Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698078791641.pdf (Singapore)
THIRTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE FIRST SESSION ORDER PAPER TUESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2017 No.

52 12.30 pm 1 QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER* *1.

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Prime Minister (a) how many of the official websites of Ministries and statutory boards meet the WCAG 2.0 or other international standards for website accessibility by persons with disabilities (PWDs); and (b) what steps will be taken to ensure that Government websites are accessible to PWDs to the fullest extent possible.

*2.
*2.

Ms Tin Pei Ling: To ask the Prime Minister whether he can provide an update on the progress of the new digital identity system development in Singapore and how the Government intends to scale up on the use and applications of biometric elements.

*3.
*3.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) what is the rationale for the policy of only penalising the management of food establishments when patrons flout the no-smoking regulation; and (b) why is there no accountability expected of those who intentionally commit smoking offences despite reminders by the food establishment staff, management and other patrons.

*4.
*4.

Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how many companies have currently adopted the Tripartite Standards for Employment of Term Contract Employees; (b) what percentage of all resident term contract employees do these companies account for; (c) whether the companies who signed on to these Standards are audited or reviewed for compliance; and (d) how will these Standards be further improved in the future.

*5.
*5.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether his Ministry will consider setting up a grant that companies can apply for to partially offset their cost of hiring one temporary staff member for each female employee entering their second trimester of pregnancy until their employee's child turns two years old.

No.

52 3 OCTOBER 2017 2 *6.


Miss Cheng Li Hui: To ask the Minister for Health (a) over the last three years, how many egg freezing procedures have been carried out at our public and private hospitals respectively; and (b) how prevalent are the risks of the procedure, such as infection and bleeding.

*7.
*7.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Health whether the Ministry will consider making neo-natal insurance for IVF compulsory at the point of a positive pregnancy blood test rather than at the point of embryo transfer.

*8.
*8.

Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) how prevalent and serious is bullying in our schools; (b) what preventive measures are undertaken to minimise and detect bullying; (c) whether our teachers are trained to handle bullying incidents; and (d) whether students involved in bullying and who are victims of bullying are given counselling care.

*9.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) on average over the last three years, what has been the percentage of Primary One school children who have successfully enrolled in their parents' alma mater; (b) of these children, what proportion has stayed more than 8km from their schools; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider modifying the enrolment criteria to include both consideration for school ties and distance between the school and residence to ensure shorter commutes for these young children.
*10.

Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information (a) how much fail-safe redundancy is designed into (i) Singapore's domestic broadband Internet networks and (ii) offshore Internet connectivity; and (b) whether there are plans to enhance system redundancy in light of the growing dependency on Internet access which will arise from Smart Nation initiatives.

*11.
*11.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information (a) what is the progress on the initiative to roll out a big data sandbox in Singapore; (b) what is the prevalence of local businesses making use of big data to increase their competitiveness; and (c) what measures will be implemented to encourage more local businesses, especially the traditional ones, to integrate big data in their business strategies.

*12.
Mr Chong Kee Hiong: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what are the main reasons for many healthier foods to be more expensive than unhealthy foods despite healthier foods requiring less processing than unhealthy foods; and (b) whether there will be public education campaigns to (i) help people understand and manage their calorie intake (ii) increase public awareness of lower sugar choices in the food types commonly consumed by Singaporeans and the problems of artificial sweeteners and (iii) educate consumers how to eat healthier without incurring higher food bills.
No.

52 3 OCTOBER 2017 3 *13.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry tracks the number of medical professionals who currently have agreements with third party administrators (TPAs) and, if so, how many of such medical professionals are there; and (b) whether the Ministry can consider requiring TPAs to adhere to practices which are consistent with the Singapore Medical Council ethical guidelines or other regulations which bind all doctors working with TPAs.

*14.
*14.

Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what is the rationale for requiring 75% support level from eligible households for the Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) where residents do not need to co-pay; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider setting a timeline for the calling of a tender for NRP works when the NRP for the precinct is announced.

*15.
*15.

Ms Sun Xueling: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Ministry will consider piloting the installation of sensor-activated alarm systems in HDB studio apartments for the elderly or in new HDB flats catered for the elderly; and (b) what will be the estimated cost increase for such installations.

*16.
*16.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) how many places of employment provide childcare centres on their premises currently; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider encouraging companies of a certain staff size to provide onsite childcare facilities for their employees.

*17.
*17.

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Transport what measures are in place to handle accidents where passengers fall onto MRT or LRT tracks in terms of (i) educating commuters on what they should do in the event of such an accident, whether they are victims or bystanders and (ii) the safety protocols that rail operators are required to conform to if such incidents occur.

*18.

*19.
*18.

*19.

Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Health whether the Ministry will study the implementation of a unified appointment tracking system for polyclinics and restructured hospitals to facilitate appointment rationalisation and reconciliation .
Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry studies the median and 90th percentile number of outpatient appointments per patient stratified by age; (b) what measures are in place to optimise the number of outpatient appointments as part of holistic healthcare; and (c) whether elderly patients with multiple outpatient appointments can have them converged on the same days where possible to reduce caregiver stress and repeat blood tests.

No.

52 3 OCTOBER 2017 4 *20.


Ms Joan Pereira: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs with regard to home smoke alarms which must be installed in all newly built homes from June 2018 (a) who will be responsible for maintaining the alarms especially in rental flats to ensure that the detectors and batteries are working; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider connecting these alarms to a central alert system since many elderly have vision and hearing problems and may not notice alerts from the alarms.
*21.

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information (a) which entity owns the copyright to the video recordings of parliamentary proceedings; and (b) if these video records are protected by copyright, whether the Ministry will consider removing such copyright and making all video footage of parliamentary proceedings freely available for use.

*22.
*22.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) in light of the increasing number of HDB BTO flats in Yishun (a) what are the plans to expand the number of places for after-school care; and (b) how will the Ministry cope with the demand for additional resources and personnel to keep pace with expansion.

*23.
*23.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Prime Minister (a) what is the breakdown in percentage terms of civil servants in each gender currently; (b) of these, what is the percentage of women holding leadership positions; and (c) what is the trend of women joining the Civil Service.

*24.
*24.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Prime Minister what have been the solutions implemented to maintain the current ratio of six workers to support one elderly person given that the total fertility rate remains low and one out of four Singaporeans will be aged 65 years and above by 2030.

*25.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) how does Singapore intend to support the government of Myanmar in restoring peace and stability in the Rakhine state; (b) how important is it to Singapore (as chair of ASEAN in 2018) and ASEAN in responding to the urgent situation in Rakhine or conflict in any member states that may threaten the stability of the region; and (c) whether the Government of Singapore will consider providing humanitarian assistance through the government of Bangladesh given that Bangladesh will build a refugee camp for more than 400,000 displaced Rohingya refugees.
No.

52 3 OCTOBER 2017 5 *26.

Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) what is the Government's assessment of the humanitarian tragedy facing the Rohingya population in Myanmar; and (b) whether there is a constructive role that ASEAN can play to address the crisis.

* Members may postpone their Questions to a later sitting day if their Questions are not reached by the end of Question Time.

The postponement forms are available at the Chamber entrances.
Members must submit their notices to the Clerk within one hour after the end of Question Time.

Questions will be given a written answer if no such notices are received by the Clerk.

AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF PUBLIC BUSINESS Introduction of Government Bill 1.

Second Minister for Transport: Cross-Border Railways Bill.

NOTICE OF MOTION 1.
Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah) Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio) Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok) Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): STAYING UNITED AGAINST THE TERRORISM THREAT: That this House fortifies Singapore's resolve to stay united against the threat of terrorism by reaffirming the core values of multiracialism and social cohesion and calls on the Government to continue (i) promoting vigilance and resilience among Singaporeans to deter and overcome terrorist attacks; (ii) preventing the spread of radicalised teachings which promote violent extremism; and (iii) investing in multiracialism as the best socio-weapon to defeat the ills that terrorism seeks to sow.
2 4 6 8 No.

52 3 OCTOBER 2017 6 MEMORANDUM Matter proposed to be raised on the Motion for the Adjournment (SO 2(8)(b)).

Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied) : Counting from President Wee Kim Wee or President Ong Reserved Policy Decision or Legal Question?

Teng Presidential Cheong Election – for QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWER 1.
Miss Cheng Li Hui: To ask the Prime Minister (a) whether the Government is keeping track of the use/investment of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin in Singapore; (b) how do cryptocurrencies affect our finance industry; (c) whether studies are being conducted to assess the problems and risks of using/investing in cryptocurrencies; and (d) whether regulatory frameworks are necessary in the future.

2.
2.

Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) how many incidences of freon gas leaks on the MRT and LRT rail systems have occurred over the past 10 years; and (b) what is the risk posed to commuters by such gas leaks.

3.
3.

Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how many Singaporeans are currently employed by companies in Singapore that are more than 50% owned by foreigners; and (b) what is breakdown of this number by (i) age group (ii)educational level and (iii) percentage of the total Singaporean workforce.

4.
4.

Miss Cheng Li Hui: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (a) what are the terms for the extension of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix for another four years; and (b) whether there is any evaluation of the benefits of the extension as against the inconvenience caused to drivers and retailers.

PAPERS PRESENTED 2017 Date Presented S. 276 Productivity Fund Administration Board FY 2016 Annual Report ..... 29 September 2017 No.

52 3 OCTOBER 2017 7 2017 S.L.

361 S. S. 277 278 S.L.


362 PAPERS PRESENTED – continued Date Presented Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) (Amendment No.

2) Regulations 2017 ..... 29 September 2017 SkillsFuture Singapore Annual Report 2016/2017 ..... 29 September 2017 Singapore Land Authority Annual Report 2016/2017 ..... 2 October 2017 Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) (Amendment) Notification 2017 ..... 2 October 2017