[URL="https://www.facebook.com/workersparty"]The Workers' Party
[/URL][h=2]Parliamentary Questions for 16 September 2013 Sitting[/h]
September 15, 2013 at 8:57pm
QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER*
*2. Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Prime Minister in light of the discovery of used election ballot boxes that were not disposed of in a proper manner who was responsible for the lapse and what action has been taken against the person; whether these boxes were for the 2011 presidential election and, if so, whether there was any breach of section 37 of the Presidential Elections Act; whether there were any other ballot boxes or presidential election paraphernalia that were similarly mishandled in the course of the presidential election; and what role does the Elections Department play in ensuring that such episodes do not occur and what oversight responsibilities does the Elections Department have over their appointed contractors.
*4. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Health what is the projected annual increase in MediShield payouts if all Singaporeans and permanent residents are enrolled all pre-existing, congenital and neonatal conditions are covered and the maximum coverage age is removed.
*12. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance with regard to the cash component of the GST Voucher why is the Assessable Income (AI) of $24,000 used as a threshold for eligibility; whether the Ministry plans to review this threshold in light of inflation and, if so, when; and whether basic annual salary instead of AI can be used to determine eligibility.
*17. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap:
To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development what plans and programmes are put in place to attract young and capable Singaporeans into the social work profession; how will the Government determine 'competitive' pay for social workers and whether their salaries will be pegged to other vocations such as nursing or teaching; how does the Government intend to achieve wage consistency among the 1,400 accredited social workers across different VWOs; and how does the Government intend to ensure career progression and mobility of social workers in order to make the vocation an attractive one.
*31. Mr Png Eng Huat:
To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) if he can provide an update on the number of clubs licensed to operate jackpot machines that have adopted a responsible gaming code; whether an Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS) system is allowed inside these jackpot rooms; and whether the Ministry will consider standardising the minimum age for entry to such clubs and Singapore Pools with that of the casinos that is currently set at 21 years old.
*42. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song:
To ask the Minister for National Development what is the current number of applicants on the waiting list for HDB subsidised rental flats; and when will this waiting list be cleared.
*43. Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Minister for Health in view of a subsidiary of the multinational pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd being found guilty of data fraud by the US Food and Drug Administration in May 2013 whether the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has done a review of all data submitted to it by Ranbaxy; and how HSA ensures Singapore's supply of generic drugs from overseas is safe for use.
*44. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap:
To ask the Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs in view of the Report of the Auditor General for FY12/13 what are the reasons for the failure to refund Haj administration fees to the 2,369 applicants who cancelled their applications; with regard to the tender called by MUIS in 2007 and 2010 for the supply of korban sheep and ancillary services what is the basis for the contract to be awarded even though the selected vendor did not fulfil some of the mandatory criteria; what are the reasons behind the irregularities found in the tender process; and whether the principles of transparency, and open and fair competition have been properly adhered to during the process.
*49. Ms Lee Li Lian:
To ask the Minister for Transport in assessing the possibility of new public transport routes at Rivervale Crescent whether information on ridership patterns, field surveys and collection of feedback have been obtained; and what is the progress of requests to LTA to consider the possibility of introducing transport services given the new BTO developments in the area.
*52. Mr Png Eng Huat:
To ask the Minister for Health from 2009 to date what is the number of Singaporeans who have used up their annual Medisave withdrawal limit for the treatment of chronic diseases by the September of each year; and what is the age profile of these Singaporeans.
*55. Mr Pritam Singh:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs what are the conversion criteria for National Servicemen who seek to convert their military driving licences into civilian driving licences.
*59. Mr Png Eng Huat: To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower of the estimated 151,000 full-time resident workers earning $1,000 or below in basic monthly income from work in June 2012, what percentage of these workers receive the full built-in wage increase of $50 recommended by the NWC in 2012.
*62. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Health what is the rationale for some vaccinations, including the pneumococcal disease vaccination, under the National Childhood and Adolescent Immunisation Schedule which are required for Primary One registration being chargeable for Singaporeans at polyclinics; and whether the Ministry will consider making all vaccinations under the Immunisation Schedule free for Singaporeans.
*66. Ms Lee Li Lian:
To ask the Minister for Transport whether the two-car system for the Sengkang Punggol LRT network can be commissioned for service before 2016.
*74. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap:
To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development what existing training is available for childcare teachers for managing hyperactive or socially challenging children; what existing mechanisms are available for counselling teachers who are faced with such children; and what types of conflict/classroom management training are given to childcare teachers.
QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWER
2. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance how many foreign nationals or entities have been exempted from paying the 10% additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) from 8 December 2011 to 11 January 2013, the 15% ABSD since 12 January 2013 or any other stamp duties when buying residential properties in Singapore because of free trade agreements (FTAs); what is the total amount of stamp duties exempted for these individuals or entities; and whether any FTAs currently under negotiation, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, have similar concessions for foreign nationals or entities.
3. Mr Chen Show Mao:
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry whether any of the current incentive schemes applicable to SMEs reward them for increasing their firm-level export intensity (i.e. their share of exports out of total revenue) among other metrics; if so, which schemes are these and whether these schemes stipulate an export-intensity target or threshold; and if not, whether the Ministry will consider studying the scope for including this ratio as a key performance indicator in the award of incentives so as to promote SME exports as a third pillar of Singapore exports and help develop the most export-ready SMEs into Singapore MNCs.
6. Mr Chen Show Mao:
To ask the Minister for National Development whether the current scope of the Home Improvement Programme or the Enhancement for Active Seniors scheme includes remodelling works of bathrooms to make them accessible to wheelchairs and commodes for households with handicapped or non-ambulatory elderly occupants and, if not, whether the Ministry will consider including the works as an improvement that such households may opt for.
8. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for National Development if he can provide the figures for the median Cash-Over-Valuation for resale HDB flats by town and flat type in each quarter since 2nd Quarter 2007, with a breakdown of buyers by Singapore citizen (SC) households (i.e. households with at least one SC owner) and Singapore permanent resident (SPR) households (i.e. households with SPR but no SC owners).
11. Mr Chen Show Mao:
To ask the Minister for Law for each year from 2007 to 2012, what is the number of undischarged bankrupts aged 45-55 years, 56-65 years and over 65 years; and what percentage of each of these groups of undischarged bankrupts is due to income not matching expenditure, unemployment or business failures.
14. Ms Lee Li Lian:
To ask the Minister for Health with regard to existing Senior Care Centres what is their current capacity; whether the current capacity is able to meet the demand from the public; and whether there are waiting lists for these Senior Care Centres and, if so, how many people are on the lists and what is the average waiting period.
15. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for Transport to date, how many families have applied for transport vouchers; how many vouchers have been given out; whether any families have failed to receive the vouchers due to insufficient supply and, if so, what is the number of such families; and whether the Government will consider offering a longer term transport subsidy such as automatic top-ups on EZ link cards for the low-income instead of one-off vouchers.
19. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap:
To ask the Minister for Transport whether LTA will consider allowing a grace period of three working days for motorists to pay the ERP fee upon a violation of the regulations, such as passing through an operational ERP gantry without a properly inserted cash card in the IU or having a cash card with insufficient monetary value, before the imposition of a composition fine.
20. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap:
To ask the Minister for Transport in view of the scheduled completion of two HDB rental blocks beside Blocks 535 and 536 in Bedok North Street 3 in 2016, whether there are any plans to enhance the public bus services serving the area.
25. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Education what methods and review processes will schools use to identify and quantify 'leadership', 'drive' and 'resilience' in students under the new Direct School Admission scheme; what changes to the existing curriculum will be required to support these processes; and whether the current class size of around 40 students per class will allow teachers to adequately assess students for these qualities.
26. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Education in order to support the inclusion of qualities of 'leadership', 'drive' and 'resilience' in students under the new Direct School Admission scheme what training will be provided to educators to enable them to identify and quantify such qualities; and what administrative assistance will be provided to educators to support the implementation.
27. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Education whether the Ministry plans to review the Direct School Admission scheme for admissions to secondary schools for students from the Gifted Education Programme.
32. Mr Chen Show Mao:
To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower among the employers and senior workers who have benefitted from the Special Employment Credit scheme which industries do the employers belong to; what kind of jobs are the senior workers employed for; and on average, how long do the senior workers stay on the job, according to industry and job type.
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