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Closing Speech by Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Social and Family Development for Second Reading of Child Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Bill on 13 November 2024

Type: Official Speeches (All), Official Speeches: Sun Xueling,

Topic(s): Children & Families,

Published on 13 November 2024

Mr Speaker Sir,


  1. I thank Members for their support for the Bill. It is encouraging that we all agree it is important that we continue to strive towards an environment that values and supports families and children.

     

  2. Let me now respond to the questions and suggestions that Members have raised.


    Design of Parental Leave Schemes

  3. Ms Hany Soh asked if the Government referred to the parental leave provisions in other countries when designing the new Shared Parental Leave scheme. I mentioned earlier that the enhancements were developed after studying international practices, and extensive feedback and consultations with parents and the Tripartite Partners, so that we arrive at a scheme design that best fits our local context.

     

  4. Members have asked about the eligibility of different groups of parents and the scheme parameters.

     

  5. Mr Mark Lee asked whether parents with non-traditional work arrangements, such as newly-hired employees, will be eligible for the new Shared Parental Leave scheme. Broadly speaking, working parents who are eligible for the existing parental leave schemes, such as Government-Paid Maternity Leave and Paternity Leave will be eligible for the new Shared Parental Leave scheme. One of the eligibility criteria is that the employee should serve the employer for a continuous period of at least three months before the child’s birth, to be entitled to take these paid leave with the employer.

     

  6. Working parents who do not meet the minimum employment period of three months, such as those whose babies are born shortly after joining the company, may qualify for the new Shared Parental Leave Benefit scheme instead, if they have worked at least 90 days in the last 12 months. This is a cash benefit-equivalent scheme, similar to the existing Government-Paid Maternity and Paternity Benefit schemes, where parents will receive the cash benefit directly from the Government in lieu of paid leave and can use the cash benefits to make suitable work and caregiving arrangements.

     

  7. Progressive employers who would like to grant the new Shared Parental Leave to an employee whose child is born shortly after joining the company and does not meet the minimum employment period of three months, can be reimbursed by the Government, if the employee has met all other eligibility criteria. The leave that is voluntarily granted by the employer should also follow the conditions of the new Shared Parental Leave scheme, such as being taken within 12 months of the child’s birth.

     

  8. Ms Hany Soh asked if there is flexibility to the new requirement for employees to provide at least four weeks’ notice before commencing parental leave, in instances of pre-mature births. I would like to assure the Member that we understand these events are unpredictable and employees will not be penalised when there is sufficient cause for not giving notice.

     

  9. Mr Mark Lee also asked if operational constraints would serve as reasonable cause for an employer to delay the granting of the new Shared Parental Leave scheme. I wish to highlight that the consumption period for the new Shared Parental Leave is 12 months from the child’s date of birth and this provides a reasonable window within which the leave can be taken. The penalties will only apply when employers fail to demonstrate with reasonable cause that they could not grant parental leave at any time during the 12 months after the child’s birth. 

     

  10. As demonstrated by the examples raised by Ms Hany Soh and Mr Mark Lee, this is indeed why it is important for employers and employees to have early conversations and plan ahead as soon as possible, so that a suitable leave arrangement can be worked out to meet the needs of both parties – this could include taking the leave more flexibly in weeks, days or half-days as mentioned by Ms Mariam Jafaar, over the 12 months to avoid peak periods or periods of manpower shortage, or to meet changes in parents’ caregiving circumstances.

     

  11. Mr Louis Chua asked whether we can extend the consumption period for the new SPL scheme. When developing the new SPL scheme in consultation with the Tripartite Partners, we had considered allowing parents more flexibility to take the new SPL over a longer period of two years. However, employers preferred a shorter consumption period, to reduce the  uncertainty on when employees may be absent from work which could result in greater challenges in making manpower arrangements. We are always mindful that we need to balance employers’ needs even as we try our best to support new parents. Taking in these considerations, we decided on a consumption period of 12 months, which is also aligned with that for maternity and paternity leave schemes.

     

    Support for Self-Employed Persons

  12. Several Members called on greater support for self-employed persons and sought clarifications on the reimbursement of parental leave for those with multiple employers.

     

  13. Ms Jean See asked whether the Tripartite Standard on Contracting with Self-Employed Persons could state upfront that if the contracted freelancer must absent herself due to pregnancy and childbirth, the service buyer should consider substitution options rather than to terminate the contract.

     

  14.  The Tripartite Standard on Contracting with Self-Employed Persons states that when a self-employed person enters into an agreement with a service buyer, the parties’ obligations and how the agreement may be varied – among other things – should be set out clearly in writing. I encourage self-employed persons and service buyers to negotiate contracts that are mutually favourable, including providing for absences due to pregnancy and childbirth. Prescribing that the service buyer must consider substitution options when a self-employed person absents herself due to pregnancy and childbirth may make it very rigid for service buyers who may have legitimate urgent business needs.

     

  15. Ms Jean See also sought assurance that the Government will not condone pregnancy discrimination if a freelancer approaches the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices or the Small Claims Tribunal about losing a contract or contracted gig after disclosing her pregnancy status to the client.

     

  16. I wish to assure Ms See that in the final report of the Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness, the Committee recommended including additional guidelines in the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) to provide greater clarity that corporate service buyers and intermediaries should not discriminate based on characteristics that are not related to the job. The Ministry of Manpower will work with the Tripartite Partners to include these additional guidelines in the TGFEP.

     

  17. Ms Jean See also asked if GPML can be paid to eligible freelancers when the maternity leave commences and not after the ninth week of the maternity leave period. I wish to clarify that under the Employment Act and Child Development Co-Savings Act, the first eight weeks of maternity leave for the mother’s first two child orders are paid for by the employer and the Government reimburses for the last eight weeks. Freelancers are considered self-employed and the same approach is adopted for self-employed persons. The first eight weeks of maternity leave for the first two child orders are also paid for by the self-employed person, while the Government pays for the lost income for the ninth to 16th week of maternity leave.

     

  18. To ensure accountability for the use of public funds, paying on a reimbursement basis is a safeguard to ensure that the leave is taken as intended before payment is released. However, we do understand that cash flow may be an important consideration for freelancers and self-employed persons. To mitigate this, self-employed persons are encouraged to submit their claims accurately as soon as possible. Claim submissions that are accurate and complete will typically be reimbursed within 10 working days. Self-employed persons can also claim reimbursement for any portion of government-paid leave that has been taken even when there is still remaining leave to be consumed. This means self-employed persons can submit claims between the ninth to 16th week of maternity leave for the first two child orders and need not wait for the period of eight weeks to have passed before claiming for reimbursement.

     

  19. Ms Jean See and Mr Mark Lee asked how the reimbursement limit will apply for parents who have multiple employments, such as those who hold multiple jobs, or are both an employee and a self-employed person. Such parents will be able to take parental leave with each employer as well as take time-off as a self-employed person. For example, for the new Shared Parental Leave, the total amount that the Government may reimburse the parent’s employers for paid leave given to the parent and pay directly to the parent as a self-employed person will be capped at $2,500 per week. If the total reimbursement across multiple employments exceeds $2,500 per week, the Government will reimburse the parent’s employers first, as employers would have already paid for their employee’s leave, before considering claims by the parent as a self-employed person.

     

  20. Where there are multiple employers and the total claim amount exceeds the reimbursement limit, the reimbursement for each employer will be further determined based on the proportion of the employer’s claim out of the total claim amount submitted by all employers. I would like to assure the Member that this group of employees is very small, at less than 1% of claims. We encourage employees to inform their employers before consuming the leave, if they have multiple employers and are likely to exceed the reimbursement limit. The Bill provides for employers to recover the difference directly from their employees, if the total claim amount exceeds the reimbursement limit.

     

  21. I wish to assure Mr Mark Lee and Mr Melvin Yong that these details will be covered in the guidelines which the Ministry of Social and Family Development will provide on its website.

     

  22. To Mr Mark Lee’s question on the computation of income for self-employed persons, it is based on the income set out in the individual’s Notice of Assessment and should therefore cover any seasonal variations within a year.

     

    Encouraging the Use of Leave Provisions

  23. Let me now move to suggestions on how we can encourage the take-up of parental leave schemes.

     

  24. Mr Louis Ng asked how we can encourage fathers, especially low-income fathers, to take more paternity leave. Ms Hany Soh also suggested incentivising fathers to take more leave by introducing additional bonuses, either in the form of payouts or additional leave to couples if the father takes paternity leave or shares a certain portion of the new Shared Parental Leave scheme. Mr Louis Chua suggested making the reimbursement for a portion of paternity leave contingent on fathers taking a minimum number of weeks of leave.

     

  25. First, this is why we are introducing new employment protection for fathers taking Government-Paid Paternity Leave. Mothers are currently protected against dismissals when they are on maternity leave. By extending the same protection to fathers who are on paternity leave, we want to send a strong signal to employers that it is important for them to also support their male employees to take parental leave, beside their female employees. We hope that this protection will provide fathers with the assurance and peace of mind to go ahead to use their paternity leave entitlement. The same protection will also be extended to employees taking Adoption Leave. I agree with Ms Mariam Jaafar and Ms Hany Soh that we must continue to strengthen protection against discrimination of women with childbearing intentions and parents at the workplace and the upcoming Workplace Fairness Bill will address this.

     

  26. On the new protections, Mr Desmond Choo asked to increase the penalty for employers who are first-time offenders, from the current fine not exceeding $5,000 to a fine not exceeding $10,000. The current penalties under the CDCA are in line with other employment offences for statutory leave provisions in the Employment Act and we will take the Member’s feedback into consideration when reviewing the penalties. It is also important to understand the spirit of the law, which is to encourage a supportive workplace environment for families.

     

  27. In response to Mr Louis Ng’s point on incentivising fathers to take paternity leave and Shared Parental Leave, not only are we offering fathers protection from dismissal, we are also paying for both types of leave in full, up to $2,500 per week or about $10,000 per month.

     

  28. Members have provided useful suggestions, and we will continue to review our parental leave schemes and study how we can design them better to encourage utilisation.

     

  29. This brings me to my second point that beyond legislation and Government support, workplace culture and societal norms are key factors that influence whether parents use their parental leave entitlements. I echo Mr Desmond Choo, Ms Mariam Jaafar and Dr Wan Rizal, who highlighted that a shift in policy cannot by itself drive cultural change. Encouraging greater paternal involvement and shared parental responsibilities require mindset shifts in our society. Workplaces with supportive supervisors and coworkers can make a huge difference to assure fathers to go ahead and take leave to bond with and care for their newborns. Therefore, the Government has been, and will continue to work with Tripartite Partners and community partners such as Families for Life Council and Centre for Fathering to encourage employers to foster family-friendly workplaces.

     

  30. I urge supervisors to be supportive when their employees apply for paternity leave and hope that coworkers will be understanding and help to cover their colleagues who take time off work to care for their children. I also call on parents to be ready to extend similar support when they return to work, should their colleagues also need to take time off from work to tend to their families.

     

  31. As Ms Mariam Jaafar highlighted, we will continue to track our progress and the take up of our parental leave schemes. The Ministry of Social and Family Development published the "Family Trends Report" in July 2024, which provides key annual updates on Singapore’s family trends as we work towards achieving a Singapore Made for Families. The report includes the utilisation trends of Government-paid Leave Schemes. The National Population and Talent Division also regularly conducts the Marriage and Parenthood Survey to understand perceptions toward marriage and parenthood, including that of parental caregiving roles and the actual division of childcare duties at home between men and women.

     

    Further Increases in Leave Provisions

  32. Several members have also called for further increases in parental leave provisions.

     

  33. Mr Louis Ng asked about further increasing paternity leave to eventually equalise maternity and paternity leave, so that we avoid entrenching gender stereotypes.

     

  34. Maternity leave is longer than paternity leave, given that mothers need time to recuperate physically after childbirth as emphasised by MP Jessica Tan earlier. Although the duration of maternity and paternity leave differs, the Government has been mindful about the importance of encouraging shared parental responsibility. As we can see from the progressive rounds of enhancements in recent years have focused mainly on increasing paternity leave.

     

  35. Mr Louis Chua, Ms Mariam Jaafar and Dr Wan Rizal suggested increasing Childcare Leave, including to tier it according to the number of children or combining it into a pool of family leave.

     

  36. To Mr Louis Chua’s suggestion to increase Childcare Leave from six to eight days in view of the additional preschool closure days, I would like to clarify that there has been a net increase of 0.5 days of preschool closure and not two additional days as the Member had thought. Previously, all preschools were already allowed to close 7.5 days per year – six closure days and three half-days on the eves of selected public holidays.

     

  37. We fully recognise that caring for a child is a long-term commitment and that working parents must continue to manage their work and caregiving responsibilities even after the first year of the child’s life.

     

  38. Currently, each working parent whose youngest child is below seven years old is entitled to six days of Childcare Leave per year. A working couple would therefore have a total of 12 days of Childcare Leave on top of their annual leave provisions, which they can use for preschool closure days and other childcare purposes. At the start of this year, we also doubled Unpaid Infant Care Leave to 12 days per parent in the child’s first two years.

     

  39. Any further enhancements to our leave schemes will require us to strike a fine balance between the caregiving needs of parents and the manpower and operational needs of employers. We also need to provide employers with some time to adjust to the significant increase in overall parental leave provisions with the introduction of the new Shared Parental Leave scheme. Nevertheless, we will continue to regularly review our leave policies in consultation with parents and the Tripartite Partners.

     

  40. Beyond legislated leave provisions, we encourage other sustainable ways that support parents and other caregivers in juggling work and caregiving commitments, such as Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA). The Tripartite Guidelines on FWA Requests will take effect from 1 December 2024 and the mandatory guidelines will enable employers and employees to have open discussions and work out arrangements that can meet both parties’ needs. We should focus on building confidence and capabilities among companies to manage Flexible Workplace Arrangements effectively, instead of relying on legislation alone. We thank the NTUC on this front.

     

    Support for Employers

  41. Even as some Members call for even more leave provisions, other Members have highlighted the potential challenges that businesses may face in managing the extended absences of employees. Mr Desmond Choo, Mr Mark Lee, Ms Hany Soh, Ms Hazel Poa, Dr Wan Rizal and Ms Yeo Wan Ling have called for better support to help companies, especially small and medium enterprises, with manpower and operational constraints.

     

  42. We fully understand that employers are concerned about the impact of the parental leave enhancements on their business and manpower arrangements. As I mentioned in my opening speech, we have therefore worked closely with Tripartite Partners and employer representatives, to design the parental leave enhancements in a way that best mitigates some of the challenges that employers may face.

     

  43. Indeed, one key approach is that most of Singapore’s parental leave provisions are paid by the Government and at a generous level of $2,500 per week or about $10,000 per month. This fully covers the wages of the majority of employees on leave. Employers can use the wage savings to mitigate the operational impact of their employees going on leave. This includes hiring and training temporary workers, providing additional remuneration to recognise the effort of colleagues covering for the employees on leave, and supporting any overlapping periods for handovers when reintegrating returning employees.

     

  44. On the Government’s reimbursement to employers, I would like to assure Dr Wan Rizal that we are committed to ensuring timely reimbursements and streamlining claim processes. For example, in response to feedback, we have since allowed claims for Childcare Leave to be submitted in batches, instead of individually, to reduce the administrative burden on employers. We will continue to review and improve our reimbursement processes to support employers in providing parental leave.

     

  45. For the longer term, we encourage employers to take this opportunity to strengthen their manpower planning capabilities and make operational and system adjustments. After all, given the demographic challenges of a declining birth rate and an ageing workforce, mature economies and societies like ours must increasingly find ways to effectively navigate manpower constraints in future and manage a more flexible workforce well. Employers can tap on existing grants and resources, such as the Productivity Solutions Grant to improve business productivity and automation, and implement Flexible Work Arrangements, or use SkillsFuture Credits for their HR professionals to obtain the Institute of Human Resource Professionals’ certifications and be equipped with progressive people practices.

     

    Strengthening Financial and Other Support for Parents

  46. Mr Melvin Yong asked whether the Government can consider extending the Shared Parental Benefit to couples whose babies are expected to be born in the first quarter of 2025. I seek Members’ understanding that specific start dates are required for any new measure or enhancement, to ensure a smooth implementation process for all stakeholders involved. This start date applies to both the Shared Parental Leave scheme as well as its cash benefit-equivalent Shared Parental Benefit scheme.

     

  47. Ms Hazel Poa spoke about other concerns that we must also address to build a conducive environment for families. In the infographic I have shared earlier, Members will see how the Government has put in place a comprehensive suite of support measures across various domains such as housing, healthcare and education, and we will continue to review our measures to address the needs of parents, including the cost of raising children, as several MPs have highlighted.

     

  48. We had recently enhanced the Baby Bonus Cash Gift and Government contributions to the Child Development Account (CDA) last year, to support parents in defraying the costs of child-raising.

     

  49. Ms Hany Soh asked if we could further enhance CDA to cover optional enrichment programmes and family outings. The CDA is intended to help parents defray healthcare and educational costs, and we have scoped the use of the CDA accordingly. We regularly review the uses of the CDA and will take Ms Soh’s feedback into consideration.

     

  50. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his National Day Rally speech had also said that the Government is also looking into ways to provide more support to larger families with three or more children, such as the resident with four children whom Ms Hany Soh mentioned.

     

  51. Mr Melvin Yong suggested further healthcare support for mothers, such as through providing universal maternity insurance for all mothers-to-be including those with pre-existing conditions, to allay worries about unexpected pregnancy complications. I wish to highlight that as a universal health insurance scheme, MediShield Life covers all Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents, including mothers-to-be with pre-existing conditions, for life. They can be assured that MediShield Life covers the treatment of serious pregnancy and delivery-related complications. For general maternity expenses, the Government provides subsidies of up to 80%, and allows the use MediSave through the MediSave Maternity Package. Expectant mothers may choose to purchase maternity insurance policies for added coverage. Such maternity insurance plans are optional private products, where the benefits and terms and conditions are determined by insurers.

     

    Conclusion

  52. Sir, let me now conclude. I am grateful for the views shared by the Members and thank them for their various suggestions. The current amendments covered in this Bill are part of the Government’s commitment to better provide working parents with greater caregiving support, especially in their child’s early years when the care needs are the greatest. We hope that both mothers and fathers will use the enhanced leave provisions well, to bond with their children and share the parenthood journey together.

     

  53. We must also recognise that these schemes do not operate in isolation and that parenthood continues beyond infancy. We will therefore need to press on with our whole-of-society effort to build a Singapore Made For Families.

     

  54. Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.