Vaping Feedback Sent by Public, Educational Institutions, Police and Central Narcotics Bureau

1 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Health (a) for each year from 2021 to 2023, what is the number of vaping feedback received by the Health Science Authority (HSA) from the public, educational institutions, Police and the Central Narcotics Bureau, respectively; (b) what is the size of HSA’s enforcement team dedicated to vaping enforcement; (c) what is the number of summons on vaping offences issued by HSA in the last three years; and (d) how many summons are issued in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health (Ms Rahayu Mahzam) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) received 1,700, 1,500 and 2,070 vaping-related feedback from the public and through other agencies in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively. We do not have readily available data on the breakdown of the feedback sources.

We are taking a multi-agency collaborative approach to enforcement. Hence, while HSA is primarily a scientific agency with a modestly-sized enforcement team, it is supplemented by outsourcing and enforcement support from other agencies such as the National Environment Agency (NEA), National Parks Board (NParks) and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA). Our schools also take an active approach to prevent students from picking up the habit of vaping.

There were about 7,600, 5,600 and 8,000 vaping-related offences in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively. Of the vaping-related offences, about 4,700, 5,000, 7,900 were purchase, use and possession offences in the same three years. Cases which require a Notice of Composition to be issued are handled by HSA.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ang Wei Neng.

Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast): Thank you, Speaker. Thank you to Ms Rahayu for the comprehensive reply. I just want to ask a couple of supplementary questions. The first is: has the size of HSA's enforcement team grown for the past three years, since I see that the figures for violations for vaping have increased quite steadily? Two, is the agency also getting help from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and the Police Force to help in the enforcement. Three, we read about the multi-agency approach to vaping enforcement as well as the importing of vaping equipment. Can Ms Rahayu give more details on how this is set up and what are the key performance indicators (KPIs) to be met?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Mr Speaker, I appreciate the Member's concern about the size of the enforcement team at HSA to deal with this growing problem. We note the concern and the approach that we are taking is, as mentioned, that we are looking at a multi-agency approach. We do have to look at this issue from a multi-pronged perspective as well.

We are taking the approach of outsourcing some of the enforcement measures. The agencies will cross enforce, meaning that if there are agencies that take up and pick up some of these cases of vaping, it is referred to HSA and HSA can then issue the necessary Notice of Composition.

The Member had also asked whether the Police is also involved in this. Yes. If they go out and as they do their own work, and they do discover cases of vaping, they will refer these cases to HSA, and also at many different fronts, because this issue, as you know, is a big one.

We are also looking at things upstream. At the front where it relates to the sale and the advertisement of the products online, we are working with the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority. This is where we are working with other agencies to track and stop the efforts of people selling all these products online.

We are working with the agencies in the community, as I mentioned earlier, with NEA, NParks, the Police, in the community. When they catch these cases, these cases are referred to us and then we issue the Notice of Composition or do the necessary enforcement.

We are also working with the schools. The schools work with us to look at education and informing the public about it.

These are some of the various efforts of how this multi-agency collaboration effort works. We are continually monitoring this. And if there is a need, we can definitely size the manpower and adjust our manpower accordingly to address the problem.

At this juncture, because it is something that happens in multi-facets of people's lives – I mean, we also have to consider things like at the borders when things get smuggled in – so, we do need to take that approach of working together with all these other agencies collectively, so that we can have a more effective response to the growing problem.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ang.

Mr Ang Wei Neng: Thank you, Speaker. But at this point in time, when a member of the public or the schools call the Police for help in vaping enforcement, they will be asked to refer it to HSA. So, I hope HSA can work with the different agencies to have a no-wrong-door policy to deal with this feedback, rather than all go to HSA, which is a very modest set-up, as you said. We do not want to have a young generation that is a vaping generation in Singapore.

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: I thank the Member for the feedback. If he has some specific issues that have arisen, please do let us know. This is something that we have also progressed over time. Initially, perhaps, there may have been some apprehension with regard to the other agencies getting involved in this, but we had recently announced the multi-agency effort, so, I think there is better coordination now between the agencies.

We are looking at how we can make sure that the different aspects are dealt with. For example, if it is a complaint to schools, the schools will look at it with disciplinary proceedings as well. At the same time now, we are also making sure that HSA is kept apprised of this and the necessary compositions are issued.

But I note your concerns about the enforcement measures all being handled by HSA. At this juncture, it comes under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act, and that is something that is under the purview of HSA. So, at this juncture, the enforcement bit of that, in terms of issuing of composition as well as any action taken in Court, is done by HSA.

But actually, there are other aspects of the work – there is the catching, there is education, there is also checking at the borders, there is checking on the online space – which all need collective effort from different agencies.

Mr Speaker: Mr Yip Hon Weng.

Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang): I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for her response. Since 1 December 2023, NEA's enforcement officers have been empowered to take action against individuals who possess vaporisers and cases have been referred to HSA. Two supplementary questions. One, will more agencies come on board as part of this cross-enforcement project? And two, will HSA continue to take the lead on this issue and ensure that, amongst the agencies involved, processes will be aligned, protocols will be made smoother in the apprehension of people who have vaporisers?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: We will continue to assess and monitor the situation. At this juncture, yes, HSA is the one that is doing the enforcement. When we are involving all these agencies, there is some thought to it. These are the agencies that are relevant in the problem. They are involved because, as I mentioned earlier, there are different aspects of the issue which we want to resolve, and their support and action is also necessary.

We need to figure out what is the best approach. It is not just about bringing all different agencies in, but how can they meaningfully come on board to work together.

We are looking at how we can ensure effective enforcement and deploy resources meaningfully. I guess that addresses his first question about whether there are other agencies coming on board. We will assess this.

In terms of whether there will be guidelines and protocols in place, yes, that is something that is being looked at. At the moment, there is some understanding between the different agencies as to how to make this work meaningfully so that we are having an integrated approach that will help to address the whole problem.