Scope and Terms of Reference of Future Economy Council

19 Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Finance (a) what are the scope and terms of reference of the Future Economy Council; (b) how does the new Council intend to work and coordinate with the other economic agencies and efforts to tackle challenges of the future economy; and (c) what are the desired outcomes set for the Council.

The Minister for Finance (Mr Heng Swee Keat): Mdm Speaker, a small, open economy like Singapore's must adapt to the significant structural shifts in the external environment. Industries and jobs are changing due to changes in technology, demand patterns and supply conditions. In particular, digital technology is likely to trigger changes in many industries. These changes will bring new opportunities and new challenges. After extensive consultation, the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) has proposed a set of recommendations to guide our approach.

The CFE's strategies have set the broad directions. The Future Economy Council (FEC) will oversee the implementation of the CFE recommendations and will build on the work of the earlier Council on Skills, Innovation and Productivity, which includes SkillsFuture initiatives and the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs).

At its core, the scope and focus of FEC are on growing and transforming Singapore's economy for the benefit of our people. This will be done at three levels. First, growing an economy that is vibrant, open and connected to the world, supporting the growth of new and existing industries. Second, strengthening our enterprises through industry-specific transformations to help them grow, innovate and scale up. And third, enabling Singaporeans to acquire and utilise deep skills, so as to seize opportunities in the future economy.

All these will require close collaboration among the tripartite partners. The Government, industries, unions and individuals all have key parts to play. The Council, therefore, comprises representatives from the Government, private sector, unions, Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs). Besides the main Council, six tripartite FEC subcommittees, led by private and public sector co-chairs, are coordinating the efforts for six clusters of industries. At the industry level, we have Industry Tripartite Committees leading the work on the ITMs.

Let me give Members an example of a collaboration from the Built Environment FEC subcommittee co-led by Minister Desmond Lee and Mr Lim Ming Yan from CapitaLand. As part of the Construction ITM under the subcommittee, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) brought together 400 industry stakeholders, including IHLs and TACs, such as the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS) and the Singapore Institute of Building Ltd (SIBL), and identified 35 key technologies across seven clusters in the built environment for further research and development (R&D) to unlock greater productivity gains. The work culminated in the Construction Productivity R&D Roadmap, which is being incorporated as part of the Construction ITM. This example illustrates how different stakeholders can come together, each bringing their unique strengths, to advance the construction industry.

The structural changes that are happening in the global economy will require us to respond robustly. All parties will need to each do our best and work in close partnership to respond to change. Together, we can build a value-creating economy that is open and connected to the world, offering a multitude of opportunities and creating good jobs for Singaporeans.

Mdm Speaker: Mr Liang Eng Hwa.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah): Madam, I agree with the Minister that transforming the economy is our foremost task at hand. We need to really move fast and move decisively, as these are among the key success factors.

While the establishment of the Steering Council would help the various stakeholders align and better coordinate across the various verticals within the Government, I would like to ask the Minister whether the Council would also help to achieve the agility that the CFE had emphasised on a lot in the report that the Minister had mentioned and whether having a Council such as this would help it to be able to move fast and decisively.

Secondly, the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Finance, and Trade and Industry has put up a series of recommendations to the CFE last year. We are happy that many of our suggestions are featured in the CFE report. May I ask the Minister if FEC will continue to engage and consult widely and, if so, how does it intend to go about doing this in taking in new ideas, harnessing new ideas in this fast-changing environment that we are in?

Mr Heng Swee Keat: I agree with Mr Liang that we need to move fast and decisively, especially given the rapid changes that I mentioned − changes in technology, demand patterns and supply conditions. We need to continuously anticipate and embrace these changes and transform our economy for the future. At the same time, we know that we cannot predict the future with any certainty and, therefore, we will not be able to anticipate every single change and trend. So, we must have the agility to make changes and adjustments along the way and ensure that we continue to be in the right direction.

In fact, the ITMs that we are working on are not meant to be cast in stone. Neither are they meant to be a kind of fixed marked paths for us to just follow. Rather, I would characterise the ITMs as live plans that we will have to continuously monitor, update and review. We will have to map and remap our paths along the journey.

This is not something that the Council alone can do. The FEC members from the private sector, unions and TACs play an important role in this, not just in the FEC meetings themselves, but also in helping to disseminate the message of the need for change and the agility to change.

We need all stakeholders to come on board this in order for us to be successful. I would say that, more importantly, the FEC is here to create and enhance the environment for our entrepreneurs and businesses to thrive. I hope that our entrepreneurs and businesses will continue to move fast, seize opportunities, make use of the Government schemes and facilitation in their growth and internationalisation.

As to Mr Liang's second question on suggestions that were made and how we would go about consultation, the GPC for Finance, and Trade and Industry has, indeed, given many valuable ideas and suggestions during the CFE process. Many of the ideas were incorporated into the CFE recommendations. I would like to thank Mr Liang and the GPC members for their valuable and thoughtful suggestions. I am happy that there is a meeting of minds on CFE.

On engagement, the short answer is yes, definitely. Engagement is a key and vital part of the current phase of our FEC work. FEC and its six subcommittees are continuing with and building on the engagements and consultations that were started as part of the CFE process. This engagement will continue with focus group discussions, thematic engagement sessions, visits to companies, unions, TACs and IHLs.

Earlier on, I shared the example of the engagements done as part of the Construction ITM. Members can see that with 400-over stakeholders, how much effort went into doing that.

Many engagement sessions with stakeholders have been held and we will continue to hold them. Similar engagement and consultation efforts are going on in other ITMs. I had spoken of only one ITM but there are many other ITMs for which the work will be continuing.

We welcome suggestions on how we can continue to do this even better and strike a good balance between consultation and implementation.

Mdm Speaker: Ms Denise Phua.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng (Jalan Besar): Three questions. One, would the Minister consider under the CFE developing a new literacy curriculum for the 21st century workforce, especially for the adults, so that everyone would be able to rise above the current skills level and be a bit more future-ready?

Two, I am really concerned about the possibility of a segment of the workforce being left behind. I would like to ask the Minister how we could ensure those elderly, low-skilled are not left behind in the future economy.

Three, addressing what I see is a development where, for example, in transport, many of our professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) are taking to becoming Uber and Grab drivers when the development in the future economy is really towards driverless vehicles. I would like to ask the Minister's opinion on that.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: I thank Ms Denise Phua for her three very thoughtful questions. First, on whether CFE would develop a new literacy curriculum for adults, the skillsets which are needed for all of us as working adults will change and keep changing. That is why SkillsFuture is such an important part of this effort. As to whether there should be a new broad-based curriculum for everybody, that is something which we would have to study further. What we do know is that we do need to equip many of our people with greater skills in information and communications technology (ICT). I mentioned that ICT is one sector for which many industries will be affected and transformed. We are hoping to use ICT to transform many of these industries and create better jobs for our people. There will be a lot of new skills that are needed. Whether it should be something that applies generically across all sectors or whether it should be targeted at particular sectors is a subject that we are studying.

The second question on the concerns that elderly and low-skilled workers are being left behind is something that is of great concern. I had several discussions with Minister Lim Swee Say on this matter as well as with Minister Ong Ye Kung and Minister Josephine Teo on skills and specific segments of our workforce that we have to pay special attention to. Indeed, the elderly and the low-skilled are one area that we are working on. We have to think about not just the skills but the job redesign that is necessary. Again, this is something which the tripartite committee will have to look at. Every of the ITMs will need to address some of these critical issues.

Similarly, the Member's third question on PMETs and how technology will change their jobs, we are fortunate that our educational standards and level and the skills of our people have gone up over the years. We are in a better position today to adjust to these changes and we will perform. But at the same time, the pace of change has also accelerated. So, how do we ensure that all our workers, whether they are PMETs or non-PMETs, continue to have the skills to make changes?

Which are the sectors for which the change will be even more rapid? I would say that given the pace, the nature of technology, it is difficult to predict that there is one particular area A or B that will be more at risk. But we will try and, at the same time, we need the industries, we need the companies to work together with us to ensure that these changes are made smoothly.

12.29 pm

Mdm Speaker: Order. End of Question Time. Introduction and First Reading of Bill.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), provided that Members had not asked for questions standing in their names to be postponed to a later Sitting day or withdrawn, written answers to questions not reached by the end of Question Time are reproduced in the Appendix.]