From 26 February to 6 March 2020, a team of interns from AWARE visited Parliament to follow the 2020 Committee of Supply (CoS) debates.

The CoS debates occur after the National Budget is announced. They comprise an examination into each ministry’s plans, during which individual Members of Parliament (MP) may request to speak on issues relating to each ministry.

Below are a few areas of interest to AWARE’s work.

1. Caregiving for children and the elderly

Several MPs raised concerns about the financial and social challenges faced by caregivers, and what could be done to assist them.  

MP Saktiandi Supaat spoke about the financial burden on caregivers of elderly parents due to rising healthcare costs, reminding the government to think about how peace of mind can be ensured among Singaporeans beyond the Care and Support Package. He also raised concerns about caregivers’ employability, pointing out that caregivers are often unable to commit to retraining, and questioned if the government has targeted them in outreach efforts. 

Meanwhile, Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Yip Pin Xiu called attention to how women are disproportionately affected by caregiving responsibilities, which hurts their ability to work and accumulate financial resources. She added that more can be done to redistribute caregiving responsibilities and ease the pressure on women, starting by collecting more robust data on caregivers in Singapore. 

Similarly, MP Chen Show Mao spoke up on the same issue and proposed for a CPF top-up in addition to cash grants for caregivers to better ensure their retirement adequacy.

The provision of caregiving-related leave was raised. MP Louis Ng called for a specific childcare sick leave on a per-child basis. He also suggested legislating parental care leave. Similarly, NMP Yip suggested that childcare leave be converted to family care leave so it can be used for the care of other family members.

2. Support for all families, including single-parent and transnational families 

AWARE welcomed the continued calls for more support to be granted to marginalised families. 

MP Ng suggested that existing tax reliefs available to married couples be extended to unwed parents and single fathers, as “all parents regardless of marital status should be respected”, not discriminated against.

NMP Walter Theseira expressed concern for transnational families, which make up a significant proportion of Singapore’s population but are disadvantaged in several public policy areas. Many of them live in uncertainty as their foreign spouse must continuously apply to stay in the country, with no guarantee of success. Transnational couples, especially lower-income ones, have limited housing options. He asked if the Long-Term Visitor Pass Plus (LTVP+) can be granted to all foreign spouses of citizens to provide greater assurance of their right to reside.

Finally, MP Seah Kian Peng strongly urged for our understanding of families to change, as not everyone fits into the mould of a nuclear family unit. This is so that single unmarried parents do not continue to be deprived of housing just because they are not considered an official “family nucleus”. 

3. Women and work: harassment and discrimination

NMP Yip spoke about workplace harassment and the gender wage gap. She emphasised the importance of ensuring that employers adopt and adhere to the Tripartite Advisory on Workplace Harassment and hoped that the Government will continue to promote adoption. She expressed concern that the unadjusted gender wage gap remained largely unchanged over the decade, and made suggestions to encourage father’s uptake of caregiving-related leave. 

Meanwhile, Non-constituency MP (NCMP) Daniel Goh called for the Government to be more proactive in addressing motherhood bias, which penalises and prevents mothers from re-entering the workforce.

4. The needs of LGBTQ+ persons

AWARE applauded NMP Theseira’s efforts in including the needs of LGBTQ+ persons in policy discussions. 

He stressed that national campaigns on combating domestic violence need to explicitly recognise the vulnerabilities of LGBTQ+ persons, such as how their fear of stigmatisation prevents them from seeking help. He called for more in-depth training for social workers and other first responders, as well as specific resources tailored to the needs of LGBTQ+ persons.

He also called for more proactive efforts in facilitating dialogue around LGBTQ+ and other issues that marginalised communities face—similar to how the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles work for conversations on race and religion.