By: Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports
9 March 2006, 12.30 pm
Mr Sin Boon Ann has asked for an update of what ComCare has achieved to date. As Members would recall, the ComCare Fund aims to help those Singaporeans facing financial hardship to get back on their feet. Our emphasis is on self-reliance, greater flexibility, and more community involvement.
Helping needy families to tide over difficult times
As my Minister mentioned earlier, ComCare has helped about 51,000 needy families and children since its launch in July last year. In addition, 23 community-driven social enterprises and projects have been approved under ComCare. We spent about $23.4 million to help the needy, through the three ComCare pillars: ComCare Self-Reliance, ComCare Grow, and ComCare EnAble. The details of ComCare's achievements this year and the amount which has been spent on each of the three pillars can be found in a table which my Minister has circulated to the House earlier, entitled ''Key Initiatives Introduced in 2005''.
Greater community involvement and improvement of processes
Decentralisation and Flexibility
As Mr Wee Siew Kim has rightly pointed out, decentralisation has been a key feature of the ComCare Fund. It has brought about greater flexibility in administering help to the needy and ensures that our rules do not shut out those who are truly needy. We have also focused on decentralization and increasing flexibility as a means of promoting greater community involvement.
A key part of this strategy is the $4 million Citizens' Consultative Committee ComCare Fund, which has empowered grassroots organisations to better carry out the task of ensuring that those who are in urgent financial distress get the help they need. As at end December 2005, the CCCs have spent $1.2 million of the CCC ComCare Fund to help about 8,000 applicants.
We also wanted to improve processes so people in need get assistance more quickly. I am pleased to update Mr Sin Boon Ann that the CDCs, which administer our nationwide assistance schemes, have improved on their processing of social assistance applications. 82% of applications are now being processed within 6 weeks, compared to the 73% announced at last year's Committee of Supply. The improvement in response time was possible because of improvements in the work flow and processes.
ComCare Database
Mr Sin Boon Ann and Dr Lily Neo have suggested that there should be a central register for the needy, so that effective assistance can be given to them. In fact, the ComCare Database was launched last October for this purpose. The Database gives the case worker a better understanding of the client's needs, so that he is better able to assess what is the appropriate assistance for the client, and provide assistance more promptly. At present, the ComCare Database is used by all the CDCs, CCCs, and Family Service Centres, MUIS, Yayasan Mendaki and the Association of Muslim Professionals. For the next phase, MCYS plans to bring on board other government agencies, such as MOE, MOH, the Self-Help Groups, and relevant voluntary welfare organizations.
Consolidation of Schemes
Dr Lily Neo has also asked if our social assistance schemes can be consolidated so that they are more comprehensible. Mr Wee Siew Kim has also expressed concern for those cases that may still fall through the cracks, and which would need multiple agencies to address their issues.
Our ComCare system works on the basis that a person in need does not have to know about all the schemes available to help him. There is a multitude of help available, from government, as well as community-based organisations. It is the case worker's job to identify the appropriate intervention, and if necessary, co-ordinate help, for a needy family. There is no 'wrong door'. All that a needy Singaporean has to do is to go to his CDC, CCC or Family Service Centre to get the right help.
Can this system help those with multiple needs adequately? This is an important question that Dr Lily Neo has posed. Such families need specialised help, which are best provided by different agencies. The CDCs already work with multiple government agencies and social service providers, such as the Family Service Centres (FSC). However, we acknowledge that more can be done. For this coming year, we will build up CDC and FSC capabilities and improve information and referral systems, so that those who are genuinely in need will be given the necessary assistance in a timely and co-ordinated way. No one should fall through the cracks.
It is not always necessary for the needy to know what schemes are available each time they require help. However, there is merit in consolidating the various schemes. This would simplify administration. In this regard, I am pleased to inform Dr Lily Neo that my Ministry has done a review, and we have rationalised the number of assistance schemes from 51, which was reported at last year's Committee of Supply, to 27. I have asked the Clerk of Parliament to hand out a list of these 27 schemes. For example, the CDCs have consolidated 20 of their local schemes and programmes into three.
Future Directions
Going forward, as my Minister had mentioned earlier, we will be committing a sum of about $100 million over 2 years on programmes for needy children and youth and their families, and programmes to help people go out to work and to become self-sufficient.
At this juncture, I would like to acknowledge the immense contributions of our corps of social workers, whom Dr Lily Neo has also highlighted. Without their passion and compassion, we would not be able to deliver many of our social services. There are currently about 380 social workers; 85% of them are trained social workers with at least a Bachelor's degree in social work. Although stretched at times, our pool of dedicated social workers have served our needy and troubled well. Going forward, we intend to grow our corps of social workers so that we can provide even better coverage. My Ministry has been working with the Social Service Training Institute (SSTI) and the National Council of Social Services (NCSS) to introduce new schemes to train more social workers and to promote social service sector careers. Our VWOs can also tap on the $30 million VWO Capability Fund to send social workers for professional development training.
Hope for the Future
Mr Sin Boon Ann has asked what we can do to improve opportunities for children from a lower income background. My Minister has spoken about the enhancements to KiFAS and CFAC. I will now elaborate on the other initiatives to improve opportunities for children from a lower income background.
Opportunity Fund for Self-Help Groups
There will also be additional help for those children who are in school, as my Minister had mentioned earlier. Following up from PM's Opportunity Fund announcement, we will give $2 million to the Self-Help Groups as matching grants for them to help children from low-income families. The Opportunity Funds can be used for education-related and enrichment programmes, such as workshops, study trips, or purchasing education-related materials such as books or computers.
Helping At-Risk and Out-of-School Youth
Dr Lily Neo has asked whether school social workers can be provided to help and follow-up on potential school dropouts to prevent them from dropping out of school.
This is already being done. We currently have in place the School social work To Empower Pupils to Utiliize their Potential or STEP-UP programme, which was launched in 2004. It provides at-risk students in primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions and their families with assistance from school social workers. It aims to reduce anti-social behaviour and keep potential drop-outs in school. 113 schools are currently on STEP-UP, and we intend to increase this to 150 schools by 2008. We will be increasing funding for STEP-UP from the current maximum amount of $15,000 to $37,500 per school for each of the first two years, and from $10,000 to $25,000 per school for each of the remaining three years. MCYS recognizes that support for youth-at-risk requires multiple agencies to work together, and STEP-UP complements other initiatives such as MOE?s Full-Time School Counsellor scheme. MCYS also works closely with the Inter-Ministry Committee on Youth Crime on youth-at-risk matters.
But youth who have dropped out of school will also be provided with help and support. We want to chart out various alternative pathways for them to find a niche where they can excel. The Out-of-School Youth (OSY) Development Scheme has provided close to $1 million worth of funding support for 2005 and 2006 to help set up and administer 10 programmes which have reached out to more than 450 OSYs. The programmes develop youth in various areas - personal development, life-skills, career planning and work-skills training.
HOPE
Finally, Dr Lily Neo has asked that integrated assistance be provided for young poor families to enable upward mobility amongst those from the lower economic and social strata. This is the objective for the HOPE scheme. HOPE is short for Home Ownership Plus Education. It is a targeted, voluntary incentive scheme to encourage low-income families to upgrade their skills and keep their families small. This enables them to focus their limited resources on providing for and educating their children. Every eligible HOPE family can receive up to $100,000 worth of benefits over their lifetime.
With effect from 1 April this year, we are introducing enhancements to the HOPE scheme to extend its reach. Previously, only low-income households where both parents have 2 GCE 'O' levels and below could come onto the scheme. We will now include households where both parents do not have post-secondary education. We will also include families where at least one parent has post-secondary education qualifications, but neither spouse earns more than $1,000 a month, and the wife is between 30 and 35 years old.
My Ministry will also step up its outreach to the HOPE target group. As Minister mentioned, I will also be chairing an appeals board to consider families that marginally fail the eligibility criteria, so that no deserving family will miss out on being on HOPE.
ComCare Work Support Programme
We will also continue to support and encourage work, through the ComCare Work Support Programme. Work Support is a joint effort with the Workforce Development Agency. It is a consolidation of the Work Assistance Programme and Self-Reliance Programme.
All Work Support participants will get help in finding a job, as well as assistance with their living and other expenses. Work Support families with children will get an added subsidy of about $50 a month for childcare and of about $40 a month for student care. This is over and above the subsidies for non-Work Support families. Thus, a Work Support family with one child in student-care and one in childcare can benefit from almost $1,100 worth of additional subsidies over the course of a year. This will make it easier for low-income or unemployed parents to go out to work to support their families. All Work Support families with children will also receive case management services.
We have also put in place a training grant of $2,000 a year to help the more needy Work Support families to upgrade their skills and increase their earning potential. This will provide the family with another opportunity to pull itself out of the poverty trap.
Changing the Social Assistance Landscape
Going forward, we intend to reach out to more organizations, including those who have not yet been involved in ComCare, such as companies, co-operatives and associations. In time we hope to see a new social assistance landscape - one with a ComCare community of organisations that harnesses their resources and expertise to help the needy.
Social Enterprise
One excellent way that social organisations and companies can help the needy is through social enterprise. Social enterprises are businesses with a social mission. They can give jobs to people who find it difficult to find employment on their own. They can help change a donation-dependent charity into one which does not have to rely solely on handouts from the public in order to survive.
Ms Penny Low has asked for an update on the status of social enterprise in Singapore. I am pleased to note that Social Enterprises are increasingly gaining prominence in Singapore. This year, the inaugural Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award saw 17 nominations. Major VWOs, such as YMCA, Teen Challenge, MINDS, and the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, have either set up, or are in the process of setting up, social enterprises. NUS and SMU are both running modules on social entrepreneurship to help equip and spur the emergence of social entrepreneurs.
The CEF, which I have mentioned earlier, is the cornerstone of our efforts to help social enterprises. Since 2003, the Ministry has supported 51 social enterprises, with a total commitment of about $5.1m in start-up funding support. Any social enterprise will qualify for the CEF so long as it has a clear social mission and a viable business model. We have helped both for-profit, and not-for-profit businesses, such as Bridge Learning, a for-profit business that helps provide early intervention for children with learning disabilities, and Simei Frame and Rejoice Printing, a not-for-profit company that employs psychiatric patients.
We recognize that it is necessary to go beyond funding. That is why we are looking into creating a total supporting framework for social enterprises.
The Social Innovation Park (SIP) founded by Miss Penny Low is part of our strategy. It will incubate social entrepreneurs and help them to build solid foundations and sustainable business models. SIP will help social enterprises with developing and implementing business plans, marketing, training, mentoring and networking. SIP will also help the local social entrepreneurs to develop links with the international network of social entrepreneurs.
Mr Sin Boon Ann has suggested that grassroots organisations be empowered to start business initiatives to benefit residents, by employing the residents or helping them to start their own business. In fact, the CEF can help to start-up or scale-up social enterprises that aim to nurture micro-entrepreneurs. I am pleased to note that a number of grassroot organisations have tapped on the CEF for their projects, the latest being a Community Kitchen Project by Al-Iman mosque, in partnership with Bukit Panjang CCC, Bukit Panjang CCMC and North West CDC. We hope more grassroots organisations can also come forward with new ideas for social enterprises in the coming year.
MCYS will also work with the relevant agencies to review and expand schemes such as South East CDC?s car-washing scheme which have proven successful in creating micro-enterprise employment opportunities.
Finally, we understand that a seamless approach in negotiating and complying with regulations is important to the aspiring social entrepreneur or micro-entrepreneur. To achieve this, MCYS will develop a mechanism to facilitate the establishment of social enterprises, and work closely with government agencies through the Pro-Enterprise Panel to review the rules and regulations that may be obstacles to the development of social enterprises.
Conclusion
The ComCare Fund has achieved much since its launch in June 2005. However, much more can, and will be done. We are fortunate that we have the resources to carry out our plans. In this regard, the Prime Minister's announcement in his Budget Speech last month that the government will be topping-up the ComCare Fund by $100 million in the coming year is most welcome.
Our theme for the coming year will be collaboration and community. We will draw organisations from different sectors together into the cause of ComCare: CDCs, voluntary welfare organisations, grassroots organizations, companies, co-operatives and so on. Together, we will be able to make Singapore a place where the community helps its own people. We will then truly become a caring society with fair opportunities for all.
MCYS SPEECH NO: 10/2006
DATE OF ISSUE: 09/03/2006