BABY BONUS CASH GIFT

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BABY BONUS CASH GIFT:

(Extension to fifth child and beyond): 9.

Er Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports whether the Ministry will consider extending the Baby Bonus cash gift to the fifth child and beyond.

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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, prior to the 2008 Marriage and Parenthood Package, the Baby Bonus benefits were only extended up to the first four children. The 2008 Marriage and Parenthood Package has extended the Baby Bonus co-saving component to the fifth child and beyond.

For these children, the Government will now match up to $18,000 of savings put in by parents. The total amount of support provided by the Government to the fifth child and beyond, which is $18,000, is no less than the support provided for the first four children. For the first and second child, the total amount of cash gift and co-saving amount to $10,000 per child. For the third and fourth child, the total amounts to $18,000 per child. Thus, parents who have five children or more and who are able to co-save are in no way disadvantaged. We have deliberated carefully on whether we should extend the Baby Bonus cash gift to the fifth child and beyond.

While we want to support parents who wish to have five children or more, we do not want to inadvertently encourage those who cannot afford it to do so through the provision of a large direct cash gift. For parents who are financially less able to support a large family, we would like to encourage them to focus on raising the quality of life for their existing children instead.

After careful consideration, we have decided not to extend the cash gift to the fifth child and beyond. Nonetheless, we will continue to review and monitor the Baby Bonus scheme to ensure its relevance for all Singaporeans.

Mr Speaker, Sir, in addition to Baby Bonus, parents with five children or more

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can benefit from other schemes. Tax incentives such as the qualifying child relief, working mother's child relief and parenthood tax rebates have also been extended to the fifth and subsequent child. The enhanced childcare and infant care subsidies will also be extended to the fifth and subsequent child. Parents with more children will also benefit from the enhanced leave benefits such as the extended maternity leave, extended childcare leave and new infant care leave. So, overall, parents with five or more children are well supported financially and otherwise.

Er Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio): I thank the Minister of State for the answer. I would like to ask, for the last five years, do we have figure of how many of these child births are under the fifth child or more, and from which category of family income are they from?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Mr Speaker, Sir, let me go through the Baby Bonus history a little bit. When we started on 1st April 2004, the first child received no cash gift, no CDA; second child received $3,000 cash and $6,000 CDA; third child, $4,000 cash, $12,000 CDA; fourth child, no cash, no CDA; and fifth child, no cash, no CDA.

From 1st August 2004 to 16th August 2008, we gave the first child cash but no CDA; second child, $3,000 cash, $6,000 CDA; and third child, $6,000 cash, $12,000 CDA; fourth child, $6,000 cash, $12,000 CDA; fifth child and above, no cash, no CDA.

This year, the Government has made changes from 17th August by giving a cash gift of $4,000 to the first child, CDA, $6,000; second child, cash $4,000, CDA, $6,000; third child, cash $6,000, CDA, $12,000; fourth child, cash $6,000, CDA, $12,000; and the fifth

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child, for the first time, we give CDA, $18,000, but no cash. You can see that it is the policy to help those who can afford to have more than five children and above. In terms of CDA, that means the co-payment from Government and other benefits, they did not lose out. But for those low-income group, I do agree that they face financial difficulty, but it is the policy that we do not encourage them or incentivise them to have more children, especially because of this big cash bonus. We hope that they should raise their existing children properly and educate them well, and hope that they can get out from poverty. For these children, like I said, we do give them KiFAS bursaries, and so on. But for those who can afford, then we encourage them.