The Singapore Parliament will sit at 11 am on Monday, 8 May 2017, for the 46th session of the 13th Parliament.
57 oral questions and 39 written questions have been scheduled to be asked.
Six bills to be read the second time and would likely be passed on the same day of reading because the People’s Action Party holds majority seats in Parliament.
- Merchant Shipping (Wreck Removal) Bill [Bill No. 19/2017] – Minister for Transport
- Prevention of Pollution of the Sea (Amendment) Bill [Bill No. 20/2017] – Minister for Transport
- Terrorism (Suppression of Misuse of Radioactive Material) Bill [Bill No. 21/2017] – Minister for Home Affairs)
- Public Entertainments and Meetings (Amendment) Bill [Bill No. 22/2017] – Minister for Home Affairs
- Registered Designs (Amendment) Bill [Bill No. 23/2017] – Minister for Law
- Singapore University of Social Sciences Bill [Bill No. 24/2017] – Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills)
Below are the questions filed towards the various Ministers
[accordions]
[accordion title=”Prime Minister” load=”hide”]
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: To ask the Prime Minister whether the Ministry will consider implementing a compulsory induction/orientation programme covering topics such as basic laws, social norms and security awareness for foreigners who are residing in Singapore for a longer period such as those on work pass, long-term pass, dependant’s pass and student pass so as to better integrate them into the local community.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Prime Minister whether there are plans to encourage the use of financial technology (fintech) in our financial institutions given that 73% of traditional financial institutions in Singapore believe they are at risk of losing business to fintech.
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin: To ask the Prime Minister whether the Ministry has plans to review and increase the length of mandatory maternity leave for female employees.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Foreign Affairs” load=”hide”]
[accordions]
[accordion title=”Minister for Transport” load=”hide”]
Mr Liang Eng Hwa: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) what is the rationale for pricing the concessionary passes for polytechnic students at $27.50 for bus, $25 for trains and $51 for hybrid of bus and trains; and (b) whether the pricing is reasonable for polytechnic students who need to take trains for the main journey but need only a short bus ride to reach the destination having to pay almost double for the hybrid pass.
Mr Darryl David: To ask the Minister for Transport whether LTA can work with all schools and institutions to provide sheltered walkways along the shortest possible route to bus-stops and MRT stations to enhance last-mile connectivity.
Ms Foo Mee Har: To ask the Minister for Transport whether it will consider allowing taxi drivers over the age of 75 years who remain fit and healthy and who can pass annual assessments to have their vocational licences extended.
Assoc Prof Randolph Tan: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) whether speed limits for motorised traffic on roads with on-road cycling lanes can be set lower as a safety measure; (b) whether users of personal mobility devices are allowed on such lanes; and (c) whether LTA will consider developing a comprehensive set of guidelines or rules for all users of such lanes.
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin: To ask the Minister for Transport whether there are plans to legislate against the tampering of odometers of vehicles in view of customers being sold secondhand vehicles with misrepresented mileage readings.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak: To ask the Minister for Transport in light of a significant number of children sustaining fractures through falls from personal mobility devices (PMDs) (a) what is the progress of safe cycling programmes for students; (b) whether this programme covers all types of PMDs; and (c) how many cases of injuries arising from falls from PMDs have been treated at government hospitals or polyclinics in the past two years
Mr Desmond Choo: To ask the Minister for Transport with regard to the enhancement works being undertaken for the Tampines Expressway, what are the near and long-term mitigating plans to manage the dust and noise pollution arising from these works.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for National Development” load=”hide”]
Mr Zaqy Mohamad: To ask the Minister for National Development since 2016 (a) whether there has been an increase in the number of BTO flat owners asking to delay the collection of keys or for a waiver of payment of holding interest because of difficulties in selling their existing property and, if so, what is the increase; (b) how many of such owners have had to cancel their BTO flats and forfeit deposits despite HDB exercising flexibility; and (c) what are the top reasons for those whom HDB have been unable to assist in such situations.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what are the reasons given by applicants for rental flats in the past 10 years; (b) what is the number of applicants for each reason; (c) how many of them have ultimately managed to find their own flat to upgrade and returned the rental flat; and (d) what is the current number of rental flats as compared with the total number of HDB flats.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) in the last 10 years, what is the percentage change in the number of HDB flats, private flats and landed properties in relation to the total number of dwelling units in Singapore; and (b) what is the projected proportion of HDB flats to non-HDB flats for 2020.
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for National Development whether flexibility can be exercised in extending the lease for families under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) whose BTO flats are due to be completed within three to six months of their expiring PPHS lease.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) whether HDB design planning considers factors that affect the long-term cost of building exterior upkeep, including (i) accessibility of building features such as beams and ledges where high-rise litter may accumulate (ii) the number of such features in any given HDB block; and (b) whether such features have been incorporated for cosmetic versus structural integrity considerations.
Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what is the average number of electoral divisions that each HDB Branch is responsible for; and (b) with the increasing number of development and upgrading projects in the HDB heartlands, whether the resources at each HDB Branch are sufficient to manage the workload in a timely and efficient manner.
Ms Foo Mee Har: To ask the Minister for National Development whether HDB will consider offering schemes to help owners of older HDB flats who may find it hard to resell their homes to new buyers as buyers avoid the risks of owning a home with a short remaining lease.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for National Development with regard to the non-citizen quota for subletting of flats (a) how many HDB subletting applications have been rejected due to this quota for the past two years; and (b) whether there is any concession or priority given to subletting applications by flat owners who have non-citizen tenants who have been staying in the same HDB unit for many years.
Mr Liang Eng Hwa: To ask the Minister for National Development whether HDB will consider safeguarding a minimum void deck space in each precinct as common spaces for social uses and funding neighbourhood social amenities such as Senior Activity Centres, Senior Care Centres and Residents’ Committees to be set up at standalone sites or at HDB-run neighbourhood shopping centres.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for National Development for each year in the past three years (a) how many reports of wild boar poaching has the AVA received; (b) how many of these cases have resulted in enforcement action being taken; and (c) what is the breakdown of the nature of enforcement action taken in these cases.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) for 2015-2016, what is the number of HDB flats and private condominium units built; and (b) out of the total number of HDB flats built, how many are for rental and sale respectively.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap: To ask the Minister for National Development from 2015 to 2016 (a) how many Build-To-Order (BTO) flat applications have been received by HDB and what is the percentage of successful applications; and (b) how many applications for rental flat under the Public Rental Scheme have been received by HDB and what is the percentage of successful applications.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap: To ask the Minister for National Development in 2016, what is the number of unsuccessful Build-To-Order (BTO) applications for the following categories (i) first-timer (ii) second-timer and (iii) third-timer or more.
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) whether any of the fish farm owners affected by the oil spill in January this year have received compensation from the shipping companies thus far; (b) what measures are being taken by AVA to address the time delay associated with the claims process; and (c) when is the expected date by which the compensation will be paid.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap: To ask the Minister for National Development from 2013 to 2016, out of the total land area designated for residential development, what is the percentage of land area that is designated for HDB public housing and private condominiums respectively.
Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) why are rabbits not included in the recent revision of licensing for pet businesses; and (b) whether AVA will consider the inclusion of rabbits.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Health” load=”hide”]
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the Ministry doing to reduce the waiting time for dental treatment at polyclinics; (b) whether appointments for diagnosis and treatment can be made together with closer intervals; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider getting private practitioners onboard to relieve the manpower shortage.
Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling: To ask the Minister for Health (a) from 2013- 2016, what is the number of cases referred from the polyclinics to the Accident and Emergency departments (A&E) of the public hospitals; (b) how many of the referred cases are due to simple procedures that cannot be performed at the polyclinics; and (c) what are the reasons that those simple procedures must be referred to A&E.
Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: To ask the Minister for Health with regard to the Screen for Life programme (a) what are the percentages of eligible Singaporeans who have gone for screening, by gender and age ranges; (b) what is the drop-off rate of those tested positive and do not follow up for postscreening consultation; and (c) how is the need for post-screening consultation assessed for the enhanced programme.
Ms Sun Xueling: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the percentage of follow-up consultations that can be migrated to the national telemedicine consultation framework; (b) what are the criteria to determine what ailments can be addressed via tele-consultations while not lowering standards of patient care; and (c) what is the expected percentage of cost savings that can be achieved for hospitals and patients with such a move.
Mr Seah Kian Peng: To ask the Minister for Health what is the outcome of the tele-pharmacy project first piloted in 1997 and whether such services including that of allowing medical consultations by video can help to lower costs and improve convenience to the public.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Health whether the Ministry can share more details about the human milk bank it is planning to establish.
Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Government can explore the provision of insurance coverage for mental illnesses; and (b) what financial support is available for mental health patients when they are unable to work for a prolonged period of time.
Ms K Thanaletchimi: To ask the Minister for Health (a) to date, how many Asian Nursing Scholarships (ANS) have been awarded; (b) how many scholars have (i) failed their exams (ii) failed their employment probation while serving their bonds (iii) absconded without completing their course and (iv) absconded without fulfilling their bonds after graduation; (c) whether the effectiveness of the ANS and selection criteria of the candidates will be reviewed to ensure that they write and speak good English; and (d) whether the Ministry will make it a pre-requisite for ANS applicants to have a good command of the English language.
Ms Sun Xueling: To ask the Minister for Health what measures has the Ministry taken to encourage early medical diagnostics and treatment to reduce the need to ward patients and free up demand for hospital bed space.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the average waiting time for a patient who is suspected of suffering from cancer to get a scan at the Government hospitals; (b) what is the risk of the cancer metastasising during the waiting period of a week; and (c) what is the total number of PET-CT scan machines in the various Government hospitals.
Mr Low Thia Khiang: To ask the Minister for Health (a) what are the current average waiting times in polyclinics to obtain an appointment slot for (i) simple dental services of a non-emergency nature and (ii) routine services such as scaling and polishing; and (b) how do these waiting times compare with the waiting times five years ago.
Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: To ask the Minister for Health whether there are any private clinic groups providing Government-subsidised primary care that are considered too big to fail by the Ministry and what contingency plans for continuity of care does the Ministry have if any of these groups experience extended temporary closures that do not amount to ceasing operation, or let, sell or in any way dispose of its medical clinics.
Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry has completed its study of the recommendations in the report of the Health Insurance Task Force 2016 so as to moderate the escalation of Integrated Shield Plan claims and premiums in the coming years; and (b) if not, when does the Ministry plan to respond to the report.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Home Affairs” load=”hide”]
Mr Darryl David: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what measures and precautions can be taken to safeguard public areas that have significant congregations of people from the possibility of a terrorist attack using a vehicle.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) for each year in the past three years, how many people have been fined or prosecuted in court respectively for failing to give way to emergency vehicles; and (b) whether the Ministry intends to review the penalties for such offences.
Mr Zainal Sapari: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry will consider allowing only persons aged 18 years and above to apply for the private security officer’s licence.
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether key installations such as Changi Airport and oil refineries in Jurong Island are sufficiently protected against drone attacks by terrorists; and (b) whether the security and law enforcement agencies are equipped with counter-drone capabilities to deter illegal use of drones to cause harm or invade on privacy.
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the policies and ground efforts to leverage on emerging technologies to counter drones; and (b) whether there will be a review of existing regulations on radio frequency signal jammers to enhance counter-drone measures.
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how many unlicensed moneylending (UML) related harassment cases have been reported in the past year; (b) how many cases have been investigated; and (c) how many people have been charged and sentenced for UML harassment.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Communications and Information” load=”hide”]
Mr Ang Wei Neng: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information (a) for the past five years, how many instances of Internet disruption lasting more than three hours have there been; (b) of these, how many cases have been due to cable cuts; (c) how many users have been affected by the latest cablecut incident in Jurong on 12 April 2017; (d) what are the lessons learned from the latest cable-cut incident; and (e) what are the measures that IMDA have taken to prevent a repeat.
Mr Desmond Choo: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information in view of the hundreds of malware-infected sites including Government portals (a) whether any critical Singapore sites or servers have been compromised; and (b) what are the measures that the public should undertake to prevent such incidents.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Finance” load=”hide”]
Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: To ask the Minister for Finance whether the Government practises gender budgeting to determine the effect of policies on women, especially with regard to fertility and labour force participation rates and, if so, for which policies.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=” Minister for Education” load=”hide”]
Ms Chia Yong Yong: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) what has been the progress on the “Teach Less, Learn More” policy since its implementation in 2005; and (b) in light of students continuing to have heavy schoolwork, how will the Ministry review and implement that policy.
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) for each Primary One registration exercise in 2015 and 2016 (a) how many children have gained admission under the priority for Primary One registration based on active community leadership by the child’s parents; and (b) how many children have gained admission based on this priority for schools whose Primary One places have been entirely taken up by the end of Phase 2B except the bare minimum of 20 places left for Phase 2C and what percentage of the total places offered in these schools does this figure represent.
Mr Darryl David: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) whether it is the practice for all schools and institutions to have more than one entrance/exit gate so that the school can still be accessed in case of an emergency when the main access point has been compromised.
Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) whether the Ministry can (i) set up a directory of qualified subject teachers for subjects not offered by the special education schools and (ii) monitor the interest amongst parents and children for such subjects with a view to introducing more subjects for these schools in the future.
Mr Desmond Choo: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) what are the current measures in place to ensure safe usage of sports equipment and facilities in schools; and (b) what is the maintenance regime for their safe use.
Mr Ang Hin Kee: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) whether there are conversion or bridging programmes to allow kindergarten teachers who are currently not under the Ministry’s group of early childhood educators to gain access to join the Ministry’s kindergartens so as to expand the pool of qualified early childhood educators at these kindergartens.
Mr Darryl David: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) for the past five years (a) what is the number of students for each PSLE cohort; and (b) what is the percentage of students in each PSLE cohort who go on to take alternative qualifications, such as the Integrated Programme or International Baccalaureate diploma, instead of the GCE “O” Level examinations.
Mr Ong Teng Koon: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) whether the fees charged to international students in primary schools, secondary schools, junior colleges, polytechnics and institutes of technical education reflect the full cost of the education system or only take into account the direct operating costs of the school.
Mr Ong Teng Koon: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) what is the percentage of international students studying in primary schools, secondary schools, junior colleges, polytechnics and institutes of technical education.
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) what has been the enrolment of first-year junior college students for the years 2013-2017; and (b) what is the projected enrolment for first year junior college students for 2019.
Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Education (Schools) (a) whether there are programmes to teach students how to discern fake news; (b) if so, how are the programmes designed and rolled out; and (c) if not, whether there are plans to develop and roll out such programmes in a specific timeline.
Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: To ask the Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) with the increase in the number of autonomous universities to six and increase in cohort participation rate to 40 percent by 2020 (a) how will the reduction of junior colleges from 16 to 12 affect the supply of GCE “A” Level graduates for university admission; and (b) whether the number and percentage of polytechnic graduates admitted to the universities be increased.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Law” load=”hide”]
Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Law (a) how does the Government identify and define what is fake news; and (b) what role does the Government envisage social media platforms and Internet service providers to play in addressing fake news.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh: To ask the Minister for Law (a) how many applications have been received and approved for the extension of the lease period for residential property owners to reinstate the lease to 99 years; (b) how many of them have a balance lease of 50 or 60 years prior to the application; and (c) how does the Land office compute the land rent for these applicants and whether such computation will be reviewed periodically.
Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Law whether a review of offences punishable by mandatory or specified minimum sentences will be carried out to identify suitable offences for which community sentences or probation should be provided as sentencing options.
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Law whether the Government will allow older residents at Lorong 3 Geylang whose home leases will expire in less than five years to extend their lease or provide rehousing assistance to this group of residents.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Manpower” load=”hide”]
Ms Joan Pereira: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider mandating the hours of work and rest for drivers in line with recommendations by the International Labour Organisation such as that of not exceeding nine hours of work daily and a break after four hours of continuous driving.
Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how does the Ministry determine the frequency of its safety inspections of MRT train operators; (b) what is the expected scope of such safety inspections; and (c) whether the Ministry conducts surprise safety inspections on train operators and, if so, where can the results of such inspections be found.
Assoc Prof Daniel Goh Pei Siong: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will (i) consider defining domestic workers’ duties and job scopes (ii) require specialised training for domestic workers asked to perform caregiving work (iii) link the reference channel comments by employers to the defined duties and allow domestic workers to respond to the comments in line with human resource management best practices.
Ms Foo Mee Har: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether countries who have tightened their work visa schemes have presented Singapore with more opportunities to tap the global market for talent, particularly specialist skills to jumpstart our digitalisation and innovation growth strategies.
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the CPF Education Scheme can be expanded to all programmes at approved educational institutions and not limited to only full-time subsidised diploma/degree courses.
Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Minister for Manpower from 2007 to 2016 (inclusive) (a) how many applications has the Commissioner for Labour received from employers to be exempted from compliance with the Employment Act under section 41A of the Act; (b) how many employers have been granted such exemptions and from which industries do they come from; (c) what obligations have been exempted and on what justifications; and (d) what proportion of those granted exemptions have had repeat approvals.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what percentage of workers are living in accommodation not covered under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act; and (b) what steps are being taken to ensure that these accommodation that fall outside the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act are of equivalent standards to larger dormitories.
Mr Ong Teng Koon: To ask the Minister for Manpower within the “Withdraw CPF Savings and Claim Home Protection Scheme Benefit on Medical Grounds” form, whether he will review the question asking if the applicant is permanently incapacitated from ever continuing in any employment, to help applicants who genuinely need funds but are excluded from the scheme due to the medical practitioner’s strict adherence to ‘permanently incapacitated’ as a medical term, thus not fully reflecting the applicant’s circumstances and the answer to this question.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Social and Family Development” load=”hide”]
Mr Seah Kian Peng: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development with regard to the Social Service Office (SSO) (a) whether there are plans to set up more of such offices and, if so, where will these be located; (b) whether the results have met the Ministry’s expectations and objectives; and (c) whether the operating procedures including operating hours are the same throughout all SSOs.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development in 2016 (a) what is the most common reason for rejecting an application to provide shelter to homeless people; and (b) what is the waiting time for placement at a shelter.
Ms Sun Xueling: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what percentage of childcare centres currently operate beyond 7 pm and do not penalise parents for picking up children after 7 pm; and (b) whether the Ministry can encourage more childcare centres to operate till 8 pm as normal operating hours and not penalise parents for every 15 minutes beyond 7 pm.
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry plans to assist lower-income Singaporean families to cope with the high cost of infant formula on a permanent basis either through the expansion of, or in addition to, schemes like the NTUC Fairprice FoundationCDC Milk Fund that was recently launched.
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development whether the Ministry has plans for adequate childcare and kindergarten facilities to be located within Bidadari estate.
Ms Chia Yong Yong: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development what are the criteria for the approval of COE/ARF waivers for drivers with disabilities.
Mr Sitoh Yih Pin: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the number of Singaporeans below the age of 35 who are on social welfare in 2016; (b) whether this has been an increasing trend in the past 10 years; and (c) what are the plans to deal with the underlying issues and problems for such group of persons.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) whether any study has been done to gauge the demand for residential homes for the elderly as an option to living in nursing homes; and (b) whether there are plans to build such residential homes especially for those who are living alone.
Mr Low Thia Khiang: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development whether there are plans to provide sustained help to low-income families to assist them in defraying the cost of buying infant formula over the longer term.
Dr Lim Wee Kiak: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the reason for the increasing number of families receiving ComCare help particularly among senior citizens when mean wages and household income have been increasing; (b) whether this trend indicates widening income gaps; and (c) what measures can be taken to address this trend.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Trade and Industry” load=”hide”]
Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) whether the Ministry will consider integrating EDB and IE Singapore so as to take a holistic approach of whole-of-value chain capabilities to review economic issues strategically that enhances integrated tactical and operational execution.
Mr Desmond Choo: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) how can SMEs better utilise overseas larger scale Singapore companies-led projects such as malls and industrial parks in China and Vietnam, to export their brands and operations.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) as part of the Ministry’s efforts to bring SMEs to expand and venture overseas (a) how many SMEs have gone on Ministry-organised business trips over the past three years; (b) how many SMEs have succeeded in developing new markets and expanding their businesses over this period; and (c) what support does the Ministry continue to provide to these companies to help them grow in the new markets.
Ms Tin Pei Ling: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) given that the rise of milk powder prices in Singapore far exceeds inflation rates and the increment in other countries, whether the Ministry will work with local distributors and retailers to ensure fair pricing.
Assoc Prof Randolph Tan: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (a) what are the major factors preventing a large-scale adoption of digital ordering and cashless payment systems for small food stalls such as those in coffee shops and hawker centres; and (b) how will the Food Services Industry Transformation Map push for greater use of such labour-saving technologies by this type of small businesses.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (a) whether the Ministry is tracking the recent slew of price increase announcements such as water, electricity, transport and carpark charges, and its impact on the cost of living within a short period; (b) what is the expected impact on the Consumer Price Index in the next three years; and (c) what proportion is due to Government-influenced price increases.
Mr Leon Perera: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) what measures or schemes are there to (i) support business succession planning for SMEs and (ii) assist SME owners who are seeking to sell their business to locate investors as many SMEs are unable to engage conventional M&A advisory firms due to their small deal size.
Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (a) what is the estimated amount of energy that we will be using in the next 10 years; (b) whether our energy efficiency will be adequate to meet our future needs; (c) what measures does the Ministry have to ensure or improve energy efficiency; and (d) whether there are plans to engage in new energy sources.
Mr Low Thia Khiang: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) what is being done to ensure that the cost of infant formula remains affordable.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Defence” load=”hide”]
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for Culture, Community and Youth” load=”hide”]
Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (a) how does the Ministry exercise oversight on the use of monies by official sporting bodies; (b) what criteria does the Ministry use to determine fair use of such monies; and (c) how does the Ministry prevent and rectify misallocation of such funds by official sporting bodies.
[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
” load=”hide”]
Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) over the past three years, whether there is an increasing trend of eateries that have been ordered to shut down or suspend operations due to violations of the Environmental Public Health Act; and (b) what are the preventive measures that NEA will put in place to improve the compliance level of eateries with the Act.
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) what is the trend of food hygiene at food courts; (b) what are some of the contributing factors to poor food hygiene in these food courts; and (c) whether there are plans to tighten their general cleanliness and hygiene given the reports of cockroach and rat problems at some food courts.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) since the list of non-smoking areas was extended to include common corridors, void decks, sheltered linkways and parks, how many smokers have been caught for violating the non-smoking law; (b) what are the penalties imposed; and (c) whether the Ministry is stepping up its enforcement action.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) in the past two years, how many vehicles with smoky emissions have been booked; (b) how many of these vehicles are foreign-registered; and (c) how are smoky foreign vehicles checked and turned away at the Checkpoints.
[/accordion]
[/accordions]
