1. I thank members for affirming the importance of supporting families.
a. Families are the bedrock of our society. I agree with Mr Yip Hon Weng that when families are strong, our society will be strong.
Supporting families through key stages of life
2. Building on this strong foundation, the Government is committed to supporting all families as they journey through key stages of life, from couples seeking to get married and raise families, to parents with young children. Let me elaborate on them in turn.
3. Marriage aspirations among young Singaporeans remain strong, and the Government will continue to work with our partners to support young Singaporeans to build their own future families.
a. Ms Ng Ling Ling suggested piloting an initiative to allow young couples to hold their wedding in an iconic, historical and beautiful public institution. Since 2022, couples have had the option of holding their solemnisation ceremony at the picturesque Family Zone @ Gardens by the Bay. The Registry of Marriages (ROM) and Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM) at Canning Rise has also been a cherished venue for couples embarking on their marital journeys, for over four decades. To better meet the needs of couples, the current ROM/ROMM site will be undergoing redevelopment.
b. Ms Razwana Begum suggested providing Marriage Preparation Courses to assist newlyweds in developing skills and mindset for a strong and lasting marriage.
The Families for Life or FFL movement, led by the FFL Council, brings together various partners to offer marriage programmes to provide pre-marital education through the FFL@Community initiative. The goal is to equip soon-to-weds and newlyweds with the necessary family skills to strengthen their marriage. Mr Yip Hon Weng suggested to enhance training for caregivers and Ms Nadia Samdin mentioned community circles for new parents. Ms Razwana Begum proposed establishing a Family Ambassadors Programme to guide and provide resources to families. Under FFL@Community, families can conveniently access parenting and grandparenting programmes, as well as parent peer support groups formed and led by volunteers, to equip themselves to step into their roles more confidently. As Mr Melvin Yong has highlighted, FFL@Community has been expanded to 18 towns today and we are on target to roll out nationwide to all towns by the end of this year.
c. The Government has also launched Grow Well SG recently, a new national health promotion strategy which aims to inculcate healthier lifestyles in children. Ms Rachel Ong and Ms Razwana Begum mentioned concerns around screen time and social media use amongst children. Under Grow Well SG, ECDA has incorporated explicit guidelines on screen time into the Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDC) Code of Practice. To help educators internalise these guidelines, ECDA will provide guidance on screen use within the upcoming Educators’ Guide for the Early Years Development Framework. We are also collaborating with partners to develop accessible resources, so that parent and caregivers can be equipped to reinforce these habits at home.
4. Besides strengthening marriage relationships, we have also enhanced our support for parents, especially for those with young children who need to balance caregiving and work responsibilities.
5. Mr Gan Thiam Poh suggested supporting families by providing more places and lowering fees at government-supported preschools. Indeed, preschools now play a key role in meeting families’ caregiving needs and complement parents in supporting our children’s development. We have invested significantly in early childhood care and education in recent years. The Government’s annual expenditure on the early childhood sector has more than doubled from $1 billion in 2018, to over $2 billion today.
6. Much of this funding is channelled towards building more infant care and childcare places and improving their affordability.
a. We note Mr Xie Yao Quan’s suggestion to increase the Basic Subsidy, which we provide to all Singaporean children attending preschools. Basic Subsidy is only one of several avenues ensuring preschool affordability. In recent years, the Government has enhanced preschool affordability via other means to effectively lower families’ preschool expenses.
b. In 2020, we raised the household income ceiling for means-tested subsidies from $7,500 to $12,000 and increased the subsidy quantum across all eligible income tiers, so that more families could benefit.
c. For children attending government-supported preschools, infant and childcare fees are capped. For the past decade, parents have seen their out-of-pocket payment for fees decrease as there is significant funding provided by ECDA to these government-supported preschools to lower fee caps.
d. A middle-income household with a monthly income of $8,000 currently pays around $500 per month for full-day infant care in an Anchor Operator preschool, which is around two-thirds of what they would have paid 10 years ago.
e. For full-day childcare in an Anchor Operator preschool, a middle-income household pays around $200 today, less than half of what they would have paid 10 years ago. With the enhancements to the Child Development Account (or CDA) and First Step Grant since February 2023, middle-income households with their child enrolled in Anchor Operator preschools can tap on CDA monies to fully cover four years of childcare expenses if they save up to the co-matching cap.
f. As I announced last year, we will make a final reduction for childcare fee caps in 2026 such that families enrolled in full-day childcare in Anchor Operator preschools will pay similar expenses to that of primary school and after-school student care, before means-tested subsidies.
7. We have also significantly increased infant care and childcare capacity, and built them in areas where families with young children are concentrated.
a. Mr Melvin Yong and Ms Hany Soh spoke about the challenges that parents with young children face in securing preschool places. To plan for new preschool places, ECDA analyses the demographics, projected resident birth cohort, enrolment trends, and existing supply in each Planning Area, especially in BTO developments, to meet projected demand. To ensure that these preschools are operational when residents move in, ECDA facilitates Anchor Operators’ (AOPs’) early access to technical plans and arranges site visits so that renovations can commence once the keys are handed over. ECDA further supports AOPs by providing infrastructure and manpower recruitment funding in advance, to prepare centres to receive children promptly.
b. We have also grown full-day infant care places nearly threefold over the past 10 years, from around 6,000 places in 2015 to around 16,000 places in 2024.
Full-day childcare places, on the other hand, have significantly increased over the past 10 years, from around 115,000 places in 2015 to around 200,000 places in 2024.
8. The preschool landscape as a whole has changed significantly since the Early Childhood Development Agency (or ECDA) was set up about a decade ago. In particular, we set our ambitions high and made a decisive move to expand government-supported preschool places. Back in 2019, then-PM Lee Hsien Loong committed at the National Day Rally that 80% of preschoolers can have a place in government-supported preschools by around 2025.
a. In just a short span of six years, from 2019 to 2024, we have increased government-supported preschools to cater from just over 50% of preschoolers in 2019 to 70% today. By the end of this year, 2025, we will achieve our commitment to provide enough government-supported preschool places to cater to 80% of preschoolers, allowing the vast majority of Singaporean families to benefit from accessible, affordable, and quality preschools.
9. To support the aggressive expansion of preschool capacity, we have also made moves to attract, retain and develop early childhood educators.
a. Mr Melvin Yong suggested increasing staff-child ratios in preschools to support the well-being of educators.
The staff-child ratio requirements are minimum requirements to ensure the safety and well-being of children, though in practice preschools can and do operate with more staff than required.
b. ECDA has made concrete moves to improve the career proposition and working conditions of preschool educators.
c. This includes salary enhancements and the removal of the requirement for childcare centres to operate on Saturdays from this year. In October 2024, we also appointed relief staff service providers for the sector to have access to a pool of affordable short-term manpower. This is to allow educators to take time off for their personal or professional needs. While still a relatively new initiative, we have been encouraged by the interest and take up rate thus far.
10. At the same time, we are exploring innovative new ways to better cater to the differing caregiving needs of parents.
a. In December 2024, ECDA launched a new childminding pilot for infants. Under this pilot, parents can engage childminders to look after their infants in the childminders’ homes or in a community setting. With subsidies, parents using these services full-time will pay around $700 a month, lower than the cost of most childminding services today.
b. While the pilot is still in the early stages of ramping up, we are encouraged by the signs of interest from parents thus far. Other parents who may prefer more personalised attention and greater flexibility in their infant care arrangements can consider tapping on this option.
Uplifting families with greater needs
11. As we strengthen our support for families, we recognise that certain groups face unique challenges, and we have provided additional upstream support for them.
12. Mr Syed Harun mentioned the need to support single-parent families such as those who have undergone marital separation, as well as children in these families. For married couples facing relationship challenges, the Strengthening Families Programme @ Family Service Centre ,otherwise known as FAM@FSC, provides a continuum of support that begins even before they reach the point of divorce. For example, through the provision of family counselling and related resources on the Family Assist portal, we hope to help families overcome their differences and remain intact as a unit. Nonetheless, we understand that there will be cases where some family relationships cannot be repaired.
In such instances, the well-being of the children is a paramount consideration. And this is why, from July 2024, we had mandated that all divorcing couples with minor children must attend the Mandatory Co-Parenting Programme (CPP), including those who are filing for divorce on the simplified track. The CPP encourages cooperative co-parenting post-divorce, and supports parents to make informed decisions that prioritise the well-being of their children.
13. For lower income families, we have moved in recent years to empower them, over and above continuing our support via ComCare.
a. As Mr Melvin Yong has observed, the preschool participation rate of children aged 3 to 4 years from lower-income families is lower than the national average. We have taken steps to close this gap by addressing the practical barriers that these families face.
i. First, we have removed the affordability barrier. As of December 2024, all families with a monthly income of $6,000 and below qualify for the maximum childcare subsidies for their income tier, regardless of the parents’ employment status. This means that lower-income families can pay as low as $3 per month for full-day childcare in an Anchor Operator preschool.
ii. Second, we have proactively reached out to lower-income families and incentivised them to enrol their children into preschool in a timely manner. We expanded the Preschool Outreach Programme to more children from lower-income families to encourage and facilitate their children’s enrolment in preschool by age
iii. The ComLink+ Progress Package for Preschool encourages preschool enrolment and attendance by providing families with a $500 payout into their child’s Child Development Account if their child is enrolled in preschool in the year they turn 3, and a further $200 payout for each quarter of good attendance. Since August 2024, close to 1,500 ComLink+ families and their children have been placed on this Package. While still in its early days, we hope that the Package will also contribute to an improvement in preschool enrolment and attendance rates for these families.
iv. Finally, we have implemented priority enrolment for children from lower-income families at Anchor Operator preschools.
v. With the above moves, we hope that lower-income families will have greater assurance that they can secure a preschool place and can afford to send their children to preschool.
14. Mr Xie Yao Quan asked whether it is possible to make student care more affordable for lower-income families, by enhancing and streamlining the Student Care Fee Assistance scheme.
a. The Student Care Fee Assistance scheme, SCFA, is a tiered subsidy scheme, which provides monthly subsidies of up to 98% of student care fees, up to a maximum amount of $290 a month.
b. The scheme is designed such that families will co-pay a reasonable amount according to their means, should they require the use of student care centres as a caregiving option after school hours.
c. The median fee at student care centres has been stable at around $295 a month over the past few years.
Based on this median fee, post-subsidy, a family who has a monthly household income of less than $3,000 may incur a cost of less than 1% to around 4% of household income per child, while a family with a monthly household income of $3,001 to $4,500 may incur a cost of up to 6% of household income, per child.
d. We will consider the Member’s suggestions as we review the SCFA to ensure that student care prices remain reasonable for lower-income families.
Whole-of-society support for families
15. Our efforts to support families would not be possible without the contributions of various agencies, stakeholders and volunteers. It takes a collective, whole-of-society effort to make Singapore a place where all families can grow and thrive.
a. In workplaces, we have been working with Tripartite Partners and community partners such as Families for Life Council to encourage employers to foster family-friendly practices. For instance, we work closely with CapitaLand to support its commitment to foster work-life balance and strengthen family bonding, such as offering Families for Life lunchtime talks and organising family days for its employees.
b. Mr Zhulkarnain has suggested launching campaigns to normalise fathers' involvement and challenge stereotypes. Ms Razwana Begum also suggested having programmes that challenge and shift traditional gender norms. To this end, we work closely with our partners such as the Centre for Fathering, who runs an annual “Great Companies for Dads Award” which engages and recognises organisations that nurture a family-friendly work culture through policies and initiatives that support fathers.
c. Ms Joan Pereira suggested instituting guidelines on the extension of childcare service hours to accommodate working parents. Under ECDA’s Code of Practice, childcare centres must operate from 7am to 7pm on weekdays, which are typical work hours. Many childcare educators are parents themselves, and they need to go home on time to be with their families as well.
Employers should play their part to support parents, by providing a family-friendly work environment that supports employees in managing work and caregiving responsibilities. MOS Gan Siow Huang will share more about support for families via employment and workplace practices.
d. Mr Yip Hon Weng suggested promoting activities that unite families. Last year, the Families for Life Council expanded the annual National Family Week into a month-long National Family Festival (NFF) for the first time. The Festival not only celebrates families and reinforces their importance, but also brings together more than 200 partners from the public, private, and community sectors together to rally around this cause. Besides the NFF, the Families for Life Council also organises activities to encourage family bonding and promote family values throughout the year.
16. Mr Speaker, Sir, a few words in Mandarin, please. 整体生育率下降的现象并非新加坡独有。OECD （经济合作与发展组织）38个成员国的整体生育率从1960年的每名女性生育3.3个孩子下降到2022年的1.5个孩子。
17. 作为一个小国，整体生育力更是我们的生存挑战。人力一直是我们最重要以及最珍惜的资源。支持国人组建和养育家庭是国家的重要任务。
18. “为家庭而设的新加坡”是政府全力推动全社会共同努力支持家庭的举措。
19. 要把新加坡打造成一个真正宜于家庭的环境，不仅仅是政府的责任，我们还需社会各个阶层，包括雇主、企业、社区伙伴的支持。
20. 通过与国人的多次交流，我了解许多国人都在思考如何平衡工作与生活，以及如何处理养育子女的成本。
21. 将心比心，政府一定要体恤民情，努力降低家庭的育儿成本。
22. 在这方面，我们加强了婴儿花红计划，帮助减轻与孩子相关的各种费用。每名儿童可获得最高 38,000 新元的婴儿花红和新生儿保健储蓄补助金。
23. 我们也为孩子的教育提供了大量的补贴。 从幼儿园到中学，每名儿童的教育补助超过 20 万新元，更高等教育阶段的补助金额更大。综合考虑政府在幼儿发展领域的投资以及即将推出的育儿假优化措施，我们预计结婚生育配套的政府支出将在 2026 财政年接近 70 亿新元，相比 2020 年的 40 亿新元有大幅增长。
24. 总理在去年的国庆群众大会上提到的，我们将推出一个针对大家庭的新计划。具体细节将在今年的财政预算案中公布。
25. 刚才有议员提到了灵活工作安排和支持在职父母等建议。政府最近也推出了针对这方面问题的新举措。随着即将实施的额外两周强制性的政府承担薪资的陪产假以及新版的父母共用产假，父母将能享有长达30周的有薪假期来照顾他们的新生婴儿。去年12月，《劳资政灵活工作安排要求指导原则》也正式生效。
我们敦促企业设身地为员工着想，对那些有照顾家庭需要的员工，给与更多灵活的工作安排，帮助他们实现与家人共度优质时光和追求职业理想的双赢目标。
26. 议员提出降低住房成本的建议。在本届政府任期内，我们加大了力度，帮助已婚夫妇拥有自己的住房，让他们能够共同开启新生活、组建家庭。具体的措施包括：大幅增加组屋供应、缩短等候时间、以及增强购房津贴和补助，确保组屋价格保持在可负担范围内。
27. 我们希望通过解决年轻父母可能面对的实际挑战，让他们在自身情况，需求和偏好下，得到更好的支持，从而更安心地组织家庭。
28. The Government remains committed to supporting Singaporean families across different needs, from building strong family relationships and managing child-raising costs, to uplifting those who require additional support. We will continue to review our policies and programmes to ensure that they remain relevant in supporting our families.
Thank you.