Goh Pei Ming
Singapore
“I would like to thank the Member for his questions. Specifically, like I said in my response earlier, we have noticed an increase in the number of such posts, especially given the use of AI enabling the creation of such posts.”
“They have been generally effective as the social media companies have worked with us and complied with the directions issued by the Government. Of course, we will from time to time continue to review the laws to ensure that they are fit for purpose, to continue to be proactive in this space.”
“We have also put in place a penalty framework to deter scam mules. Fourth, public education – extensive public education, including for our seniors – to make sure that we share the latest modus operandi as well as the best anti-scam preventive practices that our citizens and our seniors can adopt.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for the clarification. Yes, indeed, the Police do track the amount of scam proceeds recovered. We just do not track them by age group. Yes, the amount of scam proceeds that have been recovered are a small proportion compared to the overall amount of monies that is lost.”
“So, we know the number is healthy but we will want to do more, and we think the final reminder and the various public information announcements are useful in that regard. I would like to take the opportunity to also share with the House, with Members, that in this year's Budget, we also announced a further tranche of CLC.”
“In the first quarter of this year, the numbers have continued that trend; we are slightly heartened. But it is too early for us to celebrate, way too early. There is a lot more work that we need to continue to do on this front. Like I mentioned earlier, further anti-scam measures are coming out later this year.”
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“They have been generally effective as the social media companies have worked with us and complied with the directions issued by the Government. Of course, we will from time to time continue to review the laws to ensure that they are fit for purpose, to continue to be proactive in this space. In my main reply earlier, I have also listed various efforts in terms of public education. I would like to reiterate that a discerning public is the most effective tool to fight against such for interferences to split our society. Every incident that has happened is also a potential learning opportunity that we will use to educate our public to fight such division efforts.”
“Mr Speaker, allow me to reiterate my response to the Members' questions. The Government had to act decisively against these videos because they seek to undermine Singapore's cohesion, and they seek to attack our multi-racial society and attempt to divide us based on our race. Our societal harmony cannot be taken for granted because it has been painstakingly developed over decades and every community in Singapore is valued. Everyone has our equal place. This diversity in Singapore's fabric is our greatest strength, but it requires deliberate and constant protection against division. These videos strike at the very foundation of what makes Singapore home for all of us. That is why the Government acted firmly against these videos, especially also because they originated from a foreign source. We must reject all attempts that seek to divide us. The Member asked about proactiveness and effectiveness. He also mentioned that we do have various Acts in place. Yes, I would like to reiterate that the Government has various legislative levers, some more recently introduced, in place to deal with such threats. These include FICA, the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act, POFMA, as well as OCHA. These are a range of levers that allow us to be able to act decisively should any such narrative or attempt to divide us arise. I want to make the point that having these laws allows us to be very proactive, going upstream to demonstrate that we not only have the laws and that we are also willing to exercise these laws to protect our citizens and our social fabric before our racial harmony is affected. Our online directions under FICA were first issued or first used in July 2024. We have also used other various online directions under OCHA.”
“I would like to thank the Member for his questions. Specifically, like I said in my response earlier, we have noticed an increase in the number of such posts, especially given the use of AI enabling the creation of such posts. So, we do see an increase and we do track very carefully every single case, including investigating whether there are possibly state actors behind the posts. Some of this information, we may not find that it is suitable to release to the public, but we do look at every single case. We track the data over time to ensure that there is no coordinated campaign. More importantly, we will not hesitate to take action if there is a need to protect Singapore's interests. Ultimately, we hold the view that any country out there would agree with us that we are just safeguarding our information space. And if we are interested in protecting our social cohesion – and we are – they will agree with us that such content is unacceptable and that the stance that we have taken is totally understandable.”
“We take a serious view of threats to our social cohesion and racial harmony, including external actors, and will act resolutely against them.”
“The Ministry of Defence drives National Education and Total Defence to build a shared understanding of Singapore's foundational values and principles to deepen our public's sense of identity and nationhood, and to strengthen awareness of and collective resolve against threats that may undermine social cohesion and resilience, including foreign interference. The SG101 website is a one-stop Government site that consolidates educational resources on foreign interference, as well as Singapore's positions on sensitive issues to help the public better understand our national positions and to stay resilient against attempts to divide us. The National Library Board works to cultivate critical reading as a foundational skill and to engage the public through its Source, Understand, Research, and Evaluate (S.U.R.E) programme, and this equips our citizens with the skills to verify and fact-check online content. In addition, we regularly conduct briefings, dialogues and workshops to raise awareness of foreign interference amongst groups including our public servants, national servicemen and students. The Ministry of Home Affairs also rolled out a campaign in 2025 on the use of deepfake videos, AI-generated content and other inauthentic online posts to influence overseas jurisdictions to alert Singaporeans to this threat. This effort will continue, so as to raise awareness of the role that our Singaporeans can play. Ultimately, a discerning population is the most important defence against attempts to influence or divide our society. We urge Singaporeans to be discerning when consuming and disseminating information online, and to reject all attempts to divide our society.”
“Thank you. There is currently no evidence to suggest that this is a coordinated campaign by any particular government or organisation. Investigations revealed that the content likely originated from a China-based platform, and was subsequently carried on other platforms and websites, including those in our local information space. The posts attempted to sow discord by inciting ill-will against our Indian community and sought to undermine Singapore’s model of multiculturalism. The content was assessed to constitute to an offence of knowingly promoting feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups on grounds of race and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony in Singapore under section 298A(a) of the Penal Code. The Government has issued Disabling Directions under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) to block access by Singapore users to the 14 online social media posts. In recent years, there has been an increase in artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled and inauthentic content on a range of topics which has seeped into Singapore’s online infospace. We monitor the infospace closely and will not hesitate to take measures if it is in Singapore’s interests. The Government regularly reviews our laws to ensure that they are updated and fit for purpose to deal with the evolving landscape. Aside from the legislative measures, building up a discerning and resilient populace against external influences is equally important.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for the clarification. Yes, indeed, the Police do track the amount of scam proceeds recovered. We just do not track them by age group. Yes, the amount of scam proceeds that have been recovered are a small proportion compared to the overall amount of monies that is lost. I do not have the exact figures, but it is a smaller percentage. And I think that is also a useful reminder that, indeed, prevention is better than the follow-up pursuit of recovering monies.”
“We have also put in place a penalty framework to deter scam mules. Fourth, public education – extensive public education, including for our seniors – to make sure that we share the latest modus operandi as well as the best anti-scam preventive practices that our citizens and our seniors can adopt. And fifth, we are stepping up international collaboration with governments, with jurisdictions, with law enforcement agencies sharing best practices as well as making sure we cooperate and share intelligence closely and to also shape how global norms approach scams. I think we have taken a very extensive approach. Of course, we can do more and we want to continuously spare no effort in making sure we fight scams. I would also like to refer the Member to the Home Affairs Ministry's Committee of Supply debate speech just a few months ago. We have given a fuller account of all the various initiatives that we have taken and will be taking to fight scams. And of course, we welcome any further suggestions the Member may have.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for her supplementary questions. I will try to take them together as one reply. Firstly, I would like to share with the House that indeed, scams are a very challenging situation for Singapore and in fact, not just Singapore but around the world. It is a global challenge. One report has it that last year, more than US$440 billion were lost to scams globally. And the financial incentive for scammers and for perpetrators is immense and therefore, they will try their very best to continuously innovate and get ahead. The incentives are very, very strong. But having said so, indeed, I fully agree with what the Member has raised, in terms of the key thrusts that we should adopt in our anti-scam strategy – being proactive, going upstream, taking a risk-based approach and collaborating with partners. I think these are all very useful perspectives. And indeed, that is the approach that we have taken as a whole-of-Government and a whole-of-society anti-scam strategy, multi-agency and multi-pronged. And let me take the chance to share some of the key thrusts of how we have approached this problem. Firstly, using the powers enabled by the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA), we have moved upstream. We are working very closely with our online service providers to make sure we reduce the overall threat surface area that these platforms put on. Second, we work very closely with our telcos, our banks and also the recognised and authorised crypto service providers to make sure we are able to prevent upstream as well as interdict after scams have taken place. Third, we have also enhanced our penalty framework to deter perpetrators from operating in Singapore and also making sure that we work closely with overseas partners to pursue overseas where possible.”
“So, we know the number is healthy but we will want to do more, and we think the final reminder and the various public information announcements are useful in that regard. I would like to take the opportunity to also share with the House, with Members, that in this year's Budget, we also announced a further tranche of CLC. So, this July, there will be another tranche to all our children of $500. And last month, we have also disbursed the Large Family LifeSG Credits for eligible families.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his two supplementary questions. I will take the second one first. I would like to highlight that CLC was designed to support our parents with young children with child-rearing costs. We have done public consultations, and we have heard feedback from parents, especially those of younger children, that in those ages, the diapers and the milk powder cost quite a bit more, and therefore the CLC was designed to better support our parents with young children on that front. Having said so, together with this tranche of CLC, Budget 2025 also announced that there was, and it has already been topped up, a $500 credit to children above 12 years old; those aged 13 to 16, a $500 top-up to their Edusave Account, and aged 17 to 20, to their Post-Secondary Education Account. So, I think that the Government, in that Budget announcement, has tried to do something for all our children and youths. On the other question on the utilisation rate, I thank the Member for the encouragement. I think is a healthy take-up rate, although there is still some ways to go. We do want the number to be higher, but we also note that there are some months left. I thank the Member for asking the question because this allows us the opportunity to then raise public awareness of the CLC and more importantly, the upcoming expiry. There are various reasons for the portions yet to be used. In some cases, parents and families are still in the process of utilising it. They have budgeted it. They spread it out over the year, so we still have a couple of months. In some cases, there is inertia. Families leave it until the very last minute to claim and to use. In some cases, families are overseas. Or in some cases, as the Member has pointed out, they may be simply unaware.”
“In the first quarter of this year, the numbers have continued that trend; we are slightly heartened. But it is too early for us to celebrate, way too early. There is a lot more work that we need to continue to do on this front. Like I mentioned earlier, further anti-scam measures are coming out later this year. Within MHA, we are also looking at how we are organised internally to fight scams. More details will be released when ready.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his supplementary question. I note the particular concern about Telegram. During the Ministry of Home Affairs Committee of Supply debates, we also spoke about Telegram as a platform. One of the key traits of Telegram is that users can remain anonymous. This is compared to, say, WhatsApp, for example. And for Telegram, I think when we last spoke about this during the Committee of Supply, I also mentioned that we have followed up, for example, I personally have followed up on some of these text messages that I have received on Telegram purportedly selling drugs, for example. And when we followed it up through the Central Narcotics Bureau, we realised that actually many of these offers to sell drugs, even sexual offers, are actually scams masquerading as those offers. What we want to do is, indeed, using scam as the basis to work more closely with platforms, such as Telegram, to really tackle the issue. Many of the powers enabled through OCHA does allow us to follow up on that, and we will do so. I just want to take the opportunity to reiterate that the anti-scams work is not just a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) effort. It has involved multiple agencies across the whole of Government, together with industry partners, working very closely. And I think, when I last spoke during the Committee of Supply, we announced a series of measures that we have taken and that we will be taking this year, and we are constantly reviewing what we are doing on this front because we recognise the situation is one that is very concerning. We want to continue to sustain the downward trend that we have gotten last year, in terms of overall number of victims and total amounts lost.”
“Any communication platform can be misused to facilitate criminal activities. To address this, the Government primarily relies on the legal powers under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA). When online criminal content is detected, the Government can issue OCHA Directions to prevent the offending accounts or content from interacting with users in Singapore. Since the operationalisation of OCHA, the Police have been able to disrupt online criminal activities, including on communication platforms, such as Telegram, more effectively. The Government also actively engages online communication platforms to implement ex ante measures to prevent scams and malicious cyber activities. Through the OCHA Codes of Practice, designated online services, such as Telegram, must implement appropriate systems, processes and measures to quickly disrupt malicious accounts and activities and prevent their propagation. As part of the continuing efforts against the serious crime situation, the Police are working with designated online service providers, including Telegram, to implement further anti-scam measures under the OCHA Codes of Practice by this year. The Government will continue to review our laws and regulations to ensure that they remain effective in protecting users in Singapore from online criminal harms.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his question. I think there are two parts to his question. First, in terms of private providers, from ECDA's perspective, we strongly recommend that parents go with the list of service providers registered with ECDA. This is also the Government's way of regulating services and controlling costs. So, that is the first point. And if there are gaps within the list provided by ECDA, based on what the Member has gotten feedback from, we will be open to reviewing it but, based on what we know, the list of service providers under ECDA's list is comprehensive, and we stand guided by what the Member has given as feedback. Based on the number of hours that each child receives in terms of early intervention, it is based on what, like I mentioned earlier, the early intervention professionals meeting together with the families, taking into account all the professionals' inputs to deliver an individualised plan. And based on that plan, there is a certain guideline in terms of how many hours and what is the frequency, the dosage of treatment. I think that is what the professionals deem as required. Sometimes, parents may choose to do even more, but that is not what the professionals would say are cardinal. Therefore, if parents choose to use additional sessions, they can use the CDA account funds to pay for those. But what the individualised plan recommends is the requirement dosage based on professionals' input and based on the list of the providers that ECDA has engaged, all specialised services that are required will be fulfilled through that list and will be catered under the individualised plan. 1.31 pm”
“Yes, indeed, so, the digital access that we are working on will allow for the appointment booking system and updates to be made available for foster parents to access.”
“I thank the Member for his concern for foster children. I think the question is similar to my reply given to Nominated Member of Parliament Dr Neo. In particular, we recognise that it is important to give foster parents access to health information, and those may be on Health Buddy. Like what I mentioned earlier, we are working on providing digital access to foster parents. In terms of what data fields and what information is provided to the parents, these are being looked at, because, like the Member said, the situation for every child, the length of foster care differs. And in some cases, depending on the circumstances under which the child is placed under foster care, and the relationship with the biological parents, things can be sensitive, and therefore we have to consider all that when we arrange for what data fields are available to the foster parents. But ultimately, the primary consideration is that we want to make sure that foster parents have the information required to provide the necessary care to the child and make sure that the child's best interests are addressed.”
“To safeguard the child after reintegration, MSF has post-reunification monitoring protocols. This includes safety checks at least monthly by MSF case officers, complemented by inputs from community partners, such as schools, social service agencies who know the family well to ensure that if there are any risk or any concerns, these are picked up early. Children are also monitored for at least 12 months after reintegration and longer if we need to, depending on the family circumstances and the overall assessed level of risk. Where concerns arise, MSF will not hesitate to intervene promptly to provide additional support to take further protective actions when needed.”
“Mr Speaker, I will take the Member's second question first. Once a child or young person has been assigned to a set of foster parents through a Court Order or a Voluntary Care Agreement, foster parents will be issued a letter from MSF that identifies them as the caregivers under the Ministry's fostering scheme. This letter facilitates communications between the foster parents and the healthcare professionals to ensure that the medical needs are addressed. It also allows them to communicate through the school system to take care of the schooling and educational needs However, I acknowledge the Members point. Many of the public agencies' services have gone digital and therefore, we do want to provide this digital access as well. This is also the feedback consistent with what we have gotten from many foster parents. Therefore, MSF is currently working to further enhance our foster parents' experience by providing them access to the foster child's education and healthcare information through HealthHub and Parents Gateway. This is in progress and we will hope to update the Member at a later date, once these are ready. On the second question, in terms of the long-term success rate, it is not a single percentage or single metric that we measure by. What is more important, success is measured by whether the child is able to safely and sustainably stay with the birth family over time. Some other factors we look at when we evaluate whether this is safe and sustainable, include whether there is further abuse or neglect, the absence of it, is useful, stable caregiving arrangements within the family to care for the child, the overall well-being and functioning of the child, especially if the child is in school, as well as health and behavioural aspects.”
“On Child LifeSG Credits, they are credited to the Child Development Account (CDA) trustee of an eligible child to ensure that support is directed to the individual responsible for the child’s care and upbringing. While it is possible for the trustee to change the CDA trustee through the bank’s portal or mobile application, I would like to point out that in designing the foster allowances, MSF does not assume reliance on these credits. Foster parents receive a monthly fostering allowance ranging from $1,100 to $1,800, depending on the child’s age and needs, to help defray childcare and other out-of-pocket expenses. In addition, foster children are eligible for childcare, student care and medical subsidies.”
“My response will also address a related question filed by the Member Dr Neo Kok Beng1 for a subsequent Sitting, and if the Member is satisfied with the response, he may wish to withdraw the question after this session. The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) will continue to grow our pool of foster parents so that more children in state care can be placed in safe and stable family-based settings, which generally provide better social, emotional and developmental outcomes than institutional care. MSF has partnered fostering agencies, community organisations, religious groups and private organisations to raise awareness and recruit more foster families. We have also strengthened support measures, such as increasing the fostering allowance for those caring for teenagers from October 2025, and removing the minimum household income and educational requirements for applicants from July 2024. On co-parenting, we are open to considering arrangements between foster and biological parents where appropriate, particularly to facilitate reunification of the child with the biological parents and where it is in the child’s best interests. On attrition, about 6% of foster parents have been deregistered each year on average over the last three years. The reasons include new family commitments, health or age-related factors and relocation. We will continue to strengthen support, training and engagement with foster families to improve retention, and build a strong fostering ecosystem. The Member may wish to refer to Parliamentary written answers on "Increasing Enrolment of Foster Parents" at the 18 February 2025 Sitting to learn more about earlier enhancements to foster care.”
“I just wanted to add that at this current juncture, as we speak, MOF, together with MOE, MSF as well as MOH, are working on the details following up from what has been disseminated today. If you have any feedback, you can relay to us and we can perhaps work that into the details. I just want to share it that, especially for some of our persons with disabilities, in addition to what has been announced today, earlier at the Committee of Supply last year, we announced enhanced Enabling Transport Subsidy provisions. These provisions will commence in July this year. I think the timeliness of it should allow us to provide increased subsidy rates as well as expanded coverage for families. My understanding is there for those with per capita household incomes up to $4,800, from July onwards, they will be covered. This, hopefully, will come at a good time whereby it provides additional support for some of these families that we are speaking about.”
“Indeed, we agree that we want to better support our social service agencies in terms of their work, because they are best able to deliver very targeted support to the households who need those support. We are working closely with the social service agencies and if there is a need to reinforce their work, reinforce the support that they get, we will do so.”
“Mr Speaker, responding to the Member's question on ComCare, let me enlarge the question to address all lower-income families. I think the overall broad-based measures announced by MOF, be it the Cost-of-Living Special Payment or the U-Save rebates, although they benefit all households, but actually, they more than proportionately advantage and benefit the lower-income families. On this note, we think that is adequate support on that front. In terms of the overall ComCare, be it the Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance rates, we have revised the assistance rates about a year ago, in April 2025. During that last review, we have built in projected inflation. Based on what we have observed so far, we are still within the buffer. And therefore, we think the ComCare assistance rates for now suffice. In addition to that, earlier during the Committee of Supply debates, we also announced enhancements to ComLink+ support. We have also pushed out the Partnership Payout, and through which we do want to encourage many of our lower-income families or ComLink+ families to come onboard the ComLink+ programme. With that, there is also a certain payout that can benefit our lower-income families. Having said so, I just want to say we are cognisant that our lower-income families are affected by cost of living increases disproportionately. And therefore, we are watching the situation very closely and will be ready to respond should there be a need to in the next few tranches. Perhaps, also allow me to respond to a question that the Member Hazlina mentioned earlier. I think she was alluding to the fact that many of our social service agencies have very close feelers on the ground and therefore, they understand the challenges on the ground most acutely where the needs are.”
“Speaker, I thank the Member for his questions. As I said in my main reply, we do not really have the data in terms of the claims yet. It is still early days. In fact, on 1 April this year, we have just introduced the 10-week Shared Parental Leave. So, we do not really have the data to be able to speak definitively on that yet. But having said so, I think the key message that we want to send through the Shared Parental Leave is that parenthood is a shared journey. It is a shared responsibility between both the father and the mother. More importantly, we do want to encourage fathers to take a more active role, in terms of taking care of not just the children in the first year, but beyond that, throughout our children's growth stage. I think that is something that is very important. MSF continuously works with our partners, including partners such as the Centre for Fathering, to develop programmes and do public outreach to encourage our fathers to do more in terms of playing an active role in our children's development. I also want to take the opportunity to say that beyond the Shared Parental Leave scheme, to encourage our fathers to do more, we do need to look beyond, perhaps at a societal reset in terms of how our workplace norms need to change, to balance more of family needs. I think these are some of the objectives that the work group chaired by Minister Indranee looking at marriage and parenthood will be looking at.”
“Mr Chairman, there are currently 11 FAM centres across Singapore providing family counselling services. We are working with the various service providers to ensure that there is adequate staffing as capacity expands. We want to make sure that we are expanding while not compromising quality. I think that must be the key principle that we are observing here. The timeline of 2030 actually allows us to work together with the providers to build up the capacity in sync, as demand grows, and that also allows us to work with the educational service providers to help raise up this capability. To maintain service quality, there are two key principles or two key prongs that we are going to do this by. We will recruit professionals with relevant credentials and experience. Counsellors in FAM are required to have the relevant tertiary qualifications in counselling, psychology or social work, along with a minimum of three years of experience working with families. Especially in FAM centres, we do need our counsellors to be a lot more experienced, slightly more experienced than usual, to deal with more complex cases. Those with social work and psychology qualifications also undergo additional training to ensure they have the necessary counselling skills. At the same time, FAM counsellors will receive ongoing clinical supervision to maintain professional standards and to support their ongoing development.”
“The Partner Operator selection is competitive and factors, such as track record in delivering services, financial sustainability, accessibility of the centres as well as the local preschooler demand in the immediate area where the preschool is located. So, all those are factors that we consider, and we want to do so because we need to be judicious in how we spend Government money. The second point on play-based learning. Actually, I would like to reiterate the point that play-based curriculum is embedded as part of our preschool curriculum, that all Anchor Operators and Partner Operators already implement across all our centres and like I said in my speech, we are looking to step it up further. I acknowledge the point the Member raised about Ms Loy. I think we will be keen to talk to her and see how she can help in the sector.”
“One particular area that I would like to perhaps talk about is how do we run our anchor operator and partner operator schemes, because I think the point of the Member's question is how do we better support – there is a slice of operators that may not be getting Government funding. The operator schemes, the Anchor and Partner Operator schemes, employ a very rigorous selection process, and these are private operators that we are evaluating, so as to find out who are the best able to advance our early childhood objectives. The operators must be both willing and capable to meet stringent scheme requirements, and these include the provision of affordable quality preschool services as well as the commitment to improve the professional development of their educators. There can be good reasons why certain operators are not part of the Anchor Operator or the Partner Operator schemes. Some operators simply choose not to participate because of legitimate business considerations, such as they have already established a premium market positioning. Others may be providing a very specialised, a very niche service or programme. They have higher business costs that may not justify for Government funding to go in. And to maintain the quality and sustainability of these programmes, they may also not believe and subscribe to the fee caps that we have imposed through our operator schemes. Some preschools are also in areas with higher Permanent Resident and foreigner numbers, and therefore, Government support is less relevant. Some operators may also not be selected because of the application process.”
“Mr Chairman, to the Member's first question on whether per child funding should be extended to all centres. There are two parts to it. We moved from capacity-based to enrolment-based funding, primarily because we wanted to be more equitable to ensure that efficient resources are being assigned to all centres and if the centre is not full, we should not be assigning it based on capacity. And that is also to encourage the centre to improve on quality to attract more parents to come to them, to provide better curriculum, and per child enrolment basis allows for that. However, that is a different conversation from resources for all centres, and I note that the Member has over past instances also raised that we should provide funding to be assigned to the child rather than to the centres. It goes back to the fundamental principle of how we build the early childhood sector. MSF and ECDA's priority is to ensure that families have access to accessible, affordable, quality preschools and today, 80% of all preschoolers are able to enrol in Government-supported preschools. That is the vision. That is the outcome that we have achieved. We have done this, like I explained in my speech earlier, through various means or various funding approaches, both on the subsidy side to the preschools directly; on the demand side to the parents, as well as allowing the parents to have some free choice through the CDA. We believe that the confluence of that allows us to achieve the balance and the right incentives for both the preschools' operators, as well as in terms of our support for the parents.”
“We have mechanisms, such as a Continuing Professional Development roadmap, whereby we help guide and mentor our educators through this journey in terms of what courses that they can attend to upgrade, to upskill, and many of these courses are provided by the National Institute of Early Childhood Development, as well as other training providers, so we allow them a certain scaffold for them to continue to grow and progress in their careers and, of course, with new pedagogies, we hope that they will stay current. But of course, this requires time and we are studying and, we have in the past, set aside more protected time for them. We designated six preschool closure days – development days, actually – to allow the centre, not only for personal training but also team training. We have also designated Teachers' Day and Children's Day as holidays in 2024, we have also ceased childcare services or early childhood education services on Saturdays from last year onwards. A few months ago, I met a group of ECDA Fellows. They shared with me, and this is a group of very senior principals and educators, and they shared with me some of their feedback, so we are looking into it. We are looking to offer more bite-sized continuous development opportunities. We are also looking into how we can ease the workload, more non-contact time, ensuring there is protected time for professional development, time for reflection, time for individual planning and more importantly, at the end of the day, all these allow for the development of the educators, which translate into better development and teaching for our children, benefiting our future.”
“We understand within the landscape, it is a little bit varied. All of them have their good ideas. We want to collate and promulgate many of these across. We also want to perhaps set clearer expectations of what the educator is and is not supposed to do, what the parent is and is not supposed to do and also, perhaps in this process, enable digital capabilities to foster this partnership. The second part of the question on the right to disconnect and understanding that MOE has a similar policy. In fact, in the preschool sector, we recognise the importance of having this. We agree, the workloads of our preschool educators are very heavy, the hours are very long, and this is a policy that we are working now. It is a work-in-progress. We want to formalise this, and we are starting with the co-creation of a parent-preschool charter. Once we formalise this, will promulgate to all. But perhaps my own experience, I also have a preschooler in my home, but I do not have the phone numbers of the teachers, nor is it shared. I call the general office and through that, the messages get shared to the teachers when they need to. The third question pertains to how do we allow our educators to have meaningful professional development opportunities. We recognise it is important for them to be well supported in their journey by ECDA, and to have time to attend to not just the professional but also their personal learning needs.”
“Mr Chairman, let me take the questions part by part. First in terms of how we will build stronger parent-preschool partnerships, we believe that this partnership is important to help bridge the overall development and learning of our children between the home and the preschool. They are not separate entities, that experience has to be collective. Therefore, we want to see more parents participate in our preschools. In fact, one of my recent visits to My First Skool in Anchorvale, Sengkang, I was very encouraged, it was the day of the launch of the health screening and I observed there was a parent doing a storytelling exercise together with the children. After that I managed to speak to her and she was sharing with me that My First Skool, at least at that centre, regularly sends out messages, sharing what are the opportunities for excursions, for storytelling, participating in games, sports or even coming in for rather mundane activities. But these experiences allow for the parent as well as the child to have a common experience that goes beyond the classroom back into the living rooms, over the dining table, where they talk. And in fact, the parent also knows many of the names of the child's friends. I thought that was very precious, very, very meaningful, and we want to have more of such experiences. And for this parent, when she walked away, this was sometime about 9.45 am in the morning, I remember being quite encouraged that how come she was able to do this? She told me she was going to work, so I guess some of the flexible work arrangements have also set in, and she is well supported by her employer in this regard. So, from ECDA's view, what we are hoping to do more, as I mentioned earlier, we want to talk to the preschools, share many of their best practices.”
“(In English): Mr Chairman, at MSF, families are at the heart of all we do. Strong families need effort and they are built by entire communities working together. The Government provides broad-based support to help families start strong, early and, together, setting firm foundations and giving every child a good start. For families who are more vulnerable, we offer a steady hand and a supported ladder, so that they too can climb and thrive on their own terms. For families with PwDs, we are committed to removing barriers and working with the community to create opportunities that foster inclusion and belonging. Over the past week, our House has shared our respective visions of a "we first" society. For MSF, this vision comes alive when our social service sector, community and our corporates partner us to create better outcomes for families and individuals that we serve. By sharing in this commitment that "Better Starts with Us", each of us make the difference together. Let us work towards stronger families, stronger communities, a stronger Singapore. [Applause.]”
“But an inclusive society also means reshaping our systems and attitudes to embrace all abilities, and empowering PwDs to pursue their aspirations, achieve their potential and participate as integral members of society. Chairman, next, please allow me to say a few words in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Building an inclusive society requires whole-of-Government coordination and participation and effort from the entire society. Therefore, we have established the inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Assurance for Families with Persons with Disabilities to explore how to better provide assistance to persons with disabilities and their families in areas, such as employment, community living and affordability of disability support services. The taskforce will also examine encouraging corporates and community partners to provide more job opportunities and community support for persons with disabilities, as well as promote greater social inclusivity, so that they can also pursue their dreams, realise their potential and contribute to society in their own way. MSF firmly believes that family is the cornerstone of society, so we are committed to building a nation that can support Singaporeans in forming families. Marriage, parenthood – we support Singaporeans through various measures at every important stage of life. Worth mentioning is our progress in preschool education. Over the past decade, preschool places have increased from 130,000 to 220,000 today. School fees have also become more affordable. Today, every child above three years old in Singapore can receive quality, affordable preschool education, and in the next phase, we will further enhance the quality of preschool education, continuing to give children a good start in life.”
“I would like to thank Ms Denise Phua and Prof Kenneth Poon for acknowledging the inter-agency Taskforce and your suggestions that the Taskforce can consider, including reviewing the affordability of day activity centres and residential homes, reviewing employment opportunities and supporting PwDs and their families with long-term planning. As Senior Parliamentary Secretary Eric has shared, we will carefully consider these suggestions, along with recommendations for supporting PwDs that many other Members have raised through the past week. I am grateful to be leading this Taskforce which will complement our Enabling Masterplan 2030 and go beyond its recommendations to provide greater opportunities and assurances of dignity and stability for them. The Taskforce has started its work by looking at the life-cycle of PwDs of different needs and identifying the pain points and gaps that they encounter in the current system. We will relook how they transition from education to employment. We will grow employment opportunities that tap on their strengths. We will expand capacities of our day activity centres and sheltered workshops to provide stable and secure care environment for more clients and to shorten waiting times, thereby reducing the unnecessary stressful transitions for PwDs and their families. We will review community pathways and healthcare support for them to stay engaged in the community for longer. We will see how to better support our caregivers, by designing the system with them and their PwDs as a dyad and we will review and keep services affordable for all. The Taskforce's report will be released later this year. The Government stands ready to invest more to support PwDs and their families.”
“Many parents tell me that raising children is a full-time job, and since many parents have to continue to work, we are often stretched thin and this is where the broader community plays a crucial role in supporting our children's development and makes raising children a joyful experience. Through the strong partnerships that MSF has built with our community partners to run our Families for Life @ Community initiative, we were able to organise more than 670 family-centric activities across all 24 towns in Singapore last year. These events were supported by over 780 volunteers and benefited more than half a million participants. So, my deepest appreciation goes out to all our volunteers who help make these events possible. Thank you. These events provide opportunities for local communities to come together to foster friendship, to build support, while teaching our children what books cannot teach them – to care for those people and everyone around us. Take 11-year-old Capella, who started volunteering with Families for Life because she wanted to accompany her mother. What began as family time has become something much deeper – Capella has become more confident, more empathetic and discovered her own passion for volunteering and helping others. Their shared service not only supported other families; it deepened their own bond. This is the ripple effect we see when families volunteer together – creating meaningful family time while making a difference in our community. We all have a role to play in supporting families in Singapore. Let me talk about families, our families with PwDs.”
“Through new innovation seed funding and establishing baseline technology requirements, we will support preschools to adopt digital capabilities. We want to streamline routine tasks while facilitating better communication with parents and fostering stronger parent-preschool partnerships. We will also want to encourage more operators to seek accreditation under the revised Singapore Preschool Accreditation Framework 2.0, rolled out last year. As preschools attain a higher banding that reflects better service provision, parents can be assured of better quality. They can look forward to these preschools, which offer an even more enriching environment, to cater to their children's needs and to allow them to flourish. Finally, undergirding our next bound of quality improvements will be a strong focus on research and innovation. ECDA will lead efforts and collaborate with research partners to stay updated on emerging research and assess and encourage adoption of effective teaching and learning practices to raise the overall profile of our early childhood landscape. Quality improvement is a continuous journey. Our focus this year will be to engage and closely work with preschool operators, our educators, our operators and our parents to further develop our plans, as we strive to deliver this vision of quality preschools over the next five years. MSF and ECDA will share more details when we are ready. I have spoken about the importance of starting strong and starting early. So, that brings me to my final point to ensure that our families are set for life – starting together.”
“We care for their well-being and want to ensure that more support is given to our educators as mentioned by Mr Melvin Yong. Attracting and retaining quality educators remains a priority for us. We will grow our early education workforce by another 3,500 educators by 2030 to meet sector needs. We will better equip educators through pre-service training and in-service continuous development to adapt to our evolving early childhood landscapes, as they apply more play-based learning and support different learning needs. 11.30 am We also acknowledge the challenges that our preschool operators face – given the long hours they spend caring for our children, there is little time to engage in other tasks, such as lesson planning or relevant upskilling. Preschools also do not have school holidays unlike primary or secondary schools. We have been enhancing our educators' career proposition over the years and we remain committed to doing more to ensure they are well-supported. Together with operators and educators, we are currently reviewing educators' working conditions and workload, such as better enabling non-contact time. We will also embark on a sector-wide job redesign project to review the job scopes, the work processes and support structures in our preschools and to improve work experiences. For our operators, we will provide more support to strengthen their daily operations and to enhance their programme quality. Technology is a key enabler. As shared by Minister Masagos yesterday, we will refresh the Industry Digital Plan 2.0 jointly with IMDA to enhance support for all preschools' digital transformation efforts, including non-Government-supported preschools.”
“In my maiden Parliamentary speech, I highlighted the crucial role of play in children's learning and development. Play is a child's natural language. Play teaches children to share, to solve problems, to adapt to new situations, and to manage emotions. Our educators today already provide play experiences. We introduced play-based pedagogies in our earliest curriculum more than a decade ago. In the next bound, we will take it further. We will share across the entire sector best practices they have observed from the operators and intensify the application of play in everyday lessons to make learning more responsive to each child's needs and interests, and to help children enjoy both learning and their childhood. Next, we recognise that every child has their own strengths and learning needs. International research demonstrates that when educators design lessons that offer children different ways to learn, it improves teaching quality and leads to better outcomes for our children. We are strengthening efforts to equip educators to support every child's development to help them reach their full potential. For our parents, we will enable stronger partnerships with their child’s educators. Parents play a crucial role in bridging our children's development across preschool and home. From my preschool visits, the principals have shared that parents want to be involved in shaping their children’s development and learning. However, they are unsure how to partner educators. So, we will work with preschools to strengthen educator-parent partnerships through clearer role definitions and shared best practices. Educators are at the heart of preschool education and critical for our children's holistic development.”
“Portable subsidies have been raised in Parliament before. We have studied this and highlighted that this approach alone may lead to unintended consequences, such as fee increases without improvements in accessibility or quality, or preschools becoming overly commercial. We have seen this initiative implemented in other countries, only to be withdrawn a few years later. Instead of one single approach, we take a more holistic, multi-pronged approach. We provide funding to rigorously selected operators to cap fees and to maintain quality. We also provide basic and means-tested additional subsidies, so basic subsidies as well as additional means-tested subsidies, to parents to ensure affordability, with lower-income families paying less. CDAs help parents further offset post-subsidy fees at preschools of their choice. And our schemes have worked well with demonstrated success in our accessibility and affordability outcomes. In the next bound, MSF will place greater emphasis on the quality of preschools. Today, I will share our vision for "Quality Preschools", where children play, learn and grow alongside their peers, and develop holistically with strong foundations for life. To achieve this vision, we will journey with the sector to enhance preschool capabilities, improve programme and professional quality, foster stronger parent-preschool partnerships, and strengthen research and innovation. First, for our children, we will cultivate a preschool environment where they can play, learn and grow at a pace suitable for them. We will cater to children of different needs and backgrounds by encouraging play and offering different ways for them to learn and to explore.”
“We now have enough full-day preschool places nationally for every resident child aged three and above. We have also achieved our commitment of ensuring that 80% of preschoolers can have a place in a Government-supported preschool. To serve the newer housing estates with more families with more young children, we are on track to adding more than 40,000 full-day places in Anchor Operator preschools by 2029. Our early childhood services will continue to remain affordable. Since the start of the year, full-day childcare fees have been further reduced to a maximum of $610 at Anchor Operator preschools and $650 at Partner Operator preschools, a reduction of 15% since 2020. This will make out-of-pocket expenses for full-day childcare in an Anchor Operator preschool comparable to primary school and after-school care fees combined. With the revised Additional Subsidy income thresholds announced by the Prime Minister in his Budget speech, many families can expect to pay even lower fees. Let me elaborate. From January 2027, we will raise the gross monthly household income ceiling for the Additional Subsidy for childcare and Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme to $15,000. We will also increase income thresholds for all the subsidy tiers below to reflect changes in household incomes. This will further improve affordability of preschools for more than 60,000 lower- and middle-income families with young children. Let me cite an example. A median income household earning $12,500, with two children in Anchor Operator childcare, will see their total out-of-pocket fees for both children reduce by 35% from $730 in 2026 to $470 in 2027. Mr Kenneth Tiong suggested portable preschool subsidies and additional salary support for non-Government supported operators.”
“Parents are our first and most important line of defence. For practical support, I will refer parents to the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA's) Digital for Life portal and MSF’s Families for Life Parenting website. They offer guiding materials on managing children’s screen time, and helping them navigate the online world safely and to use AI responsibly. By reducing screen times, we hope parents can create opportunities to bond and form meaningful connections with their children. Every year, we dedicate the month of June to celebrating families through the month-long National Family Festival (NFF). Last year, more than 850,000 participated in activities like family carnivals, games and experiential learning activities. With greater community and corporate support, we hope to welcome one million participants to participate in NFF 2026 this year and to create even more memories as a family. Through our partnerships, MSF has been bringing more quality and affordable family activities directly to local communities. These include kite-making, reading programmes, community lo-hei, since Chinese New Year just passed, as well as discounts from commercial partners for family outings. Families can find upcoming events and good discounts on the Families for Life website. Next, let me touch on Starting Early, I would like to share how we will further enhance our early childhood education. Research has shown that the early years are crucial to a child’s development, where preschool attendance from the age of three leads to positive outcomes. To ensure accessibility to preschools, we have increased the number of full-day preschool places from around 135,000 to now more than 220,000 in the past decade.”
“We undertake regular reviews to ensure that our processes, our laws and our international efforts are effective in combating unethical adoption practices and child trafficking. In fostering arrangements, we facilitate regular contact or access between children and their biological parents to maintain links, wherever safe and appropriate. We have also seen cases where foster parents proactively help children reunite with their biological parents. MSF remains open to considering ways to facilitate this, including co-parenting, recognising also that every case is unique. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all foster parents, including Dr Neo, for their efforts in providing positive family environments. Finally, we are helping families plan for their later years. Yesterday, I was very glad to share that we will make it free of charge for citizens to file Form 1 of the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). Members of this House have raised this topic, including Mr Yip Hon Weng, Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Kenneth Tiong. We encourage all Singaporeans to make their LPA while they are still healthy and to do so as soon as possible. We acknowledge Members' feedback about the challenges faced in the scenarios where individuals require Professional Donees or Deputies. We have also heard similar feedback in our public consultations and with our Professional Deputies and Doneess. We will consider them in our upcoming review of the Mental Capacity Act and the Professional Deputies and Donees Scheme. Building a strong family environment requires creating healthy habits and quality time together – a challenge when screens increasingly dominate family life. Mr Cai Yinzhou and Miss Rachel Ong raised valid concerns about prolonged screen usage and exposure to AI.”
“For more vulnerable households, by adopting a holistic case management approach, our Family Service Centres help them manage multiple stressors and break out of inter-generational patterns. Minister Masagos has also shared that we will double our family counselling capacity under the Strengthening Families Programme (FAM) by 2030. To provide better support for caregivers, we have significantly enhanced leave provisions for parents of newborns, increased mandatory paternity leave, and introduced a new Shared Parental Leave scheme, and in total, parents now have up to 30 weeks of paid parental leave from April 2026 onwards. The Ministry of Manpower has also introduced the Tripartite Guidelines on flexible work arrangements to help caregivers. MSF's latest survey findings show that more than 85% of Singaporean families reported moderate to high family resilience scores, reflecting good ability to bounce back from life’s challenges. Nonetheless, data also shows that our divorced, widowed and separated respondents reported a lower family resilience score compared to married respondents. MSF will continue to track the resilience of families and study whether to provide more targeted support for single parent households. We also recognise that some children may not have access to stable homes with their biological parents, and may require adoption or fostering. Ms Sylvia Lim and Dr Neo Kok Beng have asked about these arrangements. Today, there are multiple layers of checks in our adoption processes to detect child trafficking. Challenges remain in transnational arrangements. Singapore has adopted regional frameworks to complement our domestic efforts to protect children.”
“Mr Chairman, MSF is committed to building a nation that supports Singaporeans in raising strong families and giving every child a good start. Today, I will elaborate on three strategies to achieve this: starting strong – building firm foundations within the home; starting early – ensuring access to affordable and quality early childhood education; and starting together – working as a community to support our families. Strong, Early, Together. And if we take the first letter of each, they spell out SET, reflecting our shared commitment to ensuring that families are set to thrive in Singapore. I will begin by sharing how we are supporting our families to start strong. For many of us, families are our safe harbour and where we turn to in our happiest and also our most challenging moments. An MSF survey in 2023 showed that most Singaporeans have a closely-knit family and believe in its importance. We will continue to support families to build strong foundations within the home. Mr Gabriel Lam and Mr Melvin Yong asked about support available for the different family types, while Ms Eileen Chong asked about strengthening support for parents and caregivers. 11.15 am MSF is committed in our efforts to strengthen all families. Our children deserve to be valued and given equal opportunities to thrive. Benefits that support their growth and development, such as subsidies for education, healthcare, and the CDA, are given to all citizen children, regardless of their parents’ marital status. To help all families stay resilient, we offer holistic support at every stage of life. These programmes range from financial assistance to family counselling to parenting workshops.”
“Mr Speaker, I would like to make a differentiation in response to the Member's questions. When we mention batteries, compliant or non-compliant batteries, I am referring, in my earlier reply, generally to power banks, for example. Those we do not track. And I think the House can appreciate why it is very difficult and perhaps not cost efficient for SCDF to track those cases. It is also sometimes very difficult to ascertain after the fire has taken place whether the particular item is compliant or not. But if we are talking about AMD batteries, then those are tracked. I think previously we have mentioned that AMD fires account for less than 5% of all fires, but the impact, be in terms of injuries and fatalities, is disproportionately higher, and therefore, it is something that is of concern. I think recently the Ministry of Transport has moved the Bill to that regard. In terms of cross-agency efforts, I again refer to the Adjournment Motion. I have spoken quite extensively previously in terms of how the Ministry of Home Affairs and SCDF works very closely with all our counterparts, including the People's Association, in terms of community outreach, in terms of working even with schools, for example, as well as Town Councils, in terms of some of the real actions on the ground in terms of enforcement and regulation. 10.32 am”
“Mr Speaker, maybe I would like to ask the Member to clarify, because we definitely want to improve the website to make sure that it is a lot more user friendly and intuitive. If the website is draggy, there can be a few reasons why it may be so. It may be a function of trying to recall from a database, pulling from other Government agencies' databases to complete the form filling. It may also be because of other reasons, including the applicants' computer system. So, useful to know where exactly is the observation and we can follow up on that.”
“Mr Speaker, we agree with the Member that public education is important. We have been doing that consistently and we will continue to step up on it. We have been working very closely with various agencies, including the Agency for Integrated Care, the Central Provident Fund Board, the Ministry of Health. In terms of running inter-agency campaigns, we are also working very closely with People's Association and various grassroots organisations on the ground, tapping on their various target audiences and their own lists, their own contacts, to make sure that we are able to get messages to as many Singaporeans as possible. We will continue to double down on those efforts. As the Member mentioned, we are also working on making sure that in terms of the languages, we are able to reach out to all our target audiences. We are also working on simplifying the messaging of our campaigns. Sometimes, in the LPA process, there can be some legal terms, medical terms, so we are trying to simplify those so that we are able to help make sure Singaporeans understand the importance and the urgency of making the LPA. Of course, I will make this call in this House as well: wishing all our Members of Parliament to support this effort and help carry the messages down to their own constituencies.”
“Speaker, I think the Member is right in that, over the last few years, the number of vegetation fires has generally been kept under control – under 200 per year over the last five years. However, we do know, especially for the weather, we do have to take a much bigger and longer-term perspective. When we look at 2018 to 2019, the numbers were much higher. In 2019, for example, it was in the 800s per year. That was also because during 2019, there were sustained periods of dry weather leading to spontaneous fires sparking off. What is important here is that we need to watch the weather patterns very carefully. It is seasonal, very dependent on how much rainfall we get. It is important for us to stay vigilant and take proactive measures, the measures that I have mentioned above. Whenever we work very closely with the other agencies, when the Meteorological Service tells us we should anticipate dry weather, I think that is when we need to take even more proactive prevention methods.”
“The number of GOIS [Government Official Impersonation Scams] cases reported in 2025 more than doubled to over 3,000. It is among the top five most reported scam types in 2025. Compared to other scam types, GOIS had the second highest average amount lost per case at more than $72,000.”