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**WRITTEN ANSWER TO QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER NOT
ANSWERED BY 3.00 PM **

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SINGAPORE LABOUR FOUNDATION

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15.

Mdm Ho Geok Choo asked the Acting Minister for Manpower following the announcement in May 2004 that the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF) is giving up its charity status to focus on funding new programmes that will benefit workers, (a) what are these new programmes; (b) how will these programmes benefit workers in general; and (c) how will SLF be classified henceforth.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: SLF was set up to support the labour movement in Singapore. The funds of SLF have been derived from the union movement, mainly from subscriptions by union members as well as contributions from its co-operatives and investment income. Trade unions are exempt from income tax. So SLF was granted IPC status, and was exempted from tax. According to the Charities Act, 80% of the revenues must go towards charitable activities. However, most of the labour movement activities are not considered charitable activities under the Act. Therefore, during the review of SLF in December 2003, the decision was made to forgo its charity status to enable SLF to better focus on its original mission of supporting the labour movement as enacted under the SLF Act in 1977 and it will continue to do so.

SLF provides extensive support to the labour movement, for its activities ranging from financial assistance, to training sponsorship and recreational facilities. SLF will also be embarking on sponsoring training awards for union leaders who are selected for part-time or full-time studies in local diploma or degree courses. Lastly, SLF is working closely with NTUC to roll out new programmes to benefit workers in Singapore.

Mdm Ho asked how SLF will be classified. SLF will continue to be classified as a statutory board. Like any other statutory board, SLF will be required to contribute a percentage of its annual accounting surplus to the Government's Consolidated Fund. However, workers' contribution to SLF will be exempt from the requirement to contribute to the Consolidated Fund. MOF is currently working with SLF on an appropriate basis for its contribution.

SLF is a small statutory board with nine full-time staff. It relies primarily on NTUC to implement many of the programmes to help workers in Singapore. This is an efficient system that avoids duplication and enables SLF to remain trim.