Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698848579473.pdf (Singapore)
THIRTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE SECOND SESSION ORDER PAPER TUESDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2019 No.l14 11.00 am 1 QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER *1.

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Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what are the plans to provide student care centres (SCC) in Yishun South including pre-school centres; (b) what are the minimum criteria for private SCCs' operations to ensure that they provide acceptable standards of service; and (c) how often does the Ministry visit these centres to ensure compliance.
Mr Seah Kian Peng: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development whether he can provide an update on measures taken to rehabilitate and protect at-risk individuals and offenders to transform their lives and the results to date.
Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what is the expected outlook for the net formation (formation minus cessation) of businesses by sector in 2019; (b) which sectors are seeing declining net formation trends and what are the likely causes for the declines; (c) what efforts are being introduced to ensure net formation remains healthy over the coming years; and (d) whether there will be a continued level of "healthy" cessation ofbusinesses.

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Mr Liang Eng Hwa: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry what is the impact ofDyson's cancellation of plans to build electric vehicles (EV) in Singapore and whether there are value propositions and opportunities to develop the EV business.

( ··., j No.114 5 NOVEMBER2019 2 *5.
Assoc Prof Walter Theseira: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) what are the reasons leading to only 192,000 out of the projected 300,000 Public Transport Vouchers (PTV) being redeemed in the 2018 exercise; (b) what are the administrative costs and challenges faced by the People's Association and grassroots organisations in their PTV outreach programmes; and (c) whether the Ministry will explore the possibility of automatic distribution for PTV 2019 for individuals who fulfil certain criteria, such as those under ComCare, Silver Support Scheme, or HDB Public Rental Scheme.
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Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Transport whether the Government will undertake a fmal environmental impact assessment study to consider the holistic impact of the Cross Island MRT Line before making a decision on which of the two existing alignment options to choose from.

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Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the number of illegal vape sellers and buyers apprehended in the last three years; (b) how many of these purchases were made online and through physical stores; (c) what have been the actions taken against these offenders; and (d) what more can the Ministry do to deter the purchase and sale of illegal vapes in Singapore.

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Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Health (a) how many eligible CPF members used up the annual limit of the Flexi-MediSave scheme in the past year; and (b) whether this limit can be reviewed and increased in light of the older members who require frequent outpatient treatments.

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Mr Ong Teng Koon: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the foreign domestic worker levy can be waived for families with three or more young children who are below 16 years of age.

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Mr Desmond Choo: To ask the Minister for Manpower how is the Ministry C working with the Ministry of Education to ensure that ITE and polytechnic graduates can continue to get good jobs in light of the economic slowdown.

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Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what is the current application rate for 2-room Flexi flats in general and by singles in particular; and (b) whether HDB will consider making 3-room BTO units available to singles who wish to accommodate their parents.

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Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for National Development whether HDB flat owners who approach HDB for financial assistance on their mortgage loans will be screened for visits to casinos and, if not, why.
No.114 5 NOVEMBER 2019 3 *13.
Ms Yip Pin Xiu: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) what are the sporting targets that are set out for the Singapore Sports School to achieve in the next three years; (b) whether the Singapore Sports School has reached their annual targets in the past three years; (c) which are the top three schools that will have the most athletes representing Singapore in the 2019 SEA Games; (d) how many athletes are from these respective schools; and (e) how many athletes are from the Singapore Sports School.
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Ms Yip Pin Xiu: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether there has been a review of progress on the recommendations and investments put forth in the Disability Sports Master Plan (DSMP); (b) if so, whether the review has shown any gaps where the implementation of the DSMP needs to be relooked at to deliver the DSMP recommendations; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider forming a dedicated committee beyond ActiveSG to coordinate the delivery of the DSMP recommendations and develop future blueprints to cover aspects beyond mass participation.
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Assoc Prof Walter Theseira!

To ask the Minister for Education (a) what is the Ministry's policy on the participation of LGBTQ+ speakers, artists, and performers in events at our higher educational institutions; and (b) whether the Ministry monitors decisions taken by educational institutions to bar, censor, or otherwise regulate such LGBTQ+ speakers and performers.

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Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Minister for Education whether the Government will review the policy regarding usage of the Post-Secondary Education Account (PSAE) to permit withdrawals for tertiary studies at private universities.

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Mr Liang Eng Hwa: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the cost of medicines in Singapore has increased over the last three years and, if so, what are the reasons; and (b) whether the Government will consider improving the affordability of medicines in Singapore by closing the gap between the prices of medicines here and those in neighbouring countries.

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Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Health (a) when will the review of the pilot Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening programme be completed; and (b) how will the Ministry determine whether the pilot has been successful.

I No.114 5 NOVEMBER 2019 4 *19.


Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) for each of the past five years, how many appeals have been received to request use of monies in the CPF Retirement Account to service HDB housing loans or purchase HDB flats; (b) how many of these appeals have been approved; and (c) whether CPF and HDB will work together to provide assistance to those whose appeals are rejected.

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Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Government is reviewing the causes for the rising unemployment rate among PMETs and what measures are being considered to reduce it.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) in each of the last five years, how many applications have been received for HDB rental flats by (i) divorcees (ii) bankrupts (iii) those who run into financial difficulty due to repayment of debt arising from business failures (iv) those facing debt repayment due to gambling and (v) those facing family disputes and refusal of help by family members; and (b) whether help has been and can be given to them to buy one- or two-room flexi flats with shorter tenures on an exceptional basis.
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Mr Liang Eng Hwa: To ask the Minister for National Development whether the HDB will review and enhance the pr()grammes to promote neigbourliness and tolerances among neigbours and whether more can be done to reduce the disputes among neigbours.

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Ms Anthea Ong: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether fmancial benefits from the Home Caregiving Grant, MediSave withdrawal for Long-Term Care, Elder Fund and CareShield Life will result in (i) a change of monthly household income for one's national means-testing C status assessment and (ii) a change in eligibility for ComCare assistance and MediFund; (b) how does the Government ensure that residents who benefit from the long-term care schemes are aware about how they may jeopardise their eligibility for other social and healthcare assistance schemes; and (c) how are policies designed to minimise this negative effect of opportunity costs in terms of benefits received.
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Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development what financial avenues of help are there for families with adult members who have special needs such as dyslexia, autism and Down's Syndrome and who wish to enrol them into programmes to make them employable or socially engaged.

No.114 5 NOVEMBER 2019 5 *25.
Ms Anthea Ong: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the training and communication plan to employers for the new safety requirements under the Work Injury Compensation Act; (b) how does the Ministry ensure that workers know who to approach when they encounter work injuries; (c) what is the number of times that errant doctors have been reported over migrant work injuries in the last three years; (d) what is the number of civil claims for such work injuries that have been won in the last three years; and (e) how does the Ministry ensure that the Singapore Medical Council and Law Society of Singapore support efforts to protect migrant workers in work injury cases.
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Mr Ong Teng Koon: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry will consider extending from six months to one year the obligation on employment agencies to provide a 50% refund of the service fee for any premature termination of contracts with foreign domestic workers; and (b) whether there are other measures to ensure that families are less dependent on luck to find suitable matches and are not subject to repeated service fees.

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Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Health what are the considerations behind selecting the Gibraltar Crescent site as Singapore's first dementia care village given that the state bungalows on the site are required to remain intact and given the cost of retrofitting those bungalows to make them elder-friendly residences.

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Ms Yip Pin Xiu: To ask the Minister for Health (a) how are public hospitals prepared to guard against both haze and heat; (b) whether there is a recommended temperature/humidity threshold for certain procedures to kick in at public hospitals and other providers of social services to the elderly; and (c) whether statistics on hospitalisation rates from heat stroke or dehydration are collected.

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Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in the last three years, how many complaints has the Traffic Police received about noisy vehicles; (b) how many of these pertain to Nee Soon South; (c) whether there are adequate speed cameras installed in the areas; and (d) whether the Traffic Police will step up enforcement along Yishun Avenue 1 and Yishun Street 51 especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

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Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry will consider banning the practices of declawing cats and debarking dogs in the upcoming review of standards in the pet sector.

No.ll4 5 NOVEMBER 2019 6 *31.


Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what is the contribution ofTotal Factor Productivity (TFP) to GDP growth in each of the past 10 years; (b) what has been the growth in TFP in each of the past 10 years; (c) how does Singapore's TFP performance compare to that of other developed countries; and (d) what drivers and restraints of Singapore's recent TFP growth has the Ministry identified.

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Mr Ong Teng Koon: To ask the Minister for Transport what is the expected reduction in the amount of sulphur oxide emissions from vessels operating in the Port of Singapore after the International Maritime Organisation's 2020 rl' sulphur emissions cap on marine fuels (IMO 2020} is enforced.

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Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Prime Minister whether he will allow parents to use the savings in the Child Development Account (CDA) to purchase child car seats.
* Members may postpone their Questions to a later sitting day if their Questions are not reached by the end of Question Time (QT).

For such Questions, Members may email to parl_cop@parl.gov.sg in advance a postponement notice that will be effected after QT.

Members must submit their notices to the Clerk within one hour after the end of QT (SO 22(3)).

Questions will be given a written answer if no such notices are received by the Clerk within the stipulated time.
ORDERS OF THE DAY AND NOTICES OF MOTIONS (Those marked • are Orders of the Day) •1.

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•3.

Supreme Court of Judicature (Amendment) Bill [Bill No.

32/2019]- (Ministe(_ for Law) - Second Reading.

Judges' Remuneration (Amendment) Bill [Bill No.

31/2019]- (Minister for Law)- Second Reading.

Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Bill [Bill No.

30/2019]- (Minister for Law)- Second Reading.

No.JJ4 5 NOVEMBER 2019 7 4.


Second Minister for Finance: TO THE INTERNATIONAL FOR SUBSCRIPTION RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT: That this Parliament, in accordance with section 7(3) of the Bretton Woods Agreement Act (Chapter 27 of the 2012 Revised Edition), resolves that the total subscription of Singapore to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development be increased to a sum not exceeding Eight Hundred and Fifty-Eight Million United States Dollars (US$ 858 million).

BANK 5.
BANK 5.

Second Minister for Finance: r / 4 TO THE SUBSCRIPTION INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION: That this Parliament, in accordance with section 4(2) of the International Development Association Act (Chapter 144A of the 2003 Revised Edition), resolves that the total subscription of Singapore to the International Development Association be increased to a sum not exceeding One Million and Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$ 1.3 million).

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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance: GOVERNANCE OF ALJUNIED-HOUGANG TOWN COUNCIL: That this Parliament: (i) affirms the vital importance of Members of Parliament maintaining high standards of integrity and accountability; (ii) notes the Judgment in Aljunied-Hougang Town Council & anor v Lim Swee Lian Sylvia and ors and anor suit [20 19] SGHC 241, where, amongst other things, the Court held that: (a) Ms Sylvia Lim ("Ms Lim") and Mr Low Thia Khiang ("MrLow") had acted dishonestly and in breach of their fiduciary duties, and their conduct lacked integrity and candour; and (b) Ms Lim and Mr Low were fully aware that their conduct was of questionable legality; (iii) notes that Ms Lim remains Vice-Chairman of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, and Mr Low remains an elected member of Aljunied-Hougang Town Council; and · (iv) calls on Aljunied-Hougang Town Council their responsibilities to their residents by requiring Ms Lim and Mr Low to recuse themselves from all matters relating to, and oversight over, financial matters.
to discharge 2 4 6 2 4 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 No.

114 5 NOVEMBER 2019 8 1.

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QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWER Assoc Prof Walter Theseira: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) since 2018, how many persons have been treated at accident and emergency departments of public hospitals for injuries resulting from PMD accidents, broken down by (i) riders (ii) pedestrians and (iii) the severity of injuries sustained; and (b) how does this accident and injury rate compare with (i) international experience with PMDs and (ii) other forms of transport in Singapore such as bicycling, motorcycles, cars and public transport.
Mr Gao Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether there have been changes to the role of the Gurkha Contingent (GC) ofthe Singapore Police Force since its establishment and, if so, what are these changes; and (b) whether there is more that the GC can do for our national security.
(' Ms Rahayu Mahzam: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the safeguards put in place to ensure that Singaporeans, especially youths, are protected against vice activities being peddled online in Internet forums; (b) whether there are efforts to educate the public on such activities and on reporting communication channels that promote vice activities to the authorities; and (c) whether there are measures to limit access to known sites that are peddling vice activities.
Assoc Prof Walter Theseira: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the current capacity and utilisation rates oflong-term care services such as nursing homes, centre-based care and home-based care, broken down by type of service as classified by the Agency for Integrated Care; (b) whether these utilisation rates indicate unmet demand or under-utilisation; and (c) if so, what are the reasons for such unmet demand or under-utilisation.
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information with regard to the impending rollout of SG telecommunication services from 2020 (a) what are the measures put in place to ensure that SG equipment manufacturers have met security requirements; and (b) whether there are plans to speed up the rollout of islandwide SG networks by implementing more smaller, millimetre airwave networks in tandem with the two islandwide networks.

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Ms Anthea Ong: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) in each of the last three years, what is the breakdown of public monies disbursed to (i) Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCCs) and (ii) Community Development and Welfare Funds (CDWFs) respectively; (b) what is the criterion used by CCCs and CDWFs to (i) assess eligibility for financial assistance to needy residents and (ii) Citizens' Consultative Committee Com Care Fund ( CCF); (c) what is the amount of assistance, broken down by types of assistance, rendered by CCF; (d) what is the mean and median duration of assistance provided to residents through the CCF; and (e) how should residents apply for assistance from CCC, CDWF and CCF respectively.
Ms Anthea Ong: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) what are the respective roles of grassroots advisors (GAs) and elected Members of Parliament (MPs) in deciding (i) leadership and (ii) membership of grassroots leaders appointed by People's Association (PA); (b) how are GAs and MPs respectively empowered to influence the operations and decisions of (CCCs) and (ii) Community (i) Citizens' Consultative Committees Development and Welfare Fund (CDWFs); and (c) whether the Citizens' Consultative Committee ComCare Fund (CCF) applications and CDWF disbursements are decided by GAs or MPs.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) what respective percentages of (i) tetra paks and (ii) disposable plastic water bottles disposed of in a recycling bin in Singapore gets recycled; (b) whether the Ministry has conducted or knows of a life-cycle assessment that compares the carbon impact of a tetra pak to that of a disposable plastic water bottle of similar capacity; and (c) if so, what are the results of such studies.

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Mr Christopher de Souza: To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources what is being done to encourage innovative solutions to climate change in the fields of entrepreneurship, engineering and the sciences.

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Ms Rahayu Mahzam: To ask the Minister for Education (a) whether there have been efforts to study the Special Education Policy Framework in British Columbia or other similar policy framework elsewhere; (b) if so, what are the key findings for such studies; (c) whether the Ministry is reviewing career paths of allied educators and educators in the special needs sector; and (d) what are the efforts to recruit more educators in the sector.

No.114 5 NOVEMBER2019 10 11.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Manpower based on cases brought to the Ministry or Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) (a) what are the top three reasons that employers give for denying employees access to childcare leave; (b) how many cases have been brought to TAFEP in each of the past five years for denial of childcare leave; and (c) in how many of these cases have the employees obtained the childcare leave sought or employers changed their childcare leave policies following T AFEP's intervention.
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Mr Christopher de Souza: To ask the Minister for Manpower what is beir"' done to support mothers re-entering the workforce who may experiei:,_., difficulty matching their employment hours with the opening hours of childcare services.

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Ms Anthea Ong: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how does heat stress arising from climate change impact upon work productivity; (b) what is the number of heat stroke and dehydration cases in the last three years; (c) how does the Ministry ensure that employers in construction, marine and public works protect workers against excessive heat; (d) whether the Ministry will consider requiring employers to record incidents of heat stroke and dehydration; and (e) whether the Ministry will develop workplace guidelines on heat stress, including that requiring of higher water intake and longer rest periods for affected employees.
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Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) in each of the last five years, how many balance sums in MediSave accounts have been returned to the family members of the account holders upon their death, with and without nominations respectively; (b) how many balance sums are left unclaimed; r- i (c) what has been the average amount per deceased member for each of th~.u~ unclaimed sums.

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Mr Christopher de Souza: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development what support is available where a young person who stays in a residential home experiences an acute mental health episode that is beyond the residential home's capabilities but is not so serious as to meet a hospital's admission criteria.

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Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the proportion of kindergartens operated by private providers and autonomous operators offering before and after school care; and (b) whether there are any regulatory impediments for private kindergarten operators offering before and after school care programmes.