WORKFARE TRAINING SCHEME

WORKFARE TRAINING SCHEME:

(Beneficiaries and payout amount): 18.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Manpower (a) if he will provide an update on the Workfare Training Scheme; (b) how many workers have benefited from the scheme and what is their profile; and (c) how much has been paid out under the scheme including the special awards for those who have completed a specific number of skills courses; and (d) what types of courses have they been attending.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Manpower (Mr Hawazi Daipi) (for the Minister for Manpower): The Workfare Training Scheme (WTS) was introduced in July 2010 to complement the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme. WTS encourages older low-wage workers to upgrade their skills through training so that they can improve their employability, upgrade to better jobs and earn more.

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Over the past four months since the start of the scheme, about 16,000 low-wage workers have benefited from WTS. This includes low-wage workers who were given the Training Commitment Award (TCA) for completing their training since 1st July 2009. About $3.2 million has been disbursed. About 1,500 workers have enrolled in Workfare-Skill Up, which includes motivational workshops to help them overcome training barriers as well as workplace literacy and generic skills training to upgrade their skills and jobs over time. The majority of the beneficiaries are aged between 40 and 59 years. There are more females than males and most of them have Secondary and below education.

Employers of low-wage workers can send them for training under WTS. Low-wage workers themselves can also sign up for WTS programmes. Examples of the training courses attended by WTS trainees include Employability Skills, Food and Beverage, and Service Excellence and Generic Manufacturing programmes.

The Ministry and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) have been working with partners such as self-help groups, Community Development Councils, grassroots organisations, and employer organisations to reach out to eligible workers and their employers, through direct mailers, mass media, community and other events. We also have targeted initiatives to increase WTS take-up and training, including working with NTUC to incentivise company-specific training programmes for workers, and working with merchant associations to carry out retail training on-site at heartland shopping malls.

Just over the last two days, over the weekend, WDA organised an inaugural WTS Roadshow in Bedok. It provided hands-on activities and career counselling on-the-spot to help low-wage workers –

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3.00 pm

Mr Speaker: Mr Hawazi, your time is up. Order. End of Question Time.

[ Pursuant to Standing Order No. 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos. 24, 26, 29-31 and 37 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix*. Question Nos. 19-23, 25, 27-28, 32-36 and 38-43 have been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 23rd November 2010 .]