Value of Unspent CDC Vouchers and Initiatives to Encourage Individuals to Donate these Vouchers

12 Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) what is the dollar amount of Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers left unspent and expired on 31 December 2023; (b) what is the number and percentage of households which (i) donated their CDC vouchers in 2023 and (ii) did not completely utilise their CDC vouchers before they expired; and (c) how do we ensure that CDC Vouchers go to those who need them and do not go to waste.

The Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth (Ms Low Yen Ling) (for the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth): Mr Speaker, the Community Development Council (CDC) Vouchers Scheme 2023 is part of the Government's continuing efforts to help Singaporean households cope with their daily expenses and to support heartland merchants and hawkers. It forms a part of the wider Assurance Package, and the $1.5 billion Support Package announced in October 2022 to provide additional relief for cost of living for all eligible Singaporean households.

About 97.7% of the 1.27 million Singaporean households claimed the CDC 2023 vouchers at the end of the Scheme on 31 December 2023. This includes the newly formed households claiming their CDC vouchers for the first time. This marked the highest amount and percentage of vouchers claimed compared to all the previous rounds.

Of the vouchers claimed, more than $360 million, or 96.5%, was spent at the participating hawkers, heartland merchants and supermarkets.

Similar to the 2021 and 2022 vouchers, Singaporean households had the option to help the needy by donating their unused 2023 vouchers before 31 January 2024. They could contribute to participating charities that support a range of causes, such as animal welfare, arts and heritage, children and youth, the environment, migrant community, persons with disabilities and more.

The CDCs will then give the respective charities the cash equivalent of the CDC vouchers that are donated to them. Any unspent and undonated vouchers will be returned to the Government.

Mr Speaker: Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister of State for the detailed statistics that she shared. I have two supplementary questions, Mr Speaker.

One is, most of us understand that the CDC vouchers have been positively received by Singaporeans. Can the Minister of State give us the update on the CDC vouchers, in particularly, the Minister of State mentioned just now the claim rate has improved. But is it as high or better than last year? What are the drivers, and can it be even higher?

The second supplementary question is, since the option for households to donate their CDC vouchers has started, has there been more charities wanting to get on board the list of recipients? Can the Minister of State please provide an update on this?

Ms Low Yen Ling: Mr Speaker, I want to thank the Member, Mr Saktiandi Supaat, for the two supplementary questions.

In my main reply, I mentioned that, in terms of the claim rate for 2023, it is the highest claim rate at 97.7%. But we always strive to improve. As the Member Mr Saktiandi Supaat mentioned, we are very grateful that the CDC Vouchers Scheme has been widely used and well-received by Singaporean households.

Indeed, coincidentally, today is 6 February. It has been about a month since Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has launched the 2024 CDC Vouchers Scheme. So, allow me to just give an update.

It has only been a month, and we all know that Singapore households have a whole year to claim and use the vouchers. But do allow me to give an interim update as of 6 February.

As of today, 1.208 million Singaporean household have claimed the 2024 CDC vouchers. This represent 95% of all Singaporean households, that is, 95% of the 1.27 million Singaporean households. As of 6 February, more than $255 million of the claimed vouchers have been spent. This represents 42% of the claimed vouchers. I can give a further breakdown, but it is really interim because it has only been a month. Of the $255 million, $99 million was spent at participating merchants and hawkers, while the remaining $156 million had been spent at the participating supermarkets, probably because of the promotion campaigns that had been rolled out by the supermarkets to support all Singaporean households to use the vouchers to defray their household expenses.

For the second supplementary question on the donation, allow me to give some background. The main objective of the CDC Vouchers Scheme, as directed by the Government to us, is to support Singaporean households to use this to defray their household expenses.

But we heard feedback from Singaporean households, especially in 2022. The CDC Vouchers donation scheme was started then because we received feedback from Singaporeans who wished to donate their unused CDC vouchers to help others in need. Because of that, we started concerted efforts to roll out these options to Singaporeans.

The number of charities has increased steadily since we started this scheme in December 2022. Back then, the total number of participating charities was about 270. As of today, 327 charities are on board and that represents about a 20% increase in participating charities. We want to welcome more to come onboard. They cover a wide array of causes. They champion various causes, community and social causes, like environment sustainability, animal welfare, arts and heritage, children and youth, the migrant community, and persons with disabilities. I must also clarify that these participating charities are Institutions of Public Character.

The Member also asked for an update on the number of the 2023 vouchers. I would like to inform him that the numbers for the donation of 2023 vouchers are yet to be released because they are being collated and checked across the different causes and recipient charities. I want to assure him that we will certainly share the number in due course and encourage other participating charities to come on board the donation scheme.

The CDC will give the respective charities in the CDC Voucher donation scheme the cash equivalent of the CDC vouchers 2023 that are donated to them. Any unspent and any undonated vouchers will have to be returned to the Government.

Allow me to recap a little for Mr Saktiandi Supaat. For the earlier tranche of 2021 and 2022 CDC vouchers, 9,880 households donated close to $1.19 million dollars to 245 charities. And I recall one of the top charities that received the most donation is Children's Cancer Foundation – it received an aggregate donation of about $80,000.

So, even as the CDC Vouchers Scheme is designed to support all Singaporean households to defray their household expenses, their expenses on daily necessities and essential services, I think it has also served a secondary purpose of doing good, especially for Singaporeans who want to donate their CDC vouchers.

The top three charity sectors that received the highest donation amounts for the 2021 to 2022 vouchers, are, first, the healthcare-related charities. I cited Children's Cancer Foundation. The second category is the families and children's charities; and the third category is the youth and children's charities.