Committee of Supply – Head I (Ministry of Social and Family Development)

The Chairman: Head I, Ministry of Social and Family Development. Mr Seah Kian Peng.

Social Compact and Service Delivery

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Chairman, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head I of the Estimates be reduced by $100".

It is clear from the outpouring of support during COVID-19 that many Singaporeans want to do their part and help each other. This can be done in formal networks – through Government funding, schemes and institutions, but also, and perhaps more powerfully, through collaboration with informal networks – neighbours, friends and communities, including online communities.

Over the years, the formal networks have taken more care, and certainly less bureaucratic, less bloodless approach to help families in a holistic manner. In addition, the old governance philosophy of red tape and jumping through hoops has been replaced by a more respectful calibration, and thicker network of attention and care.

Today, we have one stop centres, we have multiple agencies working together, we have a lens focused on the person, and not a collection of problems. Since 2013, we have 24 Social Service Offices, or SSOs, to coordinate the delivery of services on the ground. I would like to ask the Minister give us an idea of the impact that these 24 SSOs have had over time. Are there plans to expand or scale back the offices?

Second, what has been the main gap that the SSOs have identified? Is there anything else that is missing in our delivery system? Have we asked for feedback from the families and people that we have helped, and see what we can do to improve the services?

Last, but not least, how can we better harness the power of the community to strengthen support for those in need? How can we seed and how can we facilitate such community efforts to maximise the impact and benefits to Singaporeans?

Question proposed.

The Chairman: Mr Seah Kian Peng, if you would like to take your next two cuts together, please do.

Partnerships with the Community

Mr Seah Kian Peng: Thank you, Chairman. As social needs grow, it is important for the Government and the community to partner each other to better meet these needs. I had earlier spoken on the power of community in terms of delivery of social services. We can harness the same power in partnership.

During COVID-19, especially during the circuit breaker, many of such partnerships between the Government and community demonstrated their value in meeting increased social needs, such as the PEERS Network and the Charity Food Workgroup.

Even as we take care in terms of fiscal prudence, audits and careful use of public monies, we must also count in the intangibles that such networks bring.

How does the Ministry intend to strengthen such partnerships? What are some of the safeguards and audit measures we can bring into play No one likes an overweening state – and help comes much faster, and in much a friendlier form, when organised and implemented by people we know.

We need strong partners in the community and it is useful to see how much the people and public sector can work together.

Social Safety Net

Singapore's social safety net was the first and strongest weapon we had against the pandemic. This net – which allowed us some measure of certainty in a very precarious situation, comprised financial assistance, as well as social support such as employment assistance and jobs creation.

It is thanks to this that we dodged many of the bullets that we now see, even in developed countries – the long queues of people at food banks, the homeless on the streets, the disproportionately larger load of poorer people in hospital due to COVID-19.

It may seem here that COVID-19 hurt the poor and the rich equally hard, at least in terms of vulnerability to the virus. However, we must open our eyes to the fact that in any downturn, any downturn, it is the poorest among us who are the most vulnerable.

MSF most recently launched the COVID-19 Recovery Grant (CRG). Can the Minister provide an update on the CRG, as well as how the CRG is designed to help its recipients get back on their feet? Can the Ministry also provide an update on job creation efforts in the social sector?

We need all of us to emerge stronger from the pandemic – not just the strongest, but the weakest among us too. I think we did right in focusing the bulk of our help to help businesses preserve jobs, but I think we must also work at the social end of the stick – take stock of how well the measures worked, what more we need to do, and what we need to change. Let us focus on the outcomes, I would like an update on that.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Chairman, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this Government has moved quickly and decisively to strengthen our social safety net to support Singaporeans who have lost their livelihoods.

The expansion in our financial assistance schemes, as well as the strengthening of our social support systems, in areas such as employment assistance and jobs creation, have been helpful in assisting the vulnerable segments of our society.

MSF recently launched the new COVID-19 Recovery Grant (CRG) to support lower to middle income employees and self-employed persons whose livelihoods continue to be financially impacted by the pandemic. Can MSF provide an update on the CRG – how many have applied, the average success rates, as well as reasons why applications have been rejected – and share more on how this grant is designed to help the recipients?

Sir, the pandemic has also affected our care-givers, particularly the informal care-givers who perform their duties full-time but without an income. Care-givers are an important pillar of our social safety net, performing their duties invisibly, to prevent vulnerable Singaporeans from falling onto the Government's social safety net.

We need to provide better support to the invisible hands that help us to stich the safety nets above the state's current resources. What are the Ministry's plans to better support care-givers, and to alleviate some of the current burdens that they face?

Lastly, can MSF provide an update on job creation efforts in the social sector? Is there a need to increase the number of jobs in this vital sector, so that we leave no vulnerable Singaporean behind?

Strengthening Social Service Delivery

Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): Chairman, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the important role of our social service delivery. I would like to take this opportunity to put on record my heartfelt appreciation for the staff at our Social Service Office (SSOs) and partner Social Service Agencies (SSAs) and the volunteers and donors who contribute their time and money. I would like to ask a few questions about the Ministry's plans to strengthen the delivery of social services by the SSOs and SSAs.

In order for our social service delivery to reach the needy, we must increase public awareness and boost our detection mechanism. Awareness is the beginning of the delivery process. Awareness of where and how to get help will draw those who need it. On the other hand, there are people who need help but do not or are unable to seek assistance for various reasons.

If the SSOs or the communities are aware of them, we will be able to reach out to them. I would like to ask if the Ministry would share an update on its measures to strengthen its capabilities on these two fronts.

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Next, many disadvantaged families and individuals have a range of needs which require intervention by different community agencies. However, not all their needs are always presented to the officers and volunteers. How will the SSOs and SSAs improve on their abilities to detect such issues to ensure that their cases receive holistic help? When encountered with complex cases, how do the various teams of professional staff and volunteers coordinate their work? What procedures are in place to minimize duplications and blind spots?

Another point I wish to make is making it easier for the applicants to access help. Hence, I would like to suggest that we locate mini-SSOs in areas where rental blocks are sited as most of the residents who need help reside in our HDB rental blocks. The mini-SSOs can pull in the necessary resources from the neighbourhood or nearby precincts to help the varied needs of these vulnerable families and provide them with holistic assistance. Help can be more targeted as they cater to these few rental blocks in this particular precinct.

Finally, how is the Ministry leveraging on technology and IT systems to increase efficiency and productivity in social service delivery?

The Chairman: Ms Denise Phua.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Chairman, Sir, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore, we witness many acts of kindness especially the lost, the least and the last in society. I work with some of the best social service professionals from MSF and social service agencies, grassroots and non-grassroots volunteers in my district.

Despite this, there are still gaps in the last mile of social service delivery that need to be addressed. I will touch on three Cs – Coordination, communication and ComLink.

Coordination. A common sight on the ground especially in rental housing estates is an overlap of services such as free distribution of food, masks, groceries, health screening and even home cleaning. During a recent long weekend before the Lunar New Year, I met six groups, some are regular and some are ad hoc, distributing lunch bento boxes to the same group of rental residents. Is there a more effective way of coordination so that there is less overlap, less wastage and better allocation of precious resources?

Next, communication. Sir, it is not uncommon to read from social media anecdotes of vulnerable persons such as the homeless, tissue paper sellers and "beggars" sometimes outside places of worship where there are many kind devotees. Yet, from my work with many Social Service partners, including volunteer groups, such as Mummy Yummy, Homeless HEARTS and Keeping Hope Alive, I know that many current help channels do exist. Can the Ministry facilitate a national communication plan at both strategic and tactical level, so that many more know where to get help or to help signpost where help can be obtained? My CDC, of course, would be a willing partner.

Finally, on ComLink or Communication Link. ComLinks are piloted to bring together various service partners to provide holistic solutions to vulnerable families with children. In Central District which I oversee, there are many elderly singles and couples living in rental flats. Can ComLink be scaled to include these households although the elderly, for example, are technically under MOH. Can Government give more resources to MSF so that can comb entire rental housing blocks and not only specific profiles?

The Chairman: Mr Don Wee.

Seamless Application – Disadvantaged Kids

Mr Don Wee (Chua Chu Kang): Chairman, I would like to urge the Government to consider implementing a seamless application process for the disadvantaged children who require financial assistance to attend schools. Social Service Offices’ records about their families can be shared with MOE and schools, so that the children do not need to apply for the Financial Assistance Scheme, school pocket money fund and other related programmes separately.

For the underprivileged families, the adults are already struggling with a multitude of problems. Navigating assistance schemes is not easy for them, much less for their children. As a Smart Nation, we can tap upon information technology to make the process easier for all stakeholders using data integration. The seamless integrated financial assistance application process will need more proactive and closer collaboration amongst the involved Ministries – MSF, MOH’s NEHR MND as well as the approved financial service centre's database on kids studying or staying in the rental HDB units.

The Chairman: Mr Mohd Fahmi bin Aliman.

Nationwide Scale-up of ComLink

Mr Mohd Fahmi Aliman (Marine Parade): Chairman, in 2019, MSF announced that it will be setting up four social service hubs, to be named ComLink, at Jalan Kukoh, Marsiling, Kembangan-Chai Chee and Boon Lay over the next two years. These clusters were selected due to the sizeable number of families and children living in rental flats in those areas.

According to MSF, this pilot project announced at Committee Of Supply 2019 provides proactive and integrated support to an estimated 1,000 families living in rental flats to help them achieve sustained stability and social mobility." This includes supporting families with the potential for homeownership. Minister Desmond Lee mentioned in Parliament that, "Most importantly, ComLink will develop a sense of community and mutual help, with neighbours supporting one another in their journeys."

Since its inception, has the pilot succeeded in meeting its intended outcomes? Moreover, are there any learning points to be taken away from this pilot project? Also, are there any plans to extend this programme to leverage local community partnerships to support the needs of the families? If so, how will this programme be scalable on a national level in the coming future?

The Chairman: Mr Xie Yao Quan.

Extension of ComChest's SHARE as One Programme

Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong): Chairman, I just realised it is quite apt that the mask I am wearing today has a 招财猫 on it because my next cut is about money and donations.

Chairman, while donations for specific causes such as supporting those affected by the pandemic have increased, many other organisations have experienced a reduction in donations due to COVID-19. This could hamper the ability to deliver essential social services on the ground and Deputy Prime Minister Heng himself has noted that, and I quote, "Some charities even had to dip into their reserves to keep operations going. This affects the help that goes to those who need it." As such, what are the Ministry's plans to encourage more giving despite this on-going challenging times?

The Chairman: Mr Seah Kian Peng. If you would like to take both your cuts together, please do.

New Change for Charity Grant

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Thank you, Chairman. Under the new Change for Charity Grant, a $20 million fund will be set aside to match Community Chest’s donations raised through spontaneous acts daily. It was also mentioned that ComChest will be partnering businesses to provide opportunities for customers to donate to Community Chest through their payment platforms. This could not be more timely as we know many charities, VWOs and social service agencies are currently facing a challenging environment caused by COVID-19. We should certainly encourage individuals to give as part of their daily lives; ComChest should also partner and make it convenient for businesses to provide opportunities for customers to donate through their payment platforms. We all know that Singaporeans, everyone here, has a big heart. So, if we make that facility available, convenient and accessible, I think great things could come out of it.

I would like to ask Minister if he could outline more details on how to ensure the success of this scheme? Now putting on my hat as the group CEO of NTUC Fairprice, I want to assure Minister that we will certainly give this scheme a full consideration and do our part to make lives better for the community.

Digitalisation in Early Childhood Space

COVID-19 has caused a significant amount of disruption for the pre-school sector, especially during the circuit breaker. We often think little children spend most of their school time in physical activity and play – which many do – and rightly so. However, the experience of the pandemic has taught us that there will be occasions when pre-school students will have to stay at home for long periods as well.

How will the pre-school sector be supported to emerge stronger from the experience of COVID-19?

Pre-school teachers may benefit from more training, which will enable them to explore innovations in online teaching methods. They could also be supported with grants and new hardware as well as software, so as to allow them to contribute to their students’ development, even when teaching from home.

Second, can we also explore how pre-schools administration can benefit from greater digitalisation, including providing their staff with remote working and learning opportunities. Our pre-school teachers are some of the most imaginative and dedicated in Singapore. We have quite a few of them in our NTUC First Campus. We must help them to succeed in a digital world.

The Chairman: Ms Carrie Tan.

Capability-building for Social Services

Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon): Chairman, although ComCare has helped many low-income persons and challenged families and is a critical social support programme, the number of families helped and the amount spent on ComCare has not reduced, in fact increased, since its inception.

It tells me that ComCare, although it is very helpful as a support, is not getting people out of poverty permanently, and this is not a solution built to last. Without capacity-building of families who are on ComCare, it serves only as a band-aid solution that continues to deplete our financial resources. I am not saying to lower the budget for it, but I am saying we need a clear strategy to supplement ComCare, aimed at empowering families beyond surviving, to facilitate their thriving and reduce their recidivism back to financial support.

And to do this, we need more people who are well-versed in discovering and harnessing the assets and strengths of the community, and to transform the current recipients of aid into active contributors in the community and also pave their way towards higher employability.

I would like to ask if asset-based community development is the intended approach by ComLink, and whether there are plans to dovetail ComLink efforts with the National Jobs Council efforts?

I ask this because I see a ripe opportunity for the transformation of our social services sector. An opportunity to develop empathy and empowerment at scale, to better harness the strengths within our challenged individuals and families.

While I am grateful for the numerous COVID-19 support schemes that have been given out so far, frontline administrators in our SSOs are over-stretched and inundated with very onerous but necessary task of administrative checks and gatekeeping. And we need to help them out, and we can, by augmenting the sector with more personnel, trained professionally in asset-based community development.

With many professionals impacted by lay-offs and a surge in community spirit brought by COVID-19, we now have a pool of highly qualified people, who are seeking more meaningful careers that can be harnessed for the social services sector.

While I feel very encouraged by the announcement of the Community Capability Trust to help SSAs develop capacity, it will be more timely to complement the efforts of the National Jobs Council if MSF can bring this forward to this year instead of commencing only in 2022.

I hope MSF can accelerate its support to the sector and enhance ComLink’s efforts by appointing qualified Social Service Agencies with good track records to train mid-career entrants in community-building and assets discovery work. Trained personnel can then be hired and deployed through SSOs or grassroots organisations. This will help SSOs to enhance its function beyond administrators of support schemes and connectors within the community to become effective community builders.

With that, I would like to convey my high hopes for ComLink, and I look forward to more job creation in the social services sector, to enable the empowerment of our ComCare recipients into a community that thrives.

The Chairman: Mr Shawn Huang.

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong (Jurong): Mr Chairman, may I take my cuts together? Five minutes apart.

The Chairman: Together with your cut at (o), you mean?

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong: Yes.

The Chairman: Alright then.

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Helping Social Service Agencies Emerge Stronger

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong: Thank you. The community, including the social service agencies (SSAs), community groups and corporates, play a critical role alongside the Government in supporting the social needs of Singaporeans. Amidst the disruption caused by COVID-19, we saw many SSAs that rose to the occasion and adapted to the new operating environment to deliver social services to those in need.

However, it was also through this crisis that we have learnt that we will need to have better coordination amongst different SSAs to leverage on one another’s strengthen and expertise to deliver targeted assistance to families to better identify specific needs with the most appropriate solution at the right time. We have also learnt that we need to further strengthen our outreach capabilities and ability to communicate with those in need, especially remotely via teleconferencing. Many SSAs can reap productivity gains if they have had deployed suitable toolkits and platforms within their organisations. However, many lack the resources and the capacity to develop and maintain these capabilities.

To build a better eco-system of social and welfare support, what are the plans to help SSAs further unlock productivity and strengthen resilience?

Network for Youth Mental Wellness

COVID-19 is one of the first major crisis in the lives of many youths. Due to the disruption in routines and social activities, many youth’s mental health and well-being were affected. However, prevention is always better than cure. Education, awareness and timely persistent community support are important aspects to ensure that our youths develop resilience, understanding and pathways to better manage their own mental well-being. Friends, family, loved ones and those around, must have a keen ability to identify symptoms. In other cases, a better understanding of the youths' environment can help identity risk factors and mitigating measure early.

Can MSF update on how the youth mental well-being network can help support our youths' mental health and well-being through future crisis and COVID-19 and beyond?

Impact of Children and Young Persons Act Amendments 2019

Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied): In 2019, the Ministry introduced four significant updates to the Children and Young Persons Act.

First, changes were made to enhance the safeguarding of abuse on neglected children; second, the rehabilitation and re-integration of youth offenders was strengthened; third, parents with difficulties managing their children were to apply for family guidance orders replacing the formal BPC or Beyond Parental Control orders; and fourth, community resources to support vulnerable children were increased.

These amendments are very significant.

One of the key changes was to amend the definition of "child" to include youths, not exceeding 18 years of age in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which Singapore has signed. This increase by just two years would require real adjustments by the various agencies involved to cater to the older youths between 16 and 18 years of age.

Another significant change is the new FGO regime which provides for compulsory attendance at family programmes even before parents can file a court application. The amendments were effective in July 2020 and I appreciate that only half a year has passed.

Nevertheless, what is MSF's interim assessment of the impact? For instance, how have the juvenile rehabilitation centres cope with increase and different caseload? Have children been better served under the FGO regime compared to the BPC regime?

Supporting Youths at Risk

Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Mr Chairman, Sir, youths continue to feature significantly in the crime trends involving drug abuse, secret societies and criminal activities. Recently, there was also a disturbing report of a youth being self-radicalised to become a terrorist.

How do we help such youths through their families and other partners such as schools, self-help groups and social service agencies to build up their resilience to guard against such negative influences, ensure that each of them will be given opportunities to realise their full potential? What has been the outcome of the measures put in place to assist youths at risk thus far? How effective are they? These are the focus areas of my speech.

In 2016, the Government put in place the Youth-At-Risk Engagement (YARE) Framework to support youth-at-risk (YAR). It was to have lasted three years, with the aim of helping 900 young people through 10 service providers. These agencies would then be trained and use standardised assessment tools to their work with young people.

In 2018, the Government set up the National Committee on Prevention, Rehabilitation and Recividism (NCPR) to oversee national efforts to prevent offending, re-offending and enhance rehabilitation of offenders. The scope of NCPR includes at risk children and youth. I am a member of NCPR.

Working with people whether young or old, requires a human-centred approach, being sensitive to specific home contexts as well as the personality of the youth. Our current programmes include mentorship and sports. Mentorship was a topic that the hon Member of Parliament Miss Rachel Ong touched on during the Budget debate last week when she proposed that youths at risk have long-term mentors. I agree with her. It will be good to understand what has been the outcome of these programmes to date? Do we need others?

Relatedly, do we have enough youth workers, and do they receive enough support? What emerging threats does the Minister see among our young people today that we need to guard against?

Youth Resilience and Mental Well-being

Mr Xie Yao Quan (Jurong): Chairman, our youth today are woke about mental health and well-being, not only for themselves but also in terms of how all of us as a society have a role to play to support and journey with those who are coping with mental health challenges.

Our youths are woke about acting on mental health, acting on the reservoir of stigma that still persists today and woke about encouraging and making sure that all those who need help actually come forward to seek help.

How can the Ministry better support our youths in their efforts to advance and champion mental well-being and, specifically, the Ministry has set up a Youth Mental Well-being Network? Can I ask what is the role of this Network, what has been its progress, especially in terms of outcomes and what are the Ministry's future plans for the Network?

Youth Involvement in Community Initiatives

Mr Mohd Fahmi Aliman: Chairman, according to MCCY, our youth volunteerism rate has gone up from 23% in 2008 to 40% in 2018 for youths aged between 15 and 24 years old as well as 13% in 2008 to 27% in 2018 for youths aged between 25 and 34 years old. Moreover, youth participation in social groups has generally gone up from ages between 15 and 34 years old from 2010 to 2016. Besides the increase in youth volunteerism and participation rates, our youth have also made remarkable contribution to our community.

In 2018, then Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Minister Grace Fu, underscored the story of Kenneth and Yin Loong who were among the 15 youth who received Meritorious Youth Award at the People's Association Youth Movement Awards and Central Youth Council Installation ceremonies. Both Yin Loong and Kenneth have been volunteering for more than a decade. Through the Day of Giving series, Yin Loong in Kolam Ayer CCYEC organised food ration contributions and movie screenings for the disadvantaged. In 2017, Day of Giving mobilised 200 student volunteers to make 8,000 cupcakes for old folks' homes island-wide. Therefore, besides the increased rates of youth volunteerism and community involvement, our youth have made deep and everlasting impact on our social fabric.

In light of heartening trend of youth volunteerism and community development, how have we empowered and supported our youth to build a more resilient and inclusive society together?

Pre-school Places

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis (Sengkang): Chairman, I understand that by around 2025, 80% of pre-schoolers can have a place in a Government supported pre-school, up from about 50% in 2019. While the Government has increased the number of infant care and childcare places over the last five years, this is still woefully inadequate in towns such as Sengkang, which has the highest number of young children across Singapore by planning area with 17,000 0 to four-year-olds and about 17,000 five to nine-year-olds as of June 2019.

As such, while there may be vacancies in the system today, this may not be so for particular areas with high concentration of young families. What is the target total number of centres and places that will be offering infant care services and childcare services in 2025 and where will these be located?

Childcare for Shift Workers

Mr Don Wee: Chairman, the efficiency of our nation is powered by many hardworking men and women who work around the clock to support us – the workers who start packing your online orders in the warehouses at midnight, the healthcare staff who tend to our sick and wounded as our city sleeps, the fishmongers who collect our seafood supplies from Jurong Fishery Port, the list goes on.

For shift workers who do not have family support and cannot afford to hire a foreign domestic helper, getting evening and overnight childcare services for their young children is a big challenge. There have been cases where lower Primary school kids are tasked to look after younger siblings or where children are entrusted to incompetent babysitters.

Will the Ministry consider setting up an islandwide network of evening and overnight childcare services for shift workers to ensure the safety and well-being of their vulnerable children?

KidSTART – Growing Together with KidSTART

Ms Joan Pereira: Chairman, as the early years of people’s lives have such a big impact on their lifelong health, cognitive and psychological conditions, great care should be taken to nurture and develop our children. The Government has committed significant amounts of resources to improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of all our pre-schools. However, a child’s development is also heavily dependent on the home environment.

For disadvantaged children, the Government has implemented various initiatives to support their families and enable them to give their children a good start in life. With holistic assistance measures and more conducive home surroundings, these children will stand a better chance in our competitive economic and social environment.

I am heartened that under the KidSTART programme, the development of children from vulnerable families will be monitored and nurtured from the day they were born. The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), which leads this programme, provides support for child development and coordinate the social services for the needy families.

Can MSF share the progress of this programme and its expansion plans? How many more regions will KidSTART expand to and how many more children are expected to be covered? Will the Ministry also provide an update on the status of the "Growing Together with KidSTART" initiative? What has been the feedback from the beneficiaries so far?

ECDA partners the Social Service Offices, Family Service Centres and hospitals to support this group of underprivileged children. Will ECDA consider partnerships with suitable community organisations in the proximity of the children’s homes and with the private sector to widen the scope of programmes which can benefit not just the children but also their families?

The Chairman: Ms Ng Ling Ling, if you would like to take both your cuts together, please do.

Affordability and Quality of Pre-schools

Ms Ng Ling Ling (Ang Mo Kio): Thank you, Chairman, I will take my both cuts together.

Chairman the importance of early childhood care and education through pre-school cannot be over emphasised in a country like Singapore, where the quality of our human resource has significant impact on our national success. With the increasing Government spending on early childhood care and education of more than $1 billion annually and growing, it is an investment in the right direction. It is still a small fraction of what Singapore normally spends on education system.

Sir, more must be done to ensure a good start for every child in Singapore. I am glad that the shortage of pre-schools in Singapore has been acknowledged and expansion efforts been put in by the Government as early as 2012.

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During both the 2017 and 2019 National Day Rallies, Prime Minister Lee also spoke about the initiatives to further develop and boost the pre-school sector. Plans announced so far, including increasing the number of Government-supported pre-schools from about 50% to 80% and enhancing pre-school subsidies for more families to be eligible, are all welcomed but may not be sufficient.

While the Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework, or SPARK, is also a good tool to continually enhance and assure quality education in pre-schools, only about 50% of pre-schools are SPARK-certified so far. This may leave parents, whose children are attending the other 50% of pre-schools, wondering about the quality of education that their young children are receiving.

In a few housing estates with high childcare demand, parents are still experiencing waiting times that can range from a few weeks to a few months. For parents needing to return to work and having no alternative help, this can be a daunting wait. In my constituency, where there are new Build-To-Order (BTO) flats, such as in the Buangkok Crescent area, I regularly receive requests from young couples seeking help to ensure that they can secure a pre-school place for their children in order for both parents to return to work. I constantly assure them that a place will be availed to them as soon as possible.

Sir, in Germany, they introduced reforms guaranteeing a place in childcare for every child aged one and above in 2013. Its purpose was to influence peoples' decision to have children in a rapidly ageing society and tackle the nation's long-term demographic change.

Singapore faces the same demographic challenge. To battle Singapore's stubbornly low total fertility rate, we must do more to give assurance to couples that they will not have to worry about having a pre-school place when they give birth to more children. We need to accelerate the pace of the roll-out in regions with a higher proportion of younger families.

Sir, I will like to ask for an update on the progress towards the goals and timeline set to close the demand, supply and quality gap in pre-schools in Singapore. Knowing that a reliable pre-school can be counted upon to look after their children will be paramount for many young couples to have the confidence to have more children.

Inclusive Pre-schools

Every child is precious, notwithstanding what background they come from or what abilities they have. Appropriate early-years intervention and support have proven in many research studies to be critical for children with developmental needs. Children with developmental needs deserve a good start in life, the same as any children in Singapore.

I will always remember fondly of the times that I visited the various Early Intervention Programmes for Infants and Children, or EIPIC, run by the social service agencies during my days in the National Council of Social Service. Despite their different abilities, seeing these children being given the opportunities to learn and acquire new knowledge and skills was heartening.

However, I have always hoped for the day when all our pre-schools will be fully inclusive so that our children, with or without disabilities, can learn and grow together. This will not only assimilate children with disabilities or developmental needs to other children of typical growth earlier in their growing years, it can also develop awareness and empathy in children with normal growth to include their peers with different abilities in play and in activities. Research studies also indicate that typically developing children in inclusive settings perform comparably with or better academically than those in non-inclusive programmes. Sir, I would now like to speak in Chinese.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Every child is precious, notwithstanding what background they come from or what abilities that they have. Appropriate early-years intervention and support have proven in many research studies to be critical for children with developmental needs. Children with developmental needs deserve a good start in life ‒ the same as any children in Singapore.

During my days in the National Council of Social Service, I participated in various Early Intervention Programmes for Infants and Children run by social service agencies. Despite their different abilities, seeing these children being given equal opportunities to learn and acquire new knowledge and skills was very heartening.

I have always hoped that, one day, all our pre-schools will be fully inclusive so that our children, with or without disabilities, can learn and grow together. This will not only assimilate children with disabilities or developmental needs with other children of typical growth earlier in their growing years, it can also develop awareness and empathy in children with normal growth. Research studies also show that typically developing children in inclusive settings perform comparably or even better academically than those in non-inclusive programmes.

(In English): Sir, back in English, please. The move for Early Childhood Development Agency, or ECDA, under MSF to oversee early intervention services and pre-school services from the end of 2020, with the transfer of early intervention functions from the Disability Office in MSF to ECDA is an encouraging move towards inclusive pre-schools.

MSF has also launched an inclusive pre-school workgroup to strengthen the support for children with developmental needs. I will like to ask for an update on the plans and implementation for having more inclusive pre-schools in Singapore.

As the third Enabling Masterplan 2017-2021 will come to an end this year, I would also like to ask MSF how it will engender more creative and impactful ways of nurturing children with disabilities from their early childhood period to better achieve their fullest potential as integral and contributing members of our society.

Vulnerable Families – Special Needs Kids

Mr Don Wee: Mr Chairman, for lower income families, coping with children with special needs is particularly difficult. These families are already struggling financially and with children who require more care, their ability to work and earn income is further reduced. In addition, therapies and intervention cost money and exert more stress on the families. I urge the Government to expedite and increase financial care assistance for them so that they can seek the appropriate therapies for these kids.

For many cases, regular intervention at the earliest opportunity can make a significant difference to their lives because young minds and bodies are pliable and have great potential to receive and retain treatments. With children, we have a "golden period" to help them reduce the severity of their conditions, so we should help the families seize the opportunity without hesitation. The funds spent on the therapies will be well-invested, subject to the guidance of the Government, who must draw up a list of qualified practitioners.

In addition, I would like to ask if all applicants for Special Student Care Centres (SSCCs) are able to enroll? Is there any shortage of vacancies and, if so, how many more places will be made available in the upcoming years?

Since July last year, MSF had increased the subsidies and broadened the income criteria so that more families qualify for the Student Care Fee Assistance (SCFA) scheme. Would the Ministry share an update on the impact of these changes and a summary of the profiles of the families and the children it has helped?

Disability

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Mr Chairman, in the Parliament Adjournment Motion I filed in October 2020, I called for society to change the way it views persons with disabilities, or PWDs. I called for several key gaps to be addressed, for more progress reporting and for more inclusion of the voice of PWDs in policy-making.

I wish to speak on two other topics today.

First, on Enabling Masterplans for the Disabled. The Singapore Government has supported the development of three five-year Enabling Masterplans for the Disabled. These plans list recommendations to enable PWDs to realise their potential and to become integral and contributing members of society. The current plan will be expiring this year and a new one is expected.

I would like to seek the latest update for the current third Enabling Masterplan. Next, I would also like to propose suggestions for the next Enabling Masterplan.

The current Enabling Masterplans take a life-cycle approach and cover general disability issues. But the needs of different disability groups are not homogeneous. I hence propose that the next masterplan also incorporate the inputs of each major disability group. The autism group, for example, where I help and volunteer, has just completed their own enabling masterplan, which I hope will be supported by the Government and the rest of society.

By encouraging each major disability group to take ownership, study the landscape, prioritise their top needs and invite solutions and partners, the national Enabling Masterplan will be all the more relevant and richer in content.

Masterplans that are five years long also should be constantly updated and reported to reflect the latest achievements and challenges. The last published third Enabling Masterplan (EMP3), for instance, was not updated with the most significant change of our time—the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next, on strengthening disability social service agencies, or SSAs. Many of the early intervention, special education and services for PWDs are run by these social service agencies. They provide disability expertise and harness the support of the community assets.

Beyond programme grants, the Government has been supportive through measures such as the Government matching of charity donations through the 250% tax exempt benefit and the latest Change for Charity initiative. I call for the Government to provide more tailored support to its partner SSAs.

Smaller SSAs will need greater support in resources such as shared services in fundraising, human resource, volunteer management and financial reporting and compliance. Larger SSAs too will need support. It is a fallacy that larger charities do not need help nor that they will naturally do well on their own.

Just as Deputy Prime Minister Heng has encouraged the support of large local enterprises (LLEs), so should the same be considered for these larger SSAs.

Some specific ways of support include the following.

Identify their needs and support larger SSAs as they scale or develop deeper capabilities to move into new essential territories. Seed and better support the social enterprises of these SSAs so they can help meet targeted social bottom lines that are important for the community such as jobs in sheltered or supported worksites.

Next, pay or co-fund corporate services such as the CEO and key financial, technology and human resource positions so that these SSAs can focus on and excel in their core services. Most donors do not fund important corporate services, but these are essential for compliance, for growth and for governance.

Help the larger SSAs safely generate better returns from their reserves, which are sometimes large because of the need to save to pay for recurring high-cost services such as day activity centres. Consider setting aside a percentage of Singapore Savings Bonds or infrastructure bonds for the larger SSAs.

Sir, in conclusion, the only way to predict the future is to help create it. The disability sector needs as much help as it can get. The Government cannot do it alone.

Embracing People of Different Abilities

Ms Rahayu Mahzam (Jurong): Mr Chairman, I gave birth to my son, Ayden, in 2017 and having him is one of the best things that has happened in my life. Ayden has Down Syndrome and was also recently clinically diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. There are some challenges for the family but I have so many things to be grateful for and I am glad for the support that I receive to raise my child.

I am grateful for a Government that cares. The Enabling Masterplans and their evolution over the years reflect the efforts of the Government in creating an inclusive environment for persons with disabilities (PWDs). This is an on-going effort and we need to continue building on existing initiatives, but I am grateful for the effort of the team at MSF, who continues to look at various ways to support PWDs and their families.

I am also grateful for activists and advocates who have blazed a trail for many PWDs and their families. Take hon Member, Ms Denise Phua, for example. Her years of advocacy and labour of love opened the doors for discussions and reviews and led to many meaningful initiatives that have made an impact to the sector.

I would also like to mention Dr Lim Hong Huay and the team at Caring SG. I would declare at this juncture that I have been asked to sit as an advisor to this organisation, but I must sincerely say that I am heartened by the efforts and their passion to support care-givers of PWDs and provide them with helpful resources.

I am also truly grateful and indebted to family members and friends who have provided unconditional support and love and have made this journey so much more meaningful. Their kindness and graciousness have let me to believe that there are many out there who are open and willing, and are keen to see a more inclusive society, one that embraces different abilities.

In my own experience and through conversations with parents of PWDs and people in the disability sector, there are still concerns about the level of understanding and inclusiveness in our society. Many parents have shared about unkind remarks people have made to them or the rude stares they receive when their child misbehaves in public. Some parents have shared about challenges they had in finding a suitable child care or pre-school in the vicinity of their neighbourhood. I have heard many instances of PWDs, especially those with intellectual disability, being bullied or taken advantage of in school or at work.

Above all, what families of PWDs hope to see is for their family member to be treated with dignity. They are no lesser human beings and are as entitled to be treated with respect, like any of us here.

6.45 pm

At this juncture, I would like to offer some observations and thoughts on creating a kinder and more inclusive society. Firstly, I would ask if the Ministry has been tracking the effectiveness of the various campaigns and effort in encouraging the public to be more inclusive? I am heartened by efforts by various agencies like the "See The True Me" campaign and I am always excited to participate in events like the Purple Parade. I believe there is now more awareness and sensitivity, but there is still some way to go before we can say that our community is truly inclusive and embracing of people with different abilities.

Have the different campaigns and efforts to encourage inclusiveness in the community been successful? Do we have indicators in place to help us measure how we are doing as a community and targets which we can work towards? What more can we do to nudge behaviours and encourage people to be more open and compassionate towards PWDs and their care-givers? May be useful to do a review of study so that we could assess a better approach to build on the current efforts.

Secondly, I would like to propose that we take a more holistic approach in looking at opportunities to normalise different abilities within the society, in school, at work, and then the community. PWDs have much to offer society. We should equip PWDs with skills and empower the community so that PWDs may contribute to society in some way.

I had in my speech for MOE's COS debate, shared my thoughts on how this could be done in the school setting. I would encourage a similar approach for the workplace and in the community. For example, I think there is a need to engage extensively and meaningfully with employers to create better understanding of different abilities and provide support for the redesigning of jobs.

I appreciate that there are already efforts on this front and it is a challenging exercise. I feel though, in the long run, there is much value to be gained. Otherwise, we will continue to typecast PWDs, especially those with intellectual disabilities to just do menial tasks and we do not get to tap on their full potential. Another area, I believe we could work on, is to develop various infrastructure within our communities to accommodate different needs. We do see a few inclusive playgrounds, Braille in the lifts, quiet rooms in public places. And that is always very encouraging. However, such awareness and sensitivity to various needs should be more pervasive as we continue to build our common spaces in this country.

Thirdly, I think we need to continue to educate the community on the appropriate norms or social interactions and empower them to embrace people with different abilities. We should create opportunities for PWDs to fully participate, physically and socially, in the community, but I think we also need to learn how to do so meaningfully. I have been to events where PWDs were invited to attend as guests, but they were seated at a separate table or space and there was no interaction with the rest of the participants or guests.

Some families of PWDs would get upset or offended with reactions from the public. I think often people behave the way they do because of ignorance. I believe the Government can play a role in educating and creating understanding, but families of PWDs also need to be open and willing to embrace people who lack understanding, not shun or criticise them. Teach them, tell them kindly about the appropriate vocabulary, the appropriate approach, the appropriate way to interact. I believe that a conscious approach of integration and inclusiveness is necessary at the policy, organisation and individual level. I hope that we will continue to grow as a nation, to be one that truly cares for the vulnerable and embrace differences.

Women in Leadership

Ms Mariam Jaafar (Sembawang): Chairman, it may be difficult for some people to understand just exactly how it feels for some of us, to look around this gallery and see so many women in Parliament.

In the private sector, organisations like DBS Bank, have led the way with several women in leadership positions. But we are still far away from translating gender equality in our schools to gender equality at the leadership levels, both senior management and Board. And it is not just a matter of time, I have done the research. Around the world, this gap has persisted for a long time, long after we have achieved gender equality in schools.

Even in leading organisations, more can be done to push the envelope, for example ensuring that more women are in leadership positions in revenue functions, in addition to non-revenue, as well as technology functions.

Mr Chairman, it is proven that gender diversity drives performance. Our companies will do better with more women in leadership positions. In addition, women leaders are important because they are role models who inspire the future generation. So, out of the Conversations on Women's development, what are the emerging ideas for what more can be done to really move the needle on getting more women in leadership positions?

The Chairman: Mr Seah Kian Peng, would you like to take your both cuts together?

Conversations on Singapore Women's Development

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Thank you, Chair. This is the year we have set aside to celebrate women. This may seem, to some of us, to be an artificial effort. Why do we need a year to celebrate women, when they should be celebrated all the time? Or, the word "celebration" – is it not condescending to "celebrate" women, as if it is something conferred by the power of men or by institutions?

All these could be true, but I feel the effort itself has merit simply because despite all the progress we have made in the last 50 years, many of the traditional inequalities still exist. Added to these are new ones of income and inherited wealth.

Sir, in celebrating women, we make gender salient, we confront biases that otherwise would not have been noticed. Unconscious bias is real, and sometimes, without intending, we do great harm. In these conversations, and to make any sort of progress, it is important to have some moral clarity.

One such issue has to do with apologies. It is important to note that when one apologises for a misstep, not just in relation on such gender biases, but in general, we should not hide behind "misunderstood" intentions, neither should we call on the person whom we offended to be gracious and "forgiving" about the matter.

It is time we recognise that the lack of malicious intent offers no shield, no defence against the harm that is done. Indeed, it is the very nature of unconscious bias that it is unintentional. So, when we apologise, we should certainly make the intentions behind our acts known, but we should also recognise that this is the start and not the end of the matter.

Women play many important roles in Singapore. They are mothers, care-givers, workers, and members of our society. And I am encouraged that the Conversations on SG Women's Development is focused on addressing the issues that women face at home, in schools, workplaces and the community in real life.

What are some of the issues which have been frequently raised by Singaporeans in the SG Conversation? In this effort, we must ensure that the interests of all women are represented. What is the profile in the Conversations on Singapore Women's Development?

In addition, this conversation takes place within a society, a society of all of us. How many among these are men? What are their views? I recall when I served on the Board of Directors of Centre for Fathering for some 14 years, we had a number of women on our Board – yes on Centre for Fathering. And the views and insights from these women Board members strengthened the Board and made the organisation better. Actually this year, it is Centre for Fathering's 20th anniversary.

Speaking of Boards, wearing my NTUC Enterprise hat, in preparing for this cut, I also asked for some statistics on the women representation on our Board. The hon Member, Ms Mariam Jaafar, you will be pleased to note that across the boards of eight of our social enterprises, 36% are women. This compares favourably with Singapore Institute of Directors's (SID) target of 30% for Public Listed companies by 2030; we are already 36%. But these numbers show that we have made progress but still have some way to go. And again, amongst the leadership team at the NTUC group of Enterprises, 50% are women. But there is still progress to be made.

One last point. What are some of the practical ways to ensure that women enjoy the same financial freedom as men?

Resilient Families

Given that family is the first line of care and support for many Singaporeans, we have traditionally supported and encouraged strong families. The implicit, normative bias is this – our old mindset that "preservation of families" is inherently good. The MSF handbook for example, states that, "The guide introduces readers to Intensive Family Preservation in the Singapore context. This guide offers good practices and intervention strategies. Readers will uncover knowledge and skills to preserve families and protect children and young persons".

The protection of young children is key and unequivocal. But I wonder if we need the moral overtones of "intensive preservation". Can we be more neutral between preservation and creation? Between status quo and change? Can we, make a start at least, in according equal respect to the choice between staying in a marriage and leaving it?

In saying this, I do not mean to undermine our commitment to strong families. Rather, I would like to say that strong families can take different forms. Some strong families lie within marriages, others are not. And we ought to make provisions for both. In so doing, I would like to ask, what is MSF doing to help strengthen familial and couple relations?

In cases where it is not possible to save the marriage, how can we mitigate the negative impact of divorce on children? In cases where risk factors for divorce are observed earlier, how can we provide better support earlier?

Last, given what I have said about the need for neutrality in choices, but also respecting the need for strong families, how can we together forge a strong narrative in line with the larger Singapore identity?

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Mr Chairman, our children are often the ones who suffer the most disproportionate consequences in cases of divorce, particularly when the divorce is a high-conflict one and the parents involved are unable to co-parent effectively.

According to the MSF Study on the Inter-generational Effects of Divorce on Children in Singapore, children generally tend to suffer divorce penalties in terms of their income and academic qualifications. They were less likely to get married themselves, and among those who did, they were more likely to get divorced.

Sir, we need to do more to break this cycle, by going upstream to help strengthen the resilience of our family relations and keep healthy marriages intact. According to the latest divorce statistics released in 2019, there were about three divorces in every 10 marriages. Can MSF provide an update on the number of divorce cases in 2020? I worry that the added stress and anxiety from the prolonged pandemic might could cause a further deterioration of relations in unstable marriages.

I would like to ask what is MSF doing to help strengthen familial and couple relations, especially for families dealing with multiple challenges due to the pandemic. Can MSF examine ways to help couples identify early signs of marriage distress, especially for the most cited reason of "unreasonable behaviour" and help resolve such marital issues earlier, rather than waiting till pre-divorce proceedings have been initiated?

Lastly, in unfortunate cases where it is not possible to save the marriage, what is the Ministry's plans to mitigate the divorce penalties on our children?

Ending Domestic Violence

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (Chua Chu Kang): Mr Chairman, I am the final speaker, but I am speaking on a different kind of ending – ending domestic violence.

Domestic violence, particularly those committed against young children, the elderly and people with mental and physical disabilities must be eradicated. Economic hardships are a trigger for more abuse in a relationship.

During this pandemic, many survivors of domestic violence feel that they can no longer seek refuge at the home of a friend or relative, for fear they could expose them to the virus. How can we encourage an environment of support whereby neighbours, family members and schools, help to look out for the vulnerable group in our society?

We have also to ensure that our Social Service Agency (SSAs) remain financially strong. They may be under pressure from increased demand and reduced number of volunteers coming forward to help. As we track the secondary effects of this pandemic, we must consider the impact on family violence and prioritise services.

What are the plans and recommendations for engagements with stakeholders following the formation of the taskforce to tackle family violence? Would the taskforce also be looking beyond family violence, but also domestic violence in general which would include intimate partner violence and violence against other vulnerable groups like foreign domestic workers and the elderly?

The Chairman: Leader.

The Leader of the House (Ms Indranee Rajah): Sir, may I seek your consent to move that the Chairman do leave the Chair? This is to enable me to move a Motion to take the proceedings on the business of Supply today beyond 8.00 pm.

The Chairman: I give my consent. Leader.

Resolved, That the Chairman do leave the Chair. – [Ms Indranee Rajah].

Thereupon Mr Deputy Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House.

Debate in Committee of Supply resumed.

[Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair]

Head I (cont.) −

The Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M): Chairman, I thank Members for their cuts and also partnering MSF through the years, in building a resilient and caring society together.

COVID-19 has plunged societies around the world into one of the most urgent social crises in modern times. For some time, fissures were already bubbling across many societies – exacerbated by new technologies, demography changes and consequent shifts in central gravities from traditional economic powers to newer ones.

COVID-19 made those fissures even more stark. Demonstrators occupied the streets. Many who already left, felt left behind, lost trust in their social systems. National solidarity was weakened at its core.

In Singapore, we are not immune. We must never allow such divisions to take root in our society, especially amid a crisis. It is tough times like these that will test the strength of societies, and the bonds that bind people together. Around the world, how quickly governments and their people worked together, determined whether they could get a reprieve or were overwhelmed. With your permission, Chairman, may I display a slide on the screens?

The Chairman: Yes, please.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: There was a time when Singapore faced a similar crisis as a nation. When we became independent in 1965, we had barely $1 billion in reserves and were still negotiating for it to be in our control. We had no natural resources and hinterland. Our GDP was about $3 billion, a small fraction of what it is today. Unemployment was much higher. Few expected us to survive. Let alone prosper.

This did not deter our spirits. We had to find practical solutions to our problems of growth and development in our own context, as Mr Lee Kuan Yew said in 1960, even before our independence. Our pioneers knew that in order for Singapore to succeed, we needed the tightest economic and social discipline.

Our focus was on nation-building. With the scarce resources that we had, our priority was to develop a competitive economy, build up a sizeable defence force, and provide basic education, housing and healthcare to all Singaporeans. Social assistance at the time was very basic. Everyone was very much taking care of each other, taking care of themselves and taking care of each other in the family. That was our social compact. We relied on our strong work ethic and that drove economic growth for Singapore – creating employment for the masses. Leading to improvements in living standards for everyone.

This approach has largely served us well for the first fifty years of our independence. We uplifted an entire population and in one generation rocketed from third world to first.

About nine in 10 Singaporean children would have entered Primary 1 with at least three years in preschool, and 97% of Singaporeans and Permanent Residents' children would go on to post-Secondary education.

Around 90% of Singapore resident household own their homes, with the bottom decile at close to 85%.

We have also kept public healthcare costs affordable, especially for the lower and middle income groups. A quality and comprehensive healthcare has enabled our workforce to be up on their feet much of their lives and enjoy their downtime on holidays and not in hospitals.

Even among the advanced economies, we are one of the few where those at the bottom and in the middle have seen large increases of incomes in the past 20 years, even after accounting for rises in the cost of living. This means that families have more resources today than before.

We achieved these outcomes without having to go down the paths of other advanced countries, which had to heavily tax their populations to finance their burgeoning social systems, with one generation passing on their debts to the next. In Singapore, we keep our taxes low for a substantial majority of our population. We want workers to take home as much of what they earned, while at the same time achieving effective transfers for social equity.

We want to pass down an effective, healthy and debt-free social system, which we have enjoyed and owe this to our children, grand-children and future generations.

Today, our social compact continues to be one where:

One, the Government creates conditions for economic growth. Access to affordable quality education, housing and healthcare services, regardless of our background, becomes opportunities to flourish. Everyone can live with dignity and be self-reliant to do the best for themselves and their families.

Two, families continue to be the core of our society and our first line of support. Strong families in turn support the building of resilient individuals. Because they play a big part in caring and supporting one another through the ups and downs of life.

Three, the community plays an active role in helping those with less because we believe in a caring society.

Together, they form the foundation of our social compact.

Chairman, we will face a very different social landscape over the next 50 years. New challenges, different from what our forefathers faced. Even before COVID-19, we have more than doubled our social spending in the past 10 years. We needed to invest considerable resources into enabling our seniors to age with grace, as our population ages. This will be more challenging to finance, amid a shrinking labour force.

While our socio-economic strategies have uplifted broad segments of our population in the past, our current and future challenge would be to ensure that those at the bottom continue to progress upwards alongside the rest of the society on a moving escalator.

Today, many of these individuals and families face differing and complex needs. The tried and tested solutions of the past need revisiting. There will always be inequality in any society, in one form or another, sometimes even within a family. But we must keep opportunities alive for all Singaporeans to ensure social mobility. It cannot only be for those who have the resources, but for everyone, regardless of where they start in life and where they are today.

We must get this right, no matter how difficult. Because if we fail, Singapore will go down the path of becoming a fractured and disunited nation.

In essence, we want everyone in Singapore to be happy because they succeed in our society of opportunities that the Government continues to create.

At MSF, we will help those faced with transitional difficulties to bounce back and enable those with disabilities to participate, contribute where they can, and benefit from our society of opportunities.

We need those who have succeeded to give back for the betterment of society. Many have done well, not only through their own efforts, but from an enabling system that provided the opportunities.

We must also resist the natural tendencies for society to stratify, and actively encourage social mixing in our housing, National Service and public spaces that we all treasure together, like our hawker centres.

MSF's work contributes to uniting our people, across social classes, backgrounds and groups through their generosity and kindness, to give back, creating a stronger sense of togetherness in our society.

For those permanently unable to care for themselves and without other forms of support, we will help care for them. Enabling, uniting and caring – these are at the core of our mission in MSF.

I would like to sketch out our plans to build a stronger social compact in three areas: First, ensuring greater inclusivity and opportunities for all; Second, helping individuals bounce back from COVID-19; and third, enabling our preschool and social service sectors to emerge stronger.

Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration Desmond Lee, Minister of State Sun Xueling and Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua will subsequently elaborate more on our other initiatives – and they all revolve around enabling, uniting and caring for each other.

Chairman, many Singaporeans, including Members of this house, have shared about their wishes for Singapore to be a more inclusive society, which provides opportunities for all. No one should feel that they will be at a disadvantage because of their life circumstances. We share the same vision.

While we have done well in some regards, we must continue to press on. We will strive to give every child a good start in life, regardless of family background. We will make our society more inclusive for Persons with Disabilities, or PwDs, including children with developmental needs.

During my earlier speech at MOH's Committee of Supply, I shared with members about the importance of the early years in building resilience. With this, MOH launched the Child and Maternal Health and Well-being strategy – with a focus on medically sound pathways. But the child's gift to the world can only be realised with a rich environment in which he or she grows up in.

Our pre-schools are an important enabler for this and within our broader strategy to support families with young children. We want to give every child a good start. As we enhance the affordability, accessibility and quality of preschools for all families, we recognise that children from lower income families may require more targeted assistance. Hence, we are scaling up KidSTART to provide this additional upstream support.

Evidence from local research like GUSTO, and our own practice and experience, tells us that intervening properly as early as we can, will in a big way prevent disadvantages from snowballing later in life. In the early years, our KidSTART practitioners focus on equipping parents with relevant knowledge and skills on child development, parent-child interaction, health and nutrition. When the child is older, about age three onwards, we focus our efforts on facilitating their enrolment into our quality preschool system. These will also be progressively implemented alongside the scaling up of ComLink which Minister Desmond Lee will share more on.

As strong and resilient families provide our children with a nurturing environment to row, we have put in place a continuum of family services to meet different needs. We will also continue developing the Families for Life, FFL, movement to help all families build strong relationships upstream and foster a community-based ecosystem of support. Minister of State Sun Xueling will elaborate further on these in her speech.

7.15 pm

Chairman, during the Emerging Stronger Conversations, many Singaporeans shared with us about their desire for a more inclusive society for PwDs across life stages. Ms Rahayu Mahzam also asked if existing efforts to encourage inclusiveness have been successful and if more can be done. We have stepped up efforts to raise public awareness of disability issues and inclusion through campaigns, such as “See The True Me”, which reported more positive attitudes towards PwDs amongst viewers.

At the national level, we have three workgroups looking into key aspects of our journey to foster stronger inclusivity in our society under our Third Enabling Masterplan. They look into areas like employment, independent living and making our pre-schools more inclusive, and we will share their recommendations in April. I would like to share more about what we are doing to make our preschools more inclusive, in response to Mr Don Wee and Ms Ng Ling Ling.

Over the years, MSF has worked with the sector to enhance early intervention support for children with developmental needs through our network of pre-schools and early intervention centres. We can do more. Starting by instilling inclusive values and mindsets from as early on in life as possible. This will lay the foundations for a more caring and inclusive society.

This will be beneficial for everyone. Studies show that both children with developmental needs and typically developing children can benefit from greater inclusion in pre-schools in areas like developing positive social attitudes and relationships, without compromising their development. Let me repeat. Without compromising their development. Building on existing efforts, we set up the Inclusive Preschool Workgroup to bring us closer to that vision. They have come up with some recommendations to bring us closer to that vision, which Minister of State Sun Xueling will share more in her speech.

The second key area that we will focus on is helping individuals bounce back from the setbacks of COVID-19, in a manner that builds resilience.

When COVID-19 first hit, the Government mounted a decisive response. We rolled out the Jobs Support Scheme to help businesses retain their workers and launched the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package to keep our workers economically engaged. To cushion the impact on incomes, we rolled out various financial support schemes. Together, more than $440 million were disbursed under the Temporary Relief Fund and COVID-19 Support Grant which provided a much-needed lifeline to many families.

While the situation in Singapore has stabilised, we recognise that the economic impact of COVID-19 will continue to be felt by many.

Mr Melvin Yong and Mr Seah Kian Peng asked for an update on the COVID-19 Recovery Grant (CRG) and how we are creating more jobs, especially in the social service sector.

We launched CRG in January. It provides temporary financial relief to lower to middle income workers impacted by COVID-19, as they look for new jobs or upskill to prepare for career changes.

One example is Mr Lee whose employment contract ended last year and received support under CRG. Since his job loss, he attended three courses to upskill himself. He shared that CRG helped to cover some of his living expenses, including transport expenses for job interviews and training sessions. He also recently secured a part-time job as a packer to supplement his CRG. He is confident that his training will put him in good stead to transit to full-time work soon.

We want to enable workers just like Mr Lee to bounce back from their setbacks and do well for themselves. Over 7,500 Singaporeans have benefited from CRG to date. This support is complemented by a national drive by the National Jobs Council to create new jobs to help those who are affected.

MSF, too, has supported this job creation initiative. We have worked towards creating around 4,500 jobs and skills opportunities by this year. Singaporeans can look forward to opportunities in the early childhood and social service sectors, as well as within the MSF family.

A key thrust is also the creation of opportunities for PwDs through the existing Open Door Programme and new initiatives including the Place-and-Train, Attach-and-Train, and Skills Development programmes. One example is Ms Kelly Ong, a graduate from APSN Delta Senior school who lost her job during the circuit breaker when her employer stopped operations. As part of SG Enable’s Job Placement Job Support Programme, a job coach helped Kelly with the job search process and prepared her for interviews. Eventually, Kelly found a job as a kitchen crew at a restaurant given her interest in the F&B industry. We will continue to support others like Kelly.

Together, these will put us in a good position to actively build resilience in our people and enable them to bounce back from the crisis even stronger.

Finally, we want to enable our pre-school and social service sectors to emerge stronger and become more resilient to future challenges. In response to Mr Shawn Huang and Mr Seah Kian Peng, I will share more about how we are doing so in three areas. Digital transformation, building organisational excellence and capability, and strengthening partnerships with the community.

Digital transformation. Digitalisation is a core pillar of our transformation journey. To this end, we are developing Industry Digital Plans for both the early childhood and social services sectors. They will provide structured frameworks to help preschools and Social Service Agencies (SSAs) optimise resources and business processes. This will improve efficiency, support professionals in their work and raise the quality of services.

Next, we will strengthen support for SSAs to drive organisational excellence. We rolled out the Transformation Support Scheme to co-fund SSAs to hire manpower in areas of transformation. We are setting up the Community Capability Trust (CCT). It is a new fund of up to $480 million, comprising Government funds and community donations. It will be made available next year to provide longer term support for SSAs’ capability- and capacity-building needs. In response to Ms Carrie Tan, the CCT will build on existing capability building efforts and expand them so that SSAs have continued support to transform themselves.

Mr Seah Kian Peng and Mr Xie Yao Quan also asked what MSF is doing to encourage more giving during these challenging times and to harness the power of the community.

MSF will continue to renew our social compact in a manner that builds a caring society with a strong sense of mutual help and giving back. Corporates and individuals have been giving regularly to Community Chest’s SHARE. To encourage greater giving, we will be extending the SHARE As One programme to provide dollar-for-dollar matching for another two years till FY2023.

As Deputy Prime Minister had earlier announced, Change for Charity is a new initiative to empower giving through everyday consumption habits. From FY2021, Community Chest will work with businesses to enable customers to donate through their transactions on payment platforms. This can be conversion of loyalty points to donations or even direct donations at point of payment. The Government will match 50 cents to every dollar donated through these platforms. We will increase this dollar-for-dollar matching, if businesses also match customers' donations, adding up to three dollars in total.

I was very glad to hear Mr Seah Kian Peng putting up his hand for NTUC Enterprise to be the first to come onboard and hope many other companies will join us. Corporates can receive a one-off grant to support the implementation.

During the Emerging Stronger Conservations, many Singaporeans expressed their desire to be more involved in efforts to care for those in need. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships with the community, in the spirit of SG Together. We agree with Mr Melvin Yong that care-givers play an important role in our social safety net. During my earlier speech at MOH’s Committee of Supply, I spoke about strengthening support for care-givers of seniors. At MSF, we will embark on a similar effort to support care-givers of PwDs. NCSS, SG Enable and community partners will form a Singapore Together Alliance for Action for care-givers of PwDs in the coming months. This will complement the Third Enabling Masterplan, which I spoke about earlier.

Ms Denise Phua also shared about a similar alliance for the Autism Enabling Masterplan. MSF will review the recommendations and is committed to working with friends from the autism community on this.

Chairman, if there is a partnership that we must build, it is between our men and women. All of us know women close to us – our mothers, our wives, our sisters, our daughters. They deserve our respect and to be celebrated. I would like to wish everyone a Happy International Women’s Day in advance.

As a whole, we have done well in many areas – enabling our women to access quality education and healthcare services, and higher labour participation. We have provided them with safe and secure neighbourhoods and streets, where women can be out late at night alone without worrying about safety. A luxury that is uncommon in many other cities and communities. Even among this House, women occupy close to 30% of the seats, which is higher than the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s global average of 25.5%.

The recent spate of sexual offences and violence against women are abhorrent. They somewhat reveal how some of our boys and men view women. We want to correct this. We must not allow such misplaced attitudes to fester because they have no part in our society. And we can do more to protect our women by reviewing the sentencing framework for hurt and sexual offences. And my colleague Minister Shanmugam has made a Ministerial Statement to this end.

But our partnership with our fellow Singapore women cannot stop there. We will also look into other areas that have been frequently brought up. An example is that of enabling the careers of our women – supporting their career development, even while they build their families and increasing the representation of women on Boards through our Council for Board Diversity, in a manner that is not perceived as tokenism.

The on-going Conversations on Singapore Women’s Development aim to explore how we can do better collectively for Singapore women at home, in workplaces, in schools, and in the community on these various issues. Minister of State Sun Xueling will elaborate more in her speech.

Mr Chairman, Sir, in Malay please.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] COVID-19 has brought about many challenges to societies around the world, thus becoming one of the most pressing social crises of this modern age. Those who have been facing challenges continue to be hit by problem after problem, as the Malay proverb goes "someone falls, and the ladder falls on him, too". Social divisions are increasingly felt.

At the same time, we will face a very different social landscape in the future, bringing with it various new challenges.

Previously, before COVID-19, we have more than doubled our social spending in the past 10 years.

Our socio-economic strategies have uplifted broad segments of our population. However, the challenge is to ensure that those at the bottom can continue to progress alongside the rest of the society.

We must ensure that opportunities are kept available for all Singaporeans. No matter how difficult, we must ensure that social mobility remains achievable within the established social structure. Because if we fail, Singapore will go down the path of becoming a fractured and disunited nation.

We must also not forget those close to us – our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. We must ensure that women who need protection are protected, those less fortunate are given help, and those with career aspirations are given the opportunity to achieve it. They deserve our respect and are to be celebrated. I would like to wish all a Happy International Women’s Day which will be celebrated on Monday.

We will continue to partner you, help the less fortunate and support the aspirations of all Singaporeans.

7.30 pm

(In English): In my previous Ministry, we did everything we can to save our planet. But leaving good children to take care of our planet is as important as leaving a good planet for our children.

In Singapore, we have progressively strengthened our social compact over the years and took a pragmatic approach, as our society evolved and our resources enabled us. We are now faced with an immediate problem to renew our social compact as we tackle the uncertainties of a future global economy scarred by the pandemic that can either deplete our resources or enable us even more. The long-term impact of climate change will severely tax our resources, too.

Our pioneers set the foundations of Singapore and painted our society with hope amid a crisis. In the background of the uncertainties of separation, we saw hope in building a metropolis together. Similarly, we must ask ourselves: what kind of society do we want to be over the next 50 years? What kind of society do we want to leave our future generations?

How we each decide to act in the face of adversity will shape our values and norms for generations to come. For us at MSF, the crisis presents an opportunity to build more resilient individuals and stronger families, with a more caring and resilient society, characterised by greater inclusivity and opportunities for all.

The Government cannot go about this alone. We need everyone, and a whole-of-society approach and effort to bring us closer to that vision of home. I look forward to our continued partnership with fellow Singaporeans and Members of this House to build a better future for ourselves and our children. Together, I am confident that we can emerge stronger. Thank you. [Applause.]

The Chairman: Minister Desmond Lee.

The Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration (Mr Desmond Lee): Chairman, Minister Masagos has just set out our social compact and laid out MSF’s key focus areas for the year ahead. Let me now expand on how we intend to integrate social services and transform our social safety nets in Singapore.

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on societies all around the world. But it has also brought out the best in Singaporeans. In the past year, many more Singaporeans stepped forward. Government, community and corporates partnered one another to support our neighbours, our friends and fellow Singaporeans.

At MSF, my colleagues have been working hard to strengthen and transform our social safety nets. This transformation is guided by our 3C principles. First, providing comprehensive support, not only downstream when issues occur, but also going upstream to identify and tackle root issues. Second, ensuring that help is convenient, by putting individuals and families that we serve at the centre and organising support around their needs. Third, coordinating ourselves by building strong partnerships and networks, anchored in local communities.

This foundational work served us well when COVID-19 struck, especially during the Circuit Breaker. One example was the PEERS Network, which stands for “Partners Engaging and Empowering Rough Sleepers”. With your permission, Sir, may I display some slides on the LED screens?

The Chairman: Yes, please. [Some slides were shown to hon Members.]

Mr Desmond Lee: Thank you, Sir. The PEERS Network was officially formed in July 2019, and includes Social Service Agencies (SSAs), community groups and Government agencies. Some are befrienders. Others offer their premises as “Safe Sound Sleeping Places”, or S3Ps for short, and these provide localised interim shelter. Officers from MSF and MND join the partners’ outreach walks to offer assistance. They work closely with PEERS members to support homeless rough sleepers with housing needs.

Early last year, there was an urgency to provide shelter to rough sleepers because of COVID-19. For their safety, we needed to find rough sleepers safe shelter quickly. MSF called for more groups to open their premises as S3Ps. Over 40 organisations answered our call. And this was a six-fold increase from pre-COVID-19 times. We also worked with HDB to provide vacant flats as temporary S3Ps. d. The Network has sheltered about 900 rough sleepers since April 2020.

MSF also set up two new Transitional Shelters in January this year, and about 250 residents from Safe Sound Sleeping Places have moved into new Transitional Shelters. The eventual goal is to help them address their underlying social issues and achieve longer term stable accommodation.

Another example was the outreach effort to households living in rental flats, which commenced last June. We wanted to ensure these households were coping well with the pandemic, as they were much more vulnerable, and to offer support where necessary. We activated the SG Cares Community Networks to support this outreach. The local Networks were started in 2018 to bring together the social, health and community sectors in each town, to strengthen social, health and community integration.

The Networks were quickly mobilised. MSF, PA and MCCY rallied community partners, social service agencies, corporates and some 900 volunteers to reach out to 50,000 rental households. We managed to offer timely support, especially to households who were suffering but had not yet reached out to seek help. We referred 5,000 households in rental flats to various agencies for further healthcare support, counselling, employment and financial assistance and so on.

These examples demonstrate clearly how important networks of trust are during a crisis.

Ms Joan Pereira and Ms Denise Phua asked how we work with social service agencies and community partners to deliver social services in a coordinated manner. Our approach has been to organise our support around each family’s needs and practise what we called the 3Cs earlier.

And to achieve this, MSF has trained nearly 4,300 officers to assess underlying issues and to deliver more comprehensive support. Frontline officers can connect those in need to relevant support, if the families’ issues go beyond their own agency’s remit. This shift, which is a work-in-progress, emphasises a family-centric approach, instead of adopting an agency-centric lens. We will be training community partners and volunteers next, who are important touchpoints to render even more comprehensive support.

Besides building capabilities, we have also integrated processes. One example is the plan that Minister of State Faishal Ibrahim mentioned to strengthen information exchange between Singapore Prison Service and the FSCs – he described this during MHA COS. This enables offenders’ families to receive timely support from FSCs and community partners. Another example is Streamlined Assessment Protocols, or SAPs, that allow ComCare clients to access other forms of help schemes more easily. They now qualify for medical assistance at public healthcare institutions, childcare subsidies and MOE Financial Assistance without having to be repeatedly means-tested. MSF is working with other agencies to set up new protocols, so that clients can seamlessly access assistance via other agencies, beyond the SSOs.

Mr Don Wee had suggested making the help-seeking process more seamless for low-income vulnerable families by sharing data across Ministries and integrating the application processes. This is, indeed, something we are working on with the relevant agencies.

We will make better use of data and technology to improve our clients’ experience and our officers’ productivity. Today, some clients have to repeat their circumstances and submit similar documents repeatedly to apply for different schemes from different departments. Officers often spend time collecting information that is already available with another agency. This time can be better spent building trust and rapport.

The systems enhancements that we mentioned at last year's COS to improve data-sharing between agencies are coming on-stream this year. One platform is what we called One Client View, or OneCV, which was rolled out last month to officers from 12 agencies. In the past, the household who wanted to apply for rental housing, ComCare assistance and childcare subsidies, for example, had to submit income documents three times to these three different agencies. With One Client View, the family can do away with these submissions and simply give consent for agencies to retrieve the information through this platform. One Cilent View has multiple levels of safeguards built in to ensure that such personal data is kept safe.

Another platform, called Case Connect, will be rolled out in phases from June this year. Today, collaboration takes place over different modes – emails, phone calls, messages, handwritten notes. Valuable information can get lost when case workers change, or new partners come onboard, and you can imagine many, many agencies are involved. Case Connect will allow frontline officers and case workers to make referrals, share assessments and updates, and coordinate with other partners on a single platform. To reduce the administrative burden on frontline officers and our social service agency partners, we integrated the systems with single sign-in and will progressively build system linkages. So, not just focusing on our clients, but ensuring that our frontline, both in Government and in the social service sector, they find it meaningful, they find it seamless and they find it integrated for themselves, too.

Case coordination can become challenging with more partners involved. To drive integration, we will take a regional approach to organise key social services because, in reality, if you ask the different agencies, they tend to serve the same families, the same households in the same locality. Our aim is to have a common set of partners serve the same community in the same region. This helps to reduce coordination costs and promote better integration across agencies.

We have been organising many of our programmes with this regional approach in mind. These include KidSTART and Community Link or ComLink, which Minister Masagos had shared about earlier. We will also set up regional Strengthening Families Programme @ FSC to support early-risk and stressed families. Minister of State Sun Xueling will elaborate more later. These programmes will be organised along SSO regional clusters, so that agencies can easily work with the partners in the same region, build relationships among each other to convene case discussions and coordinate support. In turn, this strengthens the SG Cares Community Network in each town.

During the Emerging Stronger Conversations that we have had, many Singaporeans expressed their desire to build a society that cares even more deeply for the vulnerable and less privileged. Mr Seah Kian Peng also asked how we will build stronger partnerships with the community to support those in need. We will strive to achieve this through the SG Cares Community Networks. This is a Singapore Together Alliance for Action, or AfA, which focuses on prototyping new ideas to solve problems. The Networks also provide a platform where local partners in a town, with Government agencies, charities, social service agencies and other community groups get to know one another face to face, collaborate and, over time, build a relationship of trust in the local community. We have seen the collective impact of the Networks earlier. And we believe we are just starting to tap on its potential, and we call on more community partners and volunteers to join our efforts.

Community Link, or ComLink for short, is a flagship initiative that seeks to pull together the elements that we talked about earlier: achieving deeper integration, putting families at the centre of our work, being proactive, building strong local networks, and partnering the community.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng and Minister Masagos had announced the expansion of ComLink earlier. So, now, let me provide some details, which will also address Mr Mohd Fahmi's cut on ComLink's progress and future plans.

7.45 pm

In 2019, MSF launched ComLink at four pilot locations: Boon Lay, Jalan Kukoh, Kembangan-Chai Chee and Marsiling. Since its launch, we have supported 1,000 families with children.

Ms Carrie Tan asked if ComLink is taking an asset-based community development, or ABCD, approach. Yes, elements of ABCD are in ComLink but ComLink is more than that.

Under ComLink, instead of waiting for households to seek help, we proactively reached out to families with young children who are living in rental housing to understand their needs, their fears and their aspirations, listen to their voice.

We pulled together data across agencies and used them to identify issues faced by families as well as assets and gaps in the community. Community partners came together to coordinate support for families with complex interlocking issues. We came up with common action plans and journeyed with the families to support them in achieving their goals.

You cannot rush this. It takes time. You have to journey with them. It might take months, it might take years, it might take even a generation. But we journey with them.

We also partnered about 30 corporates, donors and social service agencies, and 240 volunteers to mount some 60 ComLink programmes specifically tailored to meet the families' and the community's needs. So, data driven needs identified by our outreach to the families, hearing and listening to them, and tailoring those support.

Our objective is to systematically uplift families with children living in rental housing and support them towards stability, self-reliance and social mobility.

Let me illustrate with one example. Theresa is a single mother with two children and had difficulty holding down a stable job because of the difficulties she faced. Ever since the Social Service Office (SSO) knocked on her door two years ago as part of ComLink, Theresa gradually opened up to share her challenges and aspirations of becoming a childcare teacher and her hopes of owning her own HDB flat. Her social worker and community partners came together, provided her coordinated support and worked out with her a case plan, a progress plan, a roadmap.

Today, Theresa is a confident parent with stable employment who contributes back to her own local community. Her two children regularly attend ComLink programmes.

We want to empower more families like Theresa's. We will therefore scale ComLink across Singapore over the next two years to cover all families with children living in rental housing. We will do so by expanding from the existing four sites to 21 towns in the next two years to cover 14,000 rental housing families with children across the island.

The SSOs will continue to drive this effort with relevant Government agencies, social service agencies and community organisations through ComLink Alliances.

As we step up efforts to do more for vulnerable Singaporeans, we need to redesign the way we deliver services. This is a natural evolution of the social safety nets that Minister Masagos has set out in his opening frame. And what is this new way of delivering social services?

First, streamline outreach efforts so that families are not overtaxed by various agencies and interventions.

Second, align agencies to a common set of outcomes centred on the families so that families are not pulled in different directions by different agencies and charities.

Third, empower lead agencies such as our SSOs and Family Service Centres (FSCs) to exercise more leadership to stitch together interventions while other agencies support as part of one team.

Fourth, provide better signposting of ground needs to donors, to volunteers, to philanthropists and corporate social responsibility (CSR), so that their giving is not just meaningful but impactful, targeted and productive. Achieve social impact that many volunteers and donors yearn to see.

We are testing out these ideas at selected ComLink communities.

ComLink is an ambitious enterprise premised on the belief that Government, SSAs and the community come together at the national level, supported by resources and the right policies, we can make a much bigger impact in uplifting the low-income and vulnerable.

Social sector practitioners have told us that what we are trying to achieve is critically needed. In fact, we are doing this because of their sound advice and guidance over the years. They tell us this is much needed but not easy to achieve.

We must confess that with no precedent to rely on, we are feeling the stones as we cross the river. But I am confident that we can cross the river to the other side because of our common desire to build a society that cares more deeply for those who have less. We want to roll up our sleeves, make an impact and see the difference.

We need to do this together. So, Minister Masagos, Senior Minister of State Sun Xueling, Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua and I would like to invite Singaporeans to be a part of this movement on the ground. Those who are keen to join us can approach a Volunteer Centre set up by MCCY in your town or sign up through Volunteer.sg portal. My colleagues and I look forward to working with more of you to build a Singapore where no one is left behind. [Applause.]

The Chairman: Minister of State Ms Sun Xueling.

The Minister of State for Social and Family Development (Ms Sun Xueling): Mr Chairman, Minister Masagos shared MSF's plans to strengthen our social compact, including strong families as our first line of support.

It is on these points that I would like to elaborate today.

First, our families are the foundation of society. We must support them to the best of our ability, across their differing needs.

Second, our women are key members of our families and society. We will support them so they have real choices, so that they do not have to choose between family and their careers, and can achieve their full potential.

Third, our children are our future. We will provide them with a good start in life so that they may grow up to be resilient members of our society and form strong families of their own.

Mr Chairman, to build strong, resilient families, we have in place a continuum of family services to support families with varying needs.

First, for soon-to-wed and married couples, we support them in building strong foundations in marriage and parenthood.

Minister Indranee announced the increase in the co-matching cap in the Child Development Account for the second child. We will also introduce Government-Paid Paternity Benefit and Adoption Benefit Schemes later this year. We will grow the Families for Life movement to strengthen family ties and bonds and we will promote evidence-based programmes for marriage preparation and parenting.

Second, Mr Melvin Yong and Mr Seah Kian Peng will be happy to know that we will help families who show early signs of stress.

In 2019, MSF piloted two Strengthening Families Programme @ Family Service Centres, otherwise known as SFP@FSC, with Care Corner Singapore and Fei Yue Community Services. SFP@FSC will bring together programmes and support services for marriage and divorce.

We will start a family counselling service, including for families with early signs of stress, so we can mend relationship fissures early. Some marriages need more support, such as those who marry before 21 years of age, or transnational couples. Tailored marriage preparation and support programmes will help lay a strong foundation for marriage. We will step up support for families undergoing divorce. Four existing Divorce Support Specialist Agencies, or DSSAs, will be folded into the SFP@FSC. Services will be more accessible as families may approach any of the 10 SFP@FSCs whereas the DSSAs may not be located as conveniently.

The SFP@FSC will adopt an integrated, regional and multi-disciplinary approach to family service provision. Bringing early-risk family services under SFP@FSC allows better oversight of family services and greater integration of support for families with multiple needs.

The SFP@FSC will be organised according to the 10 SSO regions. Upstream preventive measures for all families and downstream interventions for early-risk families and those with complex needs will be accessible in the same location.

To address multi-faceted and complex family issues, the SFP@FSC will bring together a multi-disciplinary team of professionals skilled in family counselling, financial counselling and psychology.

We expect to scale up to five SFP@FSCs, with three more social service agencies working with MSF by the last quarter of this year. The remaining five will be rolled out within the next two years.

On family violence, Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim asked what can be done to create a community of support. Minister of State Assoc Prof Mohammad Faishal and I co-chair the task force on family violence, which has studied the landscape and possible causes of family violence so that we can intervene effectively. We have conducted focus group discussions and we are currently reviewing feedback from partners and Members of the House.

The task force is developing recommendations to break cycles of abuse and offending under four broad thrusts: (a) increasing awareness and strengthening societal attitudes against violence; (b) making it easier for victims and the community to report violence and to get immediate help; (c) strengthening protection for victims to reduce their risk of being harmed again; and (d) increasing the burden of accountability placed on perpetrators and strengthening their rehabilitation. More details will be shared later.

I will next share how we will continue to support our women. Our women's contributions are integral to the Singapore Story and we must celebrate and support their continued progress. Ahead of Monday, I would like to wish everyone, both men and women, Happy International Women's Day in advance.

Mr Seah Kian Peng asked about the profile of participants and issues raised at the Conversations on Singapore Women's Development.

So far, we have conducted 37 conversations and engaged over 1,800 individuals, including youths, working mothers, homemakers and women leaders. Men make up almost a quarter of our participants, and I know that more will come.

Participants raised concerns ranging from challenges faced by working mothers to violence against women. During my Budget speech last week, I mentioned that participants from our Conversations on Singapore Women's Development raised concerns on the approach for punishment for hurt and sexual offences. I am heartened to hear the Minister for Home Affairs and Law present the Ministerial Statement on the review of the sentencing framework for sexual and hurt offences in Parliament today. It is a strong step to further safeguard the protection and safety of our women and girls.

Participants at the conversations also raised the need for mindset shifts and suggested establishing support networks in workplaces and the community.

Increasing representation of women in corporate leadership was also raised. We agree with Ms Mariam Jaafar that we need more women leaders for diversity in skillsets, experiences and perspectives, which leads to better decisions. The Council for Board Diversity encourages diversity in organisations and identifies and grooms potential board-ready women.

We will continue to gather and study the feedback provided and submit a White Paper to the Parliament in the second half of 2021.

Next, I would like to talk about how we ensure that every child has access to affordable and quality pre-schools.

Chairman, it is paramount that every child is provided with a good start. For families with young children, we have stepped up efforts to enhance the accessibility, affordability and quality of pre-schools. Two key moves were recently made.

8.00 pm

Since January 2020, the household income ceiling for means-tested pre-school subsidies has increased to $12,000 a month, from $7,500 for childcare and infant care, and $6,000 for KiFAS. Subsidy amounts also increased across all eligible tiers. Around 78,000 children now benefit from means-tested subsidies, up from around 48,000 in 2019.

We enhanced the Partner Operator (POP) Scheme, from January 2021. In the new term, we lowered fee caps for POP centres from $800 to $760 for full-day childcare per month. We also increased the number of POP centres by 30%.

With the latest subsidies and fee caps, a Singaporean child enrolled in full-day childcare for five years with an Anchor Operator would benefit from about $50,000 in Government funding. Low- and middle-income families can additionally receive up to $28,000 in means-tested subsidies.

Ms Ng Ling Ling and Mr Louis Chua asked about accessibility and quality of pre-school places.

This is an important point that affects young families. I know this all too well. Many Members of Parliament have raised this issue. Back in 2019, together with my colleagues Cheng Li Hui, Rahayu Mahzam and Cheryl Chan, we pushed for more accessible and affordable quality pre-school places, especially in new towns with many young children.

The Government promised in 2019 that 80% of pre-schoolers would have a place in Government-supported pre-schools by around 2025.

We have significantly increased the number of full-day preschool places, from about 120,000 in 2015 to around 190,000 today – an increase of over 50%.

We are thus on track to grow the total number of full-day pre-school places to 200,000 by 2023 and achieve the Government’s promise by around 2025.

We have increased the number of early childhood educators from 18,000 in 2018 to over 22,000 last year. We support the professional development of our educators. One such effort is enhancing the capabilities of educators teaching Mother Tongue Languages.

ECDA partnered the National Institute of Early Childhood Development, or NIEC, in 2019 to introduce Certificate courses for Malay and Tamil language teaching. A course for Chinese language teaching will be introduced later this year.

Ms Joan Pereira asked how we will support lower income families with young children. In 2021, we plan to expand KidSTART, to Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Panjang, and Bukit Batok, on top of the regions already announced.

The community plays an important role. Under the Growing Together with KidSTART initiative, we forged new corporate partnerships with SP Group and The LEGO Group, and deepened existing partnerships with Prudential Singapore and Etonhouse Community Fund. We will tap on individual and corporate volunteers to build stronger, long-lasting relationships with KidSTART families.

Mr Don Wee asked about childcare services for shift workers.

Childcare centres can operate beyond standard operating hours. Currently, over 40 childcare centres operate beyond 7 pm on weekdays. This meets the needs of most parents. Others may arrange for care-givers such as relatives to help out.

As part of the Community Link pilot, we sought feedback from some 650 families and community partners, including on care-giving arrangements. We are studying the possibility of piloting night-time childcare at a ComLink site.

For children with developmental needs, it is paramount to identify needs early and provide the necessary support. Our children are precious and we must create environments where they can thrive, and they can feel included and accepted.

We, therefore, set up the Inclusive Pre-school Workgroup, or IPWG, which Minister Masagos spoke about. Through the IPWG, which I co-chair, the Government has worked with partners across the health, education and social sectors to study how we can better support children with developmental needs.

Ms Ng Ling Ling asked about efforts to strengthen inclusion in pre-schools. The workgroup will release its report in April. Ahead of this, let me broadly share the upcoming initiatives. With your permission, Mr Chairman, may I display a slide on the LED screens?

The Chairman: Please.

Ms Sun Xueling: The workgroup has a tiered support framework, depending on the level of early intervention support required.

In Tier 1, we will work towards every pre-school appointing an "Inclusion Coordinator", or ICO, among existing staff, beginning in the second half of 2023. The exact timing will be announced later.

The introduction of ICOs will set a baseline for the sector’s support for children with developmental needs and signal that every pre-school has a role to play in strengthening inclusion.

ICOs will work with early childhood educators to flag children with potential developmental needs for further assessment. They will connect teachers and parents to early intervention support or resources, such as our Development Support-Learning Support programme (DS-LS).

ECDA will work with pre-schools to support appointed staff with appropriate training. ICOs alone are not the silver bullet and we urge all pre-school leaders and educators to partner ICOs in their pre-schools in this inclusion journey.

In Tier 2, we will expand the DS-LS programme and the Development Support Plus (DS-Plus) programme to more pre-schools, to support children requiring low levels of early intervention support.

In 2020, the DS-LS programme covered about 600 pre-schools which enrol over 40% of resident pre-schoolers aged five to six. We plan to expand outreach of the DS-LS programme to more pre-schools covering 60% of pre-schoolers by 2025, and covering 80% at steady-state.

In Tier 3, we will pilot a new Inclusive Support Programme, or I-n-S-P, at a few sites with selected providers to integrate planning and provision of both early childhood and early intervention services at pre-schools for children aged three to six, who require medium levels of early intervention support.

Under the InSP, pre-schools will be resourced with full-time early intervention professionals who will work with early childhood educators.

This will reduce the logistical strain faced by care-givers, of shuttling between pre-schools and early intervention centres, and provide more integrated support.

The IPWG recognises there are children who require higher levels of early intervention support and who remain best served in a separate specialised early intervention setting.

ECDA will follow up on IPWG’s recommendation to study integration opportunities for these children in Tier 4.

ECDA will also strengthen the capabilities of the early childhood and early intervention professionals in our efforts to make pre-schools more inclusive.

Ultimately, strengthening inclusion in our pre-schools will benefit both children with developmental needs, and typically developing children, with enhanced teacher training, and development of stronger social skills from a young age. Chairman, in Chinese, please.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Families are the foundation of our society. Hence, we have in place a continuum of family services to support families with varying needs. In 2019, we piloted two Strengthening Families Programme @ Family Service Centres (SFP@FSC) with two Family Service Centres, which will bring together programmes and support services for marriage and divorce. Based on good feedback from this pilot, we will expand to three more regions by the end of this year, and the remaining five will be rolled out within the next two years.

In support of women, the Government and community organisations have organised 37 conversations as part of the Conversations on Singapore Women's Development, engaging more than 1,800 people from various backgrounds. During the conversations, participants raised various concerns, such as challenges faced by working mothers and violence against women. We will continue to gather feedback and study the suggestions put forward by the participants and submit a White Paper to Parliament in the second half of the year.

In the area of pre-school education, we are stepping up our efforts to provide more accessible, affordable and quality pre-schools. We will increase the number of Government-supported pre-school places, to meet the target set in 2019, of 80% of pre-schoolers having a place in Government-supported pre-schools by around 2025.

At the same time, we will work towards every pre-school appointing an Inclusion Coordinator to provide early intervention support for children with developmental needs. We will also expand the Development Support- Learning Support Programme and pilot a new Inclusive Support Programme to help children who travel daily between pre-school and Early Intervention Programme for Infants & Children centres.

We will also further support low-income families with young children. We will expand KidSTART this year to benefit low-income families living in Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Panjang and Bukit Batok. An important part of the programme is to ensure that young children are adequately nourished. Under KidSTART, practitioners will work directly with parents to guide them on their children's nutritional needs. Our community and corporate partners will also come in to support families with food sponsorships where necessary.

Children are our hope, our future. Regardless of their family background and difficulties they face, we want to create an inclusive and warm school environment for them, so that every child can thrive, overcome the challenges in their lives and education, and develop to their full potential. This requires the concerted effort of all of us. Thank you!

The Chairman: Parliamentary Secretary Eric Chua.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Eric Chua): Sir, building a strong social compact starts with building resilient and caring individuals. This begins from nurturing our youth to bring out the best in them.

All youths, including our vulnerable and at-risk ones, can be resilient individuals. We must support them well, so they too can realise their full potential. Mr Murali Pillai asked how we can do so.

The National Committee on Prevention, Rehabilitation and Recidivism (NCPR), which I co-chair with Minister of State Faishal of MHA, oversees national efforts to prevent offending, re-offending and to enhance rehabilitation of offenders. Through the Localised Community Network (LCN) pilot, we provide wraparound, coordinated support to children and youth with complex family circumstances or those who exhibit at-risk behaviours.

MSF also works closely with appointed agencies to run programmes aimed at reducing at-risk behaviours, such as "Youth GO!".

Over the years, we have made steady progress. The number of youths arrested has fallen by about 40% over the last decade.

Pre-court diversionary programmes have significantly contributed to keeping first-time youth offenders who commit minor offences out of the court system.

We will continue to work with our partners to build a preventive support system for our youths.

We will pilot a mentoring programme targeted at students who leave ITE prematurely. We have two main objectives:

First, to expand the youths’ network of positive relationships. We hope that the young mentees will find lifelong friends and role models in the mentors, pick up useful life skills, and gain access to a trusted adult that they feel comfortable reaching out to.

Second, to empower the youths to achieve their aspirations. We hope to broaden their exposure to opportunities and support them in building on their strengths and talents. We intend to gather mentors from various industries, to guide the youths to explore potential careers in areas they are interested in. Where possible, mentors will pave the way for internships, apprenticeships, or job placements for these mentees.

I am also pleased to update that from February 2021, that is last month, post-care support for our youths discharged from MSF Youth Homes has been extended from two months to one year for all youths discharged from the Homes.

Beyond this, we invest upstream in family and community resources to address risks and disadvantages as early as possible. And we also regularly review our legislation to better safeguard the welfare of our youth and children.

8.15 pm

Ms Sylvia Lim asked about the impact of the amendments to the Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA) passed by Parliament in 2019. Most amendments took effect from July last year. Implementation has been smooth so far.

We extended protection to older children who are abused or neglected, by raising the age limit from 16 to 18. From July to December 2020, MSF investigated 25 such cases involving older children.

The shift from “Beyond Parental Control” to “Family Guidance Orders” emphasises the family’s responsibility in guiding their children. Now, parents and children must attend a family programme, before parents can apply to the Court for a Family Guidance Order. The intent really is to equip families with ways to resolve conflict and strengthen family relationships to avoid the need for the Court to intervene. The regime is still new at this point in time, and we need time to monitor its implementation.

We are also enhancing our capacity and capability to rehabilitate youth offenders. It would take resources, time to strengthen safety and security, before MSF Youth Homes are able to take in additional youths.

And on a related note, we are also reviewing the Adoption of Children Act (ACA); to seek public feedback on proposals to better safeguard the welfare of adopted children.

Our efforts would not be possible without close collaboration with the community. As Minister Masagos mentioned, we are strengthening partnerships with the community, and encouraging the spirit of giving and volunteering to uplift our vulnerable communities.

Mr Mohd Fahmi Bin Aliman asked how we are empowering our youths to contribute to building a resilient and inclusive society. Many youths have been leading and igniting change through community initiatives, and we are actively partnering them to channel their energy and ideas for good. And I will be sharing more examples later on in my speech.

Mental well-being is a pertinent issue of our time, brought to the fore by the pandemic. At the start of the circuit breaker, MSF and MOH set up a dedicated National Care Hotline, to provide psychological first aid to Singaporeans. The hotline has since managed over 40,000 calls since it commenced operations in April last year. And in the recent months, with the gradual lifting of COVID-19 measures, total calls managed has decreased and stabilised to 1,500 calls a month, including about 450 per month that needs emotional support. But beyond this, there is more that we must do as a society to promote mental well-being.

Mr Shawn Huang and Mr Xie Yao Quan asked how the Youth Mental Well-Being Network (YMWBN) will help support youths. The Network gives us a platform to brainstorm with the community and try out new ideas to better support our youths’ mental well-being. As Minister of State Xueling shared at MOE’s Committee of Supply, Network members have initiated over 30 potential projects to date. I took part in a brainstorming session in October last year, and was very heartened and inspired by the many good ideas exchanged.

One such initiative is Driving Resilience & Inspiration for The Incredible Next Generation, or DRIFTING in short. Led by Network members Ms Francesca Wah, Mr Caleb Tan, Mr Jerry Seah, Mr Pang Lim and Mr Chan Ming Hui, DRIFTING is an outreach programme that aims to provide positive peer support for at-risk adolescents. Tapping on the experiences of former youths-at-risk and informal community touchpoints such as hairdressers, mama shop owners, DRIFTING seeks to strengthen the social support network and introduce protective factors for at-risk adolescents. The team will soon be ready to recruit volunteers and conduct outreach.

Our youths are also actively involved in causes to help the vulnerable.

Seventeen-year-old Brendson Tan has been involved in ground-up initiative Mummy Yummy since 2013, when his grandmother started the initiative with three other mothers to distribute meals to families in rental flats. As deputy lead of the youth team, Brendson leads over 200 youth volunteers to distribute food door-to-door. And he also leads weekly house visits in Bedok to check on residents’ well-being.

Increasingly, youths also want to have a voice in the policy-making process. We constantly find ways to involve youths in our consultations. For instance, the Youth Advisory Group (YAG) provides their perspectives to the NCPR, which I co-chair with Minister of State Faishal.

In recent years, MSF, community agencies, and religious organisations have also joined hands to form various networks to address social issues.

The PEERS Network, for instance, has 35 partners who run Safe Sound Sleeping Places (S3Ps) and mobilise volunteers to reach out to rough sleepers. I recently joined the Catholic Welfare Services and the Homeless Hearts of Singapore on their night walks. On one walk, we met two uncles who shared their concerns about safety and about losing their belongings when they sleep rough. They were actually initially quite hesitant to move into a shelter, but upon our MSF officers follow up especially on the very next day, they went to engage the uncles again, giving them assurance that the shelter would be suitable and adequate for their needs; they eventually moved into the shelter. And they are now in touch with HDB and MSF SSOs to gradually work out their housing and financial needs.

Other volunteer networks which the public can join include the Vulnerable-in-Community (VIC) Network, which befriends and supports vulnerable individuals, including tissue paper sellers and cardboard collectors; the Charity Food Workgroup for instance, which coordinates charity food support to beneficiaries; and the earlier-mentioned ComLink, which supports families in rental flats.

We hope that more Singaporeans will join us in stepping forward to make a difference. Sir, in Mandarin, please.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Every youth has the potential to become an adaptable and resilient individual. In order to bring out the best in our youth, the Government will continue to work closely with our community partners to build a preventive support system for our vulnerable youth.

We will also pilot a mentoring programme targeted at students who leave ITE prematurely. We hope to guide them to build a network of positive relationships and also help them to find internships or job placements in the areas where they are interested in.

In recent years, we also collaborated with community agencies and religious organisations to set up many platforms to study and address various social issues, such as youth mental well-being, rough sleeping, vulnerable groups in the community, charity food support and so on.

We will continue to work with Singaporeans to build a society centred on resilience, care and inclusivity so that we can continue to thrive in the face of future challenges.

(In English): In closing, let me round back to the questions that Minister Masagos posed earlier: What is our shared vision for the future? What kind of society do we want to be, and what legacy do we want to leave for our future generations?

The future is ours to shape. From conversations with the public to spirited discourse with members of this House, we share a vision to build a society where all Singaporeans have access to opportunities to achieve their dreams and that no one is left behind.

MSF will continue to work with all Singaporeans to build resilient individuals, strong families, and a caring and inclusive society, so that Singapore can thrive no matter what the future brings. [Applause.]

The Chairman: We have some time for clarifications, if any. Mr Louis Chua.

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: Happy International Women's Day in advance. Just a quick one. I think we have the plans to have every household be within 10 minutes walking distance of a park by 2030, so similarly, one of the common feedback that my residents have shared in terms of pre-school is that they are facing difficulties having a pre-school near their place. So, I was just wondering if the Ministry will consider having such a plan whereby every household would be within walking distance of an available pre-school.

The Chairman: Minister of State Sun.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member Mr Louis Chua for his clarification. Indeed, the point that he mentioned was exactly one of the points that myself and my colleagues, Rahayu Mahzam, Cheryl Chan and Cheng Li Hui, made in our Position Paper in 2019.

And thereafter the Government made a promise that we will look at making pre-schools more accessible, more affordable, and of course, that they are quality pre-schools. For new estates, like Sengkang, like Punggol, if you look at childcare's capacity, it has more than doubled in Sengkang and Punggol in the past five years from about 11,000 in 2015 to over 23,000 places today.

But I take the point that many young families would like to have a childcare as close as possible where it is logically and logistically possible because we also have to look at void deck space and the facilities that are available. But as a matter of principle, the Government knows the needs of young families and where it is possible, as we ramp up the total number of childcare places, we will have them in accessible locations for young families.

The Chairman: Any other clarifications? If not, may I invite Mr Seah to consider withdrawing his amendment?

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): Mr Chair, just on behalf of all the members who filed cuts, just like to take this opportunity to thank Ministers Masagos, Desmond Lee, Minister of State Sun Xueling, Parliament Secretary Eric Chua for your answers to all our cuts.

It is Friday and it is almost half past eight. It may be late. But to all the men and women in this space, the social service space, we know that they work very quietly, but very hard behind the scenes throughout the years. We want to thank them and appreciate their good work and to also assure that all of us in this House will continue to journey with them, so that collectively, we are one step closer to building a more caring, more giving, more compassionate and more inclusive society. With that, Mr Chairman, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $4,035,035,800 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $98,938,700 for Head I ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.