FOURTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE ___________________ FIRST SESSION ___________________ ORDER PAPER MONDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2020 No. 7 12 noon 1 QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS* *1. Ms Foo Mee Har: To ask the Minister for Education whether the Ministry will consider allowing universities and schools to return to more normalised face-to-face activities and classes when TraceTogether tokens are in widespread use with safe distancing measures in place. *2. Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo: To ask the Minister for Health with the low number of community cases for COVID-19, what can be expected on further easing of measures for Singapore and when can this be done. *3. Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: To ask the Minister for Health whether the Government has completed its review of work-from-home arrangements and where does Singapore stand in the Government's risk assessment in determining when to move into Phase 3 of Singapore's reopening. *4. Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs following the judgment of the High Court in Parti Liyani v PP [2020] SGHC 187, what steps will be taken by the different agencies to identify why the issues identified in the judgment occurred and how these issues will be addressed in future. *5. Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs in respect of the High Court judgment in Parti Liyani v PP [2020] SGHC 187, what are the agencies' findings on what is assessed to have gone wrong and what will be done to address the findings. No. 7 5 OCTOBER 2020 2 *6. Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs over the last five years (a) what percentage of cases of theft as an employee has a foreign domestic worker been the accused; (b) what proportion of the above has (i) been charged in court (ii) proceeded to trial (iii) been convicted and (iv) been acquitted respectively; and (c) what proportion of each subgroup above has had legal representation. *7. Mr Vikram Nair: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether there are any updates on its internal reviews of what happened in Ms Parti Liyani's case, and in particular the police's handling of the matter. *8. Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether he will appoint a committee of inquiry consisting of members not affiliated to the Government to conduct a public inquiry into the conduct of the Singapore Police Force and Attorney-General's Chambers with regard to Ms Parti Liyani's case. *9. Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry will consider allowing foreign domestic workers and other work permit holders to be accompanied by non-legal personnel in police interviews, similar to the Appropriate Adult Scheme. *10. Mr Liang Eng Hwa: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what has gone wrong in the chain of events related to the case of Ms Parti Liyani and what are the findings and outcomes of the review. *11. Mr Derrick Goh: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what are the root causes that led to the procedural lapses on the part of the police in Parti Liyani v PP [2020] SGHC 187 and whether there are sufficient procedural safeguards and supervisory review and oversight of police investigations. *12. Mr Vikram Nair: To ask the Minister for Law whether there are any updates on the Ministry's internal reviews of what happened in Ms Parti Liyani's case and in particular the handling of the matter by the Attorney-General's Chambers. *13. Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Law in light of the Parti Liyani case (a) whether an expedited trial process can be created for economically vulnerable foreign accused persons; (b) whether the honorarium for volunteer lawyers under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme can be increased to signify their contributions; (c) whether an Office of Public Defender can be created to provide legal assistance to accused persons in Singapore; and (d) whether there are any steps being taken to strengthen the interpreter service in the Singapore Police Force. No. 7 5 OCTOBER 2020 3 *14. Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim: To ask the Minister for Law whether the Government will consider providing direct legal aid to vulnerable persons or those with lesser financial means who are charged with criminal offences, in light of concerns raised about access to justice and adequate legal representation for such persons, following the case of Parti Liyani v PP [2020] SGHC 187. *15. Mr Lim Biow Chuan: To ask the Minister for Law how many State Court judges have previously worked as prosecutors in the Attorney-General's Chambers and whether the Ministry will review the policy of separation of duties. *16. Mr Derrick Goh: To ask the Minister for Law with regard to the case of Parti Liyani v PP [2020] SGHC 187 where gaps in the prosecution's case have been noted, what are the procedures and supervisory oversight in place at the Attorney-General's Chambers in the assessment of evidence throughout the process of prosecution. *17. Ms Yeo Wan Ling: To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the considerations behind the Ministry's punitive actions against the employer for the illegal deployment of Ms Parti Liyani as a foreign domestic worker; and (b) whether the actions taken are consistent with similar cases in the past. *18. Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Transport in light of the recent incident of an SBS bus driver being abused (a) what more can the Ministry do to protect our bus captains and transport service staff; (b) how can high- risk passenger management procedures be enhanced; (c) whether a public awareness campaign directed at passengers to encourage respect for bus drivers and to outline expected behaviours while travelling on public transport can be explored; and (d) whether a code of conduct for passengers can be developed. *19. Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) whether the next-generation ERP system allows for developers to create third-party applications; (b) whether the design of the on-board unit (OBU) be further streamlined for motorcyclists; and (c) whether the majority of the OBU's functions can be replaced by a smartphone in the future. *20. Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) whether the next-generation electronic road pricing (ERP) system is an open-source app- based device; (b) how will LTA allocate slots for installation of on-board units (OBU) to minimise queueing; (c) whether there is any replacement cost should the OBU get faulty after usage; and (d) in light of safety concerns about how the OBU's screen may be distracting to drivers, whether there can be an option to dim or turn off the display. No. 7 5 OCTOBER 2020 4 *21. Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Transport (a) whether LTA will reduce the size and improve the design of the on-board units (OBUs) for all classes of vehicles for the next-generation ERP system to ensure safe use, avoid distraction to motorists and better interfacing with the vehicular dashboards and systems; and (b) whether LTA will assure Singaporeans that the price of the OBUs will be kept low and affordable. *22. Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry with regard to the Report of the Auditor-General, wherein it stated that test checks found that JTC premises may have been sublet to about 26,000 business entities without JTC's approval (a) whether JTC has completed investigations into all identified business entities and confirmed cases; and (b) what are the penalties imposed on affected tenants, lessees and sub- lessees. *23. Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry in view of the Auditor-General's Report for FY 2019/2020 (a) how many companies have received the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) so far; (b) what action will Enterprise Singapore (ESG) undertake to ensure strict compliance to the minimum 30% local shareholding criterion for all future cases; and (c) whether ESG claws back grant monies from recipient companies as a matter of practice when there a substantial change in local shareholding before an EDG-funded project is completed. *24. Mr Pritam Singh: To ask the Minister for Manpower in light of the Auditor- General's Report for FY 2019/2020, (a) whether the Ministry will be undertaking a more wide-scale review of the number of successful career conversions and Professional Conversion Programme outcomes thus far; and (b) what will be the extent of sample checks to be conducted on grant Programme Partners by Workforce Singapore or the Ministry in future. *25. Mr Alex Yam Ziming: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in view of the weak links highlighted annually in the Auditor- General's Reports (a) how does the Civil Service ensure that officers are adequately trained and supervised to meet the Government's procurement processes; and (b) whether officers handling tenders have to attend regular refresher courses to stay abreast with new regulations and processes. *26. Mr Liang Eng Hwa: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in view of the recurring lapses in IT controls highlighted in the latest Auditor-General's Report, whether there are inherent systemic issues within the public service and what effective measures will be taken to address the weaknesses. No. 7 5 OCTOBER 2020 5 *27.