SMALL FAMILIES IMPROVEMENT SCHEME (Number of families who benefited and number disqualified)

Mr Imram bin Mohammed asked the Minister for Community Development how many families are benefiting from the Small Families Improvement Scheme; and how many families had subsequently disqualified from the scheme and for what reasons.

The Minister for Community Development (Mr Abdullah Tarmugi): Sir, the Small Families Improvement Scheme was introduced in January 1994. As at 15th August 1996, there were 509 families on the Scheme.

So far, eight families have withdrawn from the Scheme. Two of the couples were in the midst of divorce proceedings. Five intended to have a third child and one did not want to participate in the counselling and family planning programme as required under the Scheme. They have got to undergo counselling and family planning programme after the second child.

Mr Imram bin Mohammed (Nominated Member): Sir, are there many families who are eligible for the Scheme but have not availed themselves of the Scheme? If so, is there a need for the Ministry to make more effort to reach out to these people?

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi: Sir, indeed, there are many families who are eligible for the Scheme and families who are eligible will be placed on the Scheme. My Ministry is very flexible too in terms of the criteria that make people eligible for the Scheme. So far, we are quite happy with the number that has been captured, but definitely we want to capture more because we want to make sure that there are many more people who can take advantage of the Scheme. But we have to bear in mind that this group is very difficult to reach. So we have to use all ways to reach the families - through the FSCs, the grassroots organisations, pamphlets, the media and even hospitals and schools. We have mounted all these programmes and we will indeed be increasing the publicity on the programme. And if the Member has got any more suggestions on how we could improve the publicity on the programme, we will certainly consider them.

Dr Kanwaljit Soin (Nominated Member): Sir, would the Minister please give the percentage of the number of families that are on the Scheme? I think I heard the figure of 509. What percentage is this of the total families that are eligible for the Scheme?

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi: The last estimate we have on the total number of families who could be eligible for the Scheme would be about 8,000. So it is 509 of 8,000, which is less than 10%.

Dr Kanwaljit Soin: Sir, does the Minister think that this is a good uptake rate? Is this not a low uptake rate? I know that the Minister has said that they are trying to do more. But to me, it seems to be a very low uptake rate of the Scheme.

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi: Sir, as I mentioned earlier, we would be more than pleased if more families take up the offer, because it is indeed an offer. But in view of the difficulties of reaching this group, we feel that this is a fair number. But we will definitely be increasing our efforts to try to reach out to more families to join the Scheme.