SKILLS ACCOUNT FOR LIFELONG LEARNING

SKILLS ACCOUNT FOR LIFELONG LEARNING: 14.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked the Minister for Manpower in light of the Ministry's announcement during Budget 2010 on the establishment of a Skills Account based on the UK model to promote a lifelong learning culture, when will this Skills Account be set up and what form will it take.

The Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Lee Yi Shyan) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, Sir, as announced during the Committee of Supply debate two months ago, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) is looking into establishing an online self-service portal for individuals to help them monitor and plan their own training. The portal will provide workers with information on training opportunities, job openings, labour market information and career services. Individuals will also be

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able to maintain a personal account of their learning journey, qualifications and job preferences. We target to roll out the online portal in 2011.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo (West Coast): I thank the Minister of State for his response. What he has just replied indicates the set-up of a register of sorts for individuals who would like to pursue continuous learning. In light of our move to drive productivity in Singapore and to inculcate a learning society, I am just wondering whether other than individuals waiting for employers to sponsor them for training, would the Government be considering the setting up of an individual Skills Account where learning is really inspired by the self rather than a situation of waiting to be sent for learning?

Mr Lee Yi Shyan: I want to thank the Member for pointing out the importance of ownership of career development and taking individual training needs as his or her own priority. In fact, for the motivated individuals, today, they are already able to access many courses under the Continuing Education and Training (CET) framework to improve themselves. Under the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) programme, many of the course fees are subsidised up to 90%. They have up to 30th November this year to take advantage of the various programmes. The setting up of this portal is really to help individual workers to chart their training paths from where they are today, from point A to point B, where they want to be. This portal will seek to provide information on the demand of the various professions. It will also help the individuals to identify their own skill gaps and, therefore, point them to the right type of training courses they can take at their own pace and given their skill level in order to progress themselves. That is the kind of tool we seek to establish. Of course, with this tool, it will be customised to the individual. So over time, the person can track his or her own

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training achievements and monitor his or her own progress in the development needs. These are all the tools available but we still need the individuals themselves to be very proactive in terms of identifying their own needs and taking up the courses. So I agree with the Member that we have to continue to encourage individuals as well as employers to proactively take part in CET.

Mr Speaker: Last question, Mdm Ho.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo: Perhaps my question was not clearly understood by the Minister of State. I am actually referring to the dollar signs. In this present situation, individuals are sponsored for training and the grants are normally extended to the organisation and it is for the organisation to support these individuals who are sent for training. But what I am talking about is a situation where if we want to nurture a learning society, I think the best outcome is to have every individual so self-motivated that he or she would want to pursue training. In this situation, would these individuals be able to opt to go for training and have an account, with a sum of money, actually set aside for them to draw down whenever they subscribe to a national programme that will help them in their continuing education and training?

Mr Lee Yi Shyan: I think I understand the Member's point. International studies show that by providing a training account with monetary value in it may still not be the best and most effective way of motivating individuals to take up courses. What we have today in our system is a CET infrastructure that comprises a large number of training courses that individuals can go forward and sign up. And when they go forward, under today's SPUR's arrangement, they only pay 10% of the course fee as compared to some other courses that are not subsidised upfront where they have to pay a lot more. So we are looking at the various methods. As far

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as this portal is concerned, as what I have described, we would look at other best practices internationally and see what is the best way to motivate our workers. We have not got the conclusion today that by providing an individualised monetary account is the best way forward.