Question
Ms Rahayu Mahzam
MP for Jurong GRC
To ask the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) in the past five years, what is number of maintenance applications submitted to the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents; (b) whether there has been any significant increase or decrease in the number of applications made over the years; and (c) what percentage of the applications are resolved by mediation.
Answer
1. There were 262 new maintenance applications submitted to the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents in the last five years. There is no clear trend in the number of applications. It has ranged from a low of 36 in 2015 to a high of 70 in 2016.
2. Applicants who file maintenance applications have to attend mediation before their case is heard by the Tribunal. In 2017, our mediators resolved half (51%) of the maintenance applications filed, an increase from 39% in 2013.