Parliamentary Questions filed by Ms Carrie Tan on 2 & 3 August 2023 Ms Carrie Tan: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the considerations when ICA rejects applications of the spouses of low-wage and aged Singaporeans for Long Term Visit Passes to work and fulfil the care needs of their families in Singapore; (b) whether ICA will consider working with the Ministry of Manpower to create a special entry and work pass category for these foreign spouses to make it easier for them to stay and help with caregiving of our citizens.....
Mdm Deputy Speaker, thank you for the chance to share my view on this Bill. As a member of the workgroup on this Bill, I would like to share my thought process and concerns regarding two amendments in the Bill and how it evolved along the way. Firstly, amendment one, the one that concerns what I call the “peeling open old wounds”. I am heartened that a trauma-informed approach underpins this proposed amendment to prevent abandoned or abused children from being approached at all,....
Bolstering Support for Caregivers Mr Chairman, there are over 210,000 Singaporeans who do the full-time work of caregiving. They are the backbone of our ageing care system and should be recognised and supported more formally. I spoke about “Carefare” in Parliament in the past two COSes and I advocate for it a third time now. Carefare, as an income supplement is needed by stay-home caregivers from low-income families, especially who are forced by circumstances to give up their jobs and livelihoods to care full-time.....
Enhancement to ComLink Befriending I would like to echo Ms Denise Phua’s sentiment and add on. I am very happy to know ComLink will be scaled up. I understand though that there have been implementation challenges from a shortage of volunteers to help with needs assessments in some localities. And for this, I propose that MSF tap on graduated beneficiaries of various social service organisations to bolster the befriending efforts and offer a stipend for their time and contribution.....