Debated in Parliament on 9 Jan 2023.
The following statement was made in the reply given by the Second Minister for Trade and Industry (Dr Tan See Leng) at the Sitting of 9 January 2023:
Just to set it into perspective, the 30% cap, that was not the context of how I addressed that there is no U-turn. Because Mr Leon Perera's point about the "U-turn" was whether this M-SEP scheme would subsequently – in terms of raising the sub-DRC numbers, and also the work permit numbers above the prevailing quota – appears to be a "U-turn".
For the record, for the 30% ratio, we will continue to monitor this very closely. But the M-SEP, because of the very highly selective nature of the scheme and because of the stringent criteria that we have applied for Condition 1 and Condition 2, we do not expect, in the penultimate, the numbers to affect the proportion significantly. [Please refer to "Work Passes Issued under Manpower for Strategic Economic Priorities Scheme", Official Report, 9 January 2023, Vol 95, Issue 79, Oral Answers to Questions section.]
Written statement by Dr Tan See Leng circulated with leave of the Speaker in accordance with Standing Order No 29(5):
I wish to make the following factual correction to my statement made at the Sitting of 9 January 2023. My statement should read as follows:
Just to set it into perspective, the 33% cap, that was not the context of how I addressed that there is no "U-turn". Because Mr Leon Perera's point about the "U-turn" was whether this M-SEP scheme would subsequently – in terms of raising the sub-DRC numbers, and also the work permit numbers above the prevailing quota – appears to be a "U-turn".
For the record, for the 33% ratio, we will continue to monitor this very closely. But the M-SEP, because of the very highly selective nature of the scheme and because of the stringent criteria that we have applied for Condition 1 and Condition 2, we do not expect, in the penultimate, the numbers to affect the proportion significantly.
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