Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698830208372.pdf (Singapore)
FOURTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE (SECOND SESSION) ORDER PAPER WEDNESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2023 No.

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QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER* Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information (a) whether IMDA is aware of SingPost’s projected revenue as a result of the increase in postage rate for standard regular mails announced on 19 September 2023; (b) if so, what is the projected amount; (c) whether SingPost requires IMDA’s approval before postage rates are increased; and (d) whether the recent decision to increase postage rate for standard regular mails could have been considered earlier.
Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information whether the Infocomm Media Development Authority will take into account the profit of S$38.8 million registered by Singapore Post in FY2022/23 when working with the company to review its decision to increase postal rates.
Ms Poh Li San: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) how will the recent recycling requirements on large water users affect business costs; and (b) whether the Government will be providing any additional support to help affected businesses amidst rising costs.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether there has been a change in the cost of producing NEWater and desalinated water since 2017; (b) what is the difference between the current marginal cost and long run marginal cost of producing water in Singapore; and (c) whether the Government considers that there will be a need to increase water prices within the next five years.
Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: To ask the Minister for Education (a) what is the expected impact of the recent announcement by the Ministry to allow an increase in the pricing cap of school bus fares of up to 13 per cent; and (b) how can families of affected students, especially those with higher special education needs, be assisted.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether data is available since 2021 on how many cases have been raised to the authorities involving disputes on whether a hospital has provided inaccurate or outdated information at the material time on whether a patient qualifies for on-panel benefits when claiming for hospitalisation expenses under an Integrated Shield Plan; and (b) what avenues for redress and dispute resolution are available for affected individuals.
Mr Ang Wei Neng: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) how many e-bike models have been approved to date and of these how many are additional new models that have been approved since January 2023; (b) in the past three years, how many e-bikes have been registered; (c) how many e-bikes are detected to be illegal; (d) how many riders are caught for not riding at approved places; and (e) how many accidents have been recorded.
Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what is the average duration between the time a mosquito breeding site is found and a fine is issued; (b) whether there have been instances where fines were found to have been issued to the wrong households upon appeal; and (c) if so, how many of such cases were there in the past three years.

No.

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4 OCTOBER 2023 2 Mr Ang Wei Neng: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development in view of the findings in the Minimum Income Standard Report 2023, whether the Ministry will consider (i) adjusting the financial assistance rendered to low-income families and (ii) conducting its own study to determine the level of living wage required to support a basic standard of living using various Government data beyond what is publicly available.

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Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Prime Minister what are the plans under consideration to (i) encourage locally incorporated tech companies to choose the Singapore Exchange (SGX) over foreign stock markets for their Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), especially if they have been backed by local agencies during the start-up phase and (ii) to attract more investors with risk appetite for investing in start-ups to invest in new IPOs or tech companies currently listed on the SGX.

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Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) how many applicants were affected by the technical issues associated with the timely issuance of HDB Flat Eligibility letters since its implementation in May 2023; (b) what were the reasons for these issues; and (c) whether the problem has been fully resolved.

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Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Ministry will consider (i) implementing age verification checks in arcades to ensure compliance with the entry restrictions of those under 16 years old and (ii) collaborating with Ministry of Education to educate students on the underlying rationale of such restrictions; (b) whether data on the number of school-going youths who frequent arcades and their average expenditure is available; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider mandating the disclosure of data on the probability of winning top-tier prizes in chance-based arcade games.
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Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry will consider expanding the CPF Education Loan Scheme to fund certification courses that lead to formal certifications and qualifications which are not degrees and diplomas obtained from the current list of approved institutions; and (b) whether this can be extended to non-degree courses offered by accredited foreign universities.

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Ms Joan Pereira: To ask the Minister for Health (a) how does the Ministry ensure that doctors are adequately trained to administer aesthetic procedures safely; and (b) whether it will review the qualification framework for doctors providing such a service.

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Ms Mariam Jaafar: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether there are differences in enrolment rates to the Healthier SG programme among eligible Singaporeans and PRs based on demographic factors, such as gender and race; and (b) if so, what are the differences.

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Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs having regard to the significant increase in the number of road traffic accidents and fatalities in the first half of 2023 as compared to the same period in 2022 (a) whether the strategy of strengthening deterrence against irresponsible driving put in place in 2019 is working; and (b) what specific steps are taken to address the increase in drink-driving accidents and the disproportional representation of elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists amongst those who suffered injuries or died in road traffic accidents.
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Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment for each year in the past five years, how many inspections has the Ministry conducted to ensure that workers living in dormitories consume catered food not more than four hours from the time it was cooked at the caterer's kitchen.

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Ms Poh Li San: To ask the Minister for Transport with regard to AOG Technics' alleged supply of bogus jet-engine parts (a) whether any of Singapore Airlines fleet or its aircraft maintenance and repair units are affected; and (b) if so, what measures are being implemented to address this problem.

No.

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Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the women’s clinic in the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control Clinic is still under suspension; (b) if yes, why has it not been re-opened; and (c) whether the clinic will be re-opened as soon as practicable to allow a women-only space for sexual health screenings and treatment.

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Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Government has data on the projected number of tenders and private housing units that will be launched with co-living concepts in the next five years; and (b) whether the Government is considering extending such concepts to the public housing market.

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Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how will the Government enhance awareness among youths about the risks and consequences associated with becoming money mules; (b) besides talks and crime exhibits, what other initiatives are being conducted in schools to raise awareness; and (c) what collaborative measures can be taken between Government agencies and financial institutions to deter youths from engaging in such activities, such as raising red flags if an individual opens bank accounts across different banks in a short period of time.
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Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for National Development from July 2022 to date (a) how many requests has HDB received for priority allocation of new HDB flats; (b) how many of such appeals have been acceded to; and (c) what are the main reasons for acceding to those appeals.

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Mr Vikram Nair: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) how many disputes has HDB been made aware of between co-tenants under the Joint Singles Scheme over the last three years; and (b) whether HDB will consider allocating the share of rental each co-tenant has to pay under the terms of the lease, rather than holding them jointly and severally liable for the entire amount.

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Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) for each year in the past five years, how many complaints from workers have been received (i) by the Ministry’s Forward Assurance and Support Team (FAST) officers and (ii) via the FWMOMCare mobile application respectively; and (b) what are the top five complaints received.

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Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment whether the Ministry has any plans to introduce a three-bin system to further separate compostables from recyclables and trash so that incinerated organic food waste will not continue to contribute to Semakau Landfill, which is projected to reach capacity by 2035.

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Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) for each year in the past five years, how many police reports relating to buskers have been made; and (b) whether the Ministry reviews such reports to assess if there are patterns of police reports being made for purposes of harassing or to unfairly disadvantage the business of other buskers.

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Ms Mariam Jaafar: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether the Government is currently considering the use of past reserves to fund any projects to mitigate climate change; and (b) if so, what are these projects.

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Ms Mariam Jaafar: To ask the Minister for National Development what steps are being taken to ensure that public rental housing flats are in sufficiently good physical condition for habitation.

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Mr Ong Hua Han: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) whether LTA intends to activate 24/7 on-demand audible traffic signals beyond the 325 pedestrian crossings identified at 10 town centres; (b) how many noise disamenity complaints has LTA received from residents living in close proximity to audible traffic signals; and (c) whether LTA has considered integrating traffic signals with third party applications to enable persons with visual impairment (PwVI) to safely cross roads.

No.
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Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether any studies will be initiated to look into the inflation impact caused by the alleged billion-dollar money laundering activities that are being investigated, either in relation to the real estate or the other assets that have been seized; and (b) if not, why not.

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Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs from January to June 2023, in respect of white collar crimes, scam and cybercrime cases (a) what is the percentage of (i) the number of such crimes against the total number of crimes reported to the Police and (ii) the number of police officers deployed to investigate such crimes against the total number of investigation officers; and (b) if the respective percentages reveal a disparity, how does the Police ensure sufficient resources are available to combat white collar crimes.
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Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) in each year over the last five years, what is the number of Singaporeans who are able to set aside their CPF Full Retirement Sum (FRS) fully in cash and in a mixture of property and cash respectively; and (b) what is the number of Singaporeans who are unable to set aside their FRS.

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Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry whether platform companies can be incentivised to partner with vehicle leasing firms or companies with responsible contractual practices for the lease of vehicles to vocational drivers or riders.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether any code of conduct or best practice contract terms exist for firms or companies that lease vehicles to vocational drivers or riders; (b) since 2021, how many complaints have been received regarding allegations that such contractual terms are misleading, onerous, or unconscionable and what recourse is available; and (c) whether the market concentration of such leasing firms or companies is a possible cause for such complaints.

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Ms See Jinli Jean: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Ministry will consider setting up a dedicated, low-cost dispute resolution platform to facilitate the resolution of leasing disputes between vehicle leasing firms and vocational drivers or riders who are concerned about unfair vehicle leasing terms being invoked against them.

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Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: To ask the Prime Minister (a) how does the National Research Foundation plan to expend the additional S$0.9 billion received by the National Research Fund in FY2023, given the relatively small increment of S$34 million in total disbursement to approved organizations from FY2022 to FY2023; and (b) what accounted for the 11-fold increase in disbursements for the Manpower Horizontal Programme in FY2023, and whether this rate of increase is expected to persist.
* 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 1.

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Free Trade Zones (Amendment) Bill [Bill No.

29/2023] – (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance) – Second Reading.

Societies (Amendment) Bill [Bill No.

31/2023] – (Minister for Home Affairs) – Second Reading.

No.

114 4 OCTOBER 2023 5 MEMORANDUM Matter proposed to be raised on the Motion for the Adjournment (SO 2(8)(b)).

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis (Sengkang) : Flexible Work Arrangements for All.

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QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWER Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: To ask the Prime Minister whether prisoners serving a sentence of less than 12 months are entitled to vote in the General Elections and Presidential Elections.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Prime Minister (a) whether the Elections Department (ELD) notified overseas voters in the 2023 Presidential Election that their votes were received by the Returning Officer and accepted for counting; (b) if not, why not; (c) whether those whose votes were not accepted for counting will be considered as non-voters and struck off the electoral roll; and (d) whether ELD will consider alternative methods of returning postal ballots in future, given that only 60% of ballots received in this election were accepted for counting.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Prime Minister (a) what are the lessons learned in the implementation of overseas voting and nursing home voting procedures in the 2023 Presidential Election; and (b) whether any changes will be made.
Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Prime Minister whether the Monetary Authority of Singapore is minded to direct the mandatory disclosure of the quanta of commissions paid or earned by regulated financial institutions, financial advisers and introducers for the procurement of business or custom from the clients of the financial institutions and financial advisers, even in the absence of requests for the same information, to promote better transparency.
Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance with regard to investment products purporting to offer fractional ownership of Singapore residential properties (a) what is the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) treatment of the investment vehicle; and (b) whether the investors are liable for ABSD and other taxes associated with owning more than one property.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether there are plans to require all building owners and MCSTs that have electric vehicle (EV) charging stations installed within their buildings to implement additional fire prevention and mitigation measures, in light of the increase in the number of EVs and EV charging stations.
Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Law whether religious organisations applying to renew existing leases for places of worship (PW) land without being subject to the ballot system under the revised land and pricing allocation framework announced in May 2023 should nonetheless be required to satisfy the same qualification criteria as religious organisations applying to be allocated PW land through the ballot system so as to ensure that existing religious organisations continue to run programmes that benefit the community they are located at.
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether the Government can provide updates on the regional power grid trials which commenced in 2022; (b) whether the Government intends to implement full-fledged plans following the trials; and (c) whether there are plans to draw more electricity from the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore power integration project beyond the current level of 100 megawatts.

No.

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Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Government has a timeline for deciding whether to deploy the use of small modular nuclear reactors in Singapore’s energy mix.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) over the past five years, how many offences under Part 3B of the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003 have been prosecuted in court; and (b) what were the (i) average and (ii) highest fines meted out by the court in those cases.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry what is the extent to which increases in public transport fares and higher COE prices are projected to affect inflation in 2024; and (b) what further measures is the Government taking to contain inflationary pressure caused by such cost increases to mitigate its impact on living and business costs in 2024.
Mr Don Wee: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) what are the considerations for siting the proposed Brickland MRT station at its current planned location; and (b) whether the station can be sited along Brickland Road to improve the connectivity for residents who stay along Brickland Road.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) in the past five years, what is the median wage growth for (i) Professionals, Managers and Executives (ii) non- Professionals, Managers and Executives and (iii) senior management employed by public transport operators; (b) whether the Ministry will consider making this data publicly available in future fare review exercises; and (c) what is the reason for using the national wage index rather than the wage index specifically for the public transport operators.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) what are the existing flood prevention measures for underground MRT stations; and (b) whether these measures need to be enhanced, considering the more frequent rainfall in Singapore due to climate change.
Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Minister for Transport for each month over the last three years, how many COEs registered during the month were later sold and registered to a new owner within the first, second or third year from its registration, broken down by the year within which it was sold and the COE category.
Ms Mariam Jaafar: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) how many staff are currently deployed to run the ComLink programme; and (b) what is being done to help improve recruitment and retention for such staff.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the current size, annual income, and annual expenditure of the Rare Disease Fund (RDF); (b) whether the RDF only uses its investment income to support patients who require RDF-listed medications and, if so, why; and (c) why have medications approved by the Health Sciences Authority to treat spinal muscular atrophy, such as Zolgensma and risdiplam, not been listed in the RDF.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Health what steps are currently taken to ensure that proper informed consent is taken from parents of children undergoing medical procedures.
Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim: To ask the Minister for Health whether the means testing assessment for medical subsidies provided to elderly persons living with their families can be based on the elderly's own individual assets, savings or income, instead of being based on household income, and taking into consideration the period of time for which the elderly persons have lived with their families and the total household expenses of the families.
Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim: To ask the Minister for Health given the current green status of the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON Green), whether there are plans to (i) scale down free COVID-19 vaccinations under the National Vaccination Programme and (ii) repurpose under- utilised vaccination centres.

No.

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Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the average wait time for medication to be dispensed to newly admitted patients at public hospitals; (b) how does this compare to the average wait time in the past five years; (c) whether senior nurses are empowered to provide painkillers that are available over the counter to newly admitted patients at public hospitals rather than relying on doctors; and (d) if not, why not.
Ms Mariam Jaafar: To ask the Minister for Health (a) how many Healthier SG ambassadors are currently deployed nationwide; (b) what are the targets and key performance indicators set for the ambassadors; (c) what is the plan for increasing the number of ambassadors; and (d) how can they be best deployed to drive enrolments in Healthier SG.
Mr Don Wee: To ask the Minister for National Development of the 3,218 Sigma brand lifts that have been installed in public housing estates since the lifting of tender restriction on Sigma Elevator Pte Ltd in 2020 (a) whether HDB has data on the number of Sigma brand lifts that have broken down to date; and (b) whether HDB will consider imposing a tender restriction again if the frequency of reported lift break downs is considered high.
Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for National Development what measures are currently being taken to protect the privacy of direct neighbours of HDB flat owners who install corridor-facing CCTVs within their units.
Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Ministry has conducted any assessment on the effectiveness of the non-slip flooring installed under the Enhancement for Active Seniors (EASE) programme in preventing falls; (b) if so, what are the findings of the assessment; (c) what is the average lifespan of the non-slip flooring installed under the EASE programme; and (d) whether the Ministry will consider including a provision under EASE 2.0 programme for the refurbishment and servicing of non-slip flooring installed under the EASE programme.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) for each year in the next five years, how many public rental housing units will be built; and (b) how many and what percentage of these will be in (i) integrated blocks and (ii) dedicated public rental housing blocks.
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: To ask the Minister for National Development what is the projected number and proportion of HDB BTO units that will be launched under the Standard, Plus and Prime flat classifications in the next (i) five years (ii) 10 years and (iii) 20 years.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth whether the ActiveSG app can be modified to allow users to cancel confirmed bookings of facilities.
Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) whether grassroots leaders are required to declare their political affiliations, if any, prior to their appointments; and (b) whether the People's Association considers the political affiliations of individuals when appointing grassroots leaders.
Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the areas of discrimination that will not be covered under the new Workplace Fairness Legislation; (b) how can employees be encouraged to report workplace biases in workplaces without transparent performance appraisals, and no clear policies and procedures about biased behaviours at the hiring, employment or dismissal stages; and (c) how can the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management help to mend workplace relationships and allay whistleblowers' concern that their careers will be jeopardised.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Manpower for each year in the past five years, on average how many days of paid annual leave are provided to workers earning (i) up to $1,000 per month, (ii) 1,000 to $2,000 per month (iii) $2,000 to $5,000 per month and (iv) above $5,000 per month.

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Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim: To ask the Minister for Manpower given the finding of the recent study by NTU and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy that only 65% of active CPF members who turned 55 in 2021 have either saved enough for the CPF Basic Retirement Sum and owned a property, or had saved the Full Retirement Sum, what steps will the Ministry take, together with employers, to increase the awareness of adequate retirement planning amongst employees, especially older workers.
Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Government has complied with the comments of the International Labour Organisation’s Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations on their direct request published in the 111st International Labour Conference session (2023) to provide information on its submissions to Parliament on various Protocols and Recommendations, including the Forced Labour (Supplementary Measures) Recommendation, 2014 (No.

203).