Hansard, Monday, 7 March 2022

Hon Members, under the prevailing Health Protocols, Members who are close contacts of COVID-19 cases but who are ART-negative can leave their homes and come to Parliament Sittings. Safe management measures remain in place here in Parliament House and the Chamber for Members and visitors to protect their well-being.

From today, as a further precaution to reduce the density of Members in the Chamber, such Members will be delivering their speeches on a separate floor, namely the additional Galleries on Level Three.

These are the same arrangements for Members whereby they participated in the Sitting from seats in the additional Galleries during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the COVID-19 situation today is not the same, we will maintain vigilance out of an abundance of caution.

Members of the public who wish to follow the proceedings in Parliament House will now do so via a live screening at the Auditorium. The livestream of Parliamentary proceedings is also available for the public to watch at their own convenience anywhere.

Let us continue to exercise personal responsibility by monitoring our health closely and strictly adhering to the appropriate testing regimes. In doing so, everyone’s safety and well-being remain paramount as we proceed with our Parliamentary business.

1 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Education (a) in the past two years, whether it has been found that PSLE results are significantly correlated with social economic status; (b) if yes, how does the Ministry intend to reduce the correlation; and (c) if no analysis has been conducted on this issue, whether the Ministry intends to study this issue further.

(for the Minister for Education): Mr Speaker, globally across education systems, students from higher socio-economic backgrounds tend to perform better. This is reflected in OECD’s study of 15-year-olds across more than 70 economies participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA. In Singapore, there is similarly some correlation between socio-economic background and PSLE results.

This is not unexpected, as parents with more resources are able to support their children’s learning and provide them with a head-start in life. However, we must work hard against the natural tendency of societies to stratify, so as to maintain social cohesion and to give our children a good start in life, regardless of their background.

In this regard, our education system plays a crucial role in levelling up opportunities and support for students from less advantaged backgrounds to develop their potential. MOE pays close attention to this issue and provides significantly more support to students with higher needs.

For example, we provide dedicated support for children needing support in basic numeracy and literacy skills through the Learning Support Programme for English and Mathematics in Primary 1 and 2 students. After Primary 2, higher-needs students who require more academic support are helped through programmes such as the Reading Remediation Programme and Improving Confidence and Achievement in Numeracy programme.

Some students also have needs that extend beyond academic support. This is why we have launched the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT), which I currently chair, to enhance our upstream wraparound support for such students. Our efforts comprise strengthening after-school engagement and care through school-based Student Care Centres in Primary schools and after-school programmes in Secondary schools, as well as partnering the community to support students’ families through the UPLIFT Community Network. Schools with a higher proportion of students in need also receive more manpower and funds to support whole-school interventions for their students.

Sir, encouragingly, our students from less advantaged backgrounds do well compared to their international counterparts. OECD’s PISA study, for example, has found that compared to other high-performing systems, Singapore’s students from the bottom-25% of socio-economic background not only outperform their international counterparts of similar socio-economic background, but also out-perform the OECD average in all core domains assessed in PISA.

We will continue to press on to further strengthen support for these students, such as with the expansion of UPLIFT initiatives. Through this approach of tilting more resources and help towards students with greater needs, we will lean against the entrenchment of socio-economic advantages and ensure that our education system continues to provide opportunities for Singaporeans in each generation to succeed and realise their potential.

Mr Louis Ng.

Thank you, Sir. And I thank the Second Minister for the reply and the good work that UPLIFT has been doing. Could I ask, over the last two years, whether the correlation between PSLE scores and socio-economic status has been increasing or decreasing. And two, are we tracking whether the children involved in the UPLIFT programme are actually doing better as compared to their peers who are not involved in the UPLIFT programme?

So, specifically, whether the Primary school students in the UPLIFT programme are going into Normal (Technical), Normal (Academic) or the Express streams after their PSLE?

Sir, I thank Mr Louis Ng for his supplementary question. On the correlation, it has been stable over the last five years – it has not been going up, not going down. We will continue to do our best to ensure that we provide the resources to help our students from disadvantaged backgrounds to continue to do well.

On the outcomes of UPLIFT, I hope Mr Ng will give us some time. We just started in 2018 and the initial outcomes have been quite encouraging. We see more students' attendance improving. We are tracking and monitoring different components of the programme. And I will share a bit more during MOE's Committee of Supply (COS) later this afternoon.

2 Ms Hany Soh asked the Minister for Social and Family Development what support is available to assist preschools that are grappling with COVID-19 rules and manpower shortage issues as COVID-19 cases rise.

Mr Speaker, since the start of the pandemic, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has been regularly reviewing the COVID-19 measures for preschools, in line with changes to our national posture and in consultation with MOH. These regular reviews aim to safeguard the health and safety of preschool children and staff, while enabling preschools to manage their operations. The measures also consider the fact that the majority of preschool children are unvaccinated.

To keep our children and staff safe, and to enable preschools to keep up with changes to the health protocols, ECDA regularly updates the sector via email circulars and infographics. Preschools can also reach out directly to their ECDA licensing officer if they need help or guidance. ECDA also provided preschools with funding support in 2020 and 2021 to hire Safe Management Assistants to help implement safe management measures (SMMs). In turn, this gave operators time to review their operational processes and manpower planning to sustain evolving SMMs.

To help preschools manage COVID-19 cases ahead of the Omicron wave, ECDA and MOH have streamlined the contact tracing processes and empowered preschools with greater autonomy to manage their COVID-19 cases. For example, we have streamlined the process to allow preschools to submit details of close contacts directly to MOH so that Health Risk Notices can be issued faster, thereby reducing the period of uncertainty for parents and staff.

The surge in cases due to Omicron has affected many segments of society, and the preschool sector is no exception. We recognise that a high number of COVID-19 cases amongst staff can disrupt preschools’ operations. In earlier phases of the pandemic, cross-deployment of staff across preschools and across classes within the same preschool was restricted to minimise the risk of transmission.

As all preschool staff are now fully vaccinated and are placed on weekly Rostered Routine Testing (RRT), ECDA has provided operators with more flexibility in manpower deployment within each preschool. Where necessary, each preschool may deploy staff across classes or tap on relief staff. In areas where manpower is very tight, such as Mother Tongue Language (MTL) teachers, such staff may be deployed across preschools, subject to prevailing SMMs.

In situations where preschools are impacted by substantial staff absenteeism, ECDA works closely with the operators to initiate their business continuity plan, such as adjusting programme plans and allowing flexibility in staffing ratios.

Keeping our preschools safe and healthy is a collective effort. We advise parents to monitor their children’s health and consult a primary care doctor if their child is unwell. Children who are unwell should stay at home to rest and return to preschool only when they have fully recovered.

We also encourage parents, whose children are five years old and older and medically eligible, to register them for COVID-19 vaccination to give them better protection.

Ms Hany Soh.

I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for the reply. I have two supplementary questions. One is on whether ECDA will provide more support in relations to provision of more ART kits to all the preschools to ease the operating expenses and encourage more people to get tested on a regular basis. The other question is my concern in relations to a disruption of manpower and whether that will compromise the preschools' adherence to the environmental sanitation regime, exposing the children to the possibility of gastroenteritis cases.

Mr Speaker, I thank the Member Ms Hany Soh for her additional questions. On the first question on additional support in terms of ART kits, I think that is something we can take back and explore. Last year, sometime around September, we had done the same. We issued some kits to the preschools, children, to alleviate the stress on the families of having to test regularly for the children.

On the second question on disruption of manpower, as I had mentioned in my main reply, it is a balance we want to strike between maintaining the preschools' operations viz a viz getting the children tested. We understand that manpower can be a stretch, especially at this time when we have quite a number of preschool staff and teachers who might be down with COVID-19, who might be on medical leave. We want to be able to empower the preschools, give them some flexibility. So, as I had mentioned in my reply earlier, we do allow them some degree of flexibility as compared to before. In the earlier phases of fighting the pandemic, our SMMs and restrictions had been quite tight. Now, we have allowed for deployment across classes. We have also allowed for, in some cases, for example, where manpower is very scarce – as I mentioned, mother tongue language teachers – for them to be deployed across preschools, subject to SMMs.

So, we are striking a right balance and we are mindful of the constraints that preschools face, we are mindful of the stress that preschools have to handle and deal with as well. But as much as possible, at this phase of the pandemic, we want our preschools to remain open as much as possible so that social impact arising from preschool closures are kept to the minimum. At the same time, as we move to the endemic phase, we hope that we can also try to alleviate some of the stress that both the preschools as well as families are facing, and that is why we will take Member's first suggestion on board as well.

3 Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Health (a) what are the recommended guidelines used to assess MediFund applications, including the quantum of assistance to be provided; (b) what degree of autonomy do MediFund Committees have to make decisions on such applications; and (c) what measures are in place to ensure consistency of interpretation of these guidelines by MediFund Committees across the MediFund-approved institutions.

To apply for MediFund, applicants must be Singapore Citizens who are subsidised patients and are receiving treatment from a MediFund-approved institution. As long as patients meet these eligibility criteria, the MediFund Committees (MFCs) have flexibility and discretion over the assessment, approval and assistance quantum of MediFund applications. They work with the medical social workers (MSWs) to assess applications holistically, taking into account patients’ socio-economic and health circumstances, as well as bill sizes.

MOH provides operational guidelines to MediFund-approved institutions to facilitate their management of MediFund and to provide some consistency for decision making, although MFCs retain full discretion over assessment of applications.

Mr Perera.

I thank the Senior Minister of State for his answer. Just one supplementary question, which is to confirm the understanding that MOH provides guidelines as to the quantum, the way in which you do the means testing for MediFund, but those guidelines, if I understand it correctly, are not binding on the different MediFund Committees, so they have the discretion to deviate from those guidelines, depending on their case-by-case assessment.

The second supplementary question is, if that is the case, then what process is in place to ensure that there is a basic degree of consistency? Because otherwise, you could get some MediFund Committees being more generous than others, depending on the hospital or the healthcare provider.

Sir, the Member is correct that the MediFund Committees do have discretion and MOH provides guidelines regarding means testing criteria, the amount of assistance as a benchmark so that they can have those as a reference. The full discretion is given to these committees to actually deviate from these suggested guidelines.

In terms of the outcomes, I think that is the fundamental and most important thing. Despite all the guidelines, are we able to assist most of these people and patients who are in need. In fiscal year 2020, 98.3% of the total number of MediFund and MediFund Silver applications that were received were approved and 87.6% of the approved applications received the full assistance. So, I think the outcome speak for itself that regardless of the guidelines, most of these applications actually receive the assistance they require and most of them in full, as well.

Let me also add that MediFund assistance is also automatically extended to needy patients under MSF's social assistance schemes, for example, the ComCare Long-Term Assistance recipients, who fulfil the MediFund eligibility criteria without requiring them to go through the application process. So, those who are already on our radar, who are in need, will receive the necessary support, without further application.

In terms of auditing some of these outcomes and making sure that the spirit of MediFund is complied with, the MediFund accounts and administration for each preceding financial year are audited annually, either by Auditor-General's Office (AGO) or an external auditor appointed by MOH in consultation with AGO.

So, I think there are robust processes in place to make sure that the MediFund Committees perform their roles well and the outcomes, in terms of the numbers that have been assisted, also validate this observation.

4 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the common causes of fire along HDB common corridors; (b) what percentage of HDB flats built before June 2018 have Home Fire Alarm Device (HFAD) installed; (c) whether the take-up rate for the installation of HFADs is on the rise; and (d) what are the Ministry’s efforts to encourage more households to install HFADs.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the common causes of fire along HDB common corridors are of electrical origin, which includes fires involving personal mobility devices and personal mobility aids, arising from naked light such as candle flame and flame from lighters, and the indiscriminate disposal of lighted materials such as cigarette butts.

Since June 2018, all new residential units and existing units that are undergoing fire safety works, such as renovation works involving a fire-rated door, are required under the Fire Code to install Home Fire Alarm Devices (HFADs) within the units. For residential units built before June 2018 and which have not undergone fire safety works since June 2018, the installation of HFADs is voluntary. We do not have data on the percentage of HDB flats built before June 2018 which have HFADs installed.

Members of the public can access the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)'s website for useful information on fire safety and to download the recently revised edition of the Civil Defence Emergency Handbook. These materials contain information on HFADs, including a list of HFAD suppliers, in the four official languages. SCDF has also been working with the National Fire and Emergency Preparedness Council and HDB to educate new homeowners on fire safety and emergency preparedness through the digital MyNiceHome Roadshows.

Mr Yip.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I have two supplementary questions. Can I find out the statistics for the number of common corridor fires in HDB flats in 2021? And two, how is MHA and SCDF working with agencies such as the Town Councils to prevent fires in common corridors of HDB flats, as this is a common concern amongst HDB flat dwellers?

Sir, I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. In 2021, there were 122 fires that occurred at HDB common corridors and passageways. If you look at the breakdown of the top three causes of fires: (a) we had 43 fires due to electrical origins, for example, fires involving PMD and electrical risers; (b) we had 42 fires due to naked light, for example, candle flame, flame from lighters; (c) we had 32 fires due to indiscriminate disposal of lighted materials, for example, cigarette butts; and (d) we had five fires due to other causes.

The number of fires at HDB common corridors and passageways has been decreasing over the years.

With regard to how we work with the agencies, we have been working with HDB, Town Councils, MCSTs and many other stakeholders to educate and raise the awareness of how we can play our part in minimising or responding to fires. What we used to do was, if you remember, we had the Emergency Preparedness Day, prior to COVID-19. When the COVID-19 situation stablises, we will launch the Community Resilience Day. It would be roadshows in the heartlands where we will teach residents emergency preparedness and fire safety skills.

The Member can also find more details on the SCDF website.

5 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry monitors manpower policies in hospitals with respect to nurses’ and doctors' rest days and off days for compliance with the Employment Act; (b) whether the present Omicron COVID-19 wave constitutes a situation under section 38(2) of the Employment Act which allows an employer to require an employee to exceed the limit of hours worked and to work on a rest day; and (c) how it ensures nurses and doctors have sufficient rest.

Sir, rest day provisions and work hour limits for public healthcare workers are governed by the Employment Act. For those healthcare workers that are not covered by the Employment Act, their rest day provisions and work hour limits are set out in public healthcare clusters’ employment contracts.

COVID-19 has stretched our healthcare resources and placed a heavy burden on healthcare staff. All our public healthcare workers have been working doubly hard in this time of crisis. Whenever there is essential and urgent need that requires overtime work, employers will accord overtime pay as required by section 38 of the Act.

We urge cooperation and understanding from everyone as the hospitals reduce non-urgent and non-life-threatening care treatments to manage workload, decant those who need less intensive care to Community Treatment Facilities and curtailed visitations to hospitals. Public healthcare clusters have allowed staff to rest and recharge by taking days off, including taking annual leave, whenever possible. MOH is supporting them by doing whatever we can and stepping up on vaccination. We hope to turn the corner soon from this current wave of COVID-19 infections.

Mr Louis Ng.

Thank you, Sir. I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. Could I just check, specifically, whether MOH has studied this issue further? In terms of overtime hours, how much are the nurses working overtime, the doctors as well during the past few months or two years in this pandemic? Two, I think it is really a manpower crunch. So, is MOH also studying the resignation rate, especially among the experienced healthcare workers, whom I understand are, leaving more as compared to the junior staff? And also, what is MOH doing to try and retain these workers?

I thank the Member for his concern on the workload of our healthcare workers. As I have said, this is a crisis of a generation and it is the truth that many of our healthcare workers are going above and beyond their call of duty, extended hours, also in the primary care sector, our GPs as well. But this is their commitment to respond to the crisis and pulling their weight to make sure they become a strong last line of defence for our safety and our health.

In MOH's Committee of Supply (COS) in the next few days, we will be giving a fuller response on some of the strategies that MOH will look at to support our healthcare staff and also to look at boosting our manpower resources over the coming decade. So, I hope the Member will give us time and we will share more and details in the coming COS.

6 Ms Mariam Jaafar asked the Minister for National Development whether the occupancy cap for HDB jumbo flats can be increased from the current six persons to between eight and 10 persons.

As HDB flats are intended to serve the housing needs of flat owners and their family members, there is no limit imposed on the number of family members who can live together in an HDB flat. Occupancy caps apply when the flat owners rent out their flat or bedrooms to unrelated persons. This is to minimise the disamenities caused by overcrowding in our public housing estates and maintain a conducive living environment for all residents.

The current occupancy cap for 4-room and larger flats, including jumbo flats, is six persons. This is aligned to the occupancy cap for private residential properties of all sizes. Increasing the occupancy cap would likely create more disamenities when the flat or bedrooms are rented out to unrelated persons.

Should flat owners need to exceed the occupancy cap when renting out their flats or bedrooms, HDB will consider the request and may exercise flexibility based on the circumstances of each case.

7 Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Health (a) whether the statistics for 2021 shows an increasing trend in the number of people using vaporisers; and (b) amongst the users which consist of school-going youths and children, which age group and education level saw the highest number of vaporiser users.

Currently, there is no available local data on the use of vaporisers as these are illegal products and reliable self-reported data is difficult to obtain. However, in 2021, there were 7,593 offenders, across all ages, caught for import of vaporisers, compared to 6,192 in 2020. Similarly, in 2021, there were a total of 4,697 offenders caught for purchase, use or possession of vaporisers, of which about one-third were under-18, compared to a total of 1,266 offenders in 2020.

While data on number of offenders may not represent the total number of users, the trend does suggest a general increase in use of vaporisers in Singapore.

This worrying trend of increased vaping is also observed internationally. In response, MOH will work together with relevant partners and stakeholders to strengthen enforcement measures, as well as enhance public education efforts. The Health Promotion Board will also roll out a vape-free campaign later in 2022 targeted at youths and younger adults through popular digital platforms.

Order. End of Question Time.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), written answers to questions not reached by the end of Question Time are reproduced in the Appendix, unless Members had asked for questions standing in their names to be postponed to a later Sitting day or withdrawn.]

[(proc text) "to amend the Extradition Act 1968 and to make consequential and related amendments to certain other Acts", (proc text)]

[(proc text) presented by the Second Minister for Law (Mr Edwin Tong Chun Fai) read the First time; to be read a Second time on the next available Sitting of Parliament, and to be printed. (proc text)]

[(proc text) Order read for consideration in Committee of Supply [4th Allotted Day]. (proc text)]

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

[(proc text) Head S (cont) – (proc text)]

[(proc text) Resumption of Debate on Question [4 March 2022], (proc text)]

[(proc text) "That the total sum to be allocated for Head S of the Estimates be reduced by $100." – [Mr Desmond Choo]. (proc text)]

[(proc text) Question again proposed. (proc text)]

Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad.

Mr Chairman, in his National Day Rally speech last year, Prime Minister Lee accepted the recommendations by the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers. This refreshes the Government’s social compact with our lower-wage workers to better support them, provide stronger wage outcomes and for all of us to play a stronger role to create a more inclusive and cohesive society.

We have already made good progress in uplifting our lower-wage workers through efforts such as Workfare and the Progressive Wage Model (PWM).

In the last five years from 2016 to 2021, we have seen good wage growth across our workforce. Real median income of full-time employed residents has increased steadily at 2.1% per annum. In comparison, real income at the 20th percentile – our lower-wage workers – has risen faster than median at 2.7% per annum. This means that we are reducing the income gap even as we move up as a workforce.

Our moves to enhance wage growth in the PWM sectors and introduce the new Local Qualifying Salary, or LQS, provide us with further opportunities to narrow income inequality in the coming years.

In my speech, Mr Chairman, I will elaborate on the progress of the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers recommendations, and how Progressive Wages and Workfare will continue to be the key thrusts in our efforts to uplift our lower-wage workers.

I will also elaborate on our efforts to strengthen HR capabilities, so that HR professionals are better able to support businesses.

With your permission, Chairman, may I ask the Clerks to distribute a handout detailing our efforts to support our lower-wage workers.

Please do. [A handout was distributed to hon Members.]

Thank you. The Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers report was released in August 2021 and outlines our recommendations for a refreshed approach and ambition for an inclusive and uplifting society.

We have seen good progress since the release of the recommendations. New PWM sectors, such as Retail and F&B, have been identified and negotiations are underway. We can expect to see significant progress in wage outcomes in the coming years for our existing PWMs in the Cleaning, Security, Landscape and Lift and Escalator sectors.

For example, from 2022 to 2028, entry-level cleaners will see a cumulative wage increase of up to 84%, to receive baseline wages of about $2,400 in 2028. The other existing PWMs have also shown similarly strong momentum, and you can find them in our factsheet; you will see significant increases across the various PWMs. They reflect the Workgroup’s commitment to narrow income dispersion between workers at the lowest 20th percentile and median and this will strengthen our social compact.

At the same time, our overarching principle continues to be that wages and productivity should rise in tandem. Hence, we not only want wages to rise, but we also want to see productivity increase, through upskilling of workers and through the transformation of businesses.

We have seen more Singaporeans joining sectors with the PWM, such as Security and Landscape, as wages and working conditions improve. For example, the employment of locals in the Security sector grew by an average of 5% per year, compared to 2015, which was before PWM was introduced. This is different from some other countries where broad-based minimum wages caused unintended unemployment. It is this sustainable progress that gives the Tripartite Partners confidence and the impetus to expand the Progressive Wage Model to cover new sectors and new occupations.

Starting in September this year, we will implement the new Local Qualifying Salary requirement, as well as the Retail PWM and the extension of PWM to cover in-house cleaners, security officers and landscape workers. This will be followed closely by our second wave of moves in March 2023, just next year about this time, when we implement the Food Services PWM and Occupational Progressive Wages. Overall, by early 2023, 234,000, or more than eight in 10 full-time lower-wage workers will be covered by Progressive Wages.

Given the competitive labour market, we are confident that the PWMs will continue to set the pace for the wage growth of our lower-wage workers. Hence, even when lower-wage workers who are not covered directly by any PWM should still see good wage growth, as their employers will likely have to adjust their wages to keep pace with the market and to retain them.

Beyond uplifting wages, we also want to encourage our employers to pay more attention to other aspects of the well-being of our lower-wage workers. Therefore, following the recommendation of the Tripartite Workgroup, I am pleased to now launch a new Tripartite Standard on Advancing Well-being of Lower-Wage Workers.

The Tripartite Standards (TS) are a set of good employment practices that all employers should implement at their workplaces. The new Tripartite Standard on Advancing Well-Being of Lower-Wage Workers will encourage employers to provide better workplace support for our lower-wage workers, focusing on areas of training and career development, to provide rest areas as well as care for their mental well-being, as mentioned by Mr Melvin Yong.

We recognise that our workforce has experienced significant disruptions to their jobs during COVID-19. Therefore, it is important that employers cultivate a healthy working environment. Minister of State Gan Siow Huang will elaborate on these efforts in her speech.

To strengthen our social compact, the efforts of the Tripartite Partners and employers alone are not enough. We must recognise that all of us have a role to play – all of us as consumers. It is in this light that the Tripartite Workgroup recommended establishing a new Progressive Wage Mark, or PW Mark, accreditation. We want to help individual consumers and corporate buyers easily identify progressive employers that are supporting lower-wage workers, and support these employers through their purchases.

The PW Mark will be launched in the second half of this year. Employers that pay at least the relevant Sectoral or Occupational Progressive Wages to eligible workers, as well as the Local Qualifying Salary to all other local workers, will be accredited with the PW Mark. For employers that have gone one step further to adopt the new Tripartite Standard on Advancing Well-Being of Lower-Wage Workers, they will be recognised with the PW Mark Plus accreditation.

To rally the industry to adopt the PW Mark, the Singapore Business Federation has agreed to help administer the PW Mark. The Government will do our part to lend strong support to the PW Mark. From March 2023, we will require all suppliers awarded Government contracts to be accredited with the PW Mark, starting with contracts with larger value. More details will be announced in the coming months. We encourage potential suppliers to apply and obtain the PW Mark early once it is launched.

Chairman, putting our Progressive Wage measures together, this increases our coverage of Progressive Wages further up to 266,000, or 94% of full-time lower-wage workers – put together, 94%.

As we significantly widen the coverage of Progressive Wages and introduce the new Local Qualifying Salary requirement, we recognise that the employers would need some transitional support to adjust to the changes in the immediate term. The Government has thus committed its strong support through the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme, or PWCS, which was announced by the Minister for Finance earlier.

To recap, under the PWCS, there will be two tiers of funding. First, the Government will co-fund the first two most recent years of wage increases given to resident workers up to a wage ceiling of $2,500, for a five-year period from 2022 to 2026. Co-funding will be at 50% in the first two years, 30% in the next two years, before tapering off at 15% in 2026.

With economic conditions remaining uncertain in the immediate term, the PWCS will also provide a second tier of funding to cover those earning between $2,500 and $3,000, for a shorter period of three years.

With PWCS, the Government is providing direct support to the firms as they adjust to the Progressive Wage and LQS moves. We want to encourage all firms, including those not in the PWM sectors, to provide wage increases voluntarily in the immediate term when the Government’s support is the strongest. We urge employers to use this period of support to also accelerate the structural transformation of their business processes. Employers must take the lead in improving firm-level productivity, so that wage increases will be sustainable for businesses, even when the support ends.

I thus agree with Mr Sharael Taha that employers must press on to innovate and digitalise. The Government is expanding the range of solutions under schemes such as the Productivity Solutions Grant and Advanced Digital Solutions scheme to support such efforts. Working in tandem with these schemes, I encourage our trade associations and chambers to play a key role in promoting innovation and digitalisation efforts, and share best practices.

Workers should also continue to take the initiative in upgrading their skills and applying these skills at work, be it to increase productivity or to take on new roles. This will help them continue to support business transformation and ensure that wage improvements are sustainable in the long run. Therefore, I fully support Mr Sharael Taha’s suggestions for encouraging lower-wage workers to upskill.

Today, the Workfare Skills Support scheme provides incentives to encourage lower-wage workers to upskill, through training allowances and a training commitment award. In 2020, MOM expanded the income qualifying criteria, and increased the amount of allowance and award. I hope that our workers will take the opportunity to upskill and improve their career prospects.

Moving on to the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme, or what we know as Workfare for short. Workfare was introduced in 2007 to narrow income inequality; to help our lower-wage workers save more for their retirement; and to encourage our lower-wage workers to work regularly, whether it is for full-time or part-time work, depending on what best suits their circumstances. Fifteen years on, almost a million workers have benefited from over $8.6 billion dollars in Workfare payouts.

One worker who benefited from Workfare over the years is Mdm Timah Binte Mohamad Kasan. Being the sole breadwinner while raising two children was not easy for Mdm Timah. Workfare made it better for her and her family by topping up her income since 2007. In total, she has received over $34,000 cash and CPF top-ups from Workfare. This has helped her support her husband, who is unable to work and her children while paying off her mortgage for her 3-room HDB flat.

Mdm Timah is also supported by other Government schemes. For example, she currently receives Silver Support payouts of $720 per quarter. She also chose to boost her retirement income via the lease buyback scheme and received a $30,000 cash bonus on top of the proceeds from selling part of the flat's lease. The support from Workfare has not stopped, Workfare will continue to boost her income for as long as she wishes to continue working.

Uplifting our lower-wage workers is a collective responsibility. As businesses and consumers pay our lower-wage workers better, the Government, too, will do our part. As announced by the Minister for Finance, the Government will be making significant enhancements to Workfare from 2023. Let me briefly recap the enhancements here.

Workers earning up to $2,500 a month will now be able to qualify for Workfare, up from the current qualifying income cap of $2,300. Workers will also need to earn at least $500 a month to qualify for Workfare. Members have debated this extensively. We understand and share your concerns.

But allow me to first clarify a statement that I made at the Budget debate about the number of Workfare recipients that would be affected by the new criterion. The 20,000 figure, as cited by Minister Tan See Leng, had already taken into account the expected wage growth from the PWM expansion and new LQS requirement. Our objective, in line with Workfare's overall design, is to nudge all our workers, part-time and full-time, towards more gainful employment so that we give them a higher sense of achievement. We also want to better target Workfare at those who need it, our lower-wage workers, those with lower household incomes and not casual workers doing vacation jobs, for example.

At the same, we will ensure that those deserving and in need, will continue receiving Workfare, by providing concessions for them. For low-income part-time workers who qualify for ComCare, they will continue receiving Workfare, even if they earn less than $500 per month. There are some who want to work more but are unable to do so, due to various personal circumstances, such as persons with disabilities (PwDs). They too, will continue receiving Workfare. In fact, PwDs will receive the highest tier of Workfare.

I hope this assures Members of this House that those who are in need and who are deserving of Workfare will continue to receive it.

Here, I wish to reiterate a point that Minister Tan also made at the Budget Debate – Workfare is not the endgame for these workers earning less than $500 per month. We need to help these part-time workers find jobs of the appropriate quality and quantity of working hours to earn at least $500 or more if they can. And we have a whole suite of employment facilitation programmes and initiatives, ready to assist.

Finally, we will increase the payouts. Older workers, like Mdm Timah, will continue to receive the highest Workfare payouts, of up to $4,200 a year or $350 per month. Workfare has supported our persons with disabilities (PwDs) for more than a decade and certainly they can do with some extra support. From 2023, with the enhancements, we will provide a stronger helping hand by placing all PwDs on the highest payout tier of $4,200 a year.

We recognise that our younger and middle-aged workers are also dealing with greater family and financial obligations. Many of them are taking care of both their children and their elderly parents, while still paying off their housing loan. This is why we will also be increasing Workfare payouts for them.

Mr Abdul Samad Abdul Wahab suggested to exclude overtime pay when assessing a worker's eligibility for Workfare. Overtime pay, together with basic pay and bonuses make up a worker's total income that will help support the worker and his or her family. As Workfare helps lower-wage workers by supplementing their income, looking at the total income earned by the worker enables us to better assess the additional support to be provided via Workfare. If we had only used basic salaries to determine who will qualify for Workfare, some workers with low basic salary but high overall pay may displace another worker with higher basic salary but overall, he does not get much more, that is all he gets. The worker displaced would have needed Workfare more but does not get it. But the worker with high bonuses gets Workfare. Therefore, you can see the challenges of why we go towards gross wages.

Mr Chairman, Workfare has supported generations of workers and helped them save more for retirement. We will now extend this same support to younger workers, like Ms Lily. Ms Lily is an anonymised name as she prefers for us to not use her real name. Ms Lily is turning 30 years old next year. She works at a pest control company. She bought a flat four years ago and is living with her six children and her elderly mother. She is current receiving a suite of Government support to help her with her household expenses, including financial support such as the ComCare Short-to-Medium Term Assistance and the MOE Financial Assistance Scheme for her school-going children.

From 2023, workers aged 30 to 34 like Ms Lily, many of whom are just starting their families or supporting elderly parents, can expect to receive up to $2,100 Workfare payouts a year. She is looking forward to the boost in income, which will be an additional source of help with her household expenses. She says that the Workfare monies will be used to pay her HDB instalments and buy school supplies for her children.

Chairman, these enhancements will apply to all lower-wage employees and self-employed persons (SEPs), regardless of occupation. As pointed out by Dr Shahira Abdullah, to qualify for Workfare, SEPs need to declare their incomes and make the required MediSave contributions. The need to meet CPF obligations is part of Workfare's eligibility criteria and applies to both employees and SEPs. Nonetheless, CPF Board does exercise flexibilities to help SEPs facing difficulties make their CPF contributions.

Overall, the enhancements will benefit more workers, over half a million lower-wage workers from 2023 will benefit from Workfare, up from 460,000 today. Progressive Wages and Workfare will continue to form the foundation of the Government's multi-layer support for our lower-wage workers.

Even as we roll up our sleeves and implement these moves over the next two years and beyond, I am reminded of our workers like Mr Mohammed Ali. In 2017, Mr Ali was an entry-level Security Officer, earning about $1,700 per month. As a worker earning less, he received some support from Workfare. Guided by the PWM's career pathway and with training support from Workfare Skills Support, he upskilled and took on new responsibilities.

Today, he is a Senior Security Supervisor overseeing around forty officers. He earns about $3,100 per month, an increase of $1,400 compared to when he first started. He has since graduated from Workfare as his income exceeds the current Workfare qualifying income cap. This is a good and intended outcome. While Workfare provided Mr Ali with income and training support when he needed it, Progressive Wages also offered a progression pathway to higher wages and better skills for workers like him. Mr Ali, I am glad, made the most out of it and I am happy to share that he has graduated from the Workfare scheme, as Progressive Wages has enabled him to earn more.

With the new recommendations for the Security PWM, Mr Ali will earn $3,550 per month in 2024. And by 2028, Senior Security Supervisors like Mr Ali will earn at least $4,430, a significant progress compared to $1,700 when he first started. Members may also be pleased to know that under the PWM, entry-level Security Officers will earn at least $3,530 by 2028.

Mr Ali’s story is also situated within the larger story of progression for his company, APRO Asian Protection. Spurred by the PWM and industry transformation efforts, APRO has adopted various tech-based solutions to increase their productivity and their value-add to service buyers.

Moving onto a separate but pertinent topic, HR plays a vital role in supporting our workers and businesses. I thus echo Mr Edward Chia, Mr Yip Hon Weng and Mr Patrick Tay's calls for companies to build up their HR competencies and capabilities.

The Institute for HR Professionals (IHRP) accredits and certifies HR professionals as well as guide their continuous professional development. To date, there are more than 5,000 certified aspiring and practising HR professionals who support one another developing and sharing HR best practices. IHRP also provides curated learning resources such as HR playbooks as well as facilitates peer-led Communities of Practice and networking opportunities. We encourage more employer and HR professionals to join this expanding network. MOM will also continue to work with NTUC, SNEF and the TACs to strongly encourage more HR professionals to be certified by IHRP.

Mr Patrick Tay also asked for an update on the Human Capital Partnership (HCP) programme. Since the launch of the HCP Programme in 2017, we have awarded the HCP mark to more than 600 employers, who employ over 210,000 locals, or about 10% of the total local workforce. We will continue to work with the Tripartite Partners to identify and recognise our progressive employers. Mr Chairman, allow me to recap some of MOM's efforts in Malay.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] As Minister for Manpower has shared, MOM is committed to shape our manpower policies to enable greater opportunities for all and for us to progress as a vibrant nation.

Let me start by talking about our workforce policies.

Our foreign workforce policies are guided by our goals of a strong Singaporean core, complemented by a high-quality and diverse foreign workforce. First, we will ensure that Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass holders are comparable in quality to the top one-third of our local PMET and APT workforce respectively. The qualifying salaries and levies will be raised accordingly to meet this benchmark.

We will also introduce Complementarity Assessment Framework, or COMPASS, as part of the Employment Pass framework. COMPASS is a points-based system that holistically evaluates the complementarity of EP applicants. It will take into account; firstly, salaries of applicants relative to local PMET wages in their sector; second, the applicant’s qualification; third, the firm's nationality diversity; and fourth, the firms support for local employment.

We will also look at other factors like whether the candidate possesses skills that are in shortage or whether the firm supports our strategic economic priorities. In future, EP applicants must meet the EP qualifying salary, and also score sufficient points under COMPASS. Existing EP holders must also meet these criteria when their work passes come up for renewal.

So what does all these mean for our local workforce? COMPASS will take into account many more factors in the assessment of EP applications. Together with the requirement for a higher EP qualifying salary, locals can be assured that EP holders here are of good calibre, and not just because their salaries are lower than locals. With COMPASS, locals should also feel more assured that firms will be incentivised to improve their employee diversity and strengthen their support for local employment.

Chairman, we will also build on our existing efforts to uplift lower-wage workers. We will expand the PWM and implement a new Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) requirement. By early 2023, 234,000, or more than 8 in 10 full-time lower-wage workers will be covered by progressive wages. The Government is doing its part, through the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme (PWCS) which funds the wage increases of our lower-wage workers. We will also enhance the Workfare Income Supplement scheme, to provide higher payouts to all our Workfare recipients. Overall, the Government will spend $9 billion over the next five years on these two schemes.

(In English): Mr Chairman, to conclude, our suite of measures will benefit both lower-wage workers and businesses, and allow us to renew and strengthen our social compact. The Government will spend $9 billion over the next five years for the Progressive Wage Credit scheme and enhance Workfare. And this reflects this Government's, the PAP Government's strong belief and commitment to uplift our lower-wage workers and to build a fair and inclusive society.

Our social compact must be one which everyone enjoys the fruits of growth and that no worker is left behind as Singapore progresses. We must be careful to not let our social compact be eroded by inequality, otherwise our society, including our businesses, will not function well and much less thrive. We have made significant progress over the last decade. And Mr Chairman, we will do even better in this decade in creating a more progressive and inclusive society. [Applause.]

Minister of State Gan Siow Huang.

Mr Chairman, I would like to thank our Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) Chair, Mr Desmond Choo, for painting very clearly the challenges that businesses and workers are going through and that are lying ahead of us.

Our workplaces have seen major changes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In these unprecedented times, we have had to adapt and be flexible. Working from home, which was not so common pre-COVID-19, became the default mode of work for many of us for the past two years. As our workers navigate uncertainty and stresses during this period, the importance of supporting their well-being has come into even sharper focus.

My speech will focus on how the MOM team will uphold inclusive and progressive workplace practices, so that everyone has fair opportunities to contribute and thrive at work.

Women have made significant progress in Singapore. The employment rate for women aged 25 to 64 has been growing over the past two decades and continues to grow from 73.2% in 2020 to 75.1% in 2021, despite the pandemic. As we prepare to celebrate International Women’s Day tomorrow, we should take pride in the resilience of the female workforce in Singapore.

While there is progress made, there is room for more women to be active in the workforce. I participated in the nation-wide Conversations on Singapore Women’s Development last year. A key concern raised amongst women was the need to help caregivers remain in or re-enter the workforce. We recognise that women carry heavier caregiving responsibilities at home. To manage the caregiving roles, some women work part-time with reduced pay or even leave their careers early.

I agree with Ms Janet Ang and Ms Yeo Wan Ling that one of the ways to enable more women to continue their careers is having access to flexible work arrangements. This can be in the form of flexi-time, flexi-place, or flexi-load. Flexi-work arrangements apply to men too and allow more balanced sharing of caregiving responsibilities between women and men.

The pandemic has underscored how flexible work arrangements can strengthen business continuity and resilience. As pointed out by Mr Yip Hon Weng, flexible work arrangements help companies better attract and retain talent. Flexible work arrangements also allow businesses to tap on a larger pool of workers including seniors and differently-abled workers, as suggested by Mr Sharael Taha.

Businesses recognise these benefits. In 2021, 73% of companies that adopted flexible work arrangements said they were likely to continue offering them post-COVID-19.

We applaud the many employers who have made the shift towards flexible work arrangements. Some have shown their commitment by adopting the Tripartite Standard on flexible work arrangements. Adopters are recognised as progressive employers that put in place HR practices for effective communication and implementation of flexible work arrangements. Today, one in four employees work in companies that have adopted the Tripartite Standard. And this coverage is steadily growing.

The Public Service has taken the lead by adopting the Tripartite Standard and I urge more companies to come on board. I agree with Mr Edward Chia, Ms Janet Ang, Mr Sharael Taha, Ms Yeo Wan Ling and Mr Yip Hon Weng, that we have made much progress in flexible work arrangements in the last two years and we must not lose momentum. Similar to the trend in other parts of the world, flexible work arrangements will become the norm of future workplaces.

MOM will work with our Tripartite Partners to see how we can sustain flexible work arrangements, even as the safe management measures are relaxed. On the idea of legislating flexible work arrangements brought up by Mr Louis Chua and Mr Yip Hon Weng, we should be careful not to take an overly rigid approach that risks creating a litigious workplace culture with more disputes, or inadvertently affecting the employability of the people whom we seek to help.

For countries, such as the UK and Australia with legislation that provide employees and caregivers the right to request for flexible work arrangements, employers can still reject the request on business grounds. To create real change on the ground in the next few years, our priority is to help employers overcome barriers in implementing and continuing flexible work arrangements. For some, the nature of business operations makes it challenging to offer flexible work arrangements and they lack the know-how to overcome these barriers. These concerns and hesitations are understandable, as different sectors will have different needs and circumstances.

As Ms Yeo Wan Ling and Mr Louis Ng have raised, work from home is not as practical for frontline work. Employers could consider other forms of flexible work arrangements, like flexi-shift scheduling, staggered work hours and job sharing, which offer workers alternative flexibilities.

The Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) has started training HR professionals to implement hybrid work and after-hours communication policies.

Separately, the Institute for HR Professionals (IHRP) has developed a playbook on hybrid workplaces to help employers and HR professionals implement hybrid work, as well as update their HR processes, fair appraisal of employees on flexible work arrangements. I encourage companies to make use of these resources that are available. We will be sharing more details on how we will ramp up provision of flexible work arrangements in the coming White Paper on Singapore Women's Development.

It is important to build mutual understanding and trust between employers and employees. That is why instead of taking a legislative approach for various workplace practices such as flexible work arrangements, after-hours communication, mandatory breastfeeding breaks, we first focus on equipping employers to find the right balance between supporting employees needs and business needs. "Take care of your employees and they will take care of your business" – these wise words are from Mr Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group. I believe many employers here feel the same way too and will support employees' requests, if they are reasonable.

At the same time, employees need to demonstrate that progressive workplace practices help to improve staff morale, productivity and loyalty. Those who feel aggrieved and are not able to address their grievances within their companies, may approach TAFEP for assistance and advice. Members have also asked for further review of leave provisions. Mr Louis Ng suggested raising minimum annual leave entitlements, introducing parent care leave and increasing parental leave provisions, while Mr Gerald Giam and Ms Mariam Jaafar spoke about sick leave.

We regularly review our leave provisions and acknowledge the real needs underpinning the Members' suggestions, but increasing leave provisions should not be the default solution. We have been advocating the adoption of flexible work arrangements precisely because they are flexible and able to cater to all forms of individual needs. We should also recognise that there is a cost to increasing leave provisions and we must balance this carefully against what businesses can sustain in order to avoid dampening jobs growth.

On Mr Louis Chua's suggestion on a four-day work week. Members may wish to refer to the TAFEP website for information on how companies can implement such flexible work arrangements, including policy templates on four-day work week and case studies of companies that have successfully done so. And Mr Louis Chua perhaps may want to consider implementing four-day work week in his company or department too and share the useful insights with the rest of us.

On the issue of sick leave for employees on short-term contracts, we encourage employers to exercise flexibility in granting medical leave before the three-month mark. To attract manpower in a tight labour market, it is in the interest of employers to be flexible.

Ms Mariam Jaafar suggested that we do away with the need for employees to produce a medical certificate in order to take sick leave. The Tripartite Partners' current position is the employees should produce a Medical Certificate (MC) when utilising sick leave, this helps to deter malingering and maintain a more disciplined workforce. Nonetheless, the Employment Act does not prohibit employers from providing sick leave without MC and companies are free to do so as part of their talent attraction and retention strategies.

This pandemic is, however, an exceptional time. Tripartite Partners agreed that employees should not request MCs from workers who test positive for COVID-19, so as to alleviate the stress on healthcare workers and avoid compromising the standard of care of other patients who genuinely require medical care during this period.

Given our ageing population, challenges faced by our workforce in meeting caregiving needs of elderly family members will increase. Mr Yip Hon Weng and Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked how we could better support household's needs for domestic services, including caregiving. In 2017, MOM introduced the commercial Household Services Scheme (HSS) which allows HSS companies to hire more migrant workers to provide part-time home cleaning services.

HSS workers are deployed to multiple households on a part-time basis to provide selected households services. This gives households, especially those that need domestic help for only a few hours a day or a week, more options. To better help Singaporeans balance their work and family commitments, we will broaden the scope of HSS to include basic child-minding and elder-minding services. Households will be able to engage services of HSS companies to look after their children at home or provide some basic assistance for their family members in activities of daily living.

Mr Yip Hon Weng and Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked about the safeguards that the Government will put in place to ensure HSS workers are qualified to provide child-and-elder-minding services. Today, there are already private companies that provide such services. We will study the industry best practices as we expand the scope of HSS companies. MOM will also be conducting engagements with the stakeholders, such as households and HSS companies to work out the implementation details over the next few months. We aim to implement the HSS expansion in the second half of this year. Mr Chairman, in Mandarin, please.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] To give households more options to meet their needs for domestic services, the HSS allows eligible companies offering domestic services to hire more migrant workers to provide part-time home cleaning services.

Given the growing caregiving needs due to our ageing population, and to better help parents to balance their work and family commitments, we are looking to broaden the HSS scope to allow participating companies to provide the basic child-minding and elder-minding services.

Households will be able to engage HSS workers to look after their children at home or provide some basic assistance for the elderly in activities of daily living. We aim to implement the HSS expansion in the second half of this year.

(In English): I will now touch on our efforts to enhance mental health and well-being of our workforce, an issue that Miss Rachel Ong and Mr Melvin Yong had raised. The Government has been working with our partners to roll out tools and resources to encourage companies to adopt mental well-being initiatives, for instance, the Tripartite Advisory on mental well-being at workplaces was released in 2020. Last year, the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council expanded the code of practice on WSH Risk Management (RMCP) to explicitly cover mental well-being.

The expansion included examples on how employers can identify, evaluate and manage risk related to mental health at the workplace. This marks a significant step in recognising that workplace safety and health includes mental well-being, beyond physical injuries.

In 2021, we launched iWorkHealth, a free, company-administered survey to help employers identify workplace stressors and improvement areas. There is also an Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) playbook on "Workplace Mental Well-Being” to guide HR professionals to support their colleagues as well as mental well-being talks and workshops by the WSH Council and the Health Promotion Board that employees can attend at little or no cost.

We still have some way to go ahead of us. Based on NTUC’s 2021 Special Report on Mental Wellness at the Workplace, 54% of employees were not satisfied with their companies' mental well-being initiatives. The Government will step up our support to help organisations become more progressive in adopting mental well-being initiatives. We are studying how Employee Assistance Programmes, which provide confidential counselling services to employees, can be made more accessible.

As raised by several Members of the House, there is growing demand for support for workers with mental health conditions. According to a recent Singapore mental health study, one in seven people in Singapore had experienced a mental health condition in their lifetime. We need to strengthen employment support for persons with mental health conditions so that they are not excluded from employment.

Persons with mental health conditions may need flexibility in their work schedules to continue with therapy or counselling while remaining in employment. For those who had to leave their previous jobs or even take an extended break from the workforce, they may need help with the job search process. Agencies, including the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore Association for Mental Health and Singapore Anglican Community Services, provide pre- and in-employment support to persons with mental health conditions and their employers.

Dawn is one of the individuals who has benefited from the support provided by the Singapore Anglican Community Services (SACS). Dawn’s bipolar condition started in her teens and she received counselling during her times in the University. A year into her job, she suffered a relapse. She found out about SACS’ Integrated Employment Services programme where she enrolled for training in conflict resolution, stress management and personal effectiveness. With support from SACS’ job-matching services, Dawn successfully gained employment in a full-time job and she has since remained in employment for more than two years.

Dawn’s story is a positive example of how some persons with mental health conditions manage to receive the right support. But we worry that some may not be referred to available employment support and some employers, through lack of awareness about mental health support and conditions, wrongly believe that it is too difficult for them to support employees like Dawn.

The National Council of Social Service (NCSS) is currently piloting an Employer Support Grant to incentivise employers to implement workplace adjustments for their employees with mental health conditions. We will study the effectiveness of the pilot and develop further plans to support employees with mental health conditions.

MOM will also work with other members of the Interagency Taskforce on Mental Health and Well-Being to strengthen the ecosystem. We will be engaging stakeholders and members of the public to get their views.

Finally, I wish to touch on workplace fairness, which Mr Sharael Taha, Mr Patrick Tay, Mr Heng Chee How, Ms Janet Ang and Mr Raj Joshua Thomas have raised. The pandemic has not stopped our efforts to foster fair workplaces. As announced recently, we have decided to take the very significant step of enshrining the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices in law. This move will help to manage longer-term anxieties over ageism and provide better protection for vulnerable groups. A wider range of penalties can also be imposed on errant employers, commensurate with their wrongdoing. To this end, we must put in place a robust system to deal with claims, while keeping it efficient for workers and employers. The Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness is deliberating these important matters and continuing to consult widely. The committee will report on its recommendations in due course.

To conclude, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges and given rise to new stresses at the workplace. At the same time, it has created opportunities and stronger impetus for us to push ahead for changes to make workplaces fairer and more inclusive.

In his speech, Minister Tan See Leng spoke about sailing our ship into an even brighter future. The MOM team will do our best to support employers and employees as they chart the path towards more progressive workplaces where everyone can thrive in. Together, we can sail our ship sustainably for many more years to come. [Applause.]

Senior Minister of State Koh Poh Koon.

Thank you, Mr Chairman. I would like to make a correction on my speech made last Friday at the COS and I quote:

"As mentioned in my response to the Adjournment Motion put forth by Mr Louis Ng last month and in response to Mr Leon Perera's question on easing of restrictions on migrant workers, let me say that migrant workers can visit recreation centres, or RCs, daily since September 2021." It should be December 2021. [Please refer to "Committee of Supply – Head S (Ministry of Manpower)" debate, Official Reports, 4 March 2022, Vol 95, Issue No 54, Budget section.]

Clarifications, please? Mr Desmond Choo.

Mr Chairman, I have two clarifications for the Minister for surfacing COMPASS as a framework to improve foreign worker complementarity. I would like to ask why is COMPASS limited to only workers who have a fixed monthly salary of below $20,000. How does it work hand-in-hand with the Fair Consideration Framework to prevent abuse for companies hiring workers above that pay range?

Second clarification: how can the HR community also play a role in supporting capability transfers and localisation efforts?

I want to thank the Member Mr Desmond Choo for checking with us on the $20,000 bar. We took a practical approach on this. The EP holders at the $20,000 mark are typically senior management. They include C-suite personnel and specialists at the top of their field. This is especially so in certain sectors, including even some of the SMEs. They would most likely have gone through even more selective hiring processes to be appointed in their company since these roles typically require very specific capabilities or skillsets. Regardless of these exemptions, firms are expected to practise fair hiring and also to develop their own local talent pipeline. More importantly, our focus is to continue to help Singaporeans rise to the top by enabling them to compete strongly.

Just like the qualifying salaries, this $20,000 exemption bar is also not carved in stone and we will review it from time to time. As an aside, we actually look at the number that would cover local PMETs and we find that this is the level at this particular point in time, that COMPASS would cover quite a high majority of individuals. Hence, the bar, at this point in time, is at $20,000.

In terms of the HR community playing a role in supporting capability transfer and localisation efforts, we work closely with the community, whether it is Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) and IHRP, and beyond that, with companies, trade chambers and so on. We exhort them to encourage HR managers to undergo courses to continue to keep themselves updated with regard to our policies and the improvements towards our framework, whether it is the Fair Consideration Framework to now, the new COMPASS that we are going to roll out.

And we believe that for those companies that have a very progressive and forward-looking vision in terms of improving their workforce, we will not hesitate to roll out schemes to support them to transform because, at the end of the day, our focus is raising the quality of the EP holder, to the top one-third in the local PMET space. Of course, we believe that, with that, we will be able to uplift our entire workforce to compete globally and also not just develop and grow our own timber, but to be complemented by foreign talent in those areas that we have a need for.

Mr Yip Hon Weng.

Thank you, Mr Chairman. I have two clarifications for the Minister. One, will the transparency of the COMPASS framework allow employers to game the new system and, two, would the new COMPASS framework allow for more EP holders into Singapore?

Perhaps I can answer the Member's second question first. COMPASS is an additional stage in the entire EP application process. So, in no way will it loosen our current EP framework. The fact that the majority of our existing EP holders pass COMPASS is an encouraging one. And COMPASS affirms the value they bring. It instils the discipline on such firms to continue to select complementary candidates, uphold diversity and also support local employment.

So, COMPASS is an added framework on top of the first stage, which is the EP qualifying salary. There are and there will be some firms which do not pass COMPASS. These include firms that make a habit out of hiring EP holders not due to their high calibre or skills but based on the convenience of networks, such as an old boys' club, and without taking heed of our calls to develop the workforce. COMPASS ensures that these firms cannot simply carry on with their status quo and they must fundamentally relook their hiring practices.

As far as the gaming itself is concerned, we will strengthen our enforcement process. We will have in place strong governance measures to guard against any dishonest attempts to game COMPASS. Today, we already have processes to enforce against fraud for criteria considered in our current framework, such as salary and qualifications. Similarly, we will also develop processes around additional criteria, such as the shortage occupation list. And the necessary verification processes upon which we look at the educational qualifications criterion will also be put in place. And, of course, employers certainly will not be able to get away with changing the job title to claim bonus points.

We have spent many, many weeks and months deliberating this framework. Two of the criteria which concerns the firms are, I believe, a couple of firsts that we have achieved as a nation. My exhortation to all employers is to support us, strengthen and work with us collectively, as a country, as an economy, as a nation, to build this complementarity and to build our local workforce to compete globally.

Having said that, it is not our intention, but we will not hesitate to take employers to task if they are found to have falsely declared information to get the EP application approved. And we have embarked on a fairly seamless process in terms of data analytics and we will be able to pinpoint and triangulate this.

Mr Patrick Tay.

Sir, I have two clarifications for the Minister. First, under the new COMPASS framework, what constitutes top-tier institution and at what level and if qualification needs to be relevant to the job that is going to be performed? And the second clarification is, besides qualifications, does MOM evaluate the quality of these candidates to determine if they are, indeed, high-quality talents that complement our local workforce?

I thank Mr Patrick Tay for highlighting this point. Today, qualifications from the top-tier universities remain a fairly useful standardised measure of a candidate's quality and competency levels. Other factors such as relevant working experience are more subjective and are more difficult to assess at-scale.

Qualifications is one criterion under COMPASS. The description of the top-tier universities as available on the MOM's website. They do not just involve and include universities, they also include top-tier technical and vocational institutions as well.

A firm can still hire a candidate with no degree-equivalent qualifications if they perform well on other criteria. In fact, under COMPASS, there is greater flexibility. As a candidate without a degree-equivalent qualification can still qualify for the EP if the application scores well on the other criteria. As I have said earlier on, there are vocational institutions which are highly recognised in specific fields that can be included in the list of top-tier institutions. MOM will work with other sector agencies to recognise professional certifications that are well regarded by the industry. I hope that answers your question.

Mr Louis Chua.

Thank you, Chairman. I have just got two clarifications.

The first is regarding the own account workers' welfare cut that I filed on the gig economy workers. I just wanted to ask if efforts can be done to ensure that they at least earn a fair wage in terms of reference to locals working part-time earning at least $9.00 per hour as per the LQS, given that these workers are not really in control in terms of their earnings power and are subject to all these incentives?

The second is in relation to the cut on the Lifetime Retirement Investment Scheme (LRIS). My question is whether or not the Expert Investment Council has completed its work and whether the Government still intends to roll out the LRIS. The reason being if you look at where the global markets have been since August 2016 when the recommendations were put forth, they have been up 67%, so this delay does have real cost and opportunity cost to our members in terms of their retirement adequacy.

Sir, I will take the first clarification from Member Louis Chua about the equivalent of minimum wage for gig workers in the platform economy. The whole definition of a gig worker is that they have the flexibility to work as many hours as they want, whenever they want and with whichever platform they want.

So, it is very hard for us to then decide what would be the minimum wage that they can earn if they do not clock certain minimum number of hours. That is the flexibility that is inherent in the nature of the work. We must recognise that it is difficult for us to set that.

The market, of course, can decide at some point but in our work looking at the platform workers, we are specifically working at three areas, which are the housing and retirement adequacy, basic workplace protection against injuries, and some of these payment-related algorithms or wage-related outcomes could well be left to the third part of the work, which is on representation by either a body of platform workers; or the unions as a voice for the workers to seek better compensation and remuneration.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa. Yes, Minister.

Mr Chairman, may I answer Mr Louis Chua's second point. Just to reassure the Member, we are indeed still evaluating. There has been a black swan event that has happened within the last two-and-a-half years and, given the current volatility and the crisis in Russia and Ukraine, if we had taken on certain positions just prior to this in, say, 2019 and so on, we would have been quite badly affected. So, I think that when it is ready, we certainly will come back and update everyone in Parliament. Thank you for your patience.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa.

Thank you, Sir. I thank the Minister for his assurance that MOM will be very watchful of companies who will game the system and I am referring COMPASS. So, can I further ask Minister, under this framework, if the employer were to meet all the requirements under COMPASS, is MOM obliged to give the EPs? And if that is the case, will that lead to a situation where the total number EPs issued would be even higher than before?

My second question is to Senior Minister of State Koh. I am really happy that Senior Minister of State is going to continue the Skills and Future Centre at the 24 HDB hubs. We have one in Bukit Panjang and the residents are really grateful for the convenience and advisory provided there. So, can I ask the Senior Minister of State whether would the centre go further to beef up capabilities to do more local job-matching and with the intent to bring back or facilitate stay-at-home mothers or the seniors to rejoin the workforce?

I will take the first question and Senior Minister of State Koh will take the second point.

I thank Mr Liang for his thoughts on whether this will increase. We have not, in our considerations, decided on setting a quota or number for the EP framework because EP holders are meant to be the top-tier in terms of all our work pass holders. Our design of COMPASS is, as it has arisen as an acronym, the "C-O-M-P" part stands for "complementarity" and the "A-S-S" stands for "assessment". For us, the complementarity is what is most important.

We are trying to make this framework a very highly differentiated system. A set of criteria which allows us to titrate, to be able to right site and continually uplift our level of competitiveness vis-a-vis globally.

Our aspiration is to be a global city, brimming with opportunities for our Singaporean Core, continue to provide opportunities for our young. But we are also cognisant of the fact that with the multiple disruptions, the pace of the disruptions, the accelerated change and transformation that is happening around the world, it behoves us to now move into a system where every EP holder coming, every foreigner coming in, will have to pull his weight in working, complementing our locals, at the same time supporting and driving our economy.