Nationwide Awareness Promotion for Appointment of Deputies for Those who have Lost Mental Capacity

7 Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for Social and Family Development how can the Ministry urgently implement and communicate a nationwide action plan to help families in need to apply for the appointment of Deputies for family members who have lost their mental capacity due to accidents, dementia or other disabilities.

The Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Tan Chuan-Jin): Mdm Speaker, families need to apply to the Courts to appoint a deputy for any family member who loses capacity and has not made a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), in order to have the legal authority to act on his behalf.

But before I explain more about deputyship, let me say that a better option would be for Singaporeans to plan ahead and make an LPA. One key advantage of making an LPA is that the individual is able to choose his proxy decision-maker and discuss the LPA with his family so that his wishes are made known. So, the key thing is, the better option really is for Singaporeans to plan ahead and make the LPA ahead of time.

In order to encourage Singaporeans to do so, can I ask the Members of this House to please encourage your residents to do so? The fee waiver for Singaporeans making an LPA Form 1 giving the donee general powers has been extended till 31 August 2018. In the last two years, about 23,000 LPA applications were received, compared with 7,200 received over the previous four years prior to the fee waiver. We hope that many, many more Singaporeans will take advantage of the fee waiver to pre-plan.

Broadly, allow me to share some initiatives which my Ministry is undertaking to streamline the deputyship process further. Firstly, the Family Justice Courts have simplified the forms for deputyship application. We are also discussing with the Courts regarding how deputyship applications may be made more accessible to families.

Last year, we partnered the Family Justice Courts and the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled in Singapore (MINDS) on a pilot project to simplify the deputyship application process for parents of MINDS students. In this project, parents are assisted by MINDS school psychologists, social workers, volunteer academics and students from the National University of Singapore Law Faculty. We hope to extend the project to two more Special Education schools by the end of this year, and three more next year.

In working on the MINDS project, we realised the need to have a better, more standardised mental capacity assessment form which could be submitted to the Courts. Hence, we have organised an inter-agency committee to develop a mental capacity assessment form for deputyship which covers key domain areas of capacity. Special Education schools and doctors could, in future, use the form for their students and patients respectively.

For low-income individuals who have no family members or friends willing and able to be appointed as their deputies, my Ministry has established a panel of professionals that the Court can appoint as deputies on a pro-bono basis. There are currently 18 public-spirited professionals from the financial, healthcare, legal and social work sectors on this panel.

Families in financial difficulty can seek legal assistance from the Legal Aid Bureau under the Ministry of Law to file the deputyship application. Applicants will have to go through a means test and merits test to qualify for legal aid.

Mdm Speaker: Ms Denise Phua.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): I thank the Minister for his response. Two questions. First, how can we increase the number of Singaporeans to complete the LPA? More of them instead of remaining at the current level, which is already an encouragement, but grossly still insufficient.

The second question is: there is still much concern and lack of awareness amongst the families where the members are older than 21 and presumed to be lacking in mental capacity. Many of them are affected and could not proceed in quite a number of life decisions, for example, in healthcare, property and financial matters because they have not had their deputies to act on their behalf. So, for this group, what more can be done for them, because they are currently in a limbo? How can the state help this group of persons?

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: Mdm Speaker, with regard to the first question, we are in the process of trying to encourage Singaporeans to take up the LPA. As mentioned earlier, the numbers have been increasing but I would agree that the numbers are nowhere near what we would like them to be, short of compelling and making it compulsory. The last mile really needs to be taken by the individual. So, I do ask for Members' support to encourage their residents to do so. We are doing as much as we can to raise awareness and that is something that we will keep on doing.

With regard to the second question, I have highlighted some of the various processes available right now to assist the individuals. Where possible, decisions to take up the LPA should be done as early as possible so that individuals can pre-plan. For those who do have some of these incapacities already and are concerned about what they can do, then some of the steps highlighted earlier should be taken. But again, the main thing is to help raise awareness amongst all the various individuals concerned, so that they can take the necessary steps.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Lim Biow Chuan.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Mdm Speaker, I do have some residents who have children who lack mental capacity. Can the Ministry consider amending the law to allow parents of children without mental capacity to make an LPA on their behalf? Currently, the children already cannot make an LPA, so can the parents do so on their behalf so that we can dispense with the need to apply for an order under the Mental Capacity Act?

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: Mdm Speaker, I thank the Member for his supplementary question. I think it is a common feedback. At first glance, it would seem like a very reasonable request, but allowing someone to make a decision for an adult is a very serious matter. Hence, a judicial body, for example, the Family Justice Courts, should evaluate if the person lacks capacity to make his own decisions and the proposed deputy is suitable to act in the long term, even if it is the next-of-kin, for example, the parents. For instance, relatives could be abusive and could also have debilitating illnesses that impair their own mental capacity. It may not always naturally be suitable.

I understand where the Member is coming from, but I think it is a very serious step. This is something that for the present moment, we do not feel that is a step we are prepared to take. It is important for a judicial body like the Family Justice Courts to evaluate and make the decisions accordingly.

Mdm Speaker: Ms Chia Yong Yong.

Ms Chia Yong Yong (Nominated Member): Two supplementary questions for the Minister. Firstly, the Minister mentioned the simplification of procedures in the Family Courts. Can I know when the procedure simplification would take effect? From what we understand now, the application process remains very complex because judges are understandably, as the Minister noted also, very concerned about the applications.

The second question is in relation to the forms. While we are trying to encourage people to apply and sign the LPA, are there ways to simplify the forms so that it is actually easier for them? A very simple example will be that currently, the form requires a legal seal to be affixed and anyone filling up the form at home would not have access to all those little red stickers. So, these are little oddities that should not even be present. Would the Ministry consider revising the form to make it more user-friendly?

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin: Mdm Speaker, I do agree that there is a need to ensure that it is as accessible as possible and easy for individuals to apply. But at the same time, it is also important to remember that this is an important legal document. So, we need to strike a balance. We are quite happy to continually improve the forms. For example, the feedback from the Member, I would be happy to convey to the Courts to see whether they can streamline the stickers and so on.

We are taking on board feedback from the public and from concerned individuals. I am not sure whether the Member has surfaced some of these particular pieces of feedback, but the idea is to continually improve and to make it as easy as possible while at the same time making sure that it is sufficiently rigorous.