Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Mr Speaker, just a clarification for the Minister. In view of the rising number of seniors who stay alone, for example, and may face difficulties to get online, notwithstanding more touchpoints that the Minister shared, does the Ministry consider more frequent, or is it looking at even considering the prospect of visiting these people who ask for support or who need financial assistance but for various reasons such as mobility, are not able to reach the SSOs or access the various electronic options that are available for quicker assessment of their applications?
And if so, does the Minister foresee this to be an issue which will repeat itself more frequently in future, where there may well be a need for SSO officers to visit some individuals, as appropriate?
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: My thanks to the Leader of the Opposition for bringing up that issue. It is a very specific issue for our seniors. Already, our Silver Generation Ambassadors (SGAs) visit them very regularly, some of them, so regularly and getting so intimate that when the seniors pass on, you can see the effect on our SGAs. It is not just about visiting them and taking data and so forth. They actually know the condition of the seniors. Through these, they also know that the seniors may not have support or because of changing circumstances may not have support, and therefore, will proactively ask them whether they need it, and then, will refer them to the SSOs.
So, the visiting is already being done by our SGAs. I do not think we need to duplicate that. The cross referencing is also being done and I know this is being done. The SSOs will then take over to check and assess whether our seniors are actually really needing the financial assistance. Then, we will bypass all the need for digitalisation and facilitate them getting the support they need.
Ministry of Social and Family Development
13 November 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3740
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 