Parliamentary Questions from Mr Louis Ng, 26 Feb – 8 Mar 2019
1. To ask the Minister for Health whether the Ministry can provide an update on the review it is conducting on getting more companies to offer neo-natal insurance for in-vitro fertilisation.
2. To ask the Minister for Health:
(a) whether there are plans to tighten the regulation of private daycare and homecare services that do not receive Government subsidies as they currently do not have any mandatory minimum standards; and
(b) whether daycare and formal homecare services should be licensed like childcare and nursing home services.
3. To ask the Minister for Health:
(a) what is the total cost of providing long-term care in Singapore in FY2017/18 or the latest year available including nursing homes, daycare centres and formal homecare services; and
(b) what percentage of this cost has been borne by (i) individuals (ii) the Government (iii) insurance (ElderShield) and (iv) charities respectively.
4. To ask the Minister for Health:
(a) what percentage of the Government’s healthcare expenditure and long-term care expenditure are recurrent costs respectively; and
(b) what percentage of the Government’s healthcare expenditure and long-term care expenditure are capital costs respectively.
5. To ask the Minister for Health how does the Ministry calculate norm costs, defined as the Ministry’s observed average costs of running Long Term Care services, which tend to be considerably lower than what Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) claim are the real costs of service delivery, as reported in Lien Foundation’s 2018 “Care Where You Are” report.
6. To ask the Minister for Health what does health research show about the impact of chronic stress on:
(i) brain development
(ii) cognitive ability and
(iii) life satisfaction of individuals.
7. To ask the Minister for Health whether the Ministry will consider issuing guidelines on disability duration for specific injuries for the use of doctors issuing medical leave and light duties for injured workers returning to work.
8. To ask the Minister for Manpower in the last three years, what percentage of claims under the Work Injury Compensation Act made by S Pass and Work Permit holders are determined to be valid or invalid within:
(i) one month
(ii) three months
(iii) six months and
(iv) longer than six months from the accident respectively.
9. To ask the Minister for Manpower:
(a) what is the current percentage of work injuries or occupational injury cases that are seen by private compared to restructured healthcare providers; and
(b) what are the patterns (types of injuries, severity of injuries, sectors, occupations) seen by private compared to those seen by restructured healthcare providers.
10. To ask the Minister for Manpower in each of the past five years:
(a) how many employers have been prosecuted for failing to report a work-related injury; and
(b) how many of these employers who failed to report a work-related injury have been punished with a fine and how many have been punished with imprisonment.
11. To ask the Minister for Manpower:
(a) what are the most common methods used by employers to avoid reporting a work-related injury; and
(b) what are the most common ways that instances of non-reporting of work-related injuries by employers are detected.
12. To ask the Minister for Home Affairs:
(a) what are the findings from the trial of using speed-tracking devices for heavy vehicles in 2018; and
(b) whether there are plans to mandate speed-tracking devices for heavy vehicles to curb speeding.
13. To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources:
(a) in each year of the past five years, how much plastic waste did Singapore produce; and
(b) of this amount, how much were (i) incinerated (ii) recycled locally and (iii) exported to recyclers overseas respectively.
14. To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources what are the countries that Singapore’s plastic waste that are meant for recycling exported to in 2017, 2018 and this year respectively.
15. To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources what percentage of local cleaners are directly hired by food and beverage establishments such that they do not fall under the progressive wage model.
16. To ask the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources:
(a) what current percentage of cleaning companies apply the progressive wage model to their foreign cleaners; and
(b) whether the Ministry will start collecting such data if it does not currently do so.
17. To ask 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.
18. To ask the Minister for Education in each of the past five years, how much funding has the Ministry provided on a per-school basis and a per-student basis respectively to:
(i) secondary schools offering the Special Assistance Plan and
(ii) secondary schools not offering the Special Assistance Plan.
19. To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider:
(i) expanding the Foreign Construction Worker Directory (FCWD) System to other sectors such as the cleaning sector and
(ii) incorporating the FCWD portal on mobile applications targeted at foreign workers.