FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE GIVEN UNDER HELP PROGRAMMES

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE GIVEN UNDER HELP PROGRAMMES: 13.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Community Development,

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Youth and Sports (a) what is the total amount disbursed in 2009 under the various financial assistance programmes including the Comcare Fund; and (b) how many families have benefited from these schemes and what is the profile of these families.

The Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon) (for the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports): Mr Speaker, Sir, 2009 has been an exceptional year in terms of Government assistance to needy Singaporeans. In light of the economic downturn, the Government had rolled out the Jobs Credit Scheme, Workfare Income Supplement (Special Payment), Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) and other programmes to help Singaporeans ride through the recession. MCYS had also increased its budget to help needy Singaporeans. As a whole, we expect to spend $240 million in FY2009 for financial assistance, funding of social services and the building of social infrastructure. This is an increase of 31% over the spending in FY2008.

The Community Care Endowment Fund, or ComCare for short, was set up in 2005 to provide financial assistance to the lowest 20% of Singaporeans. The various help schemes are mainly administered by the Community Development Councils (CDCs) and Citizens’ Consultative Committees (CCCs).

In FY2009, MCYS expects to spend about $72.2 million on ComCare programmes. This is a 41% increase from the $51.1 million the Ministry spent on similar programmes in FY2008. For the first three quarters of FY2009 (April to December 2009), MCYS disbursed a total of $51.3 million on the various ComCare schemes. This is a 38% increase over the amount disbursed for the same period in FY2008.

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This increase in spending went towards assistance to help more needy families during the economic downturn.

From January to December 2009, almost 33,000 cases were approved for assistance under the three ComCare pillars: ComCare GROW, ComCare Self-Reliance and ComCare EnAble. This is a 47% increase from a year ago.

As ComCare is targeted at the most needy, close to 48% of ComCare beneficiaries have household income less than $750 per month, and most have educational qualifications of "O" levels and below. About 60% are married with families. The beneficiaries helped under the different ComCare programmes have different profiles. Let me share with you a little more on this.

ComCare GROW programmes help young children from low-income families gain access to developmental opportunities and enable them to break out of the poverty cycle. Thirty-five per cent of ComCare expenditure for the first three quarters of FY2009 went to ComCare GROW programmes, with $18.1 million disbursed for the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS), the Centre-based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare (CFAC), Student Care Fee Assistance (SCFA) and the Healthy Start Programme (HSP). The beneficiaries are families with children with a monthly household income of $1,800 and below. Close to 18,000 children from low-income families are being assisted on these programmes as at end December 2009.

Under the ComCare Self-Reliance pillar, we have the Work Support Programme and ComCare Transitions scheme. Work Support aims to help those who need temporary financial and employment assistance. Three thousand and seven hundred households were being assisted under Work Support as at end December 2009. The majority of our

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Work Support beneficiaries are families (62%).

ComCare Transitions, on the other hand, aims to help those who are temporarily unable to work. As at end December 2009, 2,300 individuals were being assisted under the ComCare Transitions scheme. Most of these clients are single.

The majority of ComCare Transitions and Work Support beneficiaries have educational qualifications of "O" levels and below (82%), live in 1-room to 3-room HDB flats (59%), and have household income of less than $600 per month (67%).

Between April and December 2009, up to $19 million has been disbursed for these two schemes. This figure amounts to 37% of overall ComCare spending.

As at end December 2009, there are about 2,900 beneficiaries under the Public Assistance (PA) Scheme. Recipients on PA are generally the elderly, with a majority aged above 60 years old, with little or no means of support. A total of $10.9 million was spent on PA between April and December 2009. This is equivalent to 21% of all ComCare spending in the first three quarters of FY2009.

The CDCs continue to be the first line of support for needy residents. From January to December 2009, the CDCs received 62,300 applications for assistance, a 32% increase over 2008. Apart from specific programmes, the ComCare Fund also provides funds to empower the community to help the needy. The CCC ComCare Fund helps needy Singaporeans with urgent and transient needs. Between April and December 2009, the CCCs have disbursed $2.4 million through grassroots leaders to more than 12,600 needy people. This is 42% more than the

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number of people helped in the same period in 2008.

The ComCare Social Support Projects Fund (CSPF) and the ComCare Enterprise Fund (CEF) also provide seed funding for pilot programmes and sustainable new social enterprises respectively that meet the needs of the low-income and needy. Over $830,000 were disbursed between April and December 2009.

Besides ComCare, there are other help schemes provided by voluntary welfare organisations, self-help groups, grassroots organisations, charities, religious groups and foundations. All these efforts complement the Government’s assistance schemes under the Many Helping Hands approach to form a strong social safety net for needy Singaporeans. I would like to thank the CDC Mayors, Advisers to grassroots organisations and partner organisations in the social sector for their efforts and support.

If Members come across anyone who needs assistance, please call ComCare Call at 1800-222 0000 or refer them to the CDCs, grassroots organisations or Family Service Centres.

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Sir, I would like to thank the Minister of State for a very comprehensive and detailed answer and, indeed, it is quite happy to hear that so much has been disbursed to assist Singaporeans because last year was truly a very difficult year for Singaporeans. We do not have much time. So I just ask one question, and that is, this year, although growth is projected to be between 4.5% and 6.5%, and there are more jobs created, families are still feeling from the aftermath effects of last year. So I hope that the Ministry will continue to exercise this kind of flexibility and extend assistance to families who are still in need.

Mr Speaker: You have one-and-a-half minutes left, Mrs Yu-Foo.

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Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Sir, the answer is yes.

Mr Speaker: Okay. Mr Zaqy. You have one-and-a-half minutes.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad (Hong Kah): A quick question. Based on the number of families benefiting from ComCare, does MCYS track how many are also benefiting from social welfare programmes by other welfare organisations? I am just wondering whether the Many Helping Hands approach is still working out well.

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Sir, we link up our ComCare database with the NCSS, HDB, MOE, and so on. More or less we would know that families have benefited from different kinds of schemes.

3.00 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question time.

[ Pursuant to Standing Order No. 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos. 15-16, 20, 22, 26, 29, 33 and 39-41 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix*. Question Nos. 14, 17-19, 21, 23-25, 27-28, 30-32 and 34-38 have been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 2nd March 2010 .]

*Cols. 2267-2284.