Removal of Government Funding for National Sports Associations

Mr Nicholas Fang asked the Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) whether the National Sports Associations (NSAs) that had their annual funding from the Singapore Sports Council completely cut were given any forewarning before their funding was cut; and (b) whether these NSAs are being assisted to remedy the shortcomings that resulted in their funding being removed.

The Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mr Chan Chun Sing): Mr Speaker, Sir, to qualify for the Singapore Sports Council's (SSC) annual grants, National Sports Associations (NSAs) must be registered as charities and meet other conditions, such as compliance with the financial regulations issued by SSC. NSAs also need to submit an application that shows how their programmes meet the immediate and medium-term priorities for sports identified and communicated by SSC.

For Financial Year (FY) 2012, a total of 48 NSAs will qualify for SSC grants. Three NSAs who were allocated SSC grants in FY2011 would not receive SSC grants in FY2012. Two of these NSAs have not been registered as charities. They also did not submit their financial regulations compliance report. The remaining NSAs had submitted a proposal that did not meet the priorities communicated by SSC.

The requirements for SSC funding are quite clear. SSC also engages NSAs regularly throughout the annual NSA grant exercise. Hence, the three NSAs should not be surprised by SSC's decision. SSC will continue to engage all three NSAs and offer advice and assistance where appropriate. Once they have resolved their issues, they can make an appeal for funding for this financial year or submit an application for grant the following financial year.

Mr Nicholas Fang (Nominated Member): Sir, I have one supplementary question regarding the NSAs who went from funding to zero from 2011 to 2012. Was there any possibly more direct warning to the employment of their staff? Because, I understand, for some of them, the funding for their staff – and some of the staff have been working with the NSAs for quite a long period of time – were largely dependent on the funding from the Sports Council. The funding amount was announced in the middle of March and took effect from 1 April. In fact, some of the staff was given less than three weeks' notice and then they were basically out of a job. So, I think some explicit notification for that would have helped even though the general indication might be that they are not doing so well and they need to buck up.

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Mr Chan Chun Sing: Sir, in response to the supplementary question from Mr Nicholas Fang, SSC has been in communications with the three NSAs throughout the entire year. They were very well aware of the steps leading up to the eventual decision. It is unfortunate that the respective NSAs have not communicated this to their respective staff nor have they prepared their staff for this. Nevertheless, the SSC will continue to work with the three NSAs to see how we can strengthen their governance and also to help them meet the respective requirements so that we can provide better support for the respective sports that they are championing.