NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE BILL

Order for Second Reading read. 3.10 pm

The Minister for Community Development (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, the Bill seeks to repeal and re-enact the Singapore Council of Social Service Act, Cap. 321. The Singapore Council of Social Service Act was enacted 24 years ago, in 1968. At that time, we had high unemployment, and many Singaporeans lived in cramped quarters that lacked proper sanitation.

The situation has changed dramatically in the last two decades. With strong economic growth, we now enjoy full employment. Any able-bodied person can get a job without any problems at all. With greater affluence and full employment, the nature and scope of our welfare problems have also changed.

We had more than 16,500 public assistance recipients in 1968. Today, the number has dropped to about 2,300. The social problems we face today are those of a modern, urbanised and industrialised society. Our families have become smaller. The dual-income nuclear family with both parents working is becoming more common. This is to be expected, since women today are as well-educated as the men. The aged population will also increase dramatically.

Sir, these changes in our economy and the family structure will pose new challenges to us in the future. Instead of the homeless, the destitute and the aged single who migrated to Singapore from China, India and Malaya many years ago, new social problems are emerging.

The Singapore Council of Social Service (SCSS) and the Community Chest of Singapore (CCS) have performed an excellent and invaluable job in supporting and providing welfare services in Singapore. The President of the SCSS, Dr Ee Peng Liang, and his team of volunteers have done much over the years to provide relief for those in need.

Dr Ee and members of the SCSS Board of Management recognised in 1990 the need to re-examine the role and functions of the Council to ensure that the Council would be well-positioned to serve society through the end of this decade, and into the next decade. In collaboration with my Ministry, the Council commissioned a consultant firm in 1990 to carry out this review.

The consultants completed their study, and submitted their recommendations to the Council and my Ministry in 1991. The recommendations were accepted by my Ministry, the Council and the Community Chest. Voluntary welfare organisations were also briefed and have accepted the conclusions of the study. The proposed legislation is to put into effect these changes recommended by the consultants.

Sir, this Bill, when approved by Parliament, will enable the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) to take a strategic and more pro-active role in welfare planning and provision to meet the more complex and diverse welfare needs of our society.

I will now explain the major new provisions in this Bill. Clause 3 establishes the National Council of Social Service as a corporate body. The new name is to reflect its enhanced and more pro-active role.

Clause 5 vests the management of the affairs of the Council in a Board, and deals with the appointment and election of members of the Board. The Bill provides for an equal number of appointed and elected members on the Board of Management. This will help to ensure that the VWOs' interests are adequately represented, while at the same time, allow NCSS to tap the resources and expertise of capable persons from other sectors.

The Minister will appoint only two members, namely, the President and the Chairman of the Community Chest. Two Board members will be ex-officio, representing the Director of Social Welfare and the Director of Medical Services. The President of the Council will appoint the Secretary and the Treasurer, and the remaining five appointed members will be drawn from the Chairmen of the various service and fund allocation committees in the NCSS.

Clauses 10 and 11 set out the objects and powers of the Council. The Bill provides for greater emphasis on the Council's leadership role. It will enhance service provision by NCSS to its member organisations and strengthen its role in fund-raising. It provides for the establishment of minimum acceptable standards of social service and guidelines on good practice. This will enhance the services and facilities provided by VWOs to their clients.

Clause 12 establishes an Endowment Fund which shall vest in the Council. This will help provide the Council and Community Chest with a steady stream of income. It will facilitate better planning and help to even out the fluctuating results of annual fund-raising efforts.

Clause 13 establishes the Community Chest and deals with the appointment of its Chairman and members. The existing Community Chest of Singapore was established in 1983 as a Committee of the Singapore Council of Social Service. It is now a household word, with public donations amounting to millions of dollars each year. The Bill provides for the establishment of the Community Chest as a clear legal entity within the National Council of Social Service.

The expanded NCSS will require an increased budget to fulfil its enhanced roles. My Ministry will help the NCSS by funding up to 50% of its operating expenditure for the next three years. Government's financial assistance will be reviewed after the initial three years, by which time NCSS will be in a better position to determine its longer term needs.

Sir, the new NCSS to be set up under the Bill will provide the critical link between Government and VWOs and will help energise VWOs to fulfil the current and future welfare needs of Singapore.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi (Bedok GRC): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government has adopted the "many hands approach" to the provision of social welfare services in Singapore. For this approach to succeed, a great deal of organisation, planning and coordination would be necessary to galvanise and direct the efforts of the community and the VWOs to where they are needed in the most efficient and cost-effective way. This is especially so, Sir, when more and new problems emerge, as has been mentioned by the Minister a while ago, as a result of changes in the family and society.

Some of these changes, like the increase in the number of nuclear families with both parents working, more single parents, and a society that is rapidly aging, would require wide networks of service delivery involving many and a wide variety of VWOs. A strong institution, therefore, is needed to tackle these problems. The proposed National Council of Social Service has the potential to provide the kind of leadership, direction and flexibility required to spearhead the efforts to meet the emerging problems.

It is a strengthened organisation, Sir, over the existing SCSS - more pro-active in identifying and meeting needs, more oriented towards planning and strategizing, and greater emphasis put on leadership and participation by people with a wider array of interests and expertise. It also provides for continuous self-renewal and, therefore, continuous new ideas.

I am pleased, Sir, that the Bill has also provided for the amalgamation of the new Council and the Community Chest with a clear delineation of roles and operations. This formalises the latter. Its predecessor, the Community Chest of Singapore, has no clear legal status and operates largely independent of the SCSS. Such separation, Sir, has also given rise to some confusion over the roles of the SCSS and the CCS and also meant some duplication and overlap in the activities of the two. This amalgamation would mean that the fund allocation can now be better matched with plans and priorities to meet the needs of clients.

Public confidence in the Chest is crucial as it handles substantial amounts of money from the public. Such confidence will also go some way in encouraging the public to be more generous in their donations to the Council. More funds are needed by the Council and Government would provide up to 50% of actual recurrent cost subject to a maximum of $2.75 million. There is also provision for the setting up of an Endowment Fund, which interest could be used by the Council in its operations. Adequate funding is necessary if the Council is to carry out its work effectively. I hope that Government will monitor this aspect and continue to ensure that sufficient funds are available to the Council.

But there is a lot of work to be done by the Council. More urgent is for the Council to look into the manpower needs of providing social services, as service quality is inevitably affected by the adequacy and quality of manpower available. The Council will have to urgently address the shortage of professional and technical manpower in the VWOs. And apart from numbers, it will also have to look into the career prospects and job satisfaction of social workers and care givers.

Another area which would need urgent attention is how to interest and motivate more and more people to get involved in voluntary service. The new Council could work closely with Government in these two areas.

Before I conclude, Sir, I have two questions to ask the Minister. One involves the fate of the people who now work in the SCSS and the CCS. What would happen to them with the formation of the new Council? The second question involves the perception of several people in the VWOs about Government intervention and control in the new Council. Rightly or wrongly, these individuals view the formation of the new Council as Government's attempt to control the body through its appointment of some of these Board members. Can the Minister comment?

Sir, I support the Bill.

Mr Zulkifli bin Mohammed (Jalan Besar GRC): Mr Speaker, Sir, like my colleague, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, I would like to lend my support to the Bill which is geared towards rationalising the overall infrastructure of welfare services in Singapore. I am happy to note that much thought, planning and consultation had been done among all relevant parties over the past two years or so before the Bill was introduced in this Chamber. Thus, more than ample opportunities were given towards a full airing of views and opinions and obtaining relevant inputs to arrive at a consensus to restructure the Singapore Council of Social Service into the new National Council of Social Service. Sir, I share the Minister's view that the SCSS, since its inception more than 20 years ago, has made invaluable contributions in the field of voluntary welfare services by playing its role as a coordinating body. It has brought plenty of joy, happiness and sunshine into the lives of the less fortunate in our society. Together with its fund-raising arm, the Community Chest of Singapore, or better known as the CCS, more funds were made available in recent years that had enabled the provision of better and improved services. However, Sir, there is always the need for any national organisation to move ahead with the times, more so in our fast changing environment in Singapore. New social problems will emerge that require new approaches to tackle the problems. It is in this context, Sir, that I see the formation of the National Council of Social Service to replace the present Singapore Council of Social Service.

Sir, as someone who has been associated with the SCSS for a while now, I am confident that this is a move in the right direction, bearing in mind the benefits to be derived. One clear benefit that has already been mentioned is that the NCSS can play a more effective role in strategic welfare planning working together with other agencies. This will come about as the relationship between the NCSS, CCS and the VWOs together with MCD becomes more clearly defined in the future. In this way, we can minimise duplication and overlapping and maximise resources to the fullest.

Another benefit which I welcome is the increased funding by the Government. In this way, it will help to lessen the burden of the fund-raising efforts by the VWOs. Sir, one other benefit worthy of mention is the procedure for determining the composition of the NCSS Board, which allows for self-renewal in leadership. Besides ensuring a balanced mix of persons with the right expertise, by restricting the elected Board members to hold office for not more than three consecutive two-year terms, in my view, is a reasonable time frame for contributions to be made.

Having said that, Sir, I wish to raise one point with the Minister. This is regarding the post of the President of the NCSS and Chairman of the CCS who will be appointed by the Minister. It appears that they can hold office indefinitely. To be consistent, a time bar on holding of office should also apply to these Government appointees. Could the Minister please comment on this matter?

Sir, I support the Bill.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Sir, I would like to thank my two colleagues for their strong support for this Bill.

Sir, Mr Tarmugi has asked two questions. Firstly, what is the fate of the present employees who are working in CCS and SCSS. Sir, the new Council and the new Community Chest will absorb all the staff who are presently employed.

Secondly, the perception that Government is intervening by appointing the two key members. Sir, out of the 22 members on the Council's Board of Management, the Government will only be appointing the two key members - the President of the Council and the Chairman of the Community Chest. Sir, there are important reasons for this. This is because the Council would have greatly expanded roles and functions in the future, compared to when the SCSS Act was first enacted in 1968. It is now an umbrella organisation responsible for planning and helping to provide welfare services on the national level. Sir, the Community Chest also raises a tremendous amount of money each year and it will have to raise even more money in the future.

Let me give an example. Last year, it raised $20 million and disbursed $18 million to 42 charities. This year, the target is $27 million. It is a lot of money, all donated by members of the public. Understandably, the public would expect the money to be properly accounted for, properly invested, and used prudently. The President of the Council and the Chairman of the Community Chest are the key figures in assuring the public that their donations and money are being handled carefully and properly.

Sir, we have been fortunate that the SCSS and the Community Chest have been led by a man of great integrity, commitment, dedication and ability in the person of Dr Ee Peng Liang. Indeed, we can say that the achievements of the Council and the Community Chest are a credit to Dr Ee's foresight and to his leadership. Sir, Dr Ee was elected as the President of the Council when it was first established as a legal entity by Parliament. I think many Members know that. But what Members may not know is that the Council was first registered as a Society in 1958. One of the pioneers responsible for the formation of the Society at that time was the late Mr Lee Kong Chian. He realised at that time that there was a great need to have capable and dedicated persons to lead the Council. In 1964, he personally identified Dr Ee and persuaded him to come in and take over the leadership role in the Council. Sir, having served for almost 28 years, Dr Ee has decided that it is time that he stepped down and handed over the reins to someone else. He has served the nation and Singaporeans well, and we are truly grateful and, in fact, indebted to him.

The NCSS and the CCS will need to continue to have people like Dr Ee to head it in the coming years. Such a person is likely to be already well established in the business or professional world and would preferably also be involved already in voluntary work. The question is, can we be sure that such persons would readily come forward to participate in the election process? I think chances are that such persons will not. As the Council and the Community Chest are such vital national organisations, we cannot leave it to chance. The Government has a duty to ensure that the Council and the Community Chest are well managed and well led. We have to ensure that only eminent persons who have the trust and the confidence of the public as well as of the many voluntary welfare organisations are appointed to these two high positions.

Sir, let me take this opportunity to inform Members that Dr Ee's successor as the President of the new Council will be Dr Robert Loh who is an eye surgeon. In fact, it was Dr Ee himself who recommended that Dr Loh succeeds him. Dr Loh has worked alongside Dr Ee for many years as the Vice-President of the Singapore Council of Social Service. He has served on many of the SCSS and Community Chest committees and he has been active in many other committees and welfare organisations. I have no doubt that Dr Loh, like Dr Ee before him, has the trust and the confidence of the voluntary welfare organisations. He will be able to build on the strong foundations laid by Dr Ee and he will be able to lead the NCSS in anticipating and providing for the future welfare needs of Singapore.

Sir, I would like to assure Members that the appointment of the President and the Chairman will not change the independent and voluntary status of the NCSS to be able to continue functioning independently as the present SCSS has done.

Sir, Mr Zulkifli has asked whether there should be a time bar for the appointment of the President of the new Council and the Chairman of Community Chest, just as there are similar time bars on the others. These two positions are key positions and as key positions, the pool of Singaporeans who would be suitable for performing these two roles would be very limited. It is important for us to let them do the job as long as they can continue doing the job well and if they wish to step down, then we will, of course, have no choice but to look for another member. If we manage to find another Dr Ee who is able to commit all his energy and to devote all his time to the Council, and he is prepared to do it for 10, 15 years, I think we should be very grateful that such a person exists.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Yeo Cheow Tong].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.