SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT UNIT (Merger)

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT UNIT:

(Merger): 14.

Miss Penny Low asked the Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports if he will consider the merging of the Social Development Services (SDS) and Social Development Unit (SDU) so that the two organisations can share resources and programmes and reap economies of scale, while the members of both clubs enjoy a bigger selection of potential spouses.

The Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon) (for the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports): Sir, I would like to thank Miss Penny Low for her suggestion. There are merits in her suggestion that if the Social Development Services (SDS) and Social Development Unit (SDU) merge, there would be economies of scale, and more social opportunities for members.

Currently, SDU and SDS do work together atMCYS. The staffmeet to share strategies and ideas on how to encourage social interaction amongst singles. They also collaborate on various programmes which are open to both SDU and SDS members.

Sir, 147,000 SDU and SDS members have married since the setting up of these two units. We are presently reviewing the functions and programmes of SDU and SDS in order to provide even better services to members and to achieve an evenhigher marriage rate.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: Could I ask the Minister of State what is the rationale for having an SDU andSDS?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: I am sure most of the Members understand the background. In our society we have different segments of people. In order to reach thetargeted group more effectively,we divided it into two groups at the beginning. Butthings developed, and there was more and more collaboration between these two groups. They sharestrategies, worktogether andeven sharedata. Lately, theytold me that they areusinga very advancedelectronic device known as "Blue Tooth". With it, you caneven know the potential partner you are going to meetwithin 20 metres, and it is up to youwhether or notto respond.

In the last few years, the staff really worked very hard with corporations,community clubs, grassroots organisations, CDCs, campuses and universities. They try to work together to targetdifferent groups and we do allow them to share information and programmes.I could see more collaboration would emerge.

Miss Penny Low: Does the Minister of State have a breakdown on the success rate of SDU vis-a-vis SDS?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: The SDS has a higher success rate. Like I said just now, out of the 147,000 marriages, 112,000 are from SDS and 35,000 from SDU. I am sure Members know that the number of graduates is also smaller. But,the most important thing is that we carried out a survey and the image has improved. More and more people are prepared to use SDU and SDS. But, we also have a segment of people who prefer to go through friends, relatives and colleagues. SoMembersshould render a helping hand and we hope toachieve more marriages.

Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Could the Minister of State tell us how much funding is provided to SDS and SDU and how many members SDS and SDU serve?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: SDU now serves about 18,000 membersand SDS serves about 86,000 members.I do notice that SDU does have a higher operation budget than SDS. Besides direct service delivery, SDU forms strategic alliances with both commercial and community partners to promote marriages. While SDS gives direct services to members, SDU, besides giving services to members, also takes on the role of promoting marriages in Singapore. It also tries to promotefamily values, the importance of being a mother, parenthood, and so on. So, taking into considerationthe strategic planning andpromotional duties, they do incur additional budget. We would try to relook at this. Where resource allocation is necessary, we would look into it. When reviewing the whole thing, resource allocation is also one of the important areas.

Miss Penny Low: **** Given our current national agenda on priority of marriage and procreation, and that the SDS serves a larger membership and has been very successful in matching couples, would the Ministry consider allocatingmore funding and resources to step up its efforts in picking the low-lying fruits without, of course, relenting its effort on getting the graduates to wed?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: I thank the Member for her suggestion. Like I have said, the bottom-line is to have more marriages. So, I am surewe would review and look into the allocation of resources correctly.

Dr Ong Seh Hong (Aljunied): I would like to ask the Minister of State whether she is aware that there is this trend in Singapore in that the male likes to marry down and the female likes to marry up - (上 �?,下 娶 shang jia, xia qu). So, if SDU and SDS are going to merge, would the graduate women who are singlebe further disadvantaged because the graduate men would have more opportunities to meet those with lower educational level and (下 娶 xiaqu) and we may end up with less opportunities for the single graduate women?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: I did ask the officers and they told me that during the collaboration between SDU and SDS programmes, they do have this problem. While some of the graduate women were left at the corner,we also have less educated menleft at the corner too. So, like I said, we are taking a very pragmatic approach.I do understand the sentiments of theMember and we would look at what is the best way to address this issue.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: Mr Speaker, could I ask the Minister of State again, please?I understand the rationale, but are we then merging SDU and SDS? I could not hear a categorical yes or no.Are we or are we not?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: As I have said, we are reviewing the whole programme together. We need to study the issues and implications more carefully andnot rush into it.

Ms Braema Mathiaparanam: In the light of that reviewing process, my question would be: as MCYS is the body that takes care of harmonising relationship, having an SDU and SDS, would it not then beentrenching class divides?

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon: Both units are under the portfolio of MCYS, even though PA directly supervises the programmes. The strategies and policies are under the same unit. So we try to harmonise. LikeI said, when we review this programme, we would take into consideration all the Members' suggestions.