Parliament continues with WP MPs raising questions on the National Stadium pitch, sharing economy taxi applications on easing peak hour taxi demand, withdrawal of monies from the Supplementary Retirement Scheme, labour productivity growth, security officer licences, the Home Protection Scheme, credential checks on foreigners, and legal challenges by medical doctors.
QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER*
*5. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry has determined which are the schools that the 40 new school-based Student Care Centres (SCCs) will be located in; (b) what criteria does the Ministry use to determine the location of these SCCs; and (c) whether the Ministry has completed its study with the Ministry of Social and Family Development on the demand pattern for SCCs and, if so, whether the findings of the study can be made public.
*7. Mr Yee Jenn Jong: To ask the Minister for Manpower in light of the 2013 Labour Force Survey report which states that the unemployment rate for degree holders below the age of 30 is 7.4% (a) what are the reasons behind this relatively high unemployment rate; and (b) whether the Ministry is taking any measures to address this issue.
*9. Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth what steps will be taken to avoid a repeat of the episode where the National Stadium pitch was deemed to have fallen short of international standards during the soccer friendly between Brazil and Japan on 14 October 2014.
*10. Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Transport whether sharing economy taxi applications such as Uber are a potential means to address peak hour taxi demand and the difficulty of getting a taxi during inclement weather and, if not, how does LTA plan to address the rise of such sharing economy enterprises.
*16. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether the 5% penalty for premature withdrawal of monies from accounts under the Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) can be waived for Singaporeans who wish to withdraw from their SRS account before their statutory retirement age.
*20. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether the Government is satisfied with labour productivity growth of 2.2%, -1.4% and -0.2% in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively vis-à-vis its stated target of 2-3% per year from 2010 to 2020; (b) what is the impact of this low productivity performance on overall economic growth; and (c) how much longer the Ministry expects it will take for 2-3% productivity growth per year to be achieved.
*21. Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Defence (a) what is the anticipated cost of the move of Central Manpower Base (CMPB) to its new premises near the upcoming Cashew MRT station; (b) what factors compel the Ministry to move CMPB to a new location; and (c) whether the Ministry has considered any other cost-effective alternatives before deciding on the construction of a new CMPB.
*22. Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the circumstances under which the Singapore Police Force will revoke existing security officer licences or reject new security officer licence applications; (b) what are the requirements that applicants have to fulfil to be eligible for a reinstatement or reconsideration of a revoked/rejected security officer licence; and (c) whether there is any debarment period in place.
*24. Ms Lee Li Lian: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the rationale for commencing Home Protection Scheme (HPS) coverage after the collection of keys to a HDB flat instead of when the lease agreement is signed; and (b) what is the rationale for not making HPS transferable to the next flat that is purchased.
*28. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Manpower what are the Government's plans to facilitate credential checks on foreigners coming to work in Singapore in light of cases of foreigners on employment passes who are revealed to have used false credentials.
*30. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Health (a) of all the unsuccessful legal challenges by medical doctors to disciplinary committee proceedings brought against them by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) in the past three years, how many of such cases have had their legal costs that the losing parties are ordered to pay reduced following the court's taxation of the bill of costs; (b) what has been the total quantum of costs taxed down; and (c) whether these have resulted in SMC paying the full quantum of costs that have been taxed down.
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-workers-party/parliamentary-questions...