Leon Perera
Singapore
“I thank the Nominated Member, Mr Mark Chay, for his clarification. I did, in my speech, allude to my awareness of the existence of sports scholarships and I mentioned a few, nor in my speech did I claim that there is no Government support for these less well-known sports.”
“Sorry, again. I acknowledge that, of course, no system is perfect. I think we all acknowledge that. My colleague Assoc Prof Jamus Lim presented data on the performance of different countries in sporting excellence, government spending relative to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would like to ask one short supplementary question. I am wondering if the Government will consider requiring or mandating private companies to provide an elderly or parent care leave to some extent, or flexible work arrangements that will allow for time for eldercare and parent care duties?”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Just one supplementary question for the Senior Minister of State. He referred to the service quality framework that the Government uses vis-à-vis SingPost because SingPost is a Government licencee.”
“I was suggesting that the determination of consistency of the Ministerial Code of Conduct be done by an independent organisation. It could be the AGO, it could be a judge or retired judge or someone else to put that imprimatur of independence. I was not suggesting either or. You may disagree with that.”
“At the end of the day, healthcare is, and will remain, must remain, a profoundly human endeavour. There is no more important goal in healthcare than attracting, retaining and bringing out the best from our great healthcare workers.”
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Every one of 1,226 lines we hold for Leon Perera, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 24 of 25.
“Madam, a brief clarification for the Minister. Will the Ministry consider removing the restriction on, say, any funding to artists and for art projects that hold that the recipient should not be critical of national leaders and national institutions, as was discussed in this House a few months ago? Madam, artists, by their nature, throughout history across the world, they criticise the way things are and they posit alternative ways for the way things are. So, I think that restriction on NAC funding is holding back all that Singapore art could be.”
“There is also scope to experiment with the Danish model of private child-minders in specific blocks, precincts or estates. I hope this is something we can look at seriously, taking a whole-of-Government approach. Increasing Childcare Leave”
“Mdm Chairperson, our TFR has been declining for several decades and remains low by the global standard of 1.24 in spite of the billions spent on Marriage and Parenthood Packages over the last 15 years or so. The reasons for this and, hence, the policy tools to address this are necessarily complex and multifaceted. Madam, while some East Asian developed countries have low TFRs, some other developed countries have fared much better, including most of the Nordic countries and the US, at around 1.9. Even Japan and Switzerland are doing better at 1.4 and 1.5 respectively. There is only so much we can and should do to nudge Singaporeans to marry and have babies. Perhaps, our focus can be on encouraging those parents who do have one or two children to have more. In this regard, I think policies to ease the difficulties of having more children when one already has some, infant care and access to childcare, in particular, may be crucial. When a family already has one or two children, the logistical issues of having a third child or fourth child tend to weigh heavily. Other countries do have programmes where the states sponsor some parents in a particular neighbourhood to provide quasi, informal child and infant care to their neighbours, as in Denmark; or sends part-time helpers to help mothers with new-borns to cope for a month or two, as in France. In the Singapore context, the key may be to ensure there is enough infant and childcare capacity in the estates and towns with many young couples, building infrastructure ahead of demand, as it were. While there may be sufficient childcare capacity nationwide, it is unevenly distributed, as has been discussed in the House this year. This should be tracked very closely.”
“Madam, just two brief clarifications and I will keep it short. One, for the Minister, is whether the Ministry will consider the suggestion I made to publish the waiting times separately for walk-in versus appointment for polyclinics, and to lower the key performance indicator from 100 minutes to 45 minutes. My second clarification point is to Minister of State Chee Hong Tat regarding the outreach efforts to companies through health talks and healthy living promotion. One of the best ways to reach out to adults is through their employers. I know HPB does programmes, such as screening and talks, with large employers. But the SMEs often get left out. What more will HPB be doing to reach out to SMEs to conduct this kind of programmes, perhaps working together with the trade associations and chambers?”
“Firstly, can we provide real-time data for the expected waiting time, not just on the Internet but also by on automated phone, as well as on digital signboards outside the polyclinic? I believe this is done at some polyclinics but not all. Secondly, can we deploy staff fluent in different Singaporean languages to engage walk-in patients and convince them to try to use their phones or other means to set appointments in future? Waiting Time for Specialist Consultation”
“Mr Chairman, in business where the target is surpassed by a wide margin, sometimes, it is due to good performance; sometimes, it is due to good fortune; and sometimes, it is due to the target being set too low. In the 2016 Budget Book, the KPI for polyclinic waiting time was set at a maximum of 100 minutes. By this standard, over 95% of cases consistently met the KPI for the last few years. I urge MOH to review this performance indicator. One hundred minutes or 1 hour and 40 minutes is not an acceptable time for our patients to wait, especially the elderly. I suggest that we change this Page: 128 time to 45 minutes to provide a more meaningful KPI for good performance. MOH publishes the median and 95th percentile waiting times for polyclinics. In February 2016, total waiting time for registration plus consultation was roughly half an hour for the median, which is not bad, but closer to a shocking two hours for the 95th percentile. It was two hours and 16 minutes for the 95th percentile at Bedok Polyclinic, for example. This points to what is probably the huge difference in waiting time between those who make appointments and those who walk-in. I suggest that waiting times be published separately for those who had made appointments and those who walked-in. I am aware that Internet phone and mobile apps are available for making polyclinic appointments. However, in SMU's recent customer satisfaction survey, satisfaction with polyclinic waiting times fell in 2015. What is the reason for this? Is there more we can do to cut waiting times for those elderly Singaporeans who tend to walk-in? I suggest we explore several options.”
“Thank you, Sir, just a brief clarification to the Minister for MSF. Has the Ministry given any thought in relation to KidSTART that since the children will be proactively identified by the ECDA, what will you do in cases where parents are reluctant to release their children to take part in these activities or are even resistant to co-operate with the programme? How will such cases be handled?”
“Mr Chairman, a critical measure of our successes as a society is social mobility. This is the part of the glue that binds Singapore. I have heard from a friend in the social work profession that he has begun seeing clients in need of social work help who are the children of the clients that he saw 20 years ago. So, no one is cheered by stories like these. MOF's Occasional Paper published in 2012 and updated in 2015 suggested that the 1978-1982 cohort and 1974-1978 cohort saw an inter-generational mobility measure of around 0.2, which is relatively good by international standards. Other studies suggest different results. For example, Prof Irene Ng's study based on 2002 data concluded that 58% of the income advantage of Singapore parents was being handed down to their children – a level similar to the USA at that time. And there are methodological limitations to both these studies, as both authors have acknowledged. I suggest that we commit to at least one social mobility study every 10 years to the best available global standards. If we cannot measure how well we are doing, we cannot know how to make things better. Enabling Masterplan 3”
“Mdm Chairperson, I will keep it short. Just two points of clarifications to Senior Minister of State Mr Ng. I thank him for addressing some of my points. Firstly, on ERP 2.0, in designing the charging model, will the Ministry consider keeping the effect on total revenue neutral vis-à-vis the current vehicle population and current distances travelled? So, if the vehicle population increases, of course, revenue can increase but the point of reference should be to keep it neutral to current revenue, since we want it to be mainly for easing congestion rather than raising revenue. Second point is: what will the Ministry be doing to work with the taxi companies to ensure that there is a minimum fleet of taxis that can carry wheelchairs, given the expected increase that we will face in the future of elderly Singaporeans who are not ambulatory and will need to go to and from medical appointments more? And also, to ensure that the fares are affordable for the most vulnerable group.”
“Mdm Chairperson, the new GNSS-based ERP 2.0 will allow real-time tracking of traffic and road usage. I would like to make several suggestions and pose a few questions. Firstly, has MOT done any simulations to show the net impact of the ERP 2.0 system on total revenue collection? If not, I would urge them to do so and to design the charging model to ensure that total revenue collection remains more or less neutral relative to the current distances travelled and current vehicle population. The purpose of the ERP system should be to ease congestion and not to raise revenue. 1.00 pm Secondly, MOT has said that the data collected will be made available to motorists so that they can easily see which are the congested roads and avoid them if possible. How will this be done? I suggest that the aggregated and anonymised data be made accessible in real time and in a user-friendly manner to the private sector so that third-party app developers can provide innovative solutions to motorists, making Singapore a testbed for such innovations. Thirdly, the Government has provided assurances that data privacy will be upheld. I would like to ask if the Government can conduct a privacy impact assessment (PIA) to give the public transparency that personally identifiable information is collected, used, accessed, shared, safeguarded, stored and discarded in a proper manner. The US Department of Homeland Security, for example, conducts PIAs for several of its programmes. I would also like to ask if Government agencies will have limitless access to these data or will there be safeguards against executive over-reach. For example, if the Police want access to information on someone's travel patterns, will they need a Court Order or can they do so without one? COE”
“WTORS defines different securement systems including the four-point tie-down system. Vehicles provided by some VWOs to ferry wheelchair users already use the four-point tie-down system today. I propose that our public buses be required to conform to international standards to ensure safety. Some of the new buses on display have a seat belt system to improve safety but this is still below international safety standards like WTORS. Covered Walkways”
“Mdm Chairperson, our public transport system will not be truly public until it is fully friendly to Singaporeans with disabilities and I would like to make a few suggestions in this regard. Firstly, do we have enough lifts at our MRT and LRT stations? Currently, there is at most one lift per path. These lifts are typically small and accommodate up to two wheeled mobility devices. With an ageing population, there will be more pressure on these lifts. A single lift also means a single point of failure. The priority queue system by itself cannot address all these points. Can MOT look into building at least two lifts for all stations as a long-term goal? Secondly, on taxis. SMRT, Comfort and other firms now provide some taxis that can ferry wheelchairs. However, the fare they charge is generally at least $50 per trip. This is a burden to wheelchair users with modest means who need to travel regularly to locations less accessible by public transport. While transport allowance schemes are in place and some VWOs have programmes in place to address this, these are not always available to those in need. Could MOT work with taxi companies to find ways to address the needs of this group, a group which will grow as the population ages? Lastly, can we do more to ensure safety for wheelchair users on our public buses? The current practice on buses is just to place the wheelchair rear-facing, back against the vertical wall and apply the brakes. This will not ensure the safety of both the wheelchair user and, other passengers who might be injured by a flying wheelchair, so to speak, should an accident occur. There is a worldwide standard known as the Wheelchair Tie-Down and Occupant Restraint System (WTORS).”
“Yes. So, my question is: would the Minister of State consider doing this survey on a regular basis? Because my understanding is that the market has softened and the markets do go through cycles. So, would such a survey about whether flat owners have difficulties finding tenants, be something that the Ministry would do on a regular basis? The second point of clarification is regarding LBS. The hon Minister of State mentioned rental and downgrading as other options but, of course, rental depends on the market; downgrading has other downsides, like commissions and costs. There is evidence to suggest that the bequeath motives hold back some people from exercising LBS. Would the Ministry look into ways to address the bequeath motive issue that is holding back some people from making use of LBS, such as the suggestion made by Mr Chen Show Mao? Lastly, on APF, I would like to ask the Ministry why the disbursement of the fund has been quite low so far. Clearly, there are deserving projects, in terms of indoor and vertical farming. Is it because of a lack of deserving projects? Or is it because of some lack of connectivity between the companies, the farmers, and the agency in charge of disbursing the fund?”
“Thank you, Mr Chairman, just a few points of clarifications to the hon Minister of State. Firstly, on the statistics he cited that flat owners who are seeking to rent out rooms, a survey was conducted a few years ago, where only 5% of them had difficulties finding tenants. The anecdotal feedback I have from residents —”
“Mdm Chairperson, just two points. Firstly, a point of clarification to the Acting Minister on the issue of class sizes which he discussed in relation to what Assoc Prof Daniel Goh had mentioned. The Minister mentioned there is no proven causal link between smaller class sizes and better educational outcomes. I would like to ask, if that is the case, then why is it that the OECD average is smaller, why is it that our GEP classes are smaller, why is it that our international schools in Singapore have smaller class sizes and why is it that the tuition centre classes that we Page: 66 have in Singapore all have smaller class sizes than the norm, compared to the primary and secondary schools? The Minister alluded to the fact we can generate good educational outcomes in Singapore based on tests like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and so on in spite of having larger class sizes than the OECD average. But we have to bear in mind that that is also with the help of the $1 billion tuition industry. My question and my suggestion are − and relating to the point about sustainability − right now, we have a situation where enrolments are gradually declining and, if we assume that the attrition rate remains stable and that teachers are not made redundant, would not this create an opportunity to redeploy teachers in such a way as to reduce the class size, to avail ourselves of those kinds of benefits? So, that is my first point. My second point is: just in relation to the increased emphasis on outdoor learning with OBS and so on, what are the provisions being made for students with physical disabilities in order to be inclusive towards them?”
“One such KPI that I would like to suggest is the number of students' self-initiated projects which enjoy positive peer and teacher reviews and can sustain a critical mass of student participation, encouraging our students to initiate their own projects in an entrepreneurial way and breed these kinds of qualities. Initiating one's project, like setting up a new club, a new sports activity, a charitable project, an informal business activity and so on, both reflects and nurtures just the kind of qualities that we need in the 21st century. Page: 16 CCAs in Schools”
“Mdm Chairperson, good KPIs make for good outcomes. The MOE KPIs in the 2016 Budget Book are still heavily skewed towards academic credentials, stressing the number of passes and so on. These are important but in the 21st century, we will increasingly need qualities like leadership, initiative, confidence, creativity, communication skills and altruism. While we have stopped publishing PSLE top scorers and the like, I fear credentialism is still deeply entrenched among parents, teachers and students, and we need to break this self-reinforcing loop. For example, in Singapore, parent-teacher meetings (PTMs) often take the form of the teacher explaining the gaps in the child's performance without the child being present, with the view to the parent helping to remedy those gaps at home. Many of us are familiar with this. I do not blame our teachers at all for this. They are doing their jobs as defined by the system, and usually they are motivated by genuine care for their children. But contrast this with the PTM held at one western international school here that I learned about. The PTM was run by the children themselves. It was the child who led the PTM by explaining to their own parents in front of the teacher what they have done that term, what they will try to do next term and so on, with the teacher's facilitation. Would this not be leadership? Would this not be confidence? I suggest that MOE give some thought to designing and measuring KPIs for such softer but critical qualities. There are a number of international measures of such qualities that could be surveyed each year without recourse to mass standardised testing and which warrant further study by MOE.”
“Mr Chairman, in his Budget wrap-up speech, the Minister of Finance referred to the Holistic Industry Productivity Scorecard (HIPS) system that is run by SBF, which provides a calculator of productivity and allows companies to log on to the system, input some data, calculate the productivity level and benchmarks the productivity level against certain industry norms. If I recall correctly, the Minister for Finance said that there are roughly 80 companies currently using this HIPS system from SBF. He said this in response to my suggestion for a national productivity benchmarking system. So, I would like to ask MTI whether they will be working with SBF, perhaps to take this tool and push it out to all the companies that we have. I believe that we have 180,000 businesses and companies. SBF's target is to get 30,000 of them onto HIPS by 2020. So, that still leaves many, many more companies that have not been using the system. If SBF achieves that target, will the Government actually work with SBF to push out this tool, as a benchmarking tool, not just against industry norms and Singapore, but also industry norms globally, so that our SMEs can have a very clear quantifiable view of what they can achieve, what they can aspire to achieve in terms of productivity?”
“Mr Chairman, in Budget 2016, the Government has pledged more resources to our TACs and it is no doubt good that we aim to level up TACs to play more of a pan-industry role. But I would like to sound one cautionary note. TACs are, generally, run by an executive committee (exco) that consists of representatives from different companies. If there is to be much greater involvement in communication with Government agencies, it is the exco and staff reporting to the exco at the TACs who will be on the frontline of that communication. Those exco members also have their own individual corporate interests. In working with TACs, I urge MTI to take pains to ensure that communication efforts and engagement are as inclusive as possible towards all TAC members. This is so as to mitigate any risk that the TAC exco members will use or will be perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be using any access to Government resources or information for the benefit of their own firms, rather than for the whole TAC membership. Promptly circulating minutes of meetings between the Government and the TAC staff and exco to all members would be one way to manage this. Trade Associations and Chambers”
“This might help raise the productivity and effectiveness of our preschool teachers. An example is KASPAR, a social robot designed by the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom (UK) to help children with autism learn responses from the robot through games and interactive play. Even though the Japanese seem to have a lead in this space, Mdm Chairperson, Singapore is well-placed to prototype and test bed social robots for the eldercare and preschool markets in Asia, given the Asian multi-ethnic and multilingual nature of our society. I hope this is an area that can receive attention from policymakers and be a subject of collaboration between local enterprises and the R&D sector.”
“Mdm Chairperson, the National Robotics Plan is one of the initiatives in Budget 2016. I would like to speak about social robots, which are robots designed for human interaction, company and assistance. 4.45 pm Social robotics is now a recognised field that has spawned industry conferences, global collaboration and much investment. I am aware that social robotics is far from new to Singapore. Late last year, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) unveiled Nadine, a life-size robot. A*Star Social Robotics Laboratory was launched in 2008. The National University of Singapore and other institutes have social robotics programmes but, to the best of my knowledge, Singapore has yet to bring to market a commercially successful social robot product to compete with, for example, Pepper, the iconic social robot from Japan, which is now selling around 1,000 units per month, even though it is not Jarvis. Mdm Chairperson, I wish to speak about the relevance of social robotics to two fields in Singapore where we are facing growing needs and which can provide test beds for new products: our eldercare and our preschool sectors. In the eldercare space, I must stress that social robots should never replace genuine and loving human contact from family, friends and caregivers. Having said that, social robots could be designed to interact with older Singaporeans in various languages. They can also monitor vital signs, help dispense medicine, answer questions verbally, help connect phone calls, obtain emergency help and so on. In the preschool space, social robots could complement the vital role of teachers in the classroom and provide an amusing and engaging way for children to learn and also receive classroom assistance.”
“The Workers' Party has, in the past, called for the EXIM bank idea to be reexamined with a focus on SMEs. Access to capital is an issue that warrants both fact-based analysis and review of counter measures, including the EXIM bank idea, if our SMEs, which account for two-thirds of employment, are to maintain and create jobs for Singaporeans. R&D”
“Mdm Chairperson, there are a number of Government loan risk-sharing schemes. Budget 2016 has set up a new working capital loan scheme with 50% risk-sharing. I would like to ask: is there any evidence the Government can cite and, if not, can a study be done to assess if, indeed, these loan schemes are effective in inducing banks to lend to SMEs, when they otherwise would not? Even partial risk-sharing is still a risk to the bank. And when there are other options for the banks to use their capital, such as lending to large corporates, risk-sharing may not be enough. I have heard from some SMEs that even if the bank has to bear less than 50% of the risk, many banks still behave as if that is a significant risk. When applying for loans, many SMEs, even fairly large ones, still face high interest rates, small quantums, requests for personal security guarantees, or outright rejection on grounds, such as inconsistent revenues. Is there any survey evidence to suggest that SMEs feel that they are out of the woods in terms of access to finance? There would not appear to be any. In fact, the reverse is true. In a Singapore Business Federation (SBF)-DP Info survey last year, the index measuring expectations for access to financing fell to its lowest levels since 2013. The low-risk appetite of banks and lack of credit information on SMEs could be one cause. In Germany and Japan, countries with vibrant SMEs, links between regional banks and regional companies are critical to ensure access to capital. Other countries also have Export-Import (EXIM) banks suggested by the Economics Strategies Committee in 2010. An EXIM bank with a clear mandate could have provided finance to SMEs to tap on the regional market of over three billion people to grow and become competitive.”
“I urge the Home Team to consider issuing a social impact bond to better target funds and spur innovation for rehabilitation and anti-recidivism programmes. Such a move could also spark more interest in and acceptance of social impact bonds in Singapore, which would benefit the social landscape here and help unlock more innovative and result-focused approaches in tackling social challenges. Reducing Drug Recidivism Rates”
“In the 2016 Budget Book, recidivism, the percentage of discharged criminal offenders who go on to re-offend, is estimated to rise to 28% in 2016, from 26.8% in 2015. When someone who has served his/her debt to society for a crime goes on to re-offend, not only is it a loss to that person and his/her family members and friends, but it is also a loss to society. That re-offender could have become a productive contributor to our economy and society. In Singapore, we have examples of ex-offenders who have become entrepreneurs, professionals and even religious leaders. In this regard, I suggest we examine the role that social impact bonds can play in funding innovative programmes that help rehabilitate ex-offenders into society and keep recidivism at bay. The idea of a social impact bond can be summarised as follows, at the risk of some oversimplification. Investors put up money to buy the bond. The bond stipulates that a certain social impact target must be met after some years by an NGO or NGO-coalition, perhaps working in concert with public sector partners. If at the end of the bond period the target is met, the Government redeems the bond. If not, then the investors lose their investment and their investment becomes akin to a donation. If the goal is reached, the state ensures that its funds are impactful and well spent. Anti-recidivism is a popular subject for social impact bonds because the social impact and the cost to the state can be measured very clearly. In fact, the very first social impact launched by the British government in 2010 was for prisoner rehabilitation. States in Australia and the US have launched or planned to launch social impact bonds around this theme as well.”
“Mdm Speaker, just two brief points of clarifications with the hon Minister for Finance. Firstly, will the Minister consider creating the equivalent of a national secretariat for developing local enterprises? The Singapore Business Federation has suggested a Minister for SMEs. If we see this as a critical national priority, then that would argue for the whole-of-Government approach, similar to the approach taken, for example, for climate change, for population and for ageing. Page: 38 My second clarification is a follow-up to the one raised by Mr Faisal Manap and Mr Dennis Tan and others, which is that, for the children support schemes, such as KidSTART, that have been announced in Budget 2016, will these also apply to children born out of wedlock?”
“Madam, I thank the Senior Minister of State for the detailed answer. I would just like to ask a supplementary question. Would the Government consider setting a goal for the non-HDB car parks to offer free parking on Sundays, given the benefits in terms of family bonding as well as possible stimulus to small businesses and heartland businesses that may benefit from such a move?”
“In a situation of talent scarcity, with a large and attractive Public Sector and MNC sector, we must do more to unlock resources of talent, not just because it is the right thing to do morally but also economically. The late Andy Grove of Intel, for example, was severely hearing impaired as a young man but went on to transform Intel and the global semiconductor industry.”
“In other words, many of our young Singaporeans are drawn to work in the Public Sector, banks and large enterprises. This draws talent away from startups and local enterprises, particularly SMEs. To tilt the playing field so as to nurture our local enterprises, we should consider a few possible actions. Firstly, we should do more to foster entrepreneurial attitudes in school, not only at the tertiary level but at the secondary level as well. We should also teach our children about the contributions of entrepreneurs and local firms. The SME Talent Programme (STP) helps local SMEs attract talent from local educational institutes by co-funding internships, study sponsorships and fresh-hire training. In 2015, the Minister for Trade and Industry replied to Mr Chen Show Mao that 155 STP job matches and over 700 STP internships were implemented, benefiting 192 enterprises. More publicity should be created around existing SME Talent Schemes among both SMEs and students to drive the take-up rate even higher, which I believe is possible. This should be done in terms of media awareness programmes as well as school events. SMEs should also be encouraged and supported to develop employee branding initiatives so as to be more successful in hiring. Lastly, we should do more to measure and raise social mobility to provide more educational support to persons with disabilities to develop their talents and to work with ex-prison inmates to support their entrepreneurial dreams. I shall have more to say on these topics in COS and future debates, but the reason I raise this subject in the context of a discussion on local enterprises is that future entrepreneurs and innovators can come from such backgrounds.”
“In the same vein, the Singapore Business Federation has suggested creating a Minister for SMEs. Next, on nurturing SMEs, the pool of local enterprises is also not equal in terms of their goals and aspirations. Some aspired to become world-class whereas others aspired to maintain Page: 53 themselves as SMEs indefinitely. Our approach to incentives should reflect this inequality very strongly, as was practised by Japan and Korea in their early days of post-war development. I think there is far more room for SME Government support, such as access to finance, tax incentives, cash grants schemes and so on, to be much more calibrated, based on the aspirations of SMEs. We can give more aggressive support and higher quantum of incentives and agree on stretch goals with those local enterprises which want it and – this is the crucial point – which can deliver results. The support should be conditional on hitting goals in terms of revenue, investment, job creation and so on, as determined objectively by audits or checks. The support should be unequivocally withdrawn if results are not achieved within a certain timeframe. The genuinely entrepreneurial and ambitious SMEs that we have would welcome this. Lastly, Mdm Speaker, and briefly, making SMEs more competitive is also about unlocking talent in Singaporean entrepreneurs and workers. There is a pragmatic case for egalitarianism as unlocking hidden talent, particularly for our local enterprise sector, which needs it most. The CareerBuilder Singapore's Employer of Choice 2015 survey showed that sectors like the Government and Public Service, airline and travel and banking and financial services are the top industry sectors that millennials want to work in.”
“The Government needs to help level the playing field. For example, unit labour cost for the overall economy increased at an average rate of 2.15% from 2010 to 2014. This is higher than labour productivity growth of 0.3% measured in terms of real value-added per worker, and 1.3% measured in terms of real value-added per hour worked over the same period. In this regard, I would like to discuss the Jurong Innovation District. I will take up the issue of access to finance in the Committee of Supply (COS) and access to talent later on. On the Jurong Innovation District, one of the key challenges that SMEs face is rental costs. Will the Jurong Innovation District provide a rental cost environment that will be conducive to SMEs and startups which also wish to take advantage of the space, or will rentals be high, eating into their startup funding? More broadly, the issue of high rentals has to be addressed as it is a bigger and more fundamental impediment to startups and SMEs evolving innovation capabilities as opposed to gaining access to innovation districts with purported network effects. My colleagues will have more to say on this issue of rentals during COS. Next, the Workers' Party suggests that we create a mechanism to ensure a high-level whole-of-Government approach to SME development that goes beyond just the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). If we see local enterprise development as a critical priority, as I believe we should, we should create a national secretariat for local enterprise development, one that brings together multiple Government departments and Ministries and which can create and execute goals for different Government agencies to nurture local enterprises in their spheres of responsibility.”
“Mdm Speaker, I suggest we create a facility whereby local SMEs are able to proactively put out a tender of sorts for potential R&D projects and assess bids from interested researchers at our RIs, RCs and AUs. If a project is agreed between the parties, A*STAR and/or other relevant agencies could provide co-funding in exchange for job creation commitments or some form of modest profit-sharing. This would appeal to SMEs which seek R&D support for ideas they may have but lack in-house R&D resources and who may not want to go down the path of the Get-Up Programme, which allows researchers to be seconded to companies, since their needs are more project-specific. Next, Mdm Speaker, I would like to speak on sector-specific measures. The services and construction sectors are two sectors which are still grappling with productivity issues. These two sectors will see foreign worker levy rises. But with PIC support tapering down towards 2018, are the measures in Budget 2016, such as the Automation Support Package and Industry Transformation Initiatives, enough? We need both carrot and stick for these sectors. It may also have been the case with some firms that PIC was not used to make game-changing investments in technology in the past. For these two sectors, to help them transition to a higher productivity future, we should pay careful attention to ensure that funding support is available to make transformational game-changing investments in technology and work processes, either using the Automation Scheme provisions or some other incentives. Next, SMEs still face problems to do with high cost, problems attracting talent and access to finance. Some of these issues were highlighted in the Singapore Business Federation's January 2016 report on "A Vibrant Singapore Private Sector".”
“This data analysis could be used to derive the average figure within the industry and the figure for each company. ACRA, SPRING or another Government agency could then write to each company each year to inform them of their level of productivity, where it is ranked versus the industry average and where it stands relative to the benchmarks which have been derived from global analyses. Improvement in a company's productivity ranking could be used as one criterion or one forward-looking condition, not the only one, to grant access to Government incentive schemes. Secondly, R&D matching. My second suggestion is to create an R&D-matching facility to allow SMEs to work with autonomous universities (AUs) and national research centres (RCs) and research institutes (RIs) under the A*STAR umbrella to call for tenders, as it were, for standalone R&D projects. The Minister for Trade and Industry revealed in response to my Parliamentary Question that from 2004 to 2014, the total number of licensing agreements signed with private companies by Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd, which helps commercialise intellectual property (IP) from the R&D sector, was 920, or just over about 80 a year. Of these, about 80% were with SMEs and startups. We can do even better in intermediating between the R&D sector and local SMEs to allow synergistic projects. The example of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Germany's Fraunhofer Network or even how some Japanese MNCs collaborate very closely with Page: 52 Japanese universities to outsource part of their R&D work is interesting in this regard.”
“Near the swimming class, there were two cafe outlets. One frequently had five, six or seven staff present, many of whom were standing around with nothing to do much of the time. Yet, many dishes were not available or took a long time to prepare. Orders were sometimes forgotten or mistaken. The other cafe outlet had two to three staff and yet, all the food and drinks were prepared fairly quickly. No prizes for which one we went to for our breakfast most of the time. However, companies do not all know how well they are performing vis-à-vis their industry peers. This is particularly true of SMEs. They do not have the visibility about the rest of their industry and often do not have the resources to understand what productivity levels are like in other developed countries and how those are achieved. What is available is public information which tends to be about larger, public-listed companies and industries dominated by these larger companies. No doubt, the National Productivity Council and SPRING do work with SMEs to raise productivity, disseminate best practices and so on. But nothing beats a simple quantitative ranking to focus minds. I suggest a productivity benchmarking system. This would be similar to how our household utilities bills show a chart of our electricity and water consumption, compared to similar-sized households and the national average. Economic promotion agencies or the Government can agree on a company-level standard for, for example, "poor", "average", "good" and "excellent" productivity for specific industries. Government agencies could then automate the extraction of data from financial statements filed with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), even for private-exempt companies.”
“Mdm Speaker, before I begin, please allow me to declare that I am the owner of a mid-size, Singapore-based enterprise. Mdm Speaker, we need local enterprises as the third pillar of our economy, standing alongside MNCs and Government-linked companies (GLCs). Right now, the share of SMEs in value-added in our economy is less than what their share of business numbers and employment would imply. We lack the equivalent of Germany's mittelstand, a critical mass of world-leading SMEs which are world leaders in niche product categories or technologies, like, for example, Faber Castell, a manufacturer of pencils. The issue should not be framed in terms of just providing state support to help companies survive, but in terms of providing enablers to help companies to develop their own competitiveness. The state has a vital role to play in countering some of the downsides of our economic environment like high costs, but it should also act as a catalyst to help our SMEs identify, develop and maintain their own critical competitive success factors. This is especially so in regard to developing productivity, where Singapore is still struggling in certain sectors, especially in services, construction and other domestically-oriented ones. Page: 51 To this end, our main focus should not be only on short-term props like ensuring more public sector construction projects, even if those are necessary, to smooth out short-term fluctuations, but on making SMEs more competitive and more productive. In this regard, I have several suggestions. Firstly, companies all operate at different levels of productivity, even within the same industry. I used to take my children for breakfast before taking them to swimming class when they were much younger.”
“The whole school − the teachers, even their peers − you will be very touched to see how fellow students take care of one another; how fellow students make life better for one another in ensuring that the learning journey of each and every one of them is not affected. Beyond that, we work very closely with MOE psychologists who go to these schools very often. We are also in touch with the Institute of Mental Health team, the Response, Early intervention and Assessment in Community mental Health (REACH) team, where they will provide assessments, take in referrals from the school. We also work with the relevant VWOs to make sure that we have a targeted approach in caring for these people.”
“I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for his detailed answer. I just have one supplementary question which is more pertaining to the distribution of the AED(LBS), which are the allied educators coaching children with special needs. What process is in place right now to deploy more of such allied educators to schools, if more special needs children actually manifest themselves in the schools, which may happen as the cohorts change? The reason I ask this question is because I have encountered residents with children with special needs who have felt that there are insufficient allied educators who are trained in those skills in their particular school. Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Madam, our approach is to continue to enhance the mainstream schools' capacity to support students with special needs. This is in the form of also the numbers of AED(LBS) we have. Beyond that, we have a system whereby we not only work with the AED(LBS) within the school, within the schools, there are, one, a core group of teachers who are trained – at the secondary level about 20% of each school would have these trained core group of teachers. They are trained on special needs where they will go for training. At the same time, they are also expected to share with their colleagues in the school. Within that, there is also the Student Development Team and these are led by School Leaders, Year Heads and Heads of Department where they work together with the AED(LBS), together with the core group, to see how they can take care of those with special needs. So, in essence, it is not just about the number of AED(LBS).”
“I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State whether she is aware of any cases where access to hospitals has been disrupted by flash flooding and, if so, how long those cases took to recede. The purpose of asking that is just to assess the risk to accessibility to our hospitals in future, whether there is a risk of an extended blockage of access to hospitals due to flooding.”
“A recent study by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) suggested that solar PV could contribute as much as 20% to the overall electricity mix by 2050 but that figure could be pushed to 30% under an accelerated scenario. We suggest that a study be undertaken to assess what can be a feasible target for solar power as a share of total electricity generation by 2030, under both a conservative and a stretch scenario, so that we can debate how much should be invested, where and towards what goals in developing solar power generation in Singapore. In short, we suggest a more aggressive approach to better exploit rooftop and water-borne opportunities for solar power generation, together with investments in R&D in areas such as electricity storage. Mdm Speaker, in conclusion, we hope that these suggestions will lead to more fact-finding on the part of the relevant Government agencies, working with academia and the private sector so as to develop these two sectors as engines for economic and non-economic benefits for Singapore. We are at our best when we apply ourselves to overcoming our natural limitations. 6.39 pm”
“5 million or about S$7 million, and will generate around three megawatt. The UK deployment covers an area about half the size of Bedok Reservoir, which is one of our smaller reservoirs. Solar panel deployments across all our reservoirs and also some available parts of our territorial waters outside of established sea lanes, could contribute significantly to energy production. Japan has floating solar panels in Hyogo prefecture and is now working on building the world's biggest floating solar farm in Chiba prefecture by 2018. Mdm Speaker, these measures by themselves will not enable us to replace fossil fuels in the foreseeable future. But they will tilt the balance towards greater energy security, lower carbon footprint and exportable economic opportunities for Singapore-based firms to develop expertise in managing, maintaining and deploying urban solar panels, in the same way that Singapore firms have cultivated expertise in urban master-planning and industrial park design and management, expertise that has been very successfully exported. Above all, there is a need for us to examine the facts and then set a stretch target for what percentage of energy consumption should be achieved by solar by, say, 2030. According to a recent paper by the Clean Energy Committee of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore, a conservative projection suggests that the capacity available for solar generation in Singapore is actually 17% of electricity demand in 2025, far above the expected 7% that would be achieved by 2025 without government intervention.”
“As early as 2007, "cleantech" was identified as a key economic growth area by the Government, which led to EDB's Clean Energy Initiative. In recent years, EMA has also introduced a number of enhancements to the regulatory framework governing the interaction of intermittent renewable sources with Singapore's electricity grid. Spending on solar power is dwarfed by current public spending on fossil fuels. It is no doubt necessary to invest in and upgrade our infrastructure for oil, natural gas and LNG in the short to medium term. However, there is room to invest more on solar energy in several ways. Firstly, more can be done to exhaust opportunities for rooftop solar panel deployment. In this regard, we are fortunate that most housing in Singapore is public housing, which facilitates the achievement of this goal. In October 2014, HDB began awarding the zero-dollar solar leasing tender, meaning that the full costs of solar PV systems are borne by the PV developers. In June 2015, HDB called the first consolidated tender under the SolarNova programme for 220 megawatt peak, which is a small fraction of the estimated six megawatt peak of solar capacity that is potentially available, according to estimates in Singapore. This initiative was leading to the installation of solar panels at some 5,500 HDB blocks. We can be more aggressive here and set a goal to install solar panels on every HDB building roof by 2025. Secondly, more should be done to study and exploit opportunities in unorthodox solar panel deployment, such as on water bodies. PUB has been looking into building solar panels on the Tengeh reservoir and Choa Chu Kang waterworks. One that is being built in the UK – that is, water-borne solar panel deployment – is reported to cost about £3.”
“Mdm Speaker, with more investment and governmental promotion, we can develop a sizeable indoor vertical farming sector, not to completely replace imported food – that is not practicable in the short term – but to mitigate our dependence on imported food and harness economic benefits from a new and knowledge-intensive exportable sector. Next, I would like to speak of another such sector: renewable energy and in particular solar power generation. Solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation is the most relevant renewable energy technology for Singapore – or one of the most relevant, certainly – given our equatorial location and relative lack of feasibility for other renewable energy sources, such as biomass, wind, tidal, hydro-electric or geothermal. Countries are finding that shifting towards renewable energy enhances energy security and economic stability in the face of volatile global fossil fuel prices. Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of technologies such as solar PV technology is continuing to improve rapidly. The cost of solar panels has come down by a factor of five in the past six years and is expected to halve in the next 20 years. The solar power sector globally has grown by over 10% a year for the better part of a decade and is now worth over $3 trillion. Domestically, solar power would help to build up industrial capacity and create good jobs within the entire supply chain, from maintenance to operations, to research and development. In particular, there is an opportunity for Singapore to develop leadership in the deployment of solar power generation in dense urban environments. This could be know-how that is developed, internalised and then exported by our locally based companies.”
“As for affordability, new technologies have enabled higher crop yields for indoor farming. Sky Greens, for example, has been able to produce at least 10 times more yield per unit of land area versus conventional methods. The world's biggest indoor farm in Japan has claimed to be 100 times more productive than traditional farms. Certainly, not all our food supply can come from underground vertical farming; there are still price differences but it is moving in a positive direction. Secondly, sustainability. The amount of water used in indoor vertical farming has been found to be substantially lower due to the layout of the racks and the implementation of water recycling features built into the system. The underground farm in London uses 70% less water than traditional farming. Indoor farming also reduces shrinkage, which is loss of crops during transportation. The much-shorter journey from the farm to the marketplace also means that the crops remain fresh for longer periods after they reach our shelves. The third benefit is developing expertise and IP for our economy. Singapore is well-positioned to become a global leader in the field of underground urban agriculture. Our local enterprises can be nurtured to not only operate indoor farms effectively in Singapore for the benefit of Singapore and Singaporeans, but also to cultivate expertise in designing, installing, implementing and managing such facilities in similar high-density urban environments around the world. That could be an exportation sector for our economy.”
“We should recall that indoor vertical farming is a high-tech, knowledge-intensive activity that requires the integration of many different types of expertise. Singapore, as a developed country with limited land and high population density, offers a good test bed. If economic development agencies adopted a proactive approach of grooming local Singapore-based SMEs to develop leading-edge technology and know-how in indoor farming, Singapore could be producing an even higher share of our consumption needs and developing an exportable sector that could contribute to our economy. The Workers' Party would also like to propose that the Government go beyond what is currently being done in urban farming and develop some of our underground space into large-scale indoor vertical farms. It was reported in 2013 that the Government was exploring various uses of underground space. The then-Minister for National Development suggested that, "We can try to push the boundary of usage [of underground spaces] – to experiment, to learn and to evolve practical innovative solutions – so as to prepare for the future." We believe that large-scale indoor vertical farming should be given due consideration for the use of our underground space in Singapore. The world's first underground farm opened in mid-2015 in the heart of London, in a WWII air raid shelter 33 metres under the ground. In London where space comes at a premium, an enterprising firm has found an innovative and sustainable way to grow crops and deliver them to restaurants in under four hours. The benefits of underground vertical farming are, essentially, three-fold. Firstly, food security. Underground indoor farming promises to protect our food supply from catastrophic events, security threats, crop disease and so on.”
“While Panasonic's crops are currently grown in a soil-based environment as opposed to soilless methods that have been gaining popularity, the company is looking into R&D to boost yield, including vertical farming which utilises vertically stacked racks for space optimisation. Vertical indoor farming is not completely new in Singapore. In fact, the Government has collaborated with local company Sky Greens to develop a low carbon footprint vertical farming system. Sky Greens began its commercial operations in 2012 and was able to produce 800 kilogrammes of vegetables daily in 2015. Mdm Speaker, with more investment in R&D, there is every reason to believe that the current price difference between indoor farmed and conventionally farmed vegetables will fall over time. We are still some distance away from the scale of production seen in other countries where more land is readily available for indoor farming. The world's largest indoor farm in Japan spans 25,000 square feet and produces 7.7 million heads of lettuce a year. The Government has acknowledged the potential of the sector. To this end, the Government announced the launch of a $63-million Agriculture Productivity Fund (APF) in end-2014 that replaced the Food Fund Scheme. However, only $0.69 million of the $63 million has been disbursed in the year since the launch of the APF. According to a Government statement in October 2015, this $0.69 million, or less, had been shared among 20 local farms owned by 17 companies. It is unclear how much of the Fund was disbursed to Singapore-based companies. I believe that there is much more that can be done to encourage local firms to excel in this field.”
“Mdm Speaker, as a nation, we have always prided ourselves on our ability to think long term and our willingness to defy conventional wisdom about our limitations. Water is a prime example. In the 1990s, few thought we could move towards some degree of self-sufficiency in water supply. But two decades on, Singapore is making good progress on this front and in the process also built up an economically relevant water-related technology sector. We can turn necessity into opportunity. We can do what is needed for security and turn it into exportable know-how. Singapore faces two other limitations which can likewise be turned into opportunities: food and energy, both of which are largely imported. First of all, I shall speak on indoor farming, which is a growing form of urban farming where crops are grown in a highly controlled environment, protected from the elements. In indoor farming, environmental factors such as the exposure to light, water, humidity and the temperature are carefully calibrated to create an optimal environment for crops to grow. In 2013, Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia Pacific opened a major indoor vegetable farm in Singapore in one of its factory buildings which illustrates these techniques. Panasonic started with 10 types of vegetables in its 248-square-metres facility. By March 2017, Panasonic aims to increase the number of crop varieties to 30 and aims to supply 5% of local vegetable production, up from the 0.015% in July 2014. This is not an insignificant target given that all local farms currently produce only 8% of all the vegetables consumed in Singapore.”
“Thank you, Mdm Speaker, and I thank the Acting Minister for his Statement. I would like to ask the Acting Minister for Education if currently, there is any regime in place for students who are being investigated by the Police, and if that investigation may lead on to them being charged with a crime, to provide those students with some kind of aftercare, after their interview with the Police and while their investigation is going on; to provide them with counselling, advice, a hotline that they can turn to for help and so on? Is there such a regime in place? If not, will the current review process consider putting in place such a regime, whereby that kind of help can be given to young persons who are being investigated? That can come about, perhaps, by way of the Ministry and the schools working with Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) or Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and so on?”
“Madam, I thank the Minister of State for his helpful reply. I have a few supplementary questions. In regard to the assurance from the Minister of State that our staffing numbers will improve in future, which is a welcomed assurance, my question would be: does he feel that the doctor-to-population and nurse-to-population ratios right now are not really where they should be? And if so, what are the mitigation measures that the Ministry is considering to deal with that current situation? That is the first question. The second question is: would the Ministry consider evaluating the feasibility to set a target for doctor-to-population and nurse-to-population ratios? The reason I ask that question is because I think that, looking at where Singapore stands versus other OECD countries, we are quite close to Hong Kong and Taiwan. But there is a considerable body of expert opinion that there is a doctor and nurse shortage in Hong Kong and Taiwan. There are various reports, for example, the Brookings Institution, Taiwan National Institute of Health, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong Hospital Authority and so on, which have acknowledged that there is a situation of doctor and nurse shortage in those countries. So, it concerns me that we are closer to those countries on the OECD spectrum. Would the Ministry consider setting a target or an ideal zone that we want to move towards in future?”
“Mdm Speaker, if I can just ask a supplementary question on Question No 21. If the number of molestation cases worsens or shows a worsening trend, would the Government consider experimenting with women-only carriages, which I think is a scheme that has met with some success in other countries?”
“This could help MAS to decide which locations are appropriate locations to allow credit or charge card-related or marketing activities, for example. The Bill also requires banks to seek MAS approval for changing locations or adding locations for non-banking activities, including money-changing and remittance services, as the Minister observed in his speech earlier. Unlike wealth management products under the Financial Advisers Act with risk of capital loss, money-changing and remittance are considered non-banking activities. Once again, I would like to ask what facts or trends have prompted the Government to impose a requirement that banks seek the approval of MAS for location choice for these non-banking activities, as opposed to just notifying MAS. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, with that, I support the Bill.”