(Supplementary Question) Louis: May I ask the Minister if he is considering backdating the start of the First Step grant and also refining the public consultation process, please?

Mr Heng Swee Keat (MOF): It is not the general practice to backdate particular schemes. This is done only under very exceptional circumstances.

As for Mr Louis Ng's question on whether we will start the consultation earlier, first, let me say that, my round-up speech does not allow me to address every suggestion that Members have put up. Do bear with me because, I think we had 13-14 hours of debate. If I addressed every point, you may end up hearing me for 13-14 hours!

Let me address this specific point – although the formal Budget consultation process starts in a very intense period just before the Budget, the way in which the Budget process works and in which Government agencies work, is that this is an all-year round exercise. This is an all-Ministries exercise. Throughout the year, we gather feedback, we study data, and we look at what needs to be done. We gather feedback from businesses, from people, and from various sectors – not just the Ministry of Finance but every agency, every Ministry. I would like to assure Mr Louis Ng that the work does not start only a month before the Budget!

We also have various feedback mechanisms, be it REACH or the various exercises that we hold. This year, we even did something special – we had SGfuture dialogues as part of the Future of Us exhibition. There were extensive discussions with the public. So, it is not as if the Budget process only starts a month before; it cannot be.

Also, let me clarify that many businesses prefer to give their feedback closer to the Budget, as the economic situation is clearer, as the business concerns are clearer. We have tried to ask for earlier feedback but many of the businesses said, "That would not be appropriate."

I would like to assure Mr Ng that this is not a last-minute exercise. It is an all-year round, 365-day, Whole-of-Government exercise. 

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis delivered the following budget cuts at Committee of Supply 2017.

Minimum School Attendance for KiFAS  

Louis: Thank you, Madam. Some children are being looked after by their extended families when their parent or parents are in prison. These children are often neglected and have poor school attendance. The Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) which provides assistance to some of these families currently require a minimum school attendance of one day a month. Considering that one day a month is generally insufficient for the child to develop well in school, would the Ministry consider increasing the minimum number of days of school attendance to at least one week a month instead? What other measures are being taken to ensure that these children receive adequate schooling?

Subsidies for Stay-at-home Mothers

Louis: Next, our current policy appears to penalise stay-at-home mothers since they receive less subsidies for infant care and childcare as compared to working mothers. It does seem odd to provide more financial subsidies for working mothers who have an income and provide less financial subsidies for stay-at-home mothers who do not have an income. The quantum of subsidies for full-time or part-time care should be based solely on family income or per capita income instead. Can we level the playing field and not penalise parents who choose to spend more time with their children and sacrifice their careers?asked the Minister for Social and Family Development for each year in the past five years, what is the respective breakdown of the number and percentage of divorce cases where shared care and control of the children was awarded.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social and Family Development): Mr Louis Ng also asked for childcare to be made more affordable for stay-at-home mothers. We do see more working mothers requiring full-day childcare services to help manage their work and care-giving responsibilities. For non-working mothers, they can choose to place their children in shorter kindergarten programmes that focus more on child development. These are generally more affordable, with a median monthly fee of $170 compared to around $850 for childcare before subsidies.

Regardless of the mother's working status, low- and middle income children enrolled in Anchor Operator or MOE kindergartens receive further support with the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS). With KiFAS, a low-income family can pay as little as $1 a month for pre-school.

We will continue to pay close attention to the cost of raising children and regularly review the affordability of pre-school.

We recognise that low-income and vulnerable children will need more support to get a good start in life. Mr Louis Ng asked whether we could strengthen the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) to improve the attendance of pre-schoolers in kindergartens. He has rightly highlighted that the reasons behind irregular pre-school attendance are not so straightforward. There are many other needs of the child such as health, social skills and emotional development. This is why we introduced the KidSTART pilot last year to proactively identify and support these children in their early years. Let me provide an update on this programme.

Since KidSTART was launched in July 2016, we have supported more than 300 children in the pilot sites at Bukit Merah, Kreta Ayer, Boon Lay, Taman Jurong and Geylang Serai. As part of the programme, KidSTART home visitors regularly visit parents and their infants. They support parents with practical skills and knowledge for the child's growth, health and nutrition. These home visitors also work closely with social service agencies, such as Family Service Centres, to address the multiple challenges faced by some of these parents.

Any success under KidSTART depends on close partnerships with the community. Ms Nur Azlinah Binte Jumali is a mother of four, with two children in childcare and the youngest waiting to enrol in infant care. Under KidSTART, she learnt more about early childhood development issues from professionals, socialised with other mothers in the community and received help for her children's necessities. Her children also attend pre-school more regularly. These have improved the children's development and her family's well-being. We hope that KidSTART can continue to create such success stories.

Louis: I share Mr Kok's sentiments about how the wording and how our policies are very important. The Parliamentary Secretary rightly pointed out that working mothers usually need full-day childcare and stay-at-home mothers usually need the half-day childcare. Can we just base the level of subsidy on that, on whether one is full-day or half-day? This is so that we do not make it seem like we are penalising stay-at-home mothers, especially at a time when we are urging parents to spend more time with their children.

A second clarification is about KiFAS. I raised it that the requirement is just for one day of attendance a month. Can we understand why we have set the requirement so low − for only one day of attendance a month? 

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: With regard to the two different categories of childcare highlighted by Mr Louis Ng, I personally feel that we should not go into that danger zone of monetising personal relationships. The Government has been helping so much, to support families to take care of their children. The calibration needs to be very carefully done. If we are not careful, we enter a danger zone where our future generations will start to monetise all aspects of personal relationships. This is something we are watching. We want to make sure that it is affordable and we want to support family and child development but we do not want to go that line of monetising personal relationships, and go into the deep end.

Secondly, about KiFAS, as I mentioned earlier, we have KidSTART. This is an area where we want to identify as many kids as possible in the future. We are doing a pilot now. We are not only going to minimise the incidence of not attending school, but we want to develop the child fully and holistically, so that even the needy among us have the opportunity to develop to the fullest.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Health whether the Ministry can share more details about the human milk bank it is planning to establish

Mr Gan Kim Yong (MOH): The human milk bank is still in its planning stages. It is a partnership between Temasek Foundation Cares and KKH, and the bank is funded by Temasek Foundation Cares.

My Ministry will share further details of the human milk bank when it is finalised later this year.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether working mothers who have been receiving childcare subsidies can continue to receive the same level of subsidies for up to three months without being subjected to a case-by-case review when they become unemployed and are looking for a new job in the interim; and (b) under what circumstances do current case-by-case reviews reject such appeals.

Mr Desmond Lee (MSF): Working mothers who become unemployed may need some time to look for a new job. The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) supports these mothers by providing the same level of child care subsidies for three months after their employment had ended

This extension of subsidies is intended to support these mothers and give them peace of mind as they look for employment, knowing that their children continue to be cared for in preschool.

We will continue to review these policies and processes, as providing affordable and quality preschool services for parents is a key priority for the Government. 

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis delivered his budget cut on Childcare Subsidies for Non-working Moms at Committee of Supply 2019.

Louis: Sir, during our Motion on Education for Our Future, the Speaker asked who is the best teacher and where is the best school. We parents are the best teachers for our children and our home is the best school. And the most important time for us to be teachers and for our homes to be a school is during our child’s formative years. 

As such our policies should not penalise parents who are not working so that they can be there for their child. 

Why do we provide less subsidies to families with non-working mothers and more subsidies to families with working mothers? The Government previously said that non-working mothers need less childcare but we need to remember that the fees for half-day childcare is not half of the fees for full-day childcare. 

I am not asking for families with non-working mothers to have more subsidies. I am asking for it to be fair, for all childcare subsidies to be dependent on the household income and not whether the mother is working or not.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social and Family Development): We agree with Mr Louis Ng and Ms Anthea Ong that we can do more to address pre-school affordability concerns of non-working mothers. Therefore, I am pleased to announce that ECDA will provide more subsidies to non-working mothers who are looking for work, or who are unable to work because they are caring for a younger child.

Mothers like Mdm Lee Siok Hong will benefit from this. A mother of two children, Mdm Lee cares for her younger child at home, while her elder child is enrolled in childcare. Based on our prevailing rules, Mdm Lee may qualify for $300 Basic Subsidy for her elder child until her younger child turns 18 months old. With our enhancements, Mdm Lee will receive $300 Basic Subsidy for an additional six months, until her younger child turns two years old. Depending on her household income, Mdm Lee may also be eligible for up to $440 of means-tested Additional Subsidy.

Louis: Just a quick clarification for the Senior Parliamentary Secretary. I think him for saying that we saying that we will be providing more support for non-working mothers. Could I just clarify that the non-working mothers will now be able to get the full basic subsidy of $300, as well as the additional subsidies?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Sir, I thank the Member for the question. As I mentioned earlier, there are two circumstances which I highlighted: the non-working mothers who are looking for work and non-working mothers who are looking after younger children.

Nevertheless, I would like to assure Mr Louis Ng that we would do our best to help every mother here. We want to see how we can facilitate care-giving, and at the same time, support them financially. So, if there are issues or things that matter that the non-working mothers are not clear about or would want to get support for, I would like to urge the families to approach any of the operators or ECDA where they can apply for special approval, and we will look at these circumstances on a case by case basis. So, our intention is to help them, support them so that we can give the best start for our children.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry has plans to provide or to encourage the provision of night-time childcare beyond the three night-care centers run by the Morning Star charity, for low-income parents who have to work night shifts.

Mr Desmond Lee (MSF): Mr Speaker, to cater to the needs of working parents, childcare centres are required to operate full-day services from 7.00 am to 7.00 pm on weekdays, and from 7.00 am to 2.00 pm on Saturdays. Childcare centres have the discretion to extend their services beyond standard operating hours, taking into consideration demand and resources. Currently, around 50 childcare centres operate beyond 7.00 pm on weekdays.

The current arrangement meets the needs of most parents. But for those working shifts or on weekends, many of them arrange for other care-givers such as grandparents and relatives to help out. However, some families may face difficulties in making alternate care-giving arrangements. We will assess the need and demand for night-time childcare and the possibility of offering such programmes, particularly in areas where low-income families reside.

The Member may also have heard us describe in the course of the announcing the roll-out of ComLink in the four areas where rental flats are, as a pilot. That will also look into programming that meets the needs of the residents in rental housing, who are mostly low-income households. These include certain kinds of care-giving that they may require. So, I think we look at requirements based on locality as well.

Louis: I thank the Minister for the reply. So, is it a confirmation that we are looking into providing more night-time childcare services in certain areas? Because I see that on the ground, that some of the parents who have to work the night shift, they leave their children at home, in fear of their safety and then, they go and work, especially for a lot of the single parents. So, I am just wondering whether we can help provide the night-time childcare in cases like these.

Mr Desmond Lee: There are Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) that are running programmes as pilots to provide night care-giving support. We will look at the experience and study this further.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what are the Ministry’s findings from its assessment on the need and demand for night-time childcare, particularly in areas where low-income families reside; and (b) when will the findings be available if the assessment is not yet complete.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M (MSF): As part of the nation-wide scale-up of Community Link (ComLink) to support families with children living in rental housing, we have been conducting needs assessment surveys to better understand the families’ needs and aspirations. A number of families we surveyed mentioned that they had to care for family members, including young children. For these families, caregiving support could enable them to find work or take up full-time jobs. However, the number of families who need caregiving support varies across ComLink towns, and it is also not clear that night-time childcare is the preferred model across the board.

Thus, we will need to explore possible approaches to meet the needs of those requiring caregiving support beyond regular hours. For caregiving needs during regular working hours, parents can access centre-based childcare services which are available in all towns.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry will consider providing support to improve the sick bay facilities in all preschools to allow preschools to keep sick children until the end of the school day.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M (MSF): The health and well-being of the child is of utmost importance to any parent. It is in the interest of children who are unwell to receive comfort and attention from their parents, and for the parents to decide on the appropriate medical attention needed. 

The Early Childhood Development Centres Act and Regulations requires all preschools to have a designated area that is enclosed and separate from other teaching spaces to serve as a sick bay for children who become unwell during the course of the day. Preschools will place these unwell children in the sick bay and notify their parents or guardians. 

Like other sick bays, sick bays in preschools are temporary places to isolate unwell individuals before proper attention to their condition can be given. The provision of sick bays at preschools allows children to rest, while parents or guardians make arrangements to pick up their child and seek medical attention as needed. This practice helps to safeguard the health and safety of sick children, while minimising the risk of infection to other children in our preschools. This is all the more relevant in current times due to the high transmissibility of the COVID-19 virus. 

Keeping an unwell child in the sick bay for a prolonged period could affect the child both in terms of physical comfort and also emotionally. Children in the sick bay must also be monitored closely by staff at all times, and preschools will have to redeploy staff from their primary duties to care for the sick child. This could compromise on the care and education for other children at the preschool. 

Preschool staff also do not have the relevant training to provide nursing care or attend to the medical needs of sick children on a prolonged basis. It is thus important for parents or guardians to pick up their sick children as soon as possible and ensure they receive the medical attention as required.

Nevertheless, we recognise the challenges working parents face during such situations. Each working parent of a Singaporean child below seven years old is eligible for six days of paid childcare leave per year. This is in addition to parents’ annual leave provisions. Parents can tap on these leave provisions to bring their sick child to see a doctor and care for them at home subsequently. We urge employers to be empathetic and provide flexibility to their employees with young children during such exigencies. The Government will continue to work with tripartite partners to encourage and support employers to implement family-friendly measures such as flexible work arrangements, so that working parents can balance their work alongside their family responsibilities.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)