Debated in Parliament on 3 Jul 2017.
Ms Chia Yong Yong asked the Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) whether the Government monitors the training providers market to ascertain and blacklist those who profiteer from the SkillsFuture programme by substantially marking up their course fees and, if so, what is the number of those identified and how many have been blacklisted.
There are many SkillsFuture programmes and initiatives in place. The significant ones, including those structured as SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programmes, or training that lead to jobs, are delivered by reputable partners, such as post-secondary education institutions, and reputable private training providers, such as 3dsense Media School Pte Ltd in digital animation, Air Transport Training College in aerospace, Hua Mei Training Academy in social work, and so on.
Soon, SkillsFuture Singapore will be launching the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace Programme, a two-day foundational skills programme to help workers adjust to a digitally rich working environment. In rolling out the course, SkillsFuture Singapore worked with seven training providers which it has strong working relationships with.
For all these programmes, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) works closely with training providers to ensure course fees are reasonable.
But as SkillsFuture is also an inclusive movement, there are over 650 private training providers that are part of the SkillsFuture Credit scheme. For these, competition between the training providers helps to keep a check on course fees. In addition, SSG scrutinises the proposed course fees using industry benchmarks to ensure they are reasonable when compared to other similar courses.
SSG will also enforce against any practice of profiteering. Since 2016, SSG has suspended 17 organisations from SSG funding for serious breaches of SSG funding rules, such as false declarations of trainee eligibility or course fees.
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