Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698831343324.pdf (Singapore)
FOURTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE ___________________ FIRST SESSION ___________________ ORDER PAPER TUESDAY, 14 FEBRUARY 2023 No.

83 1.30 pm 1 *1.

*2.

*3.

*4.


QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER* Ms Hany Soh: To ask the Minister for Health (a) how many of the hospitals in Singapore currently practice continuous monitoring of vital signs on babies who are admitted to its neonatal intensive care units and special care nurseries; and (b) whether other hospitals, apart from KKH, intend to also review and enhance its monitoring procedures for newborns, in particular those born premature or with medical conditions.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether the prices of goods on all major e-commerce platforms are taken into consideration when computing the Consumer Price Index; and (b) whether the wide diversity and competitive pricing on the e-commerce platforms have helped lower the cost of living for local residents in addition to having a stronger Singapore dollar.
Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Prime Minister (a) whether the Government will consider raising the hiring requirements for family offices beyond two investment professionals and incorporate creation of local jobs as a criterion; (b) how does the Ministry ensure that financial assets held by family offices in Singapore are anchored here; and (c) what is the cost-benefit analysis of the tax benefits provided to family offices in Singapore.
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry whether the Government will consider requiring USB-C to be adopted as the charging standard for portable electronics, as will be the case in the European Union and India.

No.

83 *5.

*6.

*7.

*8.

*9.
14 FEBRUARY 2023 2 Ms Carrie Tan: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry is aware of cases where experienced and older employees in the security, landscaping and cleaning sectors suffer demotion and salary cuts for failing to pass required certification tests due to language or literacy limitations since the Progressive Wage Model was implemented; (b) whether the Ministry has looked into these implementation gaps to address such side effects of the policy that do not align with the policy intent; and (c) what can workers who find themselves in such situations do.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Government will consider a study on enhancing the employability of caregivers through raising awareness among employers of the character traits and personal values demonstrated when an individual has interrupted his career in order to be a caregiver for their elderly or ailing parent.
Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Inclusive Business Programme to assist persons with disabilities to obtain gainful employment at HDB shop spaces may be extended to industrial properties operated by the Jurong Town Corporation (JTC), particularly those which are located close to HDB housing estates and used to be operated by HDB until 2018 when they were handed to JTC.
Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs having regard to the recent cases of persons, particularly youths, being self-radicalised through the internet posing imminent threats to the society and the associated difficulty in identifying such persons, whether any additional legislative measure should be introduced to allow the Internal Security Department to continue to play an effective role in keeping Singapore safe from terrorism.
Ms Joan Pereira: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether the Tray and Crockery Return Rate under the mandatory tray return policy has been maintained at 90% and above since the last update in September 2022; and (b) whether there continues to be regular checks being conducted so as to ensure overall cleanliness is maintained in hawker centres, coffeeshops and food courts.

*10.
*10.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether she can provide an update on the progress that the public service has made in eliminating single-use items from their catering events; and (b) what is the timeline for completely eliminating single-use items from all public service catering events.

*11.
*11.

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) whether there are existing regulations on the practice of 'overboarding' in Singapore, where individuals hold more board directorships than they can responsibly handle; and (b) if there are none, whether the Government will study introducing such regulations for Singapore- incorporated or Singapore-listed companies.

No.

83 14 FEBRUARY 2023 3 *12.


Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Health what is the expected overall cost savings of the healthcare budget in the next five years as a result of pursuing the Healthier SG initiative.

*13.
*13.

Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Law whether the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals can be empowered to make recommendations or require medical assessments for the claimant and respondent involved in a dispute should there be a substantial cause to believe that the respective individual is suffering from a significant medical condition which may lead to harm to themselves or others if left untreated.

*14.
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs regarding allegations in the report of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar dated 16 January 2023 claiming that Singapore functions as a “strategic transit point for potentially significant volumes of items” including raw materials that contribute towards military production by the Myanmar military, whether the Government will carry out a check on all Singapore companies, including companies that may be implicated by the report, to ensure compliance with the prohibitions against the transfer of items having potential military application in Myanmar against civilians.
*15.

Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) when is the Ministry expecting to complete its review of tightening licensing conditions for electricity retailers to protect consumers; and (b) how does the Ministry ensure that higher costs will not be passed on to consumers.

*16.
*16.

Ms Carrie Tan: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether the Ministry will consider having a Registrar's Empowerment clause included in all court orders relating to the sale and transfer of matrimonial assets to prevent situations of housing limbo faced by divorcees whose ex- spouses refuse or wilfully delay the sale and transfer of their matrimonial flat; and (b) if not, what are the considerations and reasons for not including the clause.

*17.
*17.

Ms Carrie Tan: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what recourse is provided for residents suffering from unsolvable long-term water seepage disamenities in their HDB flats; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider some form of compensation or buy the flats back at market price from residents whose water seepage cases remain unresolved after a certain number of years and who may not be able to sell the flat to other buyers.

*18.
*18.

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Health what is being done by the Government to fast-track the development and launch of mRNA-based vaccines for cancer in Singapore.

No.

83 14 FEBRUARY 2023 4 *19.
Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for National Development in relation to the move to accelerate the development of on-going and future HDB BTO construction projects that have been announced to date (a) whether HDB has or will be incurring acceleration costs for these projects; and (b) if so, what is the estimated total amount of the acceleration costs that have or will be incurred and what percentage does it constitute in relation to the total development costs of the projects.

*20.
*20.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for National Development what is the current and foreseeable impact caused by the likely increase in the number of visitors from China to Singapore on Singapore's rental and property prices.

*21.
*21.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether the Ministry tracks the amount of expenditure made by Singapore residents at overseas e-commerce platforms; (b) if so, what is the trend and percentage of the total expenditure by Singapore residents on these overseas e- commerce platforms as compared to purchases made offline locally; and (c) what measures have been taken to support local businesses in the competition against these overseas e-commerce platforms.
* 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.

NOTICE OF MOTION 1.
NOTICE OF MOTION 1.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance: BUDGET STATEMENT: That Parliament approves the financial policy of the Government for the financial year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWER 1.
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs of those sentenced to Reformative Training since 2019 (a) how many detainees have been given a supervision order upon reaching their minimum detention period; (b) of the detainees who have been detained past their minimum detention period, what is the average number of months detained past their minimum detention period before receiving their supervision orders; and (c) how many detainees have served the maximum detention period of 54 months.

No.
No.

83 14 FEBRUARY 2023 5 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in the past year, what have been the most common penalties for money mules who sold control of their bank accounts or SingPass login details for the purpose of scams and money laundering activities; (b) whether most of these offences by money mules have been voluntary or coerced by crime syndicates; and (c) whether the penalties for scam abetting offences can be increased as a deterrent.
Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what is the Traffic Police’s assessment of the deployment of mobile speed cameras since 2017 as a resource-productive tool to encourage motorists to comply with vehicle or road speeds; and (b) whether the Traffic Police intends to employ more of such cameras with a view to arrest the increasing number of speeding-related violations and accidents as reported by the Police on 8 September 2022.
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) whether all companies in the maintenance, repair and overhaul sector of our aviation industry are required to appoint a quality assurance manager; and (b) whether and how a member of the public can provide feedback to the authorities of any non-compliance on the part of any quality assurance manager.
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Transport whether LTA's Cooperative and Unified Smart Traffic System project will have the ability to detect bicycles, for enhanced cyclist road safety.
Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the Ministry doing to raise public awareness on Nutri-Grade labelling and encourage the public to make more informed and healthier choices; (b) what are the specific key-performance indicators of the success of Nutri-Grade labelling; and (c) what is the planned timeline for the provision of industry guidance and onboarding of establishments with regard to mandatory labelling for freshly- prepared drinks.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what is the breakdown of the number of resident lift and escalator (L&E) workers in the various progressive wage model (PWM) job roles for the last two years; and (b) what is the number and percentage of L&E firms that have complied with the PWM wages which came into effect from 1 July 2022.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for National Development whether BCA intends to track the number and percentage of students from lift and escalator related courses in each cohort who joins the industry upon graduation.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information (a) which public libraries currently have a book exchange corner; and (b) for libraries located within shopping malls that do not have a book exchange corner, whether the National Library Board has studied the feasibility of extending the book exchange corner to these libraries.

No.

83 14 FEBRUARY 2023 6 10.


Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth whether he can provide an update on the Ministry’s study of the suggestion made in the House that the President of Singapore issue congratulatory notes to Singapore centenarians on the occasion of their birthdays.

11.
11.

Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) whether studies have been conducted on the annual number of workers over the past five years who have stopped work in order to be a caregiver for an elderly or ailing parent; and (b) if so, how many of these workers have subsequently returned to work.
2023 S. L. 799 PAPERS PRESENTED Date Presented Control Gambling (High-Value Amusement Machines – Exemption) Order 2023 ..... 08 February 2023 S. L. 800 MediShield Life Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2023 ..... 08 February 2023