Tighter Control over Child Development Accounts to Prevent Unauthorised Withdrawals

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social and Family Development (Ms Low Yen Ling)(for the Minister for Social and Family Development): Mdm Speaker, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has several levels of checks and controls in the use of funds from the Child Development Accounts (CDA).

Firstly, parents need to authorise approved institutions, such as childcare centres and kindergartens, to make deductions from their child's CDA by signing an authorisation form.

Secondly, the approved institution has to also ensure proper procedures are followed before the deductions are made. This includes obtaining parents' authorisation and making

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sure all records are properly kept.

Thirdly, CDA banks are required to provide parents with monthly statements with details of the deductions from their child's CDA.

Finally, MSF regularly conducts checks on approved CDA institutions to ensure that the procedures are followed and deductions are in order.

It is through all these checks that a recent MSF audit showed unauthorised withdrawals from the CDAs of several children at Sweetlands childcare centres. In the interest of the parents, we may revoke the status of the persons authorised to carry out CDA deductions at Sweetlands.

The matter has now been referred to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) for investigation. While the investigations are being carried out, all the Sweetlands centres can continue to operate as there is no issue regarding the safety or well-being of the children studying in the childcare centre.

MSF is closely monitoring the CDA deductions and the childcare subsidies claims that are made by Sweetlands centres. We have also kept parents of the children who are studying in Sweetlands childcare centres abreast of all these developments. We have also advised them to check the validity of their CDA deductions. Parents who have not kept the statements can request for these statements from their respective CDA banks.

The Auditor-General's Office (AGO) audits Government financial statements and carries out test checks of selected grants given by the Government. The controls of the Government's matching grants to CDAs are subject to the AGO's audit. However, the subsequent use of these monies in the individual CDAs of account holders are personal in nature and do not come under the ambit of the AGO's audit.

MSF takes a very, very serious view of any breaches of the use of CDA funds. We will continue to carry out and improve the various levels of checks and controls, in addition to the four levels of checks and controls that I have mentioned earlier, and to remind approved institutions to comply strictly with the terms and conditions as well as the statutory requirements. We will also not hesitate to take disciplinary actions or enforce penalties where needed, to safeguard the interests of the parents and the children.

Mdm Speaker, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary for her comprehensive answer. Unfortunately, one of the Sweetlands centres is in my constituency and this incident has caused a lot of anxiety among the young parents.

I have two supplementary questions.

First, how does the Ministry ensure that the services provided by Sweetlands are not affected, and not just the services but that the quality remains? That is the main concern of the parents.

Second, the person responsible or behind these unscrupulous acts must be dealt with severely and I would like to ask what kind of punishment will be meted out.

I want to thank the Member Er Dr Lee Bee Wah for her two supplementary questions. I think she raised three points. One is continuity of service, quality, as well as any punitive measures.

I will talk about the service. As I have mentioned briefly earlier, while we have forwarded these investigations to be carried out to CAD, there are no issues with the centres in respect of the safety as well as well-being of the children under their care. There are about more than 700 children in the 11 centres and we are working very closely to make sure that the safety and well-being of the children is not being compromised. On that end, the centres' operation can continue.

I would like to take the opportunity to share that from 29 July to 31 July, more than 20 staff from MSF and Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) were sent to the 11 centres. Why do we do that? We sent one MSF staff together with one ECDA staff to each centre – at least two staff at each centre; and three staff, for those centres with bigger cohorts – to ensure that other than looking at this CDA-related issue, we also have the ECDA staff look at the interests of the children, teachers and principals.

I want to give the Member that assurance. The 20-plus colleagues from MSF and ECDA were there over three days, in the morning and evening, to coincide with the timing when parents, grandparents or caregivers will send the children to school and fetch them home. The MSF and ECDA staff have spent significant efforts to explain this very recent development to the parents, grandparents and the caregivers. We have also provided very comprehensive letters about the measures being taken and the touch-points they can go to if they need any clarifications. That is one point. I wanted to stress a bit on the continuity of the service to assure Members who may have Sweetlands centres in their wards.

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The second point that the Member raised is about quality. Members would know that since April 2013, ECDA was set up and the agency has been very focused on rolling out measures to provide parents and children access to quality and affordable childcare.

How do they do so? One important measure is that all the childcare centres are licensed by ECDA to ensure that the centres adequately meet the requirements in a few areas: the physical environment; safety, which I mentioned earlier; health, hygiene, nutrition, staff training, programme and curriculum as well as administration. So, it is a very comprehensive licensing framework, and the licence tenure for a childcare centre can range from six months for those centres where we need to watch very closely. The tenure can be as short as six months or as long as 24 months. So, these measures are in place. I want to assure Members who have Sweetlands centres in your wards – that through all these measures, ECDA will keep a close watch and ensure that the centres continue to provide quality care to the children in the school.

Related to the second supplementary question that the Member has raised, I just want to reiterate what I mentioned earlier – that MSF takes a really serious view of the breaches of the use of CDA funds. And we will certainly not hesitate to take disciplinary actions or enforce penalties where required, with a view to protecting the interests of the parents and the child.

The matter is now with CAD. They are carrying out the investigation and I hope Members understand that we should let it take its course. In addition to that, I also want to say that should there be any individuals from Sweetlands who are convicted of criminal offences, ECDA has the authority to request that they step down as director of the centre. But I think we should let the investigation take its course.