[h=2]The Workers' Party[/h]
[h=2]Parliamentary Questions for 17 August 2015 Sitting[/h]
August 17, 2015 at 7:44am
In the Parliamentary sitting on 17 August 2015, WP MPs raise questions ranging from the audit on the People’s Association in the Auditor-General’s Report about the 13 businesses given tenancy contracts without competition, details about the claims totalling $114,767 made by the chairman of the CCC to himself, how an electrical insulation problem can cause a catastrophic failure across the entire North-South and East-West Lines, the number of foreign students granted PR on scholarships and tuition grants and did not complete their obligations, how intellectually disabled individuals are assisted to find jobs and their success rate, the breakdown of suicides and attempted suicides in Singapore and any measures to address them, among others.
Questions for Oral Answer
2. Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth in respect of the audit on the People's Association that is reported in the Report of the Auditor-General for FY2014/15 (a) what are the 13 businesses or services that have been given tenancy contracts totalling $3.67 million without competition and what are the reasons given; and (b) what are the seven claims totalling $114,767 made by the Chairman of the CCC to himself and what is the total amount of the three claims that have no supporting documents.
17. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) how an electrical insulation problem in one "third rail" cover between Tanjong Pagar and Raffles Place MRT stations can cause a catastrophic failure across the entire North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL); (b) whether this is an indication of a lack of built-in redundancy or poor system design of the MRT's electrical network; (c) whether engineers have assessed that a massive overhaul of the NSEWL is needed to prevent such failures from recurring; and (d) if so, what it will take in terms of time, cost and system downtime for such an overhaul to be completed.
21. Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) whether NParks will review the policy of charging for car park usage at popular parks; and (b) whether it can consider a pilot scheme at Bedok Reservoir Park to allow free car park usage from 5am to 9am and 5pm to 9pm with a view to extending it to all parks, so as to incentivise the encouragement of a healthy lifestyle among all Singaporeans.
27. Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Minister for Education of the 7,000 foreign students at secondary and junior college levels who were granted PR status between 2001 and 2014 (a) how many of them were on scholarships or tuition grants and what was the amount of tuition grants given; and (b) how many did not complete their scholarship or tuition grant obligations.
30. Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs whether the reservation procedure of rally sites through the police for the upcoming General Election is on a "first-come-first-served" basis as at the 2011 General Election or via balloting as at the 2012 and 2013 by-elections.
31. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Health in 2012, 2013 and 2014, how many eligible patients reached (i) the annual withdrawal cap of $400 from their own Medisave accounts (not that of their family members); or (ii) the annual CHAS subsidy limits of $320 or $480 for simple chronic (Tier 1) or complex chronic (Tier 2) conditions respectively, for treatment of conditions under the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP).
34. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) what are the reasons for converting an empty piece of land in Rivervale Crescent from a secondary school development to a mix of a park and residential estate; and (b) whether this can be opened up for other types of development.
37. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Manpower what is the number and percentage of Employment Pass (EP) applications since the launch of the Jobs Bank that have been submitted within one week of the end of the minimum 14-day mandatory advertisement period.
45. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for National Development what is the time frame required to evaluate the effectiveness of the bird-deterrent gel used recently by the Choa Chu Kang Town Council to tackle pigeon issues and whether this gel will be made available to other town councils.
46. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for Transport with the release of new BTO flats in Rivervale Delta, whether the Ministry will look into (i) providing more bus services apart from the current bus 371; and (ii) increasing the frequency of current bus service 371 to cater to the increase in demand in the area.
Questions for Written Answer
2. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Prime Minister what has been the progress on financial and capital market integration in ASEAN under the ASEAN Economic Community and specifically whether Singapore will support the proposal for a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Growth Bank.
3. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Prime Minister whether full-time employees of statutory boards are considered to be holders of a whole time office in the service of the Government and be disqualified from being Members of Parliament (MP) or being nominated for candidacy for election as an MP.
14. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for National Development what is the number of complaints the Ministry has received from flat owners over the past years per 100 units of flats completed for (i) Built-to-Order (BTO) flats and (ii) Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) flats respectively.
22. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) how do family service centres reach out to intellectually disabled individuals to help them find jobs; and (b) what is the success rate of helping them to secure jobs.
23. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what is the breakdown of suicides and attempted suicides in Singapore according to age, ethnicity, sex, and monthly income for the past five years; (b) whether the Government has conducted studies on suicide in Singapore and, if so, whether such studies can be made publicly available; and (c) whether the Government has introduced any measures or programmes to address suicide in Singapore.
