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Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators 1 Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo asked the Minister for Manpower whether more graduated or proportional arrangements for foreign manpower and levy thresholds can be considered for hawkers and small food and beverage operators to meet their essential kitchen and service staffing needs while still ensuring fair wages and protections for all workers.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators Mr Speaker, we recognise the manpower challenges faced by small food and beverage (F&B) operators, including our hawkers, given our ageing demographic and rising local aspirations.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators As a unique combination of food, space and community, hawker centres are a microcosm of Singapore’s multicultural society. To preserve the local identity of our hawker culture and heritage, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) only allows Singaporean Citizens and Permanent Residents to be stallholders at our hawker centres. Stallholders can also hire eligible Long-Term Visit Pass and Long-Term Visit Pass-Plus holders, who are already in Singapore and can contribute to our economy.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators Licensed food shops, such as restaurants, can hire foreign workers, subject to the services foreign worker levy rates and quota of two locals to one foreign worker. To address the manpower needs of micro enterprises, we allow those with only one local worker to hire their first Work Permit Holder.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators Differentiating levies and quotas further to favour smaller operators could incentivise the larger operators to break up into smaller entities to hire more foreign workers. This could result in a large increase in the number of foreign workers, which would not be sustainable given our limited infrastructural and social carrying capacity.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators I think if the Member has been reading The Straits Times, she would probably have noticed that there was an opinion piece on 24 February, Tuesday, last week, written by Assoc Prof Lee Kuan-Huei. She is the Chief Research Officer of the Singapore Productivity Centre. In that article, I think there was quite a good data-based opinion of the current state of play in the F&B sector.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators If I may just share some of the insights from that particular opinion piece. She said that there is a structural problem in the way F&B operators here still operate. One of the key thing is that productivity gains have lagged behind activity growth. That means that the F&B operators are putting more effort and resources into their operations without the proportionate economic gains. And her suggestion is that productivity and not headcount must be the central lens through which productivity must be assessed and for which business viability has to be looked at.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators So, instead of just looking at raising headcounts, the Government has schemes to support small F&B companies. These include the FoodX programme, which supports the outsourcing of labour-intensive food preparation to central kitchens to improve operational efficiency; as well as the F&B Process Optimisation Programme, which supports technological adoption and process redesign. Companies may also tap on broader schemes such as the Productivity Solutions Grant to support transformation efforts to raise productivity.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators We will continue to review the foreign manpower policies for hawkers and small F&B companies, together with relevant agencies, including MSE.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators Ms Tan.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the Senior Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I am also very happy to hear that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will continue to review that. I agree with the writer that structurally, there are some challenges, and productivity is important. But here, we are looking at the hawkers and the single F&B operators. They do not have that advantage of scale to be able to take advantage of the Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC) tier. Therefore, even if they hired just one additional worker, it brings them up to the higher DRC level, if they are even eligible to hire that.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators From the way hawkers and these small, single F&Bs operate, honestly, they are working 12 to 14 hours, and many of the owner operators are working those hours. My residents are some of them – that is the reason why I am asking this question. I do hope the Ministry will look at the data of companies, the single operators and hawkers, that are pushed into this higher tier or end up not even deciding to carry on with their business because it is just getting too hard.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators Sir, I thank the Member for her comments and questions. I agree with her that it is a challenge for smaller scale operators. But this goes beyond just giving more headcount. It fundamentally revolves around a few key issues. One is the operating model itself, whether it is sustainable. Secondly, it is a broader conversation beyond policy, which is what Singaporeans expect of the food operators when it comes to the authenticity of the of the recipe, the way it is prepared.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators It is a question that goes beyond policy, because Singaporeans have certain expectations about the quality of the food from the hawkers, the authenticity of the recipe and whether it still tastes like the good old days that they are used to.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators In essence, actually, MOM is agnostic to this. If it makes sense for us to give them more headcount just to produce the food at a certain productivity level and maybe even quantity and efficiency, that is something we are prepared to consider. But that will mean that the authenticity of the recipe could be impacted – that hawkers are selling a particular ethnic dish that is now not even cooked by the actual ethnicity, for example. You see this a lot in food courts, where your typical traditional dish is cooked by a foreign worker. And if that is something that the broader Singaporean public can accept, that is conversation we should have and then decide how best to move forward on this.
Tiered Foreign Manpower and Levy Thresholds for Hawkers and Small F&B Operators And in the end, smaller operators may really also have to rethink their business model and see how they can be more productive so that they are not going just by headcount. See how they can leverage on the rest of the resources the Government has put forth – Productivity Solutions Grant, working with central kitchen, for example – so that some of the backend operations that are very labour-intensive can be outsourced, while they focus on actually preparing the meals, making sure that it is authentic.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine 2 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health (a) whether the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has received a recent submission for Moderna’s mRNA influenza vaccine; and (b) to what extent Singapore’s safety and efficacy validation process remains independent of the US and European standards.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine Sir, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has not received any regulatory submission for Moderna’s mRNA seasonal influenza vaccine.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine HSA always exercises its regulatory authority independently. That said, in the healthcare regulatory world, there are many collaborations and partnerships. Highly regarded regulatory bodies become references for others, just as Singapore is a reference for others and we also reference other highly reputable jurisdictions.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine Mr Yip.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Senior Minister of State for his reply. The recent United States (US) Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) hesitation over Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine suggests that regulators around the world can have differing views on assessments. So, can the Senior Minister of State explain how HSA ensures its decisions are not simply aligned to some of these US or United Kingdom (UK) regulators? This matters because Singaporeans must have confidence that approvals are based on what is best and safest for our population.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine Sir, as I said in my reply, HSA takes an independent review of all submissions for regulatory approval. We have our methodology that is based on science done by a panel of experts who are well versed in this area. So, we look at comprehensive data that is being submitted by any manufacturer who seeks to license their products here, and this includes parameters looking at quality safety efficacy, including data from Phase 3 randomised controlled trials, where we will also assess the methodology and whether the sample size is adequate for the type of products that are seeking to be registered.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine We also look at whether there are adequate follow-up periods after the product has hit the market, typically at least more than six months, to make sure that in the post-launch period the product has not surfaced any unknown side effects that were previously not detected in the randomised controlled trial.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine And of course, the manufacturer also must show evidence of compliance with good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards, so that things like detailed manufacturing processes, quality control data with testing methods and acceptance criteria, will allow us to assess whether every batch of product that comes through this manufacturer has a consistency that meets quality standards. And also, we look at the stability data demonstrating that any vaccine or any medical product maintains effectiveness and safety throughout its storage period.
Singapore's Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Validation Process, and Submission for Moderna’s mRNA Influenza Vaccine So, I just want to assure the Member that we have a robust system and we will continue to do so.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures 3 Mr Shawn Loh asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Government currently audits the financial viability and operational sustainability of Student Care Centre (SCC) operators; (b) if so, how are such audits conducted; and (c) whether the Government intends to improve its governance processes over SCCs to avoid future abrupt closures, to reduce the risk of disruptions to children, parents, and staff.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures 4 Mr Shawn Loh asked the Minister for Education in relation to the interim plan for the Ministry’s schools and teachers to continue student care centre operations following the abrupt closure of private student care centre operator in February 2026, how does the Government plan to recognise these extra efforts and ensure that the Ministry’s teachers are not further overworked.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures 5 Dr Hamid Razak asked the Minister for Education (a) what regulatory safeguards are in place to ensure continuity of student care centres when they cease operations abruptly; (b) whether there are framework level requirements on financial governance, contingency planning and parent fee protection; and (c) how the Ministry assesses operator resilience to minimise disruption to students, parents and staff.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures 6 Mr Shawn Loh asked the Minister for Education in relation to the abrupt closure of Little Professors student care centres, how the Government plans to assist in the recovery of salary payments due to staff and the recovery of GIRO payments unfairly deducted from parents.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Mr Speaker, my response will address Question No 3 through to Question No 6 on today's Order Paper.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Please proceed.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Sir, my answer will also address related oral or written questions filed for subsequent Sittings on the recent issues with Little Professors Learning Centre Pte Ltd (LPLC), a former operator of Student Care Centres (SCCs) and Kindergarten Care (KCare) centres in our schools.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Sir, the Ministry of Education (MOE) was first alerted to the issues at LPLC centres in February this year. Our first priority was to minimise the disruption to students and their families, and to ensure that students enrolled in the LPLC-operated SCCs and KCare centres continued to receive care after school.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Our schools have stepped in to provide interim after-school support. School staff have been deployed on a rotational basis to bridge the gap since the incident first happened. Over the past three weeks, schools have engaged relief manpower, including retired school staff, flexi-adjunct teachers and external instructors, to fill the staffing needs and to reduce the need for continued deployment of school staff. Parent support groups in some schools have also stepped in to provide additional support. MOE headquarters (HQ) officers have been providing onsite assistance and have helped to relieve the administrative load on schools.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures All affected schools have been able to continue providing after-school care for students. I would like to express my deep gratitude to all who have stepped in to help. I know that the children and their families are also appreciative of the care and concern. School staff who have put in additional contributions during this interim period will be recognised.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures MOE has started sourcing for new SCC and KCare operators to provide after-school care for the students in the affected schools. We want the new operators to start as soon as possible.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures MOE is also concerned about former LPLC staff who have been adversely affected. We are working with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Education Services Union, who are supporting affected workers with short-term financial relief, job referrals and career guidance through NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). MOE and schools have also been able to employ and pay former LPLC staff in their original centres if they are keen to do so, until a permanent operator is appointed. This will provide some financial stability for these affected staff in the interim, while they continue to care for our students.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Affected LPLC staff have also been advised to reach out directly to the Ministry of Manpower, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management or the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board to file claims for unpaid salaries and CPF contributions.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures With reference to the unauthorised General Interbank Recurring Order (GIRO) deductions, MOE has filed a police report when these were reported to schools in February. We had at that point also advised affected parents to cancel their GIRO arrangements immediately and to consider filing a claim with the Small Claims Tribunal. As police investigations are ongoing, I am not able to comment further on this issue. Pending the outcomes of police investigations, we will work with relevant agencies to see how we can further support parents.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Members have asked about our selection and monitoring mechanisms for SCC and KCare operators.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures As part of the selection process, operators have to demonstrate adequate financial standing before they are considered. After they are appointed, MOE and schools maintain oversight over operators and monitor their performance in terms of how well they are providing the SCC and KCare services. These monitoring processes are reviewed regularly so that we can continue to improve our safeguards.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures We also value parents’ direct feedback about our SCC and KCare centres so that issues can be addressed in a timely fashion. Today, parents can provide feedback to SCC and KCare staff, to the schools, and directly to MOE. In 2025, MOE directly received a total of 212 emails and phone calls providing feedback on SCCs and KCare centres. We reviewed all of them and followed up with the schools and operators when needed.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Before this incident with LPLC, MOE has not had cause to terminate the services of any school-based SCC and KCare operator.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Nevertheless, we do recognise that there is room for improvement within the sector to provide better services, to strengthen the resilience of operators and to better monitor the service provision. We are further reviewing our processes for selecting and monitoring SCC and KCare operators.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Mr Loh.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Mr Shawn Loh (Jalan Besar): Thank you, Mr Speaker. First, I declare that I am the advisor to the Education Services Union that looks after the affected teachers. Second, I declare that I am the advisor to the Singapore Teachers Union that looks after the teachers who stepped in to help. And third, I declare that Hong Wen school, which is one of the affected schools, is in my constituency. And to that end, I asked not one, not two, but three Parliamentary Questions (PQs) on the matter.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures When I visited Hong Wen school the day after the closure, I was glad to see the parents' support group and the teachers coming in to make sure the kids had the continuity of care. They told me that the incident was regrettable, but possibly preventable. So, my two supplementary questions, Mr Speaker, are about how we can prevent these incidents from happening again.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures First on MOE's due diligence, both before an operator is appointed and during the operations. What levels of safeguards can we expect MOE to implement to ensure that operators with financial standing are appointed? And during operations, that they continue to be in good financial standing, so that we are assured of the sustainability of the operations. This is conceptually no different from how other Government procurement entities, such as those in the built environment sector, look at the largest contractors and vendors of the Government.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures The second and final question is on MOE's whistle-blowing policies. Because parents in our Whampoa and Boon Keng estates told me that they had given feedback about the deteriorating quality of the SCC last year. So, when MOE said that they only found out about it in February this year, the parents told me that this did not gel with the feedback they had given. Whistle-blowing allows us to have this early signal, so I hope that MOE could also consider how we could look at early signals to avoid a situation where MOE and parents and children and staff are caught off guard in the future.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Sir, I thank Mr Loh for his questions and for his efforts in his capacity, both in that school that he mentioned, as well as with the unions.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures On his first question about due diligence, the levels of safeguards associated with the financial standing of the operator – these are assessed at the point of the application, the tender, when the operator submits a tender to have the licence to operate the centre at the schools. We do indeed have a series of items that we look at, including the capitalisation of the company, the financial reserves, the depth of their governance and so forth.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures He is asking then about whether we have means to do so during the course of the operations. Since January 2025, all the contracts that have been awarded require then a yearly submission of audited financial statements. And so then, we continue to have oversight of this process.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures It is an evolving series of mechanisms. We await the investigations as to what happened in this incident and we will see whether there are lessons learnt that will inform us about whether we need to put in further mechanisms, going forward.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures On whistle-blowing, indeed, we do have a variety of channels. As I have explained, the parents can feedback directly to the operator, to the schools and to MOE HQ. We went back and looked at the complaints or feedback – not all of them were complaints – about Little Professors over the last year. And there were a variety of things. Indeed, some of the feedback was about, for example, the quality of food, another child's behaviour to a parent's child, reports on services or the teachers, and we also had a couple of reports from the teachers as employees.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures There was nothing untoward in the feedback that we have received from Little Professors and nothing different from what we had seen across other operators.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures We did indeed have a serious incident in February of this year, and as soon as that information was made available to MOE, we started to take action. And we had as our first priority, been stepping in to provide care for the children, and then subsequently, when there were some issues to do with the finances highlighted, we have made a police report and that matter is under investigation.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Dr Hamid Razak.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. One of the affected schools, Westwood Primary, is also in my constituency. I want to thank the staff and the volunteers for stepping up in this uncertain period.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures I ask these questions in the spirit of improving the systemic resilience of the sector, the first one being: will the Ministry include a review of its current operators and consider a strategic partnership to have a whitelist of operators that could step in if one ceases to operate, so that we do not have to activate our teachers, who already have increased workload? That is the first one.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures The second one alludes to the same early warning trigger system that hon Member Shawn Loh mentioned earlier: whether we can have a broader view of some of these triggers which could include both operational and financial aspects? For example, if a centre rapidly expands across the island, or if we see that staff are being laid off, on top of just the routine reporting that these centres currently do.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures And thirdly, are there ways to also ensure that parents' fees are also safeguarded? Most of the parents who came to see me in my Meet-the-People Session were truly worried about recovery of their deposits. Could we weave in, perhaps one of the factors could be ring-fencing parents' fees or deposits in a client's account or by way of some form of an insurance that the providers could purchase to protect parents' deposits? These are my supplementary questions.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Sir, I thank Dr Hamid Razak for his suggestions. I think they are all good suggestions.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures We are reviewing, not just this incident, but the sector as a whole and we do want to improve. We want to improve the resilience of the operators within the sector. We want to improve the service provision for our students and we want to improve parents' confidence in the operators and the care that their children are receiving.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures The Member had made a couple of suggestions. The first, in terms of systemic resilience, looking at some form of whitelist or strategic partnership with an operator or operators. It is something worth considering. And the idea that perhaps, we might develop capability in partnership with an operator so that there is a systemic resilience, not just an operator resilience, should another incident occur, whether we would have the capability then to rely on such an operator to step in, and not only on the MOE staff and the parent support groups, and all the other people who helped.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures I would like to take this opportunity to once again appreciate very much that we did have so many people who were able and willing to help and did so very effectively, so that there was no interruption in the care that our children had.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures He suggested another set of ideas about operational and financial monitoring of the operators to pick up in advance, if such a thing occurs. Actually, in general, MOE and the schools work very closely with the operators. We have ongoing discussions, we know the staff very well, we integrate on some programmes and services. There have been issues over the years that we have had to deal with. Some operators, maybe staff are sick or face staff shortage, or perhaps the business issues that we have to think about. For most of the operators, we actually have a fairly close relationship, and hence, we have not had an anxiety about whether we were not aware about what was happening within the operator. But I take his point that perhaps, we need a mechanism to give us systemic confidence that we have sight into the finances and operations, such that we would have an early warning, if there was a resilience issue of a given operator.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures We are studying the sector and we will see if we can find ways to introduce such mechanisms, including, for example, how an operator manages their staff; which I think is something that we have to take very seriously.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures His third suggestion about the parents' fees, indeed, that is an anxiety that many parents will have about the deposits that they have paid. The double GIRO deductions that were reported were indeed returned. The double GIRO deductions that were reported to MOE before February this year, that happened last year, were indeed returned to the parents. And so, it is the later round of double deductions which required a police report. And then now, for many parents, there is the issue of the deposits that they have paid, which they have not been able to claim back yet. The matter is still under investigation and we will see how best we can assist those parents, and then see what is the appropriate mechanism going forward to restore parents' confidence in the operators in this space.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Assoc Prof Jamus Lim. I know you have filed a PQ on this. Yes, go ahead.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Thank you, Speaker. Sir, like many others, I have residents who have been affected by this in my constituency. My question has to do with the pursuit of recourse by many of these. I understand that Senior Minister of State mentioned that the way that they should proceed is by going to the Small Claims Tribunal. But given how collective the nature of those who were affected by this are, I wonder if there is some manner in which the Government will assist with coordinating this process of claims, rather than have individuals try to seek out Small Claims Tribunal, especially for parents who are not well-versed in matters of the law.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Sir, the situation is still developing and investigations are ongoing. We will find ways to assist the affected families and parents.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Last supplementary question, Dr Wan Rizal.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Sir, I thank the Senior Minister of State for sharing on the efforts done by MOE and working together with the unions and e2i to support both the teachers and of course, the parents in this process too.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures I have also raised the concern whereby the teachers are now given extra load to do interim supervisory duties. How will MOE ensure that such stopgap measures do not become normalised or prolonged, such that it affects their workload? And how can we make sure that those teachers who are currently on those workloads are recognised formally and they can be added into the additional responsibilities?
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures Sir, I thank Dr Wan Rizal for his questions. I express my deep appreciation for the teachers who have indeed stepped in to care for the students. We do recognise that this is in addition to their workload and that will be recognised by the schools as well. The operational way in which we relieve that workload will vary from site to site. The principals and the site conditions of, for example, the Little Professor staff who have chosen to stay on, or external staff who have been able to come in – means that it is not exactly the same from site to site. So, exactly what the teachers have to do and the intensity of the workload will vary. So, we have to take an operational approach, but our intent is indeed for the teachers then to focus on their primary duties and where possible for us then, to relieve them of these duties.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures MOE HQ staff have stepped in to relieve administrative burdens. I have given the example of parent support groups that have volunteered to assist and we have employed the existing former Little Professor staff, as well as external staff to then come in, in the interim, while we are pending the operator to be appointed.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures To ensure that this does not ever happen again, well, those are the issues that we have talked about in the previous supplementary questions: that we are reviewing the sector and we will look to see whether we have mechanisms that we can detect earlier, respond faster and perhaps, have better resilience across the system.
Governance of Student Care Centres and Minimising Disruptions in Event of Abrupt Centre Closures But I think the fact that we had such an incident for the first time, a student care operator collapsing in this way, if you like, unable to provide services, and yet across all eight schools, we had a continuity of care and a continuity of service provision – I think it is a testament to the professionalism and capability of our education staff and the entire ecosystem of stakeholders that are involved. And I once again would very much like to thank them for that.
10.31 am 7 Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Acting Minister for Transport what measures are being taken to ensure all public footpaths, including roadside footpaths in private estates, provide barrier-free access for mobility scooters and motorised wheelchairs so that users are not forced onto roads, risking both safety and prosecution under the Active Mobility Act 2017.
10.31 am Public paths are designed to be free from encumbrances to ensure a barrier-free passage. Since 2018, all new standalone footpaths are also required to have a minimum clear width of 1.8 metres, while those adjacent to cycling paths must be at least 1.5 metres. When rejuvenating old footpaths, we will widen them to these standards, unless there are site constraints, such as the lack of roadside space.
10.31 am The Land Transport Authority (LTA) also takes in residents' feedback when planning for footpath widening within private estates, which is often undertaken in conjunction with other programmes, such as drainage or estate improvements.
10.31 am If riders need to use the road briefly to bypass obstructions or access adjoining paths, enforcement authorities will exercise discretion. We would also like to remind device users and motorists to slow down at residential estates and exercise greater caution during such instances.
10.31 am We are almost out of time, but Mr Tan, I will allow you to ask your clarification in a very concise manner.
10.31 am Thank you, Mr Speaker. I just have one supplementary question.
10.31 am I would like to ask whether the Minister of State can advise on the timeline for a private estate, which has not been upgraded, for example. When will the current footpaths, which are currently blocked or not accessible for Personal Mobility Aids (PMAs), when does the Government expect that these footpaths can be modified for use, without the PMAs having to use the road?
10.31 am As mentioned earlier, such path widening work is usually taken in conjunction with other estate improvement works, for example, drainage or estate improvements and these are not entirely within LTA's jurisdiction.