other ways of attracting them – from the career progression to the career development opportunities that we can give them.”
“Sir, let me thank Mr Ang Hin Kee for his suggestions and comments. Yes, indeed, in our efforts to ramp up the number of childcare centres, the quality and quantity of the teachers are most important on our mind. So, indeed, we are looking at new pools of people that we can attract into the sector. These include some people who may want to do a mid-career switch. This may also include other people who may be only able to commit to a part-time work arrangement. But these are the new sources of manpower that we can tap down here. On the other point that Mr Ang Hin Kee has suggested, indeed, we understand that it goes beyond the pay that is required to attract passionate and professional teachers into the childcare sector. Much of this also has to do with the career prospects. In this area of career prospects, we have to see how we can better organise the sector so that the operators can, indeed, provide such a career progression for the teachers-in-charge. One of the challenges that we are facing in this sector is that if the sector has many small operators, the small operators will always have problems providing the career opportunities for many of the teachers who may want to move up in their career progression. For example, some of them, after a while, may want to move on to become principals of centres or some of them may want to take on some other curriculum development jobs, and these are areas that we have to look at to see how we can provide better opportunities for them to fulfil their career aspirations.”
“More than 4,000 training places with funding support will be made available over the next three years to bring in more early childhood professionals under the WSQ qualification programmes. WDA subsidises up to 90% of course fees and provides employers with an absentee payroll subsidy of up to 80% of the employee's salary. MCYS and WDA also provide scholarships to attract new teachers and encourage existing ones to upgrade their professional qualifications. These scholarships include learning allowances for those on full-time courses, and the employing centres receive a subsidy to hire relief teachers to cover the duties of teachers attending the course. Close to $10 million has been set aside for scholarships and teaching awards over the next two years. To help operators improve staff retention, we introduced a Good Employers' Toolkit and conducted workshops on implementing progressive human resource practices. A Continuing Professional Development Framework is in the works and this will extend professional development and career advancement pathways and help retain talent. Sir, our efforts have had some results. Total staff in the childcare sector increased by 25% last year. The attrition rate fell from 15% to 13% over the past year. Sir, but there is room to do more. Moving forward, the Implementation Committee for Enhancing Pre-school Education, chaired by myself and Minister Heng Swee Keat, will look into further strengthening the career and professional development of our early childhood professionals. We will take note of the Members' suggestions as part of this process. Page: 953”
“Ms Low Yen Ling and Mr Ang Hin Kee have raised suggestions to support early childhood teachers and operators through raising the pay of teachers and subsidising the cost of training. Sir, currently, early childhood care and education are provided by a diverse range of providers offering a variety of programmes to cater to the different needs of children and preferences of parents. Childcare providers have the flexibility to employ their own teachers and decide on their pay scales. Today, the Government provides significant support to the sector in staff attraction, development and retention. Subsidies are given to parents to defray the cost of fees which operators charge in order to cover their manpower costs. Non-profit Anchor Operators also receive a recurrent grant to help them recruit and retain teachers so that good quality pre-school services are available at an affordable fee for low and middle income families. We also help other operators meet their manpower needs by defraying training cost, and strengthening the sector's ability to attract more potential teachers while retaining their existing ones. For example, we work closely with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), training providers and operators to raise public awareness of early childhood career opportunities and develop a pipeline of new teachers. Under the Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) System for Early Childhood Care and Education, training agencies provide subsidised training courses for new entrants to the sector, including mid-career entrants and in-service teachers looking to upgrade their qualifications.”
“We will continue to work closely with our partners to further improve outreach efforts, and ensure that children from disadvantaged families are provided with pre-school education. Page: 936”
“The Government takes proactive steps to ensure citizen children have access to pre-school education. We invest in public education to reach out to low-income families with young children. In addition, since 2007, we have implemented a specific outreach programme that reaches out to five- and six-year-olds from low-income families who are not attending pre-school. This programme is a joint effort by various agencies, including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, People's Association, grassroots organisations and Voluntary Welfare Organisations. The children are first identified using data from various agencies. Grassroots leaders and social workers would then conduct house visits to explain the importance of pre-school education to these families. They will assist the families to find a place in a childcare centre or kindergarten close to home. Those who need financial assistance will be guided and referred to the Community Development Councils. For families with multiple needs, social workers will assist them with casework support in areas, such as employment and family issues. The child's attendance in pre-school is also monitored to ensure that the child attends pre-school regularly. We have achieved progress through these efforts. Only a small number of families were not contactable or did not to enrol. The percentage of Primary 1 going-aged children who did not have any pre-school education has declined from 5% in 2006 to 0.8% in 2012. Of the 261 children who did not attend pre-school, the majority were attending other enrichment programmes or were being home-schooled.”
“While the pre-school sector is currently overseen by two Ministries, MOE and MCYS have coordinated closely in key policy areas, especially at the kindergarten level. These include requiring the same qualifications for principals and teachers teaching children aged four to six, and adopting the Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework (SPARK) for both kindergartens and childcare centres. As recently announced, the Government will be setting up a new statutory board to oversee early childhood education and care for pre-school children across the age ranges. The statutory board will be responsible for the development and regulation of the pre-school sector, covering both kindergartens and childcare centres. It will serve as a single focal point to drive quality, accessibility and affordability improvements in the sector. MOE and the new Ministry of Social and Family Development will work closely together on the formation of the new statutory board. More details will be announced in due course.”
“While we continue to monitor these KPIs, we will also raise awareness of the CIF so that worthy projects receive the support that they deserve. The NIC regularly reviews how this Fund can be enhanced to better achieve integration outcomes. For instance, we have allowed for more flexibility in funding organisations that have a good track record and are able to provide substantive proposals with clear action plans. Similarly, we have started to fund longer-term programmes to help sustain their momentum and deepen the relationships between locals and new immigrants. One such example is the Singapore Healthcare Immersion Programme (SHIP) to help foreign Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) adapt to their life and work in Singapore. The CIF will continue to support those with good ideas and are keen to join us in bringing new immigrants and locals together, so that integration can be effective and sustained over the longer term. Page: 785”
“The Community Integration Fund (CIF) was launched by the National Integration Council (NIC) in September 2009 to co-fund and support ground-up integration initiatives. We have since engaged more than 150 organisations and disbursed $5.1 million to support around 220 projects. Another $3.1 million has also been committed to on-going and upcoming projects. These efforts have brought the people, private and public sectors together to foster integration across all levels of our society. The CIF projects are typically organised by students, companies and community and cultural groups. They have helped our immigrants better adapt to their new environments and provided platforms for locals and newcomers to interact with and better understand one another. As a result, friendships have been forged and our new immigrants have deepened their appreciation of the various aspects of Singaporean life that makes us unique as a people and nation. For example, in Project One Heart organised by Republic Polytechnic in May this year, 230 local and international students from our five Polytechnics got to know each other better as they teamed up to engage and provide assistance to elderly residents in the community. The CIF has resourced individuals and organisations who are interested in playing their part in integration. Many have thus recognised the importance of integration and will continue to find common ground so that we can remain a cohesive society. Page: 785 All CIF initiatives and programmes have different KPIs, depending on the desired outcomes. These may include measurements tied to the participation rate, profile of participants and a project's longer term sustainability.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Member Dr Lily Neo for her comment. Indeed, we share her concerns about the transportation for the disabled people, from home to work, and also for them to access other services. We are working on two prongs to help the access for the people with disabilities. One prong is what we call the specialised vehicles. These are vehicles run by VWOs that provide specialised services to the disabled community to get them from point A to point B. They can book such services, for example, with the Handicapped Welfare Association (HWA), which runs some of these services. The other prong that we are working on which we have just recently completed a Request for Proposal (RFP), is to allow some of the people in the disabled community to actually access public transport. We know that the London cab issue has come up. Licences will expire next year. We have just completed our Request for Proposal and I am happy to note that some operators have come forward to help us run a new fleet of vehicles that can take some high-back wheelchairs and motorised wheelchairs to enable our disabled community to have wider access to public transport. We will continue to look at it and closely monitor the demand to see whether there is a demand for us to expand such services to allow our disabled community to have access to the day-to-day living functions. Page: 702”
“Sir, let me first thank Ms Denise Phua for the comment and suggestion. Yes, this is an area that we will certainly look at but let us look at the numbers for a start. I must stress that the most important thing beyond the numbers is really to get employers who are understanding and who are willing to partner the sector to re-design some of the jobs in order for the people to be placed in meaningful jobs. As to how we can better help them, having this scheme that the Member has suggested is one way. Beyond this scheme, we are also looking at other ways that we can encourage more employers to be more forthcoming in the re-design of jobs, to enable people with disabilities to join their sector. Page: 701 At the same time, I must also stress that we need a conducive work environment where supportive colleagues can also play a part to help induct these people into the workplace. So, we will certainly look at that.”
“Sir, let me thank the hon Member Mr Ang for his comment. And indeed, we share his concern that as the life expectancy of our Singaporeans go into the 80s and 90s, there will be people in their 50s and 60s who are required, not only to take care of their elderly parents in their 80s and 90s, but also at the same time, take care of their children who might be in their early 20s or some in their 30s. Indeed, this is one of the big challenges for our society as we face an ageing population. MCYS will continue to look at how we can better support this group of people because some of them may be near retirement and they might need some other specific help. On top of the current schemes, we are also going to look at what other new schemes we may be required to implement to cater to this specific group of people that the Member has highlighted, who are in their 50s or 60s. They are near retirement or just past retirement but perhaps still with the need to take care of their elderly parents. In the next few months, as we re-organise ourselves and focus on the potential gaps in our social safety nets in the future, this will be one area that we will be looking at. Page: 698”
“Households which employ a Foreign Domestic Worker to look after an elderly or person with disabilities and meet the eligibility criteria can apply for the grant. To provide greater support for the vulnerable elderly in the community, my Ministry will organise the existing Seniors Activity Centres (SACs) into a hub-and-spoke concept, where Anchor SACs will support clusters of SACs to strengthen and expand their reach. Anchor SACs will perform additional roles, such as closer monitoring through home visits, case management and counselling services, for vulnerable elderly in the community. We expect the first six Anchor SACs to start operations by December this year. By 2016, we will have 16 Anchor SACs supporting some 39,000 elderly Singaporeans. Page: 698 Mr Speaker, Sir, these are some of the initiatives my Ministry is working on to better support our elderly in the community and their caregivers. In planning the number and distribution of eldercare facilities, we take into consideration the demographic profile of each region, the adequacy of existing services and the availability of suitable premises. I am confident that most Singaporeans support the vision of ageing-in-place and understand the need for eldercare services to be developed within our communities. We will continue to engage the local communities, refine the implementation strategies as well as review our services from time to time to ensure that they remain relevant and adequate.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in March this year, my Ministry announced a series of initiatives to build up community- and home-based eldercare services to better support ageing-in-place. We are on track to roll out the measures progressively over the next few months. Last month, MCYS unveiled the "3-in-1" concept for Integrated Day Facilities or IDF for short. First, the IDFs will offer integrated care services for the frail elderly, combining social day care, centre-based nursing, community rehabilitation and dementia care. Second, IDFs will provide information, coordination and referral services to better support families and care-givers. Third, the larger IDFs will provide gym and social space for community use. By second quarter of next year, we should complete the building of two new IDFs – one in Tampines and the other in Toa Payoh – and the upgrading of six existing day-care centres to IDFs. Another new IDF at Serangoon will be completed in the second half of 2013. By 2016, there will be about 40 IDFs serving up to 6,000 elderly. Details on the location of the remaining IDFs will be announced in the next two to three months. My Ministry is also introducing social home-based care where the elderly at home can receive care services, such as personal hygiene, housekeeping and laundry from a single care worker. We are working closely with our partners to recruit and train these care workers so as to launch this service in the fourth quarter of this year. By 2016, we will scale this service to benefit up to 4,000 elderly. I am also happy to share that the Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) Grant of $120 per month will come into effect from October this year. Applications have opened since 6 August this year.”
“There are currently more than 300 childcare centres operated by non-profit organisations in HDB void deck premises. One hundred and thirty-three (or 44%) of these centres are run by non-profit operators other than PCF and NTUC. For a non-profit operator setting up a normal sized childcare centre for 100 children, it would receive about $100,000 in grants from the Government for the conversion of premises and purchase of furnishings and equipment. Anchor Operators (AOPs) receive similar conversion and furnishing grants. They are also eligible for additional recurrent grants under the Recurrent Grant scheme, which comprise largely of salary grants to enable them to attract, retain and develop quality teachers. HDB sites are allocated to private, and non-profit operators, including AOPs, after taking into account the resident and housing type profiles, current mix of centres and views of the community and community leaders. Amongst sites that have been set aside for AOPs, the split between PCF and NTUC has been roughly equal.”
“We will continue to work with our partners to develop to improve awareness, accessibility and co-ordination of the different help schemes we have for needy Singaporeans.”
“The needs of the needy are not the same, and various help schemes and programmes have been put in place to help them. Each of these serves a purpose. Singaporeans who need help do not need to know all the schemes. What they can do is to approach one of the key touchpoints on the ground, such as the Community Development Councils (CDCs) and Family Service Centres (FSCs). These agencies will provide the necessary referrals and, where relevant, link up with other organisations to provide more holistic assistance. We continue to work on improving this arrangement. To strengthen communication amongst social service agencies, ComCare Local Networks were institutionalised in 2006. In April this year, we launched the ComCare Starter kit to equip frontline staff of social service agencies with better knowledge of help schemes. Apart from visiting the key touchpoints on the ground, Singaporeans who need help or who come across others who need help can also call the ComCare Hotline at 1800-222-0000. This was set up in 2008. More recently, we launched the ComCare.sg web portal, where we have made effort to present information in a more intuitive and concise manner. Beyond providing information and touchpoints, we are also enhancing efforts to proactively reach out to the needy. For example, to improve the FSCs' outreach to vulnerable families, the Ministry has provided them with resources to hire additional staff. We have also lowered the FSC caseloads to enable their social workers to give more attention to families with complex needs. Over the next three years, we will build some 10 more FSCs to enhance the accessibility of family services.”
“As at 31 July 2012, there are 87 Citizens' Consultative Committees (CCCs), 106 Community Club Management Committees (CCMCs), 567 Residents’ Committees (RCs) and 128 Neighbourhood Committees (NCs). At the Constituency Office, one PA staff supports the work of between three and four Committees. This is on top of their core duties of managing CC operations seven days a week, planning and organising daily courses and programmes, and working with other Government and community partners on programmes to benefit the residents. From 2005 to 2011, on average, each CCC received $152,872 per year in Grant funding, each CCMC $46,114, each RC $9,457 and each NC $4,043.”
“The development of local sports talent is a key tenet of our sport policy. We have invested significant resources and put in place various measures to further this goal. Let me cite some examples. One key initiative is the Singapore Sports School, which was started in 2004. Local-born students make up over 95% of the school's population and their fees are heavily subsidised. Many of the Sports School students and alumni go on to become national athletes, representing our country and making us proud through their performances. The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) also works with the National Sports Associations (NSA) in identifying and developing sports talent. NSAs that employ the Foreign Sports Talent (FST) Scheme are required to show long-term plans for the identification and development of local-born athletes. Many NSAs also leverage on the presence of FSTs to raise the standards of emerging sports talents, the vast majority of whom are local-born. The SSC puts significant weightage to these areas when evaluating NSAs' funding requests. In addition, SSC also provides additional funding for all Olympic sports to employ a dedicated youth coach. At the highest level, support to national athletes is merit-based. Whether they are local-born or new citizens, they are all treated fairly. They receive funding and other forms of support based on their potential and actual achievements in international competition. Today, over 95% of our national athletes today are local-born. We will continue to invest resources and efforts in developing local sports talent.”
“We will work towards making enhancements to further improve the quality of programmes at existing anchor operator centres while expanding the scheme beyond PCF and NTUC to extend Government support to a larger segment of the market.”
“To be eligible for the Recurrent Grant scheme, childcare operators should be not-for-profit bodies, have no religious affiliation and must have a minimum paid up capital of $5 million. When the scheme was introduced in 2009, five operators applied3. Only PCF and NTUC were able to meet the full set of eligibility criteria. Being one of the largest childcare operators in the industry, they had the potential to meet the objectives of the scheme which was to significantly ramp up capacity of quality and affordable childcare programmes. Since the scheme was introduced, there are now 196 PCF Sparkletots and NTUC My First Skool childcare centres across the island. This is a three-fold increase in the number of centres and has gone some way to meet the childcare needs of young parents. All PCF Sparkletots and NTUC My First Skool centres charge below the market median for childcare fees. In addition to keeping fees affordable, anchor operators are required to meet quality targets that are set above the requirements for the rest of the sector. 85% of teachers in PCF and NTUC centres are diploma trained, compared to 76% in the general industry. Our anchor operators have also been useful partners in our efforts to uplift quality standards across the wider sector, for example, by participating in the Ministry of Education's recently introduced Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework (SPARK). Of the 75 childcare centres that have achieved SPARK certification today, 27 (36%) are PCF and NTUC centres. More will be coming on board over the next few years. Moving forward, the Implementation Committee for Enhancing Pre-school Education is reviewing the design of the existing scheme.”